Why Evangelicals Vote Right

It is no secret that if one U.S. political party is labeled as "evangelical Christian," it is the Republican Party.

Born-again Christians were a significant factor in President Bush’s re-election, the Barna Group reported after the 2004 election. Last year, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said that the GOP is "pretty much a white, Christian party." And in its "Republican Party" entry, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia states that Judeo-Christian voters who are more religiously active "identify more with the Republican Party, while secular and less religiously active citizens identify more with the Democratic Party.”

Go figure.

Call it a demographic. A stereotype. A label. Call it what you will—but keep in mind that while a lot of stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason, labels can be very misleading.

One of those often-misleading labels is the term "evangelical." Many erroneously call themselves evangelicals—yet they empirically deny the very essence of the term.

Let me explain. The term "evangelical" was assumed by those who believed that salvation is only possible through faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Somehow, through the years, the term has lost its potency, and many who would not subscribe to its true meaning now wrap themselves with its flag.

True evangelicals believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation and heaven and that the Bible’s two covenants—old and new—are God’s self-revelation. Tragically, to many in our culture and in the popular media, the term "evangelical" conjures up the image of angry people who are anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, and anti-sexual promiscuity.

First and foremost, true evangelicals are not anti-anything. They are pro-life because God’s Word—which, again, we take to be His self-revelation—clearly states that a baby in the womb is knitted and weaved by God. The Psalmist writes: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb....When I was woven together...your eyes saw my unformed body" (Psalm 139:13, 15-16, NIV). And in Jeremiah we read, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5, NIV).

True evangelicals are pro-heterosexual marriage. God created man and woman to be anatomically compatible; therefore, any other sexual practice is a perversion of His creation. True evangelicals are pro-family because a family defined as a husband, a wife, and children is God’s idea. In Genesis, we read that “a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (2:24, NIV). Anything that tampers with that idea collides with God’s excellent plan for human happiness.

Continued on page 2: Why do evangelicals support the war in Iraq? »