4 years ago: Evangelicals and immigration

November 11, 2009, here on slacktivist: Evangelicals and immigration

On the one hand, you’ve got your religious evangelicals. They’re born-again Christians who go to church twice every Sunday, read their daily devotions, try not to say “geez” because that’s almost just as bad as swearing, feel guilty that they haven’t done more to witness to you because they genuinely don’t want you to go to Hell, and they just really Lord they just really just pray, Lord, all the time that, Lord, Jesus would just really just guide their daily lives.

We’re talking about Ned Flanders. Nice folks. I like them a lot. I mean, I wouldn’t want them designing the science curriculum for my kids’ school, and I almost never vote for the same people they vote for, but those things aren’t these folks’ main focus. They’re mainly about serving Jesus as their personal Lord and savior and trying to get others to do the same.

On the other hand, you’ve got your political evangelicals. On paper, these people look very similar to the Ned Flanders types. The difference is what they regard as paramount, as most important. For your political evangelicals, who you vote for and what is taught in science class is all that really matters. They may go to the same church as Ned, and they may attend just as often, but when push comes to shove that religious stuff isn’t nearly as important to them as the pride and power of politics.

For a quick and easy illustration of the difference between these two groups, ask either one about immigration policy.