1 Boring Old Man

Exit Polls Pigeonhole Evangelicals Again

^{from the blog: Faith in Public Life}

They did it again! Just as in Iowa, yesterday’s media-sponsored Election Day poll failed to ask Democrats in New Hampshire if they were evangelical. Voters from both parties were asked about their church attendance and if they were Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, Other Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Something else, or None. But only Republicans were asked if they were born-again or evangelical Christian.

… It would be informative to know the percentage of evangelicals who voted for Democrats yesterday. It would be informative to know which Democratic candidates were helped or hurt last night by Democratic evangelical turnout. It was certainly informative to learn this morning that the Republican evangelical vote split pretty evenly among McCain, Romney and Huckabee.

Asking only Republicans about their religion shows that the media is still stuck on the outdated and false notion that evangelical Christians are the GOP’s political property. No party can own any faith. Evangelicals have broadened their agenda to include care for the planet, the poor and the stranger, and as a result are increasingly independent politically. Exit polls need to abandon the hidebound frames of the culture war — evangelicals already have.

… The media sponsors of the NEP still need to fix this problem before any more primary votes are cast.

Evangelicism:

The Bible is accepted by evangelicals as reliable and the ultimate authority in matters of faith and practice. The doctrines of sola scriptura and sola fide are often primary. The historicity of the miracles of Jesus and the virgin birth, crucifixion, resurrection, and Second Coming are asserted, although there are a variety of understandings of the end times and eschatology.

The characteristics of Evangelicalism as defined by David Bebbington, in his study of British evangelicalism, are known as the Bebbington Quadrilateral, the four characteristics of evangelicals are :

1. Conversionism – Emphasis on the conversion experience, also called being saved, or new birth or born again after John 3:3. Thus evangelicals often refer to themselves as born-again Christians. This experience is said to be received by "faith alone" and to be given by God as the result of "grace alone".
2. Biblicism – The Protestant canon of the Bible, as God’s revelation to humanity, is the primary source of religious authority. Thus, the doctrine of sola scriptura is often emphasized. Bible prophecy, especially as interpreted according to dispensationalism, is often emphasized as well.
3. Activism – Encouragement of evangelism—the act of persuading others of one’s beliefs—in organized missionary work or by personal encounters and relationships with others.
4. Crucicentrism – A central focus on Christ’s redeeming work on the cross as the only means for salvation and the forgiveness of sins.

John C. Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio, found in the 2004 American Religious Landscape Report that despite many variations, evangelicals in the United States generally adhere to four core beliefs:

1. Biblical inerrancy.
2. Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus and not good works (in particular the belief in atonement for sins at the cross and the resurrection of Christ).
3. Individuals (above an age of accountability) must personally trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.
4. All Christians are commissioned to evangelize and should be publicly baptized as a symbolic confession of faith. 

If the belief system actually means what these definitions say it means, it is a set of principles and beliefs that has to do with an individual, not a group. In my opinion, the Christians who voted as a group in these recent elections shamed themselves for all times by actually voting in an Administration that has been corrupt, dishonest, pugalistic, and has treated others in inhumane ways. There is nothing about the result of the Christian vote in those elections that is remotely Christian, by any account. That’s not a small point.

So, I don’t think "It would be informative to know …" does anything Christian. It gives only candidates something to target. It only gives Christians a reason not to think for themselves. And it gives Christianity a bad name. I agree that asking only Republicans is absurd. But I’d prefer if they just left religious preference out. I guess I see the vote covered under "render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s…"