Another Third Party Candidate

One group of young evangelicals is pushing a third party candidate:

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- They're spiritual misfits. Rabble-rousers. They packed the shell of the old Baptist church on Negley Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to hear author, Christian activist and fellow misfit Shane Claiborne stump on the campaign for a third party candidate, Jesus.

People pack churches to hear Shane Claiborne talk about "Jesus for President," the book he co-authored.

The dreadlocked Christian activist from Philadelphia and his team parked a black school bus around the back. The hand-painted gold letters on the side read "Jesus for President."

Sorry, but Jesus is not a natural born U.S. citizen. He can't be president.

Besides, he probably wouldn't want the pay cut.

Seriously, though, I've seen this movie before. I saw a CNN report on these people and they even drug their political analysis Bill Schnieder out to tell us how this movement would dilute the evangelical vote and that the GOP could no longer count on young evangelicals following their parents into the GOP. This is wrong on many levels.

For one thing, young evangelicals have never automatically followed the GOP, especially young black evangelicals who have followed their parents in voting 90% or more for Democrats. Secondly, every recent election we've been told that the youth vote would make a difference and every election the youth vote largely stays home on election day. I doubt that this year will be any different. Young voters are all enthusiasm and dedication at the beginning of the cycle and all boredom and inattention at the end.

But politics aside, this young evangelical movement described in the article above is little more than history repeating itself. These people are a throwback to the early 70's Jesus Freak movement when pastors like Chuck Smith created Calvary Chapel churches that catered to the unwashed hippie crowd. Those churches are now as mainstream as Presbyterians or Methodists today, and this "Jesus for President" crowd are coming along to reach today's version of the Jesus Freak people. Unfortunately, what I saw on the CNN report looked a lot more cultlike than evangelical, so it's hard to see whether this is a religion-based movement or a personality cult in development.