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Young Evangelicals Shifting Left

Many are dropping hot-button issues to take on media and Internet porn

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 11, 2008 5:55 PM CST
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(Newser) – Young evangelicals are dropping hot-button GOP issues like abortion and gay marriage to embrace less controversial causes, a new survey says. Internet porn, liberal media, and AIDS orphans now top their political hot list, and many young evangelicals who still rank abortion as number one also pick Barack Obama—a pro-choice candidate—for president.

"I mean, you can't really pass judgment on someone because that's their belief," one evangelical said at a recent New York rally. Only 40% of evangelicals under 30 are Republicans, down from 55% two years ago, according to the Pew Research Center study. Analysts say many young evangelicals are also turning to moderate pastors like Rick Warren in place of old-guard conservatives like Pat Robertson and James Dobson.

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., left, speaks with pastor Rick Warren at the Global Summit on AIDS & The Church at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., left, speaks with pastor Rick Warren at the Global Summit on AIDS & The Church at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., Thursday,...   (Associated Press)
Pastor Rick Warren speaks at the Global Summit on AIDS and the...
Pastor Rick Warren speaks at the Global Summit on AIDS and the...   (Getty Images)
Evangelical Christians pose with a mascot during a performance re-enacting Joshua's entrance to Jericho, organized by the International Christian Embassy at Ein Gedi on the shore of the Dead Sea, Thursday, Sept 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
Evangelical Christians pose with a mascot during a performance re-enacting Joshua's entrance to Jericho, organized by the International Christian Embassy at Ein Gedi on the shore of the Dead Sea, Thursday,...   (Associated Press)
People pray at the evangelical March for Jesus during the Corpus Christi holiday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in this May 26, 2005, file photo. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
People pray at the evangelical "March for Jesus" during the Corpus Christi holiday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in this May 26, 2005, file photo. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)   (Associated Press)
Evangelical voter, Phillip Cothran, discusses the 2008 South Carolina primary as he makes his way into worship service at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008. In South Carolina, white evangelical Christians account for 53 percent of the state's likely Republican voters, although some polls suggest...
Evangelical voter, Phillip Cothran, discusses the 2008 South Carolina primary as he makes his way into worship service at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008. In South Carolina,...   (Associated Press)
Evangelical voters make their way into worship service at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Brett Flashnick)
Evangelical voters make their way into worship service at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Brett Flashnick)   (Associated Press)
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Evangelicals who vote Democrat pick Clinton over Obama
Reuters

Powerful believers often duck Sunday service
USA Today

 
climate change • Barack Obama • abortion • Pat Robertson • James Dobson • evangelicals • Pew Research Center • Rick Warren

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