Evangelicals

CINCINNATI - The Rev. Chris Beard is a theological conservative, make no mistake about it. He believes the Bible is the word of God. He believes the Holy Spirit speaks to him directly. He believes, as an article of faith, that abortion and same-sex marriage are wrong. Still, when a group of religious leaders in Ohio held two days of meetings in Cincinnati recently to talk about economic and racial justice, issues usually associated with the political left, there was Beard, a fourth-generation Pentecostal preacher with a disarming smile, a shaved head and a set of convictions that knock holes in the stereotypes about white evangelical Protestants.

CINCINNATI - The Rev. Chris Beard is a theological conservative, make no mistake about it. He believes the Bible is the word of God. He believes the Holy Spirit speaks to him directly. He believes, as an article of faith, that abortion and same-sex marriage are wrong. Still, when a group of religious leaders in Ohio held two days of meetings in Cincinnati recently to talk about economic and racial justice, issues usually associated with the political left, there was Beard, a fourth-generation Pentecostal preacher with a disarming smile, a shaved head and a set of convictions that knock holes in the stereotypes about white evangelical Protestants.

LYNCHBURG, Va. - When it came to evangelicals in this year's primaries, Mitt Romney was most often the rejected suitor - struggling to overcome suspicions about his authenticity as a conservative and his Mormon faith. On Saturday at the evangelical university founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg, Romney tried to tackle those lingering misgivings as the presumed Republican nominee - by delivering a speech that delved deep into his faith and by urging about 30,000 in the audience at Liberty University to look beyond their differences with his religion.

Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Sen. Rand Paul, who said he wasn't sure President Obama's views on marriage "could get any gayer," was rebuked by an influential evangelical leader Sunday. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, appearing onCBS' "Face the Nation," strongly disagreed with the Kentucky Republican's choice of words. "I don't think this is something we should joke about," Perkins said. "We are talking about individuals who feel very strongly one way or the other, and I think we should be civil, respectful, allowing all sides to have the debate....

LYNCHBURG, Va. - Seeking to connect with the community of evangelicals that has been cold to his candidacy for many months, Mitt Romney delivered a commencement speech at Liberty University on Saturday that delved deeply into his faith while arguing that Christians of all different creeds could come together in the name of service. Speaking to a crowd of more than 30,000 at the school founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell, the presumed Republican nominee took the stage after an admonition from Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. - who was quoting his father - that the American people will be “electing a commander in chief, not a pastor or a religious leader” in November.

On a brisk, bright Sunday morning, with six days to go before South Carolinians vote in their GOP presidential primary, a sampling of church-goers in the Midlands suggests many evangelical Christians remain undecided, making the race highly unsettled. “It's a broad selection and it's difficult. I'm still not committed,” said Wayne Gaul, a 61-year-old physicist, before ducking into the sanctuary at St. Andrews Evangelical Church. Among those who had a preference, Newt Gingrich, the former Georgia congressman and House speaker, was the leading choice.

Evangelical voters who have carried Rick Santorum to victory in key Midwestern and Southern contests were less of a force in primaries in Wisconsin and Maryland Tuesday, a reality reflected in the early returns that favor Mitt Romney. In tonight's key vote in Wisconsin, only 37% of voters identified themselves as white evangelical or born-again Christian, and the group only narrowly favored the former Pennsylvania senator, exit polls show. In Maryland, Romney actually scored a narrow win among evangelicals, who represented a similar share of the vote.

Two additional denominations have become members of the National Assn. of Evangelicals, which represents most conservative churches in the country. The new members of the Wheaton, Ill.-based organization are the 220,000-member Christian Reformed Church in North America and the 80,000-member General Assn. of Regular Baptists.

Re "Evangelical agenda fight is heating up," March 10 I am always amused by such right-wing Christian leaders as James C. Dobson, who condemn such fellow tribesmen as the Rev. Jim Wallis for taking up causes such as global warming, the AIDS epidemic, poverty and ill-conceived wars. I take this to mean that evangelicals should mindlessly support big business, all wars and capital punishment and oppose universal healthcare and poverty programs. On the other hand, I can see why the likes of Dobson would counsel inaction in the face of global warming and its devastating consequences.

Re "Faithful Are Carving Niche in the Workplace," May 15: Corporate America is making a huge mistake by making concessions to evangelicals who, like all of their fundamentalist soul mates (including the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Saudi Wahhabi Muslims who perpetrated 9/11) will stop at nothing to spread their intolerant vision of how society should function. Anyone who thinks these fanatics will be content with the current workplace accommodations is mistaken. They don't want to be part of the mainstream; they want to take over.

LYNCHBURG, Va. - Seeking to connect with the community of evangelicals that has been cold to his candidacy for many months, Mitt Romney delivered a commencement speech at Liberty University on Saturday that delved deeply into his faith while arguing that Christians of all different creeds could come together in the name of service. Speaking to a crowd of more than 30,000 at the school founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell, the presumed Republican nominee took the stage after an admonition from Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. - who was quoting his father - that the American people will be “electing a commander in chief, not a pastor or a religious leader” in November.

LYNCHBURG, Va. - When it came to evangelicals in this year's primaries, Mitt Romney was most often the rejected suitor - struggling to overcome suspicions about his authenticity as a conservative and his Mormon faith. On Saturday at the evangelical university founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg, Romney tried to tackle those lingering misgivings as the presumed Republican nominee - by delivering a speech that delved deep into his faith and by urging about 30,000 in the audience at Liberty University to look beyond their differences with his religion.

Even before he announced his support for same-sex marriage, President Obama was badly trailing Republican Mitt Romney among evangelical Christians, the group most committed to traditional forms of marriage, according to a new poll about the attitudes of religious voters. Romney led Obama by 68% to 19% among evangelicals in the poll released Thursday by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Religion News Service. The nationwide poll was conducted over four days ending Sunday, well before Obama's remarks about same-sex marriage.

Two themes have loomed large in obituaries for Charles Colson: his career as a Nixon hatchetman, culminating in his prison term for his involvement in the attempt to smear Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg, and his post-confinement career as a Christian prison reformer. But Colson played another role whose influence was felt in this year's Republican presidential race. The born-again Christian was one of the strange theological bedfellows who produced a 1994 manifesto called "Evangelicals and Catholics Together.

GREENSBURG, Pa. — Mitt Romney is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and for some conservatives that is a pill still too bitter to swallow. Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee came to the podium at a county GOP event in Greensburg, located in a key conservative swath of Pennsylvania, days after Romney rival Rick Santorum dropped out of the race and effectively ceded the nomination to Romney. But she couldn't bring herself to mention Romney by name. "We're going to have a presumptive nominee for 2012 really soon," she said, allowing that she was excited about the November election.

Evangelical voters who have carried Rick Santorum to victory in key Midwestern and Southern contests were less of a force in primaries in Wisconsin and Maryland Tuesday, a reality reflected in the early returns that favor Mitt Romney. In tonight's key vote in Wisconsin, only 37% of voters identified themselves as white evangelical or born-again Christian, and the group only narrowly favored the former Pennsylvania senator, exit polls show. In Maryland, Romney actually scored a narrow win among evangelicals, who represented a similar share of the vote.

The exhibit hall of the convention center here measures nearly 300,000 square feet, the size of six football fields. All of that space was recently filled with the display booths of more than 1,300 companies, all seeking to peddle their wares to the owners of more than 5,000 Christian bookstores, most of them owned and operated by evangelicals. This convention of the Christian Booksellers Assn. ranks in the top 5% of the estimated 6,000 trade shows held annually in the United States.

Some voters are convinced that if Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, we run the risk of ending up with a member of a "cult" in the White House. Many of my fellow evangelicals are especially concerned about this possibility. Some are unhappy with me because I have gone on record as saying that Romney's church, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is not a cult. It's not that these folks believe that Mormons are unfit for any public office. Many evangelicals voted for Romney as governor of Massachusetts — and in earlier days Mitt's father, George Romney, got strong evangelical support as Michigan's governor.

Rick Santorum won handily in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary Saturday, solidifying his position as Mitt Romney's last credible challenger as the campaign heads into states that will test whether Santorum can broaden his appeal to less conservative voters. The former senator from Pennsylvania had been expected to win, but he still campaigned heavily in this Deep South state, seekin to widen his margin over Romney and reinforce his message that he is a trustworthy conservative while Romney is a politician with erasable "Etch A Sketch" views.

Rick Santorum was late. The audience was a little restless, drowning out a tea party activist lauding the Republican presidential contender. But then came Camille and Haley Harris, young sisters who are the Christian folk-pop duo First Love from Tulsa, Okla. They sang their newest song. It's about Santorum. That's right. Santorum has a theme song. "Game on. Join the fight," the sisters, radiant and exuberant, sang to a jangly, upbeat tune, touting his insistence that God, not government, bestows rights, his devotion to the Constitution, his promise of "justice for the unborn" and his commitment to bring "factories back on our shores.