{"id":260,"date":"2008-01-18T00:33:13","date_gmt":"2008-01-18T00:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godometer\/2008\/01\/courting-evangelicals-flat-on.html"},"modified":"2008-01-18T00:33:13","modified_gmt":"2008-01-18T00:33:13","slug":"courting-evangelicals-flat-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godometer\/2008\/01\/courting-evangelicals-flat-on.html","title":{"rendered":"Courting Evangelicals, Flat on Faith and Values"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"thompson6.jpg\"As his campaign ambles along the back roads of upstate South Carolina, it\u2019s little surprise that many of the voters turning out to hear Fred Thompson are evangelical Christians. In these parts, Baptist churches are more common than any chain restaurant. As Thompson spoke at Yoder\u2019s Dutch Kitchen in Abbeville the other day, the marquee out front was mum on about daily specials but did proclaim \u201cJesus is Lord.\u201d
\nThe biggest applause line in Thompson\u2019s stump speech at stops like this is that Americans\u2019 rights \u201ccome from God, not the government.\u201d
\nIndeed, Thompson\u2019s aides are the first to admit they view Mike Huckabee, the Baptist preacher whose main base of support in early primary and caucus states has come from evangelical Christians, as their prime competition here. They say Thompson\u2019s modest increases in recent polls here have come at Huckabee\u2019s expense.
\nBut as Thompson continues to bank on strong support from religious conservatives for a top three finish here, he has nonetheless remained reticent about his own faith and is visibly less excited speaking about socially conservative causes like stopping abortion and gay marriage than about terrorism, government spending, or illegal immigration. That reticence and enthusiasm gap could wind up costing him dearly in the Palmetto State.
\nAfter offering rambling answers to questions about immigration and economy at Whiteford\u2019s Giant Burger in small-town Laurens on Wednesday, Thompson parried a question about his views on \u201cabortion\u201d and \u201cother moral issues\u201d in 20 second flat. \u201cI\u2019m the candidate on the Republican side that has received the endorsement of the National Right to Life folks and the South Carolina Citizens for Life\u2014I think that says it all,\u201d Thompson said coolly. \u201cI held my record better than anybody. I had a 100-percent pro-life voting record while I was in the Senate.\u201d
\nThe questioner, hungry for more red meat on hot-button social issues, threw Thompson a softball: \u201cAnd what about keeping ‘In God We Trust’ on our money and keeping references to God\u2026\u201d
\nBut Thompson just grew chillier. \u201cAbsolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely,\u201d he interrupted. \u201cOur country was founded on those things and those beliefs. It\u2019s on our monuments and on our currency. That says it all.\u201d
\nNext question.
\nMany national Christian Right figures have long expressed skepticism about Thompson after being initially bullish about him, with the drain in support due as much to his apparent lack of passion for social issues as to his actual positions. In an email briefing last night<\/a>, Family Research Council Action president Tony Perkins wrote that Thompson is \u201cstruggling to interest [religious conservative] voters\u2026 when his manner suggests his own lack of passion for them.\u201d
\nIf Thompson was hoping to skirt the influence of evangelical power players like Perkins by taking his case directly to religious conservatives, he might run up against the same problems he encountered with their leadership. \u201cI was hoping to get something more personal, more of a testimony,\u201d said Amanda Capps, managing editor of the Laurens County Advertiser<\/em>, after interviewing Thompson on his campaign bus following his appearance at Whiteford\u2019s Giant Burger. \u201cWe want the right person to be in charge, and that starts with Jesus Christ.\u201d
\n\u201cI asked about his prayer in schools, and he didn\u2019t\u2019 say much,\u201d Capps added.
\nThompson, in a brief interview<\/a>, said the only time faith comes up on the campaign trail is when reporters, not voters, ask him about it. \u201cThe only thing I hear about it are because of questions of people such as yourself [reporters] are asking, and otherwise it\u2019s never an issue,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cPeople have a right to their opinions and a right to express their opinions, and it\u2019s not for me to judge them on that basis and I don\u2019t appreciate it when I\u2019m judged.\u201d
\nIn fact, Thompson\u2019s events are often filled with outspoken evangelicals who ask about \u201cmoral issues\u201d and matters as diverse as Israel and keeping \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d on currency as an invitation for Thompson to open up about his faith. \u201cWe don\u2019t want someone in office who goes to church once a year just to get credit,\u201d said Austin New, a 27-year old forester who attended a Thompson Q&A in Abbeville this week. \u201cWe don\u2019t want separation of church and state.\u201d
\nEarlier in the campaign, Thompson had made it clear that he\u2019s not a regular churchgoer.
\nAfter seeing Thompson, New said he was still deciding between Thompson and Huckabee.
\nIn an interview on Wednesday<\/a>, Thompson\u2019s wife Jeri defended her husband\u2019s reticence about his personal faith. \u201cSince when is humility a bad thing?\u201d she said. \u201cThis is the fist cycle when humility in a leader… how would Abe Lincoln have fared, how would Eisenhower have fared?\u201d
\n\u201cBut if we didn\u2019t have faith, we wouldn\u2019t be here,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe have nothing to lose here but our integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As his campaign ambles along the back roads of upstate South Carolina, it\u2019s little surprise that many of the voters turning out to hear Fred Thompson are evangelical Christians. In these parts, Baptist churches are more common than any chain restaurant. 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