Christian Conservatives a Key Bloc for Bush

Wed Sep 15, 1:17 PM ET Politics - Reuters

By Alan Elsner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Christian conservatives, whose lack of enthusiasm for George W. Bush in 2000 worried Republicans, could be the president's ace in the hole in his race for re-election this time around.

According to pollster Anna Greenberg, a former public policy professor at Harvard University, religion has become one of the more reliable barometers of opinion in U.S. politics.

"In 2000, 62 percent of voters who attend church every week voted for George W. Bush, while 62 percent of voters who never attend church voted for Al Gore.

But Republicans, based on exit polling four years ago, believe as many as 4 million Christian conservatives may have stayed away from the polls because of uncertainty about Bush's conservatism. Shortly after Bush took office, his top political adviser, Karl Rove, started rebuilding bridges to the group.

The Bush campaign, aided by well-organized allies such as the Christian Coalition, has made a special effort to mobilize such voters for the Nov. 2 election.

In a controversial move earlier this summer, the campaign began encouraging members of conservative churches to send their church membership directories to the campaign.

"There is much more activity from the White House and the Republican Party to capture, control and manipulate religious issues and to orchestrate partisan activity in churches," said Jim Wallis, executive director of Sojourners, a Christian ministry that advocates spiritual renewal and social justice.

Over the past generation, Christian "born-again" fundamentalist denominations have grown faster than traditional "old-line" Protestant denominations.

Richard Land of the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention said that in 1960, 22 percent of voters were evangelical Christians. He said the number was now about 33 percent.

Under federal law, churches risk losing their tax-exempt status if clergy endorse a particular political candidate from the pulpit. Republican leaders in the House of Representatives are pushing legislation to remove that limitation before Congress adjourns, possibly by attaching it to another measure.

Christian Coalition President Roberta Combs said she believed conservative Christian turnout this year would exceed that of 2000 because voters knew and admired Bush after four years in the White House.

Bush has often spoken about how his religious conversion allowed him to put his life in order and give up alcohol.

IDENTIFY WITH BUSH

"They identify with Bush on the issues they care about, like abortion and same-sex marriage, and they know who he is and where he stands. He's not only spoken about these issues but has acted as well," Combs said.

Some prominent Christians go even further. Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson said earlier this year that "George Bush is going to win in a walk. ... the Lord's just blessing him."

For Wallis, that is going too far. "There's a difference between endorsing a candidate, which is fine, and ordaining him by saying that good Christians can vote only for him. That's a line we've crossed this year," he said.

The Christian Coalition will send out 30 million voter guides next month and is encouraging churches to download and distribute tens of millions more from its Internet site.

While they will not explicitly endorse Bush, the guides will show he stands with the Christian Coalition on its top issues such as opposition to abortion rights and same-sex marriage, while Democrat John Kerry opposes most of them.

The Southern Baptists are distributing a voter guide encouraging voters to stress their values rather than their pocketbooks. It is being promoted by Focus on the Family, an evangelical group that controls a powerful radio network.