‘Evangelical Manifesto’ Seeks To Add Political Balance

The Associated Press reported that more than 70 evangelical leaders have drafted and released “An Evangelical Manifesto,” a call to evangelical Christians to consider multiple perspectives and to abandon single-issue voting.

The 19-page document speaks specifically to the fact that many evangelical Christians, particularly pastors and leaders, vote for Republican candidates and do so based on the Republican Party’s platform on traditional values issues. However, the manifesto’s writers address a trend that younger evangelicals are more concerned with social issues such as poverty and global warming than previous generations have been. Pundits estimate that one-third of the Republican Party’s base could be identified as “evangelical.”

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, read the manifesto and was invited to sign it, but he declined. Gary Schneeburger, spokesperson for Focus on the Family, said Dobson took the manifesto to the group’s board and they suggested he not sign it for “a myriad of reasons.”

As a primary reason, Dobson cited that the manifesto was not circulated among enough African-American ministers and was perhaps ignoring their viewpoints. He did not provide any other reasons to the Associated Press.

Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention, said he was not asked to sign the manifesto. Numerous other theologians and church organization leaders also voiced opinions on the issue. Some of the writers include Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in California; Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Jim Wallis, founder and editor of Sojourners Magazine; and Frank Wright, president of the National Religious Broadcasters.

The message of the manifesto is bipartisan, said John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. As well as encouraging increased tolerance from traditional evangelicals, it also invokes liberals who have tended to ignore values voters’ concerns.