The snips don't do this article justice. It should be read in its entirety.
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=74153Understanding Evangelicals: Tips from the Son of a Preacher Man (and Woman)
Journalists should have a better understanding of evangelical Christians; but it might not help in understanding elections.
By Steve Buttry
>>>>>
It seems that the Democrats are insensitive to "moral values." This puzzles me because I think that opposing a war, or working for economic justice, or making health care more available in America all derive from a moral vision. Apparently, it is not the moral vision -- the set of faith and family values -- that helped re-elect George W. Bush.
>>>>>
I can't confess to Roy Peter Clark's ignorance about evangelicals or born again Christians, or church suppers . But I share much of his confusion about the American electorate and his concern about journalism's failure to understand evangelical voters.
I am the son of two Baptist ministers, the brother of two more, and the brother-in-law of a fifth. We could go further if we counted uncles, but let's not. One of those ministering brothers and his wife (mostly his wife) home school their children. I grew up going to church suppers. Chapel suppers, actually. My father was an Air Force chaplain for my first 16 years, so my youth was spent in two worlds that most journalists don't understand: the military and born-again Christianity.
I covered religion for The Des Moines Register for two years and have covered the abortion issue for the Omaha World-Herald for several years. I traveled to Venezuela with a mission team from an Assembly of God church whose pastor and congregation are prominent in Iowa politics.
I have covered gay rights issues for both newspapers and covered some gambling, too. In the process I have grown to understand (at least in part), admire, and like a lot of people whose faith is the guiding force in their lives.
I'll tell you something I've learned about conservatives: They are as likely to be hypocrites as liberals are.
Many of the same conservative voters who chose George W. Bush on Nov. 2 because of his faith and "family values" chose Ronald Reagan 24 years ago over Jimmy Carter. That was a decision of pure politics. Ronald Reagan was a divorcee who impregnated Nancy Davis before they married, was largely alienated from his children, and seldom went to church when he was governor, a presidential candidate, or president. Jimmy Carter was a born-again Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher who lived his faith more consistently than any public figure of our time, stayed married to the same woman for 58 years, and was as attentive a father as any president we've had.
>>>>>>>>