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November 7th, 2012
08:21 AM ET
Election results raise questions about Christian right's influenceBy Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor Washington (CNN) – For many conservative Christian leaders, it was a nightmare scenario: Barack Obama decisively re-elected. Same-sex marriage adopted by voters in some states. Rigorously anti-abortion candidates defeated in conservative red states. On multiple levels, Tuesday’s election results raised questions about the Christian right’s agenda on American politics, eight years after the movement helped sweep President George W. Bush into a second term and opened the era of state bans on same-sex marriage. “For the first time tonight, same-sex marriage has been passed by popular vote in Maine and Maryland,” said Robert P. Jones, a Washington-based pollster who specializes in questions about politics and religion. “The historic nature of these results are hard to overstate,” Jones said. “Given the strong support of younger Americans for same-sex marriage, it is unlikely this issue will reappear as a major national wedge issue.” Your Take: Should churches be polling places? Some conservative evangelical leaders echoed that line. Albert Mohler, who heads the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said on Twitter that votes for same-sex marriage suggested that “we are witnessing a fundamental moral realignment of the country.” A Tuesday ballot measure to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state is still pending. In Minnesota, voters rejected a Tuesday measure that would have banned same-sex marriage there. Thirty-eight states have banned same-sex marriage, mostly via constitutional amendments. Obama’s victory also raised questions about the Christian right's influence in the electorate. Though evangelical leaders as diverse as the Southern Baptist Convention’s Richard Land and Christian icon Billy Graham voiced support for Mitt Romney (Graham stopped short of an official endorsement), Obama performed better among white evangelicals than he did in 2008 in some states. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter In swing state Ohio, exit polls showed that Obama got 30% support among white evangelicals. While that’s hardly a victory, it’s better than the 27% support Obama got among those voters four years ago. Before the election, many evangelical leaders predicted that opposition to Obama over his support for abortion rights, his personal endorsement of same-sex marriage and his vision of government as a force for good would trump reservations evangelicals had about Romney’s past social liberalism and his Mormon faith. “There is no evidence in voting patterns that President Obama's 'evolution' on same-sex marriage cost him anything,” Mohler said in another tweet Tuesday night. Obama also narrowly won Catholics, even after the U.S. Catholic bishops waged a rigorous campaign against the Obama administration around the issue of religious liberty. The bishops alleged Obama was forcing Catholics to violate their own teachings by making health insurance companies provide free contraception coverage for virtually all employees. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories John Green, a religion and politics expert at the University of Akron, said Obama’s win among Catholics was partly a testament to the growing Latino demographic. “Maybe Hispanic Catholics were not as moved by religious liberty-type arguments as by immigration and economics,” he said. Unlike in 2004, when John Kerry – a former altar boy – lost Catholic voters, the Obama campaign had a robust religious outreach program aimed largely at Catholic and evangelical voters. The effort included videos from Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, a Catholic, talking about their Christian faith. Obama's success among some religious demographics also illustrated how economic issues, as opposed to culture war concerns, dominated the election cycle. The defeat Tuesday of two Republican Senate candidates who made national headlines with anti-abortion remarks also raised questions about the Christian right’s power. In Missouri, U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin, who in August walked back his remark that "if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," lost his bid to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat. Akin’s campaign became a national cause for conservative Christian activists after the Republican Party abandoned the candidate and encouraged him to drop out over his abortion remark. In Indiana, Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock lost his race against Democrat Joe Donnelly after saying last month that pregnancies resulting from rape are “something that God intended to happen.” Conservative Christians did claim some victories Tuesday night, including helping the GOP retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives and helping elect tea party favorite Ted Cruz as a U.S. senator from Texas. Ralph Reed, the leader of conservative group the Faith & Freedom Coalition, planned a Wednesday morning press conference to release his data about what he called the enduring influence of “values voters.” “Preliminary evidence is they turned out and they voted heavily for Romney,” Reed said in an e-mail message Tuesday night. soundoff (4,433 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 Next »Post a comment
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Paul do you ahve a point? Because the country made a point election day. Okay..joke fo the day...how many Mormons does it take to lose an election? ...................Answer: One
Much of the slip in conservative evangelical influence is because of how we go about communicating what we believe as seen in the vicious verbal aftermath of the elections. I wrote about it here... http://spreadinghislove.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/elections-the-vicious-verbal-aftermath/
" conservative evangelical" is an oxymoron, like religious right. Your Jesus was the biggest liberal ever. You nutters perverted him into some right-wing môron.
L. H. Oswald, the patsy patriot.
S P O O K Y for a LIBBY.
Troops, don't get any ideas about fraggin' just because the generals have eyes for your wives, and your children aren't safe in divorce court. You are out gunned. It's called freedom in americult. He who has the most guns rules.
What happened to Petraeus, the darling of Bush and the right?
The generals are starting to make their moves in this Banana Republic and have become emboldened.
If you don't like this country, you are free to leave.
Sour gr@pes make the best WHINE.
I saw too much posturing rather than dealing with the issue of abortion and gay marriage head on in this election. That is what the right should get out of this election. Abortion is a winnable debate. You can't kill babies in their mother's womb!
If it is indeed a winnable debate, then why is there such a lack of substantive action on the part of supposedly pro-life candidates ? Could it be that they really wish no end to the debate ? Could it be that they prefer, rather, to have it as a reliable tool to use every election season ?
Abortion was debated in the highest court in the land in 1973. You lost, get over it.
The outcome of the war against gay marriage is obvious. It's just a matter of time.
Abortion is not a "winnable debate" because of the many complexities involved. You can't say "never".
In Ireland, abortion is illegal.
Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old Indian who was 17 weeks pregnant, checked into the hospital with severe pain.
Doctors determined that she was miscarrying and over the next three days, repeatedly denied her an abortion to combat her incredible pain and fading health.
That night, she vomited repeatedly and collapsed in a restroom, but doctors wouldn't terminate the fetus because its heart was still beating.
The fetus died the following day and its remains were surgically removed.
Within hours, the mother was placed under sedation in intensive care with blood poisoning.
By Saturday her heart, kidneys and liver had stopped working and she was pronounced dead early Sunday, Oct. 28.
That is so terrible. What a heluva way to leave this planet.
Gerald, perhaps you can explain something to simpletons like me – from 2000 to 2006 the religioius right (oxymoron) had the perfect storm of religious nuttery. You owned the White House, Senate, House, and Supreme Court. Why did you folks not repeal Roe? Why no constîtutional amendments banning abortion or gay marriage?
[Hint - it's because your political puppemasters are playing you religious nuttters like a cheap violin]
Prayer changes things .
"Ronald Regonzo" who degenerates to:
"Salvatore" degenerates to:
"Douglas" degenerates to:
"truth be told" degenerates to:
"Thinker23" degenerates to:
"Atheism is not healthy ..." degenerates to:
"another repentant sinner" degenerates to:
"Dodney Rangerfield" degenerates to:
"tina" degenerates to:
"captain america" degenerates to:
"Atheist Hunter" degenerates to:
"Anybody know how to read? " degenerates to:
"just sayin" degenerates to:
"ImLook'nUp" degenerates to:
"Kindness" degenerates to:
"Chad" degenerates to
"Bob" degenerates to
"nope" degenerates to:
"2357" degenerates to:
"WOW" degenerates to:
"fred" degenerates to:
"!" degenerates to;
"pervert alert" is the degenerate.
This troll is not a christian.
Prayer does not; you are such a LIAR. You have NO proof it changes anything! A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.
An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.
The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs.~
Ask Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and tens of millions of Republicans how prayer changed things on election day.
TrollAlert,
That's a lot of "degenerates".
All morality is gone.
The unborn children are massacred
Give it 50 years and anybody can get married (2 men, 2 women, 1 woman and 2 men, 1 man, 1 woman and their dog, 1 man and 1 girl, any group...)
Since there is no god, go ahead and do whatever thiefery, druggery, you want to. no need to love your neighbor
Be very afraid
Delusional nonsense.
So you need to have a big brother watching over your shoulder in order to have "morals?"
You can't be a good person without your sky fairy?
And if the lives of the unborn are so important to you, then why are you for the death penalty?
do you think that "druggery" is immoral?
..,
The Bible never mentions abortion.
GUESS again.
Actually, Mr. dot.dot, if you truly believe that you have no obligation to love your neighbor unless compelled to do so by a grouchy, violent, vindictive deity who's watching over your every move, then the love you're talking about is hollow, empty, fake, and pointless.
I live a moral life because it's the correct way to live, not because I'm trying to impress some ghost.
deranged fear mongering
I think that the point of this article is to note how this country is evolving and voting for its leaders based on what they feel matters most, which is no longer religion. Religion is clearly declining in America and as it becomes less a part of peoples' daily lives, other issues such as the economy begin to matter more. America was founded on the separation of church and state, but in the past with people voting for the president based on his religious values, this was impossible. Now, for the first time America is beginning to separate religion from politics as was exemplified in Obama's victory
They don't teach the distinctives of Masters and PUblic Servants anymore. You lose.
Thankfully, the reign of non-existent invisible deitys is coming to an end. Pedophile priests will have to hang out in school yards just like the regular pedophiles. ITS A FESTIVUS MIRACLE!
Not nice to tell a half-truth, Lucy, while you have Elmo out trolling. Now put a warrant out on Gandhi and quit playing games with "law" for ages of participants.
"while you have Elmo out trolling"
Yo, idiot, read the news Elmo was setup the guy confessed that he lied.
Rickie, you just slandered the gay communes. When they lie, Lucy made them do it. Get with it, dudette.
lol??,
The Elmo accuser admitted he lied. End of story.
Do some research next time.
Obstructionist-server, end of his-story? "Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:" It appears you have a conflict with the writer of history.
lol??,
How about a biblical quote on false accusations so you can see how you disobeyed the bible again?
Be my guest, Ob. You have to have a book somewhere, with all that playing god that you like to do.
lol??,
Still stumped on a Bible quote?
As long as you are picking and choosing, why not quote the Golden Rule for a change since you obviously didn't have that in mind when you slandered "Elmo"?
Elmo only has to burn once and he's finished. Those pulling the strings get a double dose.
Whatdaya mean, "Dose of what?"? Finishing school, of course. Finished the course.
lol??,
If you've never heard of it, I could quote the Golden Rule for you.
Why are all the comments on here, from the "far-right" so crazy sounding?
Obama cheated to win. Cooked the books! Almost 60 precincts in Philadelphia voted only for Obama. And this is all ordained by God. Obama is ordained to be the anti-Christ and lead America and the world into the depths of destruction. Originally a personality cult, Obama will lead America to its ruin - and you all dance and celebrate the coming of the fiscal cliff. You have not seen anything yet! Repent! Get your lives in order!
Hmmm...weasly...you sound just a little bit crazy you know....
Oh no... I have to pent again! The last time I did it they said the pent had a 20-year guarantee.
weasel, get your head in order
* excuse my German accent, Scheissvoll
Yes he did cheat. I'm barricading myself and family in the basement and booby trapping the doors so no one can get IN or OUT!!!!!
Jeebus is waiting, Wesley....do you have tall buildings where you live?
Yeah right. Anti-christ. I hereby change your cults name from christian to dullard. It is your belief in the supernatural that gives me my power, and I intend to set you on fire for all eternity. Its a hobby of mine. Im the devil and I approve this message.
Jesus taught in Matthew 22:37-40 the two great commandments. Can you imagine what a wonderful world we would live in if all followed those commandments. Jesus also teaches the road to hell is very wide and many would follow it while the road to Heaven is narrow and few would follow it. Ask yourself...which road are you following???
What does this have to do with the article?
I just want to let people know that republicans and the far-right are going to h*ll.
Being xstian IS NOT PATRIOTIC. Some Founding Fathers' quotes;
“Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. I had hoped that liberal and enlightened thought would have reconciled the Christians so that their religious fights would not endanger the peace of Society.” George Washington Letter to Sir Edward Newenham, June 22, 1792
“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” John Adams, Treaty of Tripoly, article 11
“Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined, and imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites.” Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia
Yes, You "Talibangelicals" those are real quotes. Go eat at Chick fil A before their sales drop more, and then go to a library for a change and learn something.
Darwin was a racist who married his cousin. How smart is that? You can cut the matriotic garbage while you're at it, dude.
The Bible made an example of King Solomon as possibly the wisest of men.
Solomon had over 1,000 wives and concubines.
For the first time in my life I"m thankful toward the "christian right" WE WON!!!! Thanks to the "christian right's" insanity.
James Carville is correct......."40 More Years: How Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.
THANK YOU TO THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT.
That's a very big load of responsibility you have there, Daahhwin. Does it pay well?
lol, you know your Darwin racist claims are just another fundie lie to defend your precious creationism. Marrying his cousin was legal.
Which is more despicable, marrying one's 30 year old cousin or impregnating a 12 year old virgin and then abandoning both the girl and the baby? I'll take Darwin over god any day.
Veritas, perchance you've heard of, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life"?
Christians have always held to the doctrine of the first Adam, the ark, and "1Cr 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit." Jesus is that son of man. Leakey is now betraying Darwin. But, hey, whatever rocks your boat or gives it leakeys!
End Religion, your MOEJO (Missile of Empathy) is unguided and off target. "Luk 1:46-47 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."
If my missile was so far off target, why did you post in further defense of child rape?
Thank you, Observer: your comment illustrates my point perfectly.
Do you really intend that as a comeback? How stupid! Firstly, try the reply button. Secondly, look up the term "wit." Thirdly, don't attempt it if you can't pull it off.
Moby, you be "in charge". However, you're not much of a god.
Go ahead, talk trash about Christians. It shows how intolerant and narrow-minded you are.
Being narrow-minded and intolerant is supporting slavery and discrimination like the Bible does against women, the handicapped and gays.
Thank you, Moby Shtick, for sharing with all of us your conviction that a misplaced mouse click or a typographical error totally invalidates the point of a posting: it illustrates my point all the more.
Ob, "Sorry! The word "gays" doesn't occur in the KJV."
Paul Sartre,
So pointing out the intolerance and narrow-mindedness of the Bible makes someone also narrow-minded and intolerant?
Do you have any point at all?
And thank you, Sartre for not grasping the relevance of points two and three.
lol??,
So you can't relate gays to references in the Bible?
If you said "abortion", then you might have a point.
Ob, God is a perfect judge. Unlike you, He has standards.
lol??,
You are right. I don't have the same standards as God. I don't believe in killing unruly children or adulterers or fortune-tellers. I don't believe in slavery and discriminating against women, handicapped people and gays.
I'm proud of not having all those standards that God has. So do you have those same standards?
Ob, so you would have fought The Lord's mission tooth and nail so nobody could get saved? No thanky to you. I hear the Egyptians aren't so hot on Jesus to this day. Why don't you join up over there?
lol??,
Do you follow the Bible when it comes to slavery and discrimination against women and the handicapped?
Ob, give me a quote so I can be clear with my response.
lol??,
Do you agree with God that men with crushed testicles shouldn't go to church?
BTW Ob, "modern gays" stole GOD'S token, the bow, and are using it for their movement. That's not cricket.
What the hell are you babbling about lol?
LOL! I was thinking the exact same fracking thing about lol.
i think "lol??" somehow feels it's is unfair that gay folks use a rainbow in a bunch of their marketing. Evidently there is some imaginary cosmic trademarking practice that "lol??" is aware of but we are not.
End Religion, trademark of the Beast? HHHHhhhmmmm. Are you a prophet?
The sickest people I've ever met have been evangelicals. I had a family full of them – abusers, incesters, gamblers, drunks and na'er do wells. Their problem is they think everyone has the same black hearts as themselves and project that out. Remember Jim and Tammy Bakker? How about Ted Haggert? Go google the list of list of scandals involving evangelical xtians. There's about 50 of them since the 70's, most fairly recent.....and then there's the ones who have been caught yet, the endless child molesters......... The article points out the tally doesn't include Catholics or "new religions." You want G*d in your life? Go outside in nature and you find the divine. Look in a child's eye's. Really look at the homeless person on the street. You will never find G*d in a church.
"Luk 13:20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Another: "Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."
Perhaps YOU, Ms. SuZieCoyote, will never find God in a church, but other people have, and do, and will continue to do so. Maybe you should visit some other types of churches that are not what you call "Evangelical": there is always room for one more hypocrite.
"there is always room for one more hypocrite (in church)".
Amen.
to the atheist Paul of Sartre, what god are you referring to? I like them all, buddha, allah, zeus, aphrodite, jesus, krishna, lord... it's a good group. which one are you talking about? I wanna be able to pick them out of the crowd when i go the next annual "meeting of the gods" in New York. Thanks
Paul Sartre
"Perhaps YOU, Ms. SuZieCoyote, will never find Santa in a church, but other people have, and do, and will continue to do so. Maybe you should visit some other types of churches that are not what you call "Evangelical": there is always room for one more hypocrite."
.
Huh??????
Obamaramadan is a mooselim. He hates Christians.
If you are one, it's easy to understand why any thinking person would hate them.
Oh, I'm sorry ediguy2, are you afraid of the scary, scary black president with the funny, funny name?
The conservative Americans have become a distinct minority and are unlikely to ever again be a major influence in national politics. The country is always changing as it matures. It is the same for humanity. Religion will become less and less important in peoples lives as the educate themselves. It may always have some romantic appeal, like the old west.
You confused maturing with dying.
You and the Left are soely mistaken........The ONLY reason Osama won again is because 12 million less Conservatives showed up at the polls......fact.
And 8 million less show up in 2008 from the 2004. Which gives a grand total of 20 million. The viscious circle has come around once again and the damage done from 8 years of this Administration will once again be repaired in 2016....Provided the GOP runs someone worthy of support.... All those 20 million people will once again show up for Libs demise for another 10 or 20 years, then Dems. will do it again.....
rman,
Those MILLIONS of conservatives didn't care enough to make a change in presidents.
Ooops.
rman your math doesn't include the explosive growth of hispanics in the south that are turning red states blue. Texas is next. Republicans may not see a red President for a long time. Be sure to stock your bunker up.
wow, rman....how edgy, calling the president "osama".....
you must be one of them geniuses....
If everyone left stanidn in Germany thought Hitler was right, he'd still be wrong.
The conservative Americans have become a distinct minority and are unlikely to ever again be a major influence in national politics. The country is always changing as it matures. It is the same for humanity. Religion will become less and less important in peoples lives as the educate themselves. It may always have some romantic appeal, like the old west.