The Obama campaign was very proud that it had scored several evangelical Christian leaders to do benedictions or invocations at the convention. But they were embarrassed when one of them Cameron Strang, backed out shortly after the announcement. Strang, the editor of Relevant, a magazine for young evangelicals, explained to me what happened.
Strang had been conversing with the Obama campaign regularly for months about issues of concern to evangelicals so when they asked him if he wanted to “say a prayer” at the convention, he said yes, imagining that meant a few words at some small event in the middle of the afternoon. When he discovered that it was a high profile opening of the first night’s festivities before the full convention, he started to have second thoughts. His dilemma: he’s a pro-life Republican. He felt that if he talked about his views it would be insulting and against the spirit of bridge building that he’s seeking. “If I were true to my convictions, I’d be insulting.” But if he didn’t mention abortion, he would be abandoning his principles . Also, “my stepping on stage without a big asterisk next to my name would imply an unequivocal endorsement, which was not my intent.”
So he pulled out and suggested Donald Miller, a popular evangelical author, who said yes.
He’s been deluged with angry emails form left and right. “The extreme right wing has been telling me that I’m absolutely going to hell since I said I hadn’t decided who to vote for,” he noted. “Liberals complained when he pulled out, saying he was a coward. He’s been getting 3,000 emails per day attacking him.
Strang says he’s still quite impressed with the movement the Democrats have made and especially their outreach to young evangelicals. He participated in a DNC Faith Caucus panel today. The Obama campaign has been courting him while, by contrast, he’s struggled to get the attention of the Republicans. He spent part of the day trying to wrangle an invitation to the Republican convention.
Reprinted on WSJ.com