As for your comment about the trends… I don’t know your network of friends, but my tribe is pretty diverse. I maintain this as a fact… I don’t know a single person who was a hardcore McCain supporter while I know tons and tons of evangelicals who HUGELY support Obama.

The age of the one-issue evangelical vote has come and gone. We care about more than abortion.

And, like you alluded to, Huckabee was the obvious evangelical choice but the chances of him winning were 0% in 2008. My firm belief is that the Republicans put McCain up as a sacrificial lamb in full knowledge that:
a. They had to nominate him at some point, even if he wasn’t electable.
b. It didn’t matter who they put up, it was a democratic year.

I long to see evangelicals going to the polls representing issues beyond abortion. If GW Bush couldn’t move that issue, it’s time for a new approach.

I, for one, believe in the sovereignty of God over our own desires. It’s my prayer that evangelical leaders yield their support to the man who won an overwhelming majority on election day. Further, I hope we retire people like Jim Dobson. Their age of political influence has passed.

I don’t doubt there has been horrible e-mails that has gone out (I’ve received a few).

You certainly know your church better than I do. I shouldn’t have said that statement was ridiculous.

The comments rubbed me the wrong way, but I should have been tempered in my response.

So I apologize, and I hope that you can forgive me.

Adam, I’m not denying that there are evangelicals who supported Obama, or there are evangelicals who do not care about those outside of their own community.

I also don’t deny that Obama had a solid win among the electorate. He campaigned well, he had a message that resonated and circumstances that worked in his favor.

But what you shouldn’t do is assume trend by your own personal experience. Regarding McCain, for many evangelicals who are conservative he was not the first choice (I was originally a Huckabee supporter), so he didn’t inspire the type of excitement that Obama supporters showed.

My statement is generalizing. Trends are, of course, general statements. To point out 1 or 2 exceptions to that as proof that a generality is untrue is misinterpreting the term “generalization.”

Not to bash on republicans at all, as this was my first election of voting for a democrat… the nation spoke loud and clearly on Tuesday. The electoral college was clear.

You took my comment out of context and/or misinterpreted me. In responding to Adam, I was speaking from my actual personal experience, which I did not translate to a generality about McCain supporters. I actually received some of the emails circulating around members from my church — one of which equated Obama to Hitler. Moreover, I have spoken with members of my church who were convinced that nothing worse could happen than the election of Obama. So my contention is NOT ridiculous — it’s based on my lived experience among my community.

Again, I’m not jumping from my localized experience to generalities about McCain supporters and/or the GOP. I have no doubt that many, many people (evangelicals included) voted for McCain for reasons beyond abortion. To deny that fact would be near-sighted and incompetent on my part.

I know you and I disagree on some things, but let’s keep it amicable.

I know plenty of people on both sides, and most have very thoughtful reasons for supporting the candidates they did. I supported McCain, but no Jake it wasn’t because of some dumb e-mail declaring him to be a Muslim. It wasn’t because of fear. It wasn’t because I’m racist (which I’m not). It was because I disagreed with his policies, and I was much closer to McCain than I was with Obama. Jake your contention that people who voted for McCain at your church did so based on “dumb lies” (which by the way I found any critique of Obama was considered to be a dumb lie) is just absolutely ridiculous.

Sonja is right that the GOP has some soul-searching to do, but it isn’t because of the content of our ideas. It was because they were largely abandoned by those in Congress and President Bush. By the way, Sonja, as a conservative I cringed over the bailout bill as well. I’m not happy that President Bush signed it into law, and wasn’t happy that Senator McCain voted for it.

Adam, your characterization about older or conservative evangelicals is just plain offensive and untrue. I’m conservative, and guess what? I work with poor families and high-risk kids! Most of my volunteers… guess what? They are older conservative evangelicals. I have a hard time getting younger volunteers because they are “too busy.”

Many conservative evangelicals that I know care deeply about loving their neighbor. So I would say that your comment is at best naive or worse disingenuous.

Sonja: The homogeneity is a huge deal for me as well. I love the diversity that the Obama campaign represents. And you’re right… the GOP has some soul-searching to do.

What I saw, and what sickened me, was the fear-mongering. Christians disowning Obama. I just can’t wait for him to be wildly popular and wildly successful so more and more evangelicals can say, “James Dobson doesn’t speak for me.”