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Friday May 30, 2008
Southern Baptists and the General Culture: Marching to a Different Beat – Part II
LifeWay Research, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, has released some interesting results from its in-depth surveys of Southern Baptist pastors across the nation.
Eighty percent of Southern Baptist pastors say that they currently support and plan to vote for Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the presumptive 2008 Republican nominee for president. Conversely, only one percent expressed their intention to vote for Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and zero percent supported Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY).
Fifteen percent of the Southern Baptist pastors surveyed said they were still undecided about their presidential preference, while four percent said they intended to vote for a third-party candidate.
These pastor presidential preference numbers are probably skewed slightly by the fact that only pastors were surveyed, and not non-ordained church members. Over recent history, surveys have shown consistently that Southern Baptist pastors are slightly more conservative on most issues than rank-and-file church membership.
Still, these poll numbers are radically at odds with the general public, where polling shows a tight race between Senator McCain and either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton.
When it comes to presidential preference, Southern Baptists are marching to the beat of a different drum than their non-Southern Baptist neighbors.
Filed Under: casting stones, Richard Land
posted by Dr. Richard Land @ 4:32pm Permalink 
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About Casting Stones
Diana Butler Bass is a religion scholar and author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith. She blogs at God’s Politics.
Tony Campolo is Professor Emeritus at Eastern University and author of The God of Intimacy and Action: Reconnecting Ancient Spiritual Practices, Evangelism, and Justice, with Mary Darling. He blogs at God’s Politics.
Rod Dreher is a columnist for The Dallas Morning News and author of Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return to Roots. He blogs at Crunchy Con.
Bruce Feiler is the author of seven books, including Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses. He blogs at Feiler Faster.
Dan Gilgoff is Politics Editor at Beliefnet and author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War. He blogs at God-o-Meter.
David Kuo served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush and is the author of Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction. He blogs at J-Walking.
Dr. Richard Land is president of The Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and author of The Divided States of America? What Liberals AND Conservatives are missing in the God-and-country shouting match!
Michele McGinty is a mom and a student at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. She blogs at Reformed Chicks Blabbing.
Brian McLaren is a pastor, musician, and author of Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. He blogs at God’s Politics.
Steven Waldman is co-founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of Beliefnet. His book Founding Faith will be published in March, and he can be reached through the Beliefnet community.
Jim Wallis is executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal and author of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. He blogs at God’s Politics.
Comments
I would like to see the results of the same poll among leaders of other religious groups. I think you may find that John McCain has that same or similiar lead among most religious leaders (notice I did not say all). I believe the tendency to be conservative is linked strongly to religious beliefs - now more so than ever, since political economic policy has been somewhat blended between the two major parties. Now the ideas that most separate our two parties are more moral, less economic, more social, less military, although the war in Iraq does stir military differences.
Posted by: Loretta Doggett | May 31, 2008 8:25 AM
This backs up exactly what I said on Huffington Post a few weeks ago based on the findings in my new book "The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church."
True Religious Right voters are going to hold firm for Republicans. People who think the Religious Right is finished are so wrong. Once again they've been misled.
The Religious Right is alive and well. And basically unchanged.
But the Religious Right is not and never has been as big or as powerful as we've been led to believe. True Religious Right voters are 5 to 7 percent of American adults. Not 25 percent.
We've been duped.
The other 18 percent of self-identified Religious Right voters are swing voters. And always have been. Now they're swinging more strongly to the Democratic side.
For more, check out my website, www.christinewicker.com
Posted by: Christine Wicker | June 3, 2008 5:08 PM
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