Not Understanding What An Evangelical Is

Jim Wallis gets it right at the HuffPost

For example, the exit polls in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary have asked departing Republican voters if they are "evangelicals," but they don't ask the same question of exiting Democrats--therefore assuming there aren't any evangelicals voting for Democrats, an assumption that is demonstrably not true. The leading Democrats in the race--Obama, Clinton, and Edwards--speak explicitly and articulately as Christians and their campaigns have reached out as much to faith communities as the Republicans have.

The media experts on religion then go on to explain to us that evangelicals care mostly or only about abortion and gay marriage, and not about other issues. That is even more mistaken. The issues that most concern evangelicals today, especially a younger generation, include poverty, the environment and climate change, human rights, and the morality of a foreign policy where war is the first resort. This year those issues are drawing a growing number of evangelicals to consider the Democratic candidates.

My biggest problem with so called Evangelicals is the zero sum politics that have been played with them by the republic party, Evangelical Christians have never been as homogenous a group as the GOP nor the media have made them out be. And it is beginning to show.