As many of you have probably heard (or even seen) John McCain and Barack Obama met with Pastor Rick Warren this past Saturday evening to hold a one-on-one forum over some key issues that are concerning evangelical voters in this election cycle. I could get very opinionated on this, but I have tried my best to keep the posts here as free of political polemics as possible, and so I just want to direct you guys to a site where you can recap the evening through online video and decide for yourself how you think each candidate did.
I would like also to link you guys to an article put out by the Barna Group which discusses how there might not be as many true evangelical votes up for grabs as people think. This is an interesting idea when you take into consideration how the Barna Group classifies “evangelicals.” To be classified as an “evangelical” in the Barna polling data, a person must “meet the born again criteria plus seven other conditions. Those include saying their faith is very important in their life today; believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; believing that Satan exists; believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches; and describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today.” The “born again criteria” is a mark based upon a persons “answers to two questions. The first is ‘have you ever made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?’ If the respondent says ‘yes,’ then they are asked a follow-up question about life after death. One of the seven perspectives a respondent may choose is ‘when I die, I will go to Heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior.’ Individuals who answer “yes” to the first question and select this statement as their belief about their own salvation are then categorized as ‘born again.’”
Barna article about Evangelical Vote
Look forward to many more updates over the election season here. I am considering starting a second blog focused on my opinions about a Christians role in American and Global politics, which may be more polemical in nature, but I’m not sure if I’ll have the time for this yet. Whatever happens I’ll let you guys know.
