by Sandy » Sun Feb 14, 2016 8:27 pm
Well, we got distracted on the religious side of what constitutes "Evangelical." Fact is, there are a lot of Christians who believe in inerrancy, and in an active sort of evangelistic faith, who are not necessarily political conservatives of the tea party variety. If you're really serious about the influence of faith as an American, in the cultural, social, political, and religious life of this country, then it has to go a lot deeper than just opposition to abortion and same sex marriage. And while I believe that the scripture does affirm life beginning at conception, and I don't see an affirmation of same sex marriages, there are a whole lot of other things that must be considered, which the political right ignores, or re-interprets, or just leaves out because it doesn't fit the agenda. If Biblical values were really all that important to the political evangelical right, the tea partiers and extremist conservatives, Donald Trump would be a pariah, not a frontrunner. And I think there are a lot of sincere Christian Evangelicals who don't get caught up in conservative politics. Hence, you have Ted Cruz, who would also be a pariah, thinking that 15 million just stayed home during the last election. They didn't. Most of them were Latinos and African Americans, and some whites, who voted for Obama, while others, in good conscience, chose an independent, non-aligned candidate. Believing in the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible doesn't translate into an automatic republican voter.