Are You Ready for a Miracle?

Ready as I can be!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/14/evangelical.rift/index.html

Reverend Richard Cizik, Vice President of Governmental Affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, has made some prominent evangelical enemies lately. The cause of the conflict: global warming. A self-proclaimed "green evangelical", Cizik has been critical of the Bush administration's environmental policy and has sought the help of scripture in spreading awareness of global climate change among evangelical Christians. One verse he enjoys quoting is particularly striking: "God will destroy those who destroy the Earth" Rev: 11:18.

http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/10/05/cizik/

Such persistent proclamations have drawn the ire of Cizik's fello evangelical leaders. Prominent NAE members like James Dobson (Mel Gibson apologist), Paul Weyrich (HUAC aficianado) and Gary "don't call me Jack" Bauer coauthored a letter to the National Association of Evangelical's board of directors and requested that Cizik be silenced or pushed to resign. This cabal of evangelicals argued that pursuing solutions to the climate crisis was distracting the association from more pressing, and republican, areas of moral outrage (i.e. homosexuality and abortion).

The board rejected this presumption and refused to do anything to fetter Reverend Cizik. Further, the board made a statement condemning the use of torture in pursuit of the war on terror. One board member, Paul de Vries, went so far as to say, "It ought to be God's agenda, not the Republican Party's agenda, that drives us. We're actually tired of being represented by people with a very narrow focus"

This most recent showdown between the NAE's board and more prominent members of the organization like James Dobson and Tony Perkins is the latest in a string of controversies within the evangelical movement over the practice of "cobelligerence." Many evangelicals are concluding that there is a broad assortment of moral dilemmas confronting the United States. Further, they are concluding that it is acceptable to work with left-leaning organizations (democrats) when they share mutual goals.

This drive for "cobelligerence" is indicative of a wider split in the religious right. The last 15 years have proven to be remarkably unproductive for christian conservatives. While they have succeeded in getting certain candidates, most notably President Bush, elected they have failed to secure any substantial policy victories as a result. They are not much closer to overturning Roe vs Wade than they were 15 years ago, and they are also beginning to realize that they will never be able to ban gay marriage via the United States Constitution.

The frustration caused by this failure, coupled with the exposure of rampant corruption within the republican party, has led many evangelicals to believe that their faith in republican politicians has been misplaced. Perhaps, with a little deft manuevering by democrats, some of these voters can be wedged away in 2008.