A New Guard of Evangelical Leaders

The political fissures among evangelicals received high-profile treatment in the New York Times today.  The frame was, essentially, out with old guard of orthodox righties; in with the new guard of heterodox evangelicals — conservative on the traditional issues yet utterly dedicated to so-called liberal issues.

The death of the Rev. Jerry Falwell last week highlighted the fact that many of the movement’s fiery old guard who helped lead conservative Christians into the embrace of the Republican Party are aging and slowly receding from the scene. In their stead, a new generation of leaders who have mostly avoided the openly partisan and confrontational approach of their forebears have become increasingly influential.

Typified by megachurch pastors like the Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., and the Rev. Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago, the new breed of evangelical leaders — often to the dismay of those who came before them — are more likely to speak out about more liberal causes like AIDS, Darfur, poverty and global warming than controversial social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.

Will this trend translate into more evangelical votes for Democrats?  I think so — but over time.  As the article goes on to point out, there hasn’t been an ideological about-face at the rank-and-file level.

A poll conducted this year by the Pew Research Center showed that white evangelical Protestants have similar concerns to other Americans, including the war in Iraq, education and the economy, but a far greater percentage continue to cite tackling the “moral breakdown” in society as a key priority. They remain solidly Republican.

“While I think a lot of their leaders have begun to talk about other things, like Darfur and the environment, this remains a pretty social conservative group in some respects,” said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center. “There doesn’t seem to me to be any sign of a sea change.”

Indeed, the survey showed that fewer evangelicals assigned top priority to protecting the environment than did the overall population, and that roughly the same number of evangelicals identified alleviating poverty as a top priority as did the general population. Meanwhile, evangelicals identified reducing illegal immigration as a priority at a much greater percentage than the population as a whole.

That’s hardly surprising, given the relentless barrage of wedge-issue rhetoric that evangelicals have endured from some of their most visible leaders over the last couple of decades.  But times they are a-changin’.  The message of social justice, of a politics of the common good, is catching on in the evangelical community.  The Jesus who was of the people and for the people (though perhaps not by the people) is returning.