In January, a week before the South Carolina presidential primary, Barack Obama stood in the pulpit of Macon's Harvest Cathedral Church and tried to ease Christians' concerns that he was Muslim.
"He didn't beat around the bush," recalled the Rev. Steve Sawyer, the church's pastor. "He used the terminology that Christians wanted to hear. He talked about 'bowing at the foot of the cross.' He didn't just say, 'I believe in God.' "
Two months ago, in the battleground state of Ohio, the Democratic presidential nominee declared his support for continuing President Bush's faith-based initiatives.
In fact, Obama has openly talked about faith all along the campaign trail, making it clear that Democrats are not conceding the evangelical vote that helped Bush to victory in the last two elections - and could swing this election that many now are calling a dead heat.
"There certainly has been a lot of effort by the Democratic side to try to reach out to the evangelical voters, and there is at least some signs that they may have had some success," says Mike Digby, a political scientist at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville.
"Senator Obama has been clear from the start that he was not going to write off that group of voters and he was going to go into that camp," Digby said.
How well those efforts pay off at the voting booth in November remains to be seen. Even though polls showed support among evangelicals for GOP nominee John McCain, he wasn't exactly lighting a fire under conservative Christian voters. That is, until he chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a staunch anti-abortion advocate, as his running mate.
The Palin pick has "resonated fairly deeply" with evangelical voters, says Digby.
"It certainly is a good thing for the McCain campaign as far as cementing that part of the electorate. That part has not been excited about McCain. Now there is some enthusiasm ... and probably a greater share (of evangelicals) will vote for him, and a greater share will vote."
Still, Democrats are hoping to reach voters of faith who might be less concerned about abortion and same-sex marriage as other issues such as health care, energy, the economy and the Iraq war.
WHO ARE EVANGELICALS?
Evangelical voters are a difficult group to define. The label generally is applied to white, conservative Christians who are "born again" believers in Jesus Christ, but it encompasses a far more diverse group. Evangelicals can be black, Hispanic or Asian-American, and Baptist, Pentecostal or charismatic Catholic.
While evangelicals agree on key theological doctrines, their social and political views can vary. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life puts evangelicals into three camps: traditionalist (the so-called "Religious Right"); centrist (conservative but avoids politics); and modernist (more diverse in beliefs, low church attendance).
As the face of evangelicalism changes, social issues such as poverty and the environment have become political priorities with more religious voters.
"As a group gets larger, naturally it becomes less cohesive," Digby said.
Sawyer, a pastor for 23 years, said things have changed since the evangelical church "sort of came out of the closet and got active" in politics in the 1980s behind then-presidential candidate Pat Robertson.
"Back in the day, it was pretty much around the right to life, the sanctity of life," he said. "That's still a key issue with me. They've not put sanctity of life to the side, but the conversation's broader."
Sawyer said Obama's visit to his church was a surprise, with a campaign official calling him and asking permission for Obama to worship and share his testimony. He has no idea why Obama chose his church, unless it was because of the congregation's diversity.
Harvest Cathedral's congregation is a reflection of the evangelical base: Sawyer described it as a mix of whites and blacks, some conservative and some more liberal in their politics. The church has young black conservatives, Sawyer said, and "we had white college students excited over Obama."
Digby said some Christian leaders have "branched out" during the campaign and stressed issues such as economic equality and global warming as ways Democrats might reach evangelicals.
"I tend to be a little be skeptical about that approach," Digby said. "If an evangelical is no longer voting on the issues that evangelicals tend to care about, then they're no longer voting on the grounds of being an evangelical. ... The distinction has been redrawn.
"The critical thing is how a voter identifies him or herself, and they tend to vote along those lines."
A recent Time magazine poll showed McCain holding 70 percent to 19 percent lead among white evangelical voters, and that was before Palin's well-received speech at the Republican National Convention.
The Rev. Brad Marchman, pastor of Macon's Lawrence Drive Baptist Church, said many Christian voters viewed neither McCain nor Obama as viable candidates, but he expects Palin will give McCain a "big boost."
"I think it's going to help McCain as far as igniting the evangelical voters," Marchman said. "She's strong on all those issues that with McCain you were not sure about."
However, some still want to hear more from McCain, who has on occasion clashed with conservative Christian leaders. Focus on the Family founder James Dobson refused to support McCain until he chose Palin as running mate.
"Barack Obama did come out and say that he had been saved and that Jesus was his lord and savior," said Macon lawyer Bob Lovett, a member of Mulberry United Methodist Church.
"I'm supporting McCain, but I'd like him to come out and say (that) publicly," Lovett said. "I think a lot of people are waiting to hear McCain make some kind of affirmation."
According to several media reports, McCain was asked at a recent question-and-answer session about faith and politics what it meant to be a Christian. He responded: "It means I'm saved and forgiven."
Obama has portrayed himself throughout the campaign as a man of faith, but his liberal leanings and abortion rights stance might be difficult for some evangelicals to overlook.
"Given the fact that he's a Christian, there are still issues," said Sawyer. "I think people will still vote the issues. ... I think what we've discovered (at our church) is that you can disagree on the issues and still have a faith in Christ."
RACE AND RELIGION
Republicans have been able to count on evangelicals in recent elections, but Digby, the Georgia College political scientist, said holding that advantage in November might depend on how much McCain, as the top of ticket, stresses the moral issues that are important to most evangelical voters - abortion, faith-based initiatives, the definition of marriage and "the cultural decay they see in this country."
"If that happens, it will greatly shape whether they vote on the Republican side or bleed over to the Democratic side," he said. "The Democrats this year have made concerted efforts to try to de-emphasize those issues and portray themselves as being more sympathetic to the issues without taking the preferred policy stand."
The Rev. Lonzy Edwards, a lawyer and Bibb County commissioner, said the issues - moral or otherwise - are getting far too little attention. He fears the majority of voters on both sides will cast ballots based "racial pride and prejudice."
"I suspect race is probably going to trump what's right in the minds of a lot of people. I suspect a lot of the decision making is a matter of race pride," said Edwards, pastor of the predominately black Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church.
"Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much reasonable debate there will be about the candidates," he said.
Obama is the first black presidential nominee of a major party, and his candidacy is viewed as a "historic moment," Edwards said.
"African-Americans generally are highly motivated and excited about having Barack Obama on the ballot. I've come across a lot of white folks who are going to vote for Obama. I have yet to come across a black person who said they're going to vote for McCain."
Edwards, however, said he has not "come down on either side." He said there's some disappointment in Obama's tendency to speak in "glittering generalizations," and he would like to hear more about the candidate's plans for national security and other issues.
"There's a certain emotional appeal to Obama, and that will be dispositive when it comes to African-Americans. I'm not sure what he stands for is ever going to be talked about, and that's unfortunate."
Edwards is a former Republican who served as a Reagan delegate in 1980 but switched to the Democrats because of what he described as race-baiting tactics in subsequent elections. The recent televised forum at evangelical leader and author Rick Warren's mega-church in California drew some distinct lines between the current presidential nominees, he said.
"Obama stood up rather courageously and said he was pro-choice," Edwards said. "McCain was clear that life began at the moment of conception."
Digby said McCain "struck a responsive chord" at the forum by simply showing agreement with policy issues.
"He's been one of the few Republican national figures in the last decade or so who has not made a conscious effort to reach out to evangelicals," Digby said. "I think he's seen that if you're going to win the Republican nomination ... if there's going to be a path to general election victory ... you have got to have that group of voters on your side."
Harvest Cathedral's Sawyer said it might not be so clear cut.
"I don't know that there's an evangelical vote, that we've all decided who we're going to vote for and that's how we're going to vote."
To contact writer Rodney
Manley, call 744-4623.
E-Mail
Print
@Nyx.CommentBody@