As I prepare to vote in California's presidential primary this Tuesday, I find myself reflecting upon how different the American religio-political landscape looks than it did at this time four years ago. With the 2006 release of David Kuo's Tempting Faith, an exposé of the Bush administration's unabashed manipulation of religious faith for political gain, many conservative evangelicals have become wary of handing unqualified support to the Republican Party. A failed Iraq policy and an economy on the rocks have begun to sow seeds of doubt within a faith community the GOP once took for granted.
Among the presidential contenders Republican voters have to choose from in 2008, the most visibly Christian candidate looks least like the GOP's usual suspects--the Rev. Gov. Huckabee does not have a history of lowering taxes at all costs as a matter of policy, he puts more money into infrastructure and social programs than many fiscal conservatives are comfortable with, and he talks about the working class nearly as often as does John Edwards! Meanwhile, the only other Republican candidate of faith, Mitt Romney, is governor of a state (well, commonwealth really) with universal health coverage, a key plank in the Democratic party platform. It excites me to see the political diversity among the 2008 Republican candidates, especially among the candidates of faith.
In the Democratic camp, candidates have become much more comfortable talking about religious and moral values. With the help of evangelical pastors like Jim Wallis, Rick Warren and Richard Cizik, war, poverty, and the environment are now highlighted as moral issues. Both Democratic frontrunners (as well as John Edwards, who dropped out of the race last week) are committed Christians who can speak sincerely to the importance of faith in their lives. It is no longer so easy to identify one party as "the Christian party." People less often look at me like I have two heads when I tell them I'm an evangelical Christian and a progressive Democrat.
All of this, for me, is reason for hope. Those of us in the progressive Christian community are making a difference, making our voices heard, letting people know that Christian faith is not monolithic, and Christian politics even less so. Politically and socially conservative Christians are making it clear that their religious faith and political viewpoionts go beyond opinions about the "wedge issues" that have served to drive us apart. While liberal and conservative Christians disagree about many things, there is dialogue, and the division and discord that have characterized the Christian body politic for the past eight years is slowly starting to resemble something more like Christian love.
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