there has been a lot of news articles about evangelicals voting Democrat this
year because of their disenchantment with the Republican Party but the media
is making a big assumption when they conclude these voters will automatically
jump to the Democratic Party, especially when they have the most pro-choice
candidate ever. I think there are probably a lot of evangelicals like Cameron
Strang who will change their affiliation to "Independent" and are probably
conflicted which way to go. Here's an except of Mr. Strang's blog post:
A few weeks ago, I was asked if I’d be interested in possibly praying at
the Democratic National Convention. Taken aback, but intrigued at the
opportunity, I accepted. What better way to continue positive dialogue,
show support for an emphasis on faith issues and pray in a forum where
faith isn’t typically thought to be emphasized? To quote someone close
to me—and meaning no disrespect whatsoever to Christian Democrats—
it was a chance to be “light in the darkness.” And hey, Jesus told us to
pray, right?
They made clear they weren’t asking me to publicly endorse Sen.
Obama. They also didn’t care that I was a pro-life Republican. I saw
my participation as a tangible way to show that this generation of
values voters doesn’t necessarily need to draw political battle lines
the way previous generations have, and that we can work through
areas of disagreement toward common goals—fighting systemic
poverty; defending innocent lives lost to pre-emptive war, sex trafficking,
torture, genocide, slavery and preventable disease; protecting the
environment; and proactively working to reduce the number of
abortions each year (not only through legislation, prevention and
education, but by financial support for pregnant women and
overhauling the adoption system—things are messed up when an
abortion is $500 and an adoption is $25,000).
Then I found out the invocation was to be on the main stage, opening
night of the DNC. Part of the national broadcast. Most people would
jump at such an exposure opportunity, but it gave me serious pause.Through RELEVANT I reach a demographic that has strong faith,
morals and passion, but disagreements politically. It wouldn’t be
wise for me to be seen as picking a political side, when I’ve consistently
said both sides are right in some areas and wrong in some areas.
(And truth be told, I haven’t yet made up my mind about who I’m
going to vote for this November. There are a lot of specifics I’d like
to hear the candidates talk about before my decision will be made.)
So there you go. It's funny how religious folks tend to be labeled as people who
think purely in terms of "good and evil" or "right and wrong," ironically, might
just be the most conflicted voting group out there.