When Jessica Stollings learned on Facebook that John McCain had named Sarah Palin as his running mate, the 26-year-old from Bristol, Tenn., took the day off and picked up some campaign yard signs. Just like that, she went from "just a voter" to a McCain evangelist.
"He's a lot more visionary than I thought," said Stollings, a blooming evangelical activist for her generation who believes God has raised up Palin "for such a time as this."
Similar excitement built on the Virginia campus of conservative Christian Patrick Henry College, where busloads of students went on a road-trip to a McCain-Palin rally that drew thousands.
The mood was darker on blogs and social networking sites that connect more center-left young evangelicals. There, McCain's choice has been greeted as a cynical political ploy, a depressing return to the culture wars and damaging to efforts to broaden the evangelical dialogue.
Polls have yet to measure the Palin Effect on younger evangelical voters, whose shifting political allegiances put the demographic in play for both major-party presidential campaigns.
But a portrait emerges through interviews with more than a dozen pastors, authors and others who either belong to that generation or track it: Conservatives are energized much like their elders, progressives are unimpressed and many undecideds are gravitating toward McCain-Palin.
"I think the jury is still out on young evangelicals," said Cameron Strang, editor of Relevant magazine, an influential publication for this group. "Both parties have the opportunity to address issues of deep concern for this voting bloc."
Strang, 32, has been courted by Democrat Barack Obama's campaign. He accepted an invitation to speak on a panel at the Democratic National Convention about the faith vote and attended Obama's acceptance speech.
Yet Strang said he's "more undecided than ever." He said he was encouraged by Democratic pledges to reduce the number of abortions, but now worries the party is using abortion as a wedge issue by running ads sharply contrasting Palin and Obama on abortion rights.
Strang said he's waiting for the Republicans to talk more about health care and the economy — and is both intrigued and unmoved by Palin.
"It's a great story, but I don't know what's changed," he said. "She's pro-life, but we already knew the ticket was pro-life. She really doesn't broaden the agenda."
A Pew survey last fall showed under-30 white evangelicals are increasingly up for grabs politically: 40 percent identified as Republican, down 15 percent from 2005. Most who abandoned the GOP were becoming independents, not Democrats.
On the whole, evangelicals under 30 say Palin enthuses them because she's a fresh face with a compelling family story, a reputation as a reformer and a champion of conservative moral values.
"Obama has had a lot of appeal for being new, fresh, cool and bringing change," said Alex Harris, an evangelical college freshman who co-founded the online activists' group Huck's Army to support Mike Huckabee. "Palin is fresh and new, but she is also rock solid on issues like abortion. A lot of young evangelicals would have a hard time supporting Obama" for his abortion rights stance.
Palin's personal story — including a 17-year-old daughter pregnant out of wedlock — resonates with young evangelicals who have friends facing similar ordeals, Harris said. Continue >>
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Did Obama support the murder of Christians in Kenya? Aparently he raised $1 million dollars to his uncle who did.
Obama is the most liberal Senator. Biden is the 3rd most liberal Senator.
McCain is moderate. Palin seems conservative.
I prefer moderate and conservative.
"In fact he has the farthest left record."
Even the liberal media is pointing that out like he's some kind of hero for it.
bobtx, but the giving of Christians is a whole lot better than non-Christians.
Jesus loved the little children. How must He feel every time an unborn child is murdered?...
BobTX,
I don't think anyone has said that the Republican party is the party of God and none of us have said the Republican party and many of their caniddates are not flawed.
What we did say collectively though, as Christians you must have a hiearchy of values and we must vote for the person who will inflict the least amount of intrinsic evil in our country. McCain wins that contest hands down, that is all any of us presented. We are also not saying that McCain is perfect. In my eyes he is far from that.
It is not prudential judgement to say that some of my members of my family are just cultural Christians or Christian in name only. I know them, I've known them all their lives. Their fruit would give anyone who met them the same conclusion. I was not making a prudential judgement on the state of their soul. Since we are saved by Grace through faith and that faith must be an active faith, then I'm not certain if they have a strong faith as the rest of our family does.
I do pray that they stop tip toeing in the shallow end of the pool with their relationship with Christ and just jump all the way in and surrender themselves fully to Christ. Only Christ saves.
For me and mine we will be voting Republican. An informed conscience is important and we must inform it through reading the word of God and through the teachings on faith and morals by our Church.
I've said ti all along, this is the lesser of two evils choice. Is it worse to support support the murder babies or is it worse to support someone who did something wrong decades ago. They are politicians, of course they stretch the truth.
The difference is, McCain's record is not one of flip-flop/waffling/switching on positions. McCain knows what he believes and votes that way. McCain has authored many bills and successfully had them passed.
What has Obama done? Write TWO books on himself. Look at the man's speeches - he is convinced he is the messiah and Moses all rolled into one.
Me, I prefer to vote for someone who mostly stands where I stand on most issues, than someone who is either learning who he is and what he believes or simply is not honest enough to let the people know the truth and has to give the appearence of waffling when in fact his position is most likely the original position he gave, before his handlers and the polls told him it was not a popular position.
Bobtx
looks like you won't vote for Obama either his speechs are full of lies too. He has not have a voting record even close to the middle. In fact he has the farthest left record. He accepts credit for bills he did not make as his also. It was just shown that the eithics bill in illinois was not his at all, nor did he have any say in what went in it but was only given the lead in speech on the senate floor and was the so called spokesman for the bill when media asked questions. Jones handed him all his bills he sponsered in the state senate
wbmoore:
That sentiment about just letting us Christians take care of the poor would be great if we were not so stubbornly selfish. Giving rates by Christians are ridiculously lower than most people would agree meets the definition of tithing, and could never take care of the number of people in need without some serious change. Your idea is optimistic, I'll give you that, but I think that my guess (and I obviously do not know his mind for sure) would be that God would not frown on a Christian who looked realistically at our fallen world and concluded that jubilee clearly gets ignored without some shared authority pushing for some form of redistribution that keeps the poor from true complete misery. Maybe I am a sympathizer for "bleeding heart liberalism" in your mind, but I assure you that I really just want there to be a realistic chance that the needy get some help.
Jesus called us to some pretty radical things, and it is odd that we have so infused his message with messages of the state like "it is ok to kill people in the employ of the state (Christians in the Army)," or "it is ok to lie for political gain."
"All I can say about your sibling who is a Liberal democrat, I'm guessing she is not as solid as the rest of you with her faith in Christ? We have other family members we know of that are democrats but none of them attend church regularly and are cultural Christians at best."
So you have privileged info on their relationships with Christ? I think it is an incredibly moronic thing to say that one party is God's party and you must not be a Xian if you don't vote for it. This is not only disgusting, it is in many ways a form of idolatry. The bible has very specific things to say about putting your trust in the princes (or princesses, in this case I guess) of the world. Both parties have put forth flawed human candidates who support some Christian positions and hold others offensive to sensibilities based on scripture. Let's not pretend something gray is black and white, and let's certainly not use it as a way to judge people to be "real" Christians or not.
I am a youngish evangelical (Baptist), and I have mixed feelings on this. While I would enjoy worshiping in the same congregation as Palin, I see her selection as a cynical pander to us. Not only is she (really) unqualified, if you actually research her record and positions, for the chance she could abruptly become president, she also is repeatedly lying on the stump. I have trouble supporting someone who more and more seems like a serial liar and whose rhetoric does not match her past actions at all. It is very concerning, and I think it is shocking that so many people went into instant adulation mode before we even knew anything about her. Aren't we called to be wary of people who would take advantage of us?
I have waited a few weeks to comment regarding her, to let truth have time to trickle out before I made my mind up. My honest take is complete horror.
I also can't believe she is setting herself up for contempt of court charges by refusing to cooperate or allow her employees to cooperate with a perfectly legal and bipartisan commissioned (majority Rep.) investigation. This looks more like organized crime than it does a leader who loves justice.
Obama may claim to be a christian and he may be . We do not know. His fruit shows otherwise. abortion and gays marriage is not something a christian should be advocating. The nice thing about Palin is she lives out her beliefs. I saw clippings of her before running for any office, and she still invokes God in speech and as her source of joy. So far, politics has not changed her. Hopefully they won't. While she still advocates God's way we need that reflection in our government. It is one thing to talk it, but she is living it.
My dad was a democrat because of labor. Plus being a dem in Texas at the time was like being a republican there today in most respects - they were very conservative in most issues.
I started out dem, then I found Christ and grew in my knowledge of what God teaches. I became a rep because of abortion and the belief that we need to support ourselves and the needy, rather than have government do it.
believer,
In my family we were all Democrats in the early 50's because of Social Justice issues, issues that are still important but not as much as intrinsic evils like the ones I've mentioned. Now, because of morality for the most part we are all Republicans in our house. I have five kids and they are all Republican. I do have one cousin who is a Democrat, but then again he is also Gay too.
All I can say about your sibling who is a Liberal democrat, I'm guessing she is not as solid as the rest of you with her faith in Christ? We have other family members we know of that are democrats but none of them attend church regularly and are cultural Christians at best.
Keep on discipling her, she still has time to change and convert her vote. Pray for her, I know I will.
chris, although parents need to rightly raise their kids, ultimately they will decide which candidates they will vote for. I grew up in a home where there was only one rule with regards to voting, Vote Row A All The Way". My parents were heavily involved in politics and I don't remember an event at my house where a political candidate wasn't present if not more than one. My mom ran for office and served as a co-chairman for the election of our congressman. But none of their children became hard-core Republicans and my sister is very much a Liberal Democrat.
The young evangelical vote is split only because their parents didn't do a good job of discipling them!
How can any Christian vote for someone like Obama who is for the most intrisic evils of all; abortion, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and gay marriage. We can argue about healthcare, education and immigration and the war and neither side is supporting an intrisic evil.
Palin will be a wonderful VP, and her husband will need to step up to the plate and be Mr. Mommy while she is office and he realizes this. So, will she be a traditional mommy? No. Will she and her husband provide a loving and nurturing environment for their children? Yes!!
Will they teach their Children about Christ? You betchya!
Did you notice that Barrak's wife is not giving up her job, as she makes more than he does. Their children have been taken care of by day care for a long time. Palin's kids are taken care of by family. BIG DIFFERENCE.
Is everyone ignorant of the fact that a Governor has a million times more responsibility than a Senator? Palin is a Chief executive, which is more than both Obama and Biden combined. It's like comparing a CEO of major public company to someone who is a community organizer. Yes, she has zero foreign affairs experience, but either did JFK.
McCain/Palin 2008
Dr. Laura takes turns on slaming Obama and Palin. And why? But that is her style, i have heard her on the Radio, giving advice, and while a Professional she is very short on people skills. To the point sometimes of being heartless.
It will be tough to be Vice-President and a wife and mommy. Dr. Laura feels that it is to big a bite for Palin, as she put it in her own mean style of her commentary. As Esther was put in a place and Time to Save the Jews from Anniliation, so perhaps Palin is there for "Such a time as this."
Obama publicly claims he is Christian, yes, but his public stances speak otherwise. (Born Alive Infant Protection Act he voted against 4 times...) Actions speak louder than words.
Matthew 7:21-23
21 Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?"
23 And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness."
holito, I don't know if it's only me who is having this problem, but could I suggest you let us know you are quoting or citing another poster when you do, because when I first start reading some of your posts it sounds as if you're saying those things and not what you really believe on an issue and I find myself responding to what your quoting or citing and not your real views on an issue, thanks believer
Obama is a Christian. And he is smart. Palin is a Christian. And she may be smart about Alaska but she would flunk a high school exam on U.S. History and Foreign Affairs. Do we really want a repeat of W.?
It's time to look at our faith from the perspective of Jesus and not from the vantage point of modern day politics.
Honesttruth, where have you read there are many ways to heaven being preached in the bible. Obama believes there are many ways to heaven.
Remember, Acts 4:12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Unless Honesttruth you call the Bible a lie? If Obamam cannot believe in the Word of God, is he still a christian. Note: James 2:19 Even the demons believe and tremble!
How refreshing to hear from young evangelicals who get it, may you guys be blessed as you wholeheartedly serve Him, believer.
I live in Alaska, Sarah Palin is smart,
honest and pro-life. W kept us safe since 9/11.
Sarah Palin has had to make more real life dicisions
then Obama and she lives her faith, it is not just
words, depending on who she is talking in front of.
Jesus was not a community organizer, He was
the Lamb of God who came to die for our sins.
Obama is a Christian. And he is smart. Palin is a Christian. And she may be smart about Alaska but she would flunk a high school exam on U.S. History and Foreign Affairs. Do we really want a repeat of W.?
It's time to look at our faith from the perspective of Jesus and not from the vantage point of modern day politics.
Young ppl are easy prey for the utopian message of Democrats. Most have never even heard of socialism.
I am a 23 year old evangelical. I can tell you the young "evangelicals" who are voting for Obama are primarily in the emergent church camp. They read books by heretics (yeah, I said it) like Rob Bell, Doug Padgitt, Brian McClaren, and others.
It's frustrating to see my generation going down this path. Just know that all of us aren't.
Obama emergents:
(CNN) The Obama campaign is preparing rolling out a new line of â
The media confuses emergent with evangelical.
I agree Graves...I'm so tired about hearing about these young "evangelicals" who are all voting for Obama. None of my friends who are truly evangelicals are doing that. Maybe they need to find a new term to classify the group that's gonna vote for him.
I'm proud to say I am a young, devout evangelical who would never consider supporting Obama due to his extreme left views. And I can't name one young Evangelical I know that has given Obama initial support. Some of course were undecided on some of McCain's issues, but Palin has really solidified that base.
I am also loving the comments from extreme left feminists that believe all conservative evangelicals want their women silent and at home... I guess you can't understand conservatives from liberal viewpoints.
Sadly I take Dr. Laura's sentiments on Palin.
http://www.drlaurablog.com/2008/09/02/sarah-palin-and-motherhood/
Siiigh. I think I'm becoming too conservative for the Republican party.
Ok, the young evangelical vote is split on Palin (and Mr. Strang still seems rather confused). But the question this AP article doesn't raise is what percentage of young Evangelical voters are of the center-left variety? I would think a relatively small number.
What they really think:
"Thousands of soldiers have gone to Iraq, willing to kill people they do not know because of a political allegiance."
Shane Claiborne
" we do not immunize our children"
"It's not nice to objectify truth, she doesn't like it. Just allow her to be who she is, accurate and dependable. Your wife wouldn't like being treated like an "object" and neither does she"
Chris Seay
Chuck Smith JR. uses The Simpsons for
inspiration, unlike his "mean" father.
"So many Christians are mean-spirited,
afraid, racist, and isolationist. If
only they could see things as clearly as "we" see them.
Brian McLaren
How about "Young Liberal Maybe Evangelicals Split Over Palin Choice As VP", sure sounds more accurate to me.
<Warning!!! This story has been 'AP'd....
This has to be the most clear example of bias and poor journalism I've ever read. It is completely subjective. In fact...it's more like an editorial for the democrats disguised as a news story.... >
Mainstream media bias continues...2008--The Year That Journalism Died!
Lets put this in perspective.
"Younger Evangelicals Split Over Palin Choice as VP"
Younger Evangelicals split over...
Is there such a thing as universal truth?
Is the Bible the Word of God?
Is Jesus the only way to heaven?
Is Jesus the only begotten Son of God?
Did Jesus live a sinless life?
Is homosexuality a sin?
Do you really have to believe anything?
Is repentance legalism?
Is theology obsolete?
Last but not least: What is an EVANGELICAL ANYWAY????
Doug Pagitt denies hell exists on
"Way of the Master" radio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfY-i2iXxQ0
Warning!!! This story has been 'AP'd....
This has to be the most clear example of bias and poor journalism I've ever read. It is completely subjective. In fact...it's more like an editorial for the democrats disguised as a news story....