"Church officials met on election eve with President Obama to support his policies. But exit polls clearly show that their claimed constituency of churchgoers voted very differently." -- Mark Tooley, IRD President
Contact: Jeff Walton, Institute on Religion and Democracy, 202-682-4131, 202-413-5639 cell, jwalton@TheIRD.org
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 /Christian Newswire/ -- On November 1, a large delegation from the National Council of Churches, which claims to represent over 40 million church members, came to the White House to "thank President Obama for passage of historic health reform legislation and robust engagement with the faith community." The NCC leaders, according to their press release, also deplored the "fear-mongering and divisiveness" of the campaign in which the president's policies came under heavy criticism.
But the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reports that white mainline Protestants favored Republicans by a 54-36 margin in late October. And exit polls Tuesday showed white evangelicals voting Republican by an overwhelming 78-20 spread, thus belying the evangelical left's claims of a growing constituency.
IRD President Mark Tooley commented:
"The election eve National Council of Churches 'prayer' meeting with President Obama was eerily reminiscent of the NCC's similarly partisan meeting in 1995 with President Clinton, where church leaders prayed that the Democratic president would be 'strong for the task' of resisting the then new Republican Congress. Then as now, the NCC's mainline Protestant constituency is more diverse and more conservative than the liberal NCC elites are willing to admit.
"Also suspect are claims by the evangelical left, represented most prominently by Jim Wallis of Sojourners, that evangelicals are flocking to support 'progressive' causes and candidates. Exit polls showed that evangelicals voted Republican this week by exactly the same margin that they backed George W. Bush in 2004 -- previously the high water mark of evangelical leanings in a conservative, Republican direction.
"The evangelical left and the old religious left represented by the NCC continually equate God's Kingdom with big government. But their professed constituencies obviously believe very differently."
The Institute on Religion & Democracy works to reaffirm the church's biblical and historical teachings, strengthen and reform its role in public life, protect religious freedom, and renew democracy at home and abroad.
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