There is no question that the political agenda for younger Evangelicals is changing and the old guard is alarmed. The stalwarts of the Evangelical establishment, such as Chuck Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship; and James Dobson, the president of Focus on the Family, are afraid that the younger Evangelicals are diffusing the emphases of the Religious Right on abortion and gay marriage by joining environmentalist movements and following rock star Bono, their new-found prophet, in addressing the AIDS crisis and the sufferings of the poor.
Many political pundits are saying, however, that the broadening agenda among younger Evangelicals will not result in significant leakage from the Republican Party, nor translate into support of Democratic candidates this November. But what is overlooked by these professional observers of the political landscape is that there may be still another significant split within the Evangelical community that would go beyond the differences observed between older and younger Evangelicals. This other division would be between those young people who are in colleges and universities, on the one hand, and those who are not, on the other. In limited, but nevertheless interesting, surveys of those who are in institutions of higher learning there is strong evidence that these particular young people are moving into the Democratic camp, and are doing so in significant numbers. This is evident even in such notable Evangelical schools as Eastern University, North Park University, Messiah College, and Wheaton College.
There is a counter-cultural disposition emerging among these young Evangelical academics that signals a shift away from the syndrome that, for almost three decades, represented conservative Christianity. They are turning out in large numbers to hear such speakers as Jim Wallis of the Sojourners Community, Brian McLaren of the Emergent Church Movement, and Shane Claiborne of The Simple Way–each of whom calls for Christians to reject the affluent American middle-class lifestyle, with its wasteful consumerist habits. Many young Evangelicals also question trade agreements with Third World countries, which they view as too often leading to exploitation of the poor. They also challenge the right of America’s armies and the CIA to overthrow foreign governments that do not serve America’s interests.
A growing opposition to the war in Iraq feeds the thinking of many collegian Evangelicals. They ask why our government can spend $250,000 a minute to fight the Second Gulf War, but claim that it cannot afford universal healthcare and proper funding of education for inner-city children.
It is not surprising that many of these increasingly Democratically leaning, theologically conservative young Christians are refusing to call themselves Evangelicals any longer. More and more of them are saying that they are tired of wearing the label “Evangelical,” which they believe designates them as being pro-war, pro-gun, anti-feminist, anti-gay, and anti-environmentalist. In increasing numbers they are calling themselves Red Letter Christians as a way of differentiating themselves from the Religious Right. With this new label, they are declaring themselves to be radically committed to those red letters in the Bible that highlight the teachings of Jesus–and especially to what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
It is far too soon to declare a post-mortem for the Religious Right, but it is clear that the growing number of these theologically conservative Red Letter Christians, and other young collegians who think like them, are drifting towards the Democratic Party. This change marks a notable beginning of a transition in American politics. The impact of this on the 2008 election is likely to be significant.
Tony Campolo, professor emeritus at Eastern University, is the founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, an organization that develops schools and social programs in various third world countries and in cities across North America. He is the author of 35 books, his latest three being, “Letters to a Young Evangelical,” “The God of Intimacy and Action” and his most recent release is “Red Letter Christians, A Citizen’s Guide to Faith and Politics.”