Today’s NY Times features a front-page profile of Woodland Hills, an evangelical church located here in the Twin Cities. The article discusses the lead pastor’s efforts to disentangle his congregation from political ties to the Republican Party and conservative social causes such as opposing abortion and gay marriage. The pastor also deplores using the pulpit to glorify military campaigns such as the one in Iraq.
I know enough evangelicals, including a couple friends who attend Woodland Hills, to understand that they are not necessarily a monolithic force. Many do not toe the GOP party line and do not fit the stereotypical caricature of a shrill, dour, judgmental, gay-bashing, science-hating, book-banning killjoy that is common currency among those of us on the left. It’s good to see the mainstream media recognizing this as well and taking the time to point out that, like any other broadly identified demographic in America, the political sympathies of evangelicals cannot always be easily identified.
However, it’s difficult to deny that Republicans have been extremely successful at co-opting and mobilizing the vast majority of Christian evangelicals. Bush makes no effort to hide the fact that his political fortunes are tied to the support of his religiously conservative base. And the America envisioned by most evangelicals is vastly different than the one for which I hope and strive. Despite the dissent of some within their ranks, the GOP and Christian conservatives have inextricably linked their fates, at least in this world.
