Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Dallas Morning News: Huckabee Unique Among Evangelicals
Evangelicals are broadening their reachBy William McKenzie
The Dallas Morning News
Many Americans see evangelicals as a monolithic group that opposes gay marriage and abortion and worships in the suburbs at megachurches. And many of the estimated 15 million adult evangelicals do fit this pattern, which Republican strategists searching for red-state voters are happy to see.
But when you start looking at this development over here and that one over there, you can see a new trend emerging among evangelicals. In politics and culture, this shift could have huge, and positive, consequences.
If evangelicals - who theologically emphasize personal conversions to Christ, a literal reading of Scripture and Jesus' return - begin to rethink some assumptions about how the world should work, the larger political universe will feel it.
These shifts are part of a pattern that could make evangelicals a less predictable - and stronger - force.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is raising his presidential flag. The Southern Baptist minister came to Dallas last week to talk with church folk, business leaders and journalists. Stopping by, he presented ideas he would emphasize if he seeks the GOP nomination in 2008.
His agenda isn't what your normal evangelical emphasizes.
For one thing, this pro-life Republican spoke at length about his concern for what happens to a child after he or she is born, not just that the child is born. Citing his passion for education and health care, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate said he would violate his faith if he did nothing about those at the bottom of society's ladder.
A Republican candidate shouldn't offend the party's conservative base, he said, but he also shouldn't shrink from challenging it. Huckabee's 10-year stint as governor shows his willingness to do that. Among other things, he passed a major health program for children and didn't veto a sales tax hike to help schools.
He has clear conservative credentials, the kind that allow him to stop by to see Texas televangelist James Robison. But Huckabee's independence is part of the branching out within evangelicalism, where you find someone like Rick Warren of ``The Purpose Driven Life'' fame pressing for attention on environmental issues.
The more this happens, the more evangelicals help themselves. Republican strategists can't take them for granted.
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There's more, so be sure you check the link!
BSR
