The election revealed one of the great triumphs of our win -- Evangelicals are no longer sitting at the trough that is Dobson or Falwell and buying the Christian mantra hook, line and sinker. They came over to Barack Obama's message of hope, and delivered. We should be proud.
Tim King of Sojourners wrote this week,
White evangelicals between the ages of 18 and 34 almost doubled their support for Obama over Kerry. This translates into a more than 1.5 million voter net gain in my demographic from 2004.
That net gain went decidedly for Obama.
Through the power of his own story of faith and unprecedented outreach to religious voters, Obama had gains in every religious group. The face of faith is changing in this country. Many Cold War era Christians were looking to their faith and their church to protect them from hell, heathens, and communism. It was a religious philosophy fueled by fear of others. This gave Republican operatives the ability engineer electoral victory for decades.
There is a battle now for the definition of faith for a new generation of believers. The "old guard", who John McCain called the "agents of intolerance," will define faith in opposition to both Islam and radical terrorists. Faith, in their estimation, will still save you from hell, heathens, and lurking communists, but now you get the added bonus of protection from Muslims and Terrorists. It will certainly maintain a hold on many.
There will be alternatives. Alternatives that return to the message of Christ that our faith is built on hope and not fear. That we are commanded to love our neighbor not vilify them. They will preach that the church is not meant to build walls of protection from "others" but roots of transformation for the world. It will be these Christians, who will be on both sides of the aisles in coming elections, who will have the opportunity to redefine faith in public life for a country that sorely needs it.
We didn’t roar in this election, but we made a difference. It is the difference the Religious Right feared but the country needs.
Fear and hate are on their way out. Let's help show them the door.
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