Author Archive
Marcia Pally
The New Evangelicals
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Though public support for both major political parties is very low, one group of voters is usually exempted from this malaise: evangelicals. It’s assumed that at least these “values voters” are getting what they want. But we should look more carefully.
A sizable portion of evangelicals have left the right, so to speak, in what the theologian Scot McKnight called “the biggest change in the evangelical movement,” nothing less than the emergence of “a new kind of Christian social conscience.” These new evangelicals focus on economic justice, environmental protection and immigration reform — not exactly Republican strong points. The religious right remains a potent political force, but where once there was the appearance of an evangelical movement that sang out in one voice, there is now a robust polyphony.
Homosexuality, Democrats & War – My Interview with Tony Campolo
Thursday, November 10th, 2011
I met Tony Campolo at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, between a performance of Rigoletto, which he and his wife had attended at the Metropolitan Opera. I sat down with him to discuss some questions related to my new book The New Evangelicals. The following is an excerpt from that interview:
TC: What’s happened overall in the last few years is that a younger generation is emerging with different values. Consider the homosexual issue. Recent studies indicate that older people tend to be opposed to gay marriage and younger people, while still conservative on the issue, do not consider it a defining issue for Christians. While conservative in their thinking, they put in an emphasis alongside of their concerns about the environment, their opposition to war, their concerns about human trafficking and, most of all, their concerns about poverty.
