With election looming, 'values voters' are back in the spotlight

September 19, 2006

By ADELLE M. BANKS
c. 2006 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON -- With the primaries concluded and the general election looming, the question in Washington seems to be: Will the real values voter please stand up?

As conservative Christian groups gear up for their "Values Voters Summit" in the nation's capital this weekend (Sept. 22-24), critics on the liberal end of the spectrum are hosting events to say they have values too.

"We love the same God, read the same Bible and all aspire to follow the same Christ," said the Rev. Robert Franklin, an Emory University professor and member of the newly formed Red Letter Christians, which is named for the red-colored words of Jesus in many Bibles.

Rather than focusing only on abortion and homosexuality, voters also care about issues like poverty, racial discrimination and HIV/AIDS, say supporters of progressive groups like Sojourners/Call to Renewal, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Faith in Public Life.

Tony Perkins, president of FRC Action, the legislative arm of the Washington-based Family Research Council, which is co-sponsoring the conservative summit that is expected to draw 1,400 attendees, said, "Those are our values, too."

Where the two sides diverge, Perkins said, is on the proper role of the government in addressing social ills like poverty.

"As Christians, we believe that Scripture challenges us -- even in the red letters of the Bible -- that that's a personal responsibility," not a function of the government, Perkins said.

The weekend summit is co-sponsored by the political action group affiliated with Focus on the Family; Americans United to Preserve Marriage, headed by former presidential candidate Gary Bauer; and AFA Action, an affiliate of the American Family Association.

Mark Rozell, author of "The Values Vote? The Christian Right in the 2004 Elections," said the flurry of election-related events stems from the realization -- on both sides -- that religious values play a critical role inside the voting booth.

"We have motivated groups, both on the right and the left, trying to mobilize their constituencies, in large part because they believe values matter but they also understand that the two political parties are very closely competitive in Congress right now," said Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

"Affecting a few electoral outcomes could be the difference between Democratic and Republican party control."

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said his organization plans to counter an eight-state voter education drive by Focus on the Family with cautionary letters to churches about politicking in ways that would violate IRS rules.

While Lynn called Focus on the Family's program "an old-fashioned political machine," Tom Minnery, an executive of the Colorado-based ministry, countered that Lynn is "an old-fashioned playground bully."

"There's ... nothing we're asking churches to do that's illegal or inappropriate," said Minnery, Focus on the Family's senior vice president of public policy.

Both Minnery and Perkins say the summit will guide conservative Christians on appropriate ways to influence the coming elections, such as nonpartisan voter registration and providing rides to the polls in church vans. Perkins said that while the speaking lineup consists of congressional Republicans, some Democrats, such as Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, were invited but declined.

"They're not endorsing some candidate's platform," Perkins said of the "Bible-believing Christians" expected at the summit. "They are looking for those who support their platform of values, and if it's a candidate that happens to be Republican, then that's fine. If it's a candidate that's Democrat, that's fine."

As for the spate of events -- many countering their own -- summit sponsors say they welcome them.

"I say, God bless America, what a wonderful country, where such diverse voices can be heard in the nation's capital," said Minnery.

Throughout the country, groups across the values spectrum have more debates, forums and rallies planned in the coming weeks.

"The activity is going to continue all the way through the election and beyond," said the Rev. Jim Wallis, the progressive activist who founded Sojourners/Call to Renewal and a regular at several mid-September Washington events.

"But all that's going to show is that now it's a dialogue. ... Hopefully this dialogue will help clarify what the public issues are and what the moral values are that Americans care about."

Rozell cautioned that there's always the chance that all the values talk could lead to a backlash from voters not so interested in those issues.

"The question is, `Does the typical secular voter get tired of this after a while?'" he said. "I think that is a real concern. ... Maybe they will come to the conclusion that both sides are overdoing it just a bit."

-- Daniel Burke and Jason Kane contributed to this report.