Miami Herald - June 4, 2007
Beth Reinhard, breinhard@MiamiHerald.com, and Alexandra Alter

About 1,500 Christians are expected in Washington today for a nationally televised forum with the leading Democratic presidential candidates, in what organizers describe as a turning point in the debate over the role of faith in politics.

For decades, politicians touted their "family values" by disavowing abortion, gay marriage and stem-cell research. But some evangelical leaders are now pushing a broader moral agenda that includes AIDS, global warming, poverty and the crisis in Darfur.

After years in the shadow of the religious right, churchgoing liberals are joining the political fray: lobbying Congress, organizing grass-roots groups and promoting compassion in books and blogs.

"The religious right has tried to paint progressives as if they are a bunch of people on the fringe who are out of touch with mainstream America, and that's just not the case," said the Rev. Tim Simpson, a Presbyterian minister and spokesman for the Jacksonville-based Christian Alliance for Progress. "We think theological reflection is the responsibility of every Christian voter . . . How should a Christian think about this war? How should a Christian think about torture?"

Efforts to resurrect the religious left -- a political force that many say has been largely dormant since the Civil Rights movement -- coincides with growing disarray among religious conservatives. The Center for Reclaiming America for Christ in Fort Lauderdale shut down in April after a decade of lobbying for conservative Christian causes. The Rev. Jerry Falwell's recent death prompted soul-searching among evangelicals about his legacy of uniting them with the GOP.

None of the leading presidential candidates can lay claim to the evangelical community. Pastor Rick Warren, author of the popular book The Purpose-Driven Life, invited Democratic Sen. Barack Obama to an AIDS conference at his California church. The Rev. Joel Hunter, pastor of a Central Florida megachurch of 15,000 people, gave up the presidency of the Christian Coalition of America last year because it resisted his efforts to focus on poverty and global warming.

"There are precious lives lost from abortion, but if we don't address climate change, there will be even more lives lost that come with the degradation of the environment," Hunter said. "Aren't those lives as important as the lives that we could save if we could do something about abortion? It's a more complex consideration."

But many religious conservatives wonder whether fighting climate change is a worthwhile goal. John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, dismissed global warming as a "Y2K issue," asking: "Is it real? Is it fake? Is it going to be the end of the world?"

He added that religious voters can't abandon their opposition to abortion and gay marriage because those issues affect their core value: family.

"They will completely lack credibility if they turn a blind eye to the sanctity of life and marriage," he said. "They can have their little conference in Washington, but they're never going to attract serious-minded Christians."

In a forum described as a the first of its kind, the top Democratic presidential candidates -- Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards -- will field questions from clergy members during a live CNN telecast at 7 tonight. The conference is organized by Sojourners, a Christian ministry that advocates social justice.

Ali Escalante, who attends St. Andrew Catholic Church in Coral Springs, will be among the parishioners to attend the forum and to lobby Congress to help the poor and reform immigration laws.

"We as Christians are just realizing this is our call, this is our mission," said Escalante, who works at Food for the Poor, based in Coconut Creek, which provides housing and social services in Latin America and the Caribbean. "It's great now that we have some momentum."

In the 2006 election that cost the GOP control of Congress, exit polls showed that Democratic candidates gained support among voters who regularly attend church. The most notable successes were Democrat Ted Strickland, a minister elected governor of Ohio, and Bob Casey, an anti-abortion Democrat who won the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania.

While Democrats have traditionally avoided talking about religion, Fort Lauderdale attorney Walter "Skip" Campbell spoke of his years in the seminary and his belief in God in a commercial last year in his campaign for Florida attorney general. A Christian group called Faith in Democracy campaigned in Orlando on behalf of Democratic congressional candidate Charlie Stuart, a businessman and Sunday school teacher.

Democrats have long campaigned in black churches, but in recent years they have reached out to more theologically and socially conservative faith groups.

'People are standing up in their religious communities and saying, 'Yeah, I'm a Democrat and you should be too,' " said David Patlak, a Miami activist who has organized ice-cream socials and a Labor Day picnic for churches and congregations.

The Democratic National Committee launched a "faith initiative" that brings together political leaders and clergy members to discuss shared concerns. The party has also convened an advisory council of 60 clergy members.

"The Democratic Party would be remiss not to go after the evangelical vote, or as much of it as they can get," said Hunter, one of four religious leaders who will question the presidential candidates in Washington. "When we broaden the agenda, the Democratic Party is farther ahead on some of those compassion issues, the environment being one of them, and that may scrape off some of the religious support that was so solid for the president in the last election."

Social conservatives are dubious about the Democratic Party's efforts.

"They're really ramping it up because they've seen what value voters accomplished in the last race," said Stemberger, whose group recently hosted 600 people at an Orlando fundraiser. "I don't think it's sincere . . . You can't hire consultants to learn how to talk to Christians."

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