Sunday, February 6, 2005

The Values Agenda

Evangelical Christian influence grows

The denominations may be different, but their political and social beliefs aren't.

By Alison Bethel / Detroit News Washington Bureau Chief

Christianity in the U.S. Denomination, members Roman Catholic, 65.3 million Southern Baptist, 16.1 million United Methodist, 8.3 million Church of God, 5.5 million Latter-day Saints, 5.3 million Evangelical Lutheran, 5.1 million National Baptist U.S.A., 5.0 million National Baptist of America, 3.5 million Presbyterian, 3.5 million Lutheran Missouri Synod, 2.5 million African Methodist Episcopal, 2.5 million Non-Christians Jewish, 5.5 million Muslim, 4.0 million Buddhist, 2.0 million Black Muslim, 1.7 million Hindu, 950,000 Baha'i, 750,000 Source: infoplease.com Politics and pews Do you find it proper for religious values to shape political discussion? Yes No Get results and comments Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

WASHINGTON -- By most definitions, Jim Fitchuk of St. Joseph, Mich., is a devoted husband, a good father, a stellar employee and, most of all, a faithful Christian.

It is that final description of him that has propelled Fitchuk and other evangelical Christians to speak up lately.

Evangelicals are of various denominations, but they have conservative beliefs in common. Gay marriage is wrong; it sends a bad message to children. Abortion is wrong. Hollywood and television producers have gone too far with sex, violence and profanity.

"There are crystal clear indicators that we (the United States) are trending in a bad direction: The rate of illegitimacy, the family structure, crime," said Fitchuk, 43, and the father of three daughters.

"We're just getting worse. It seems that they have to throw in sex for everything in order to be entertaining. And I really don't see the point besides just saturating our culture with sex."

Fitchuk's views are shared by millions of Michiganians who count themselves as conservative Christians. Some experts say more than a quarter of the adult population in the United States can be considered evangelicals, while seven out of 10 Americans consistently classify themselves as Christian.

"We're talking about a lot of people," said Scott Keeter, director of survey research for the Pew Research Center. Keeter added that in exit polls during November's national elections, 23 percent of voters were white evangelicals. Their impact was significant, and most of them cast votes heavily influenced by their moral values.

"There are a lot of them. I have always been of the opinion that if Christians would get out and vote and be aware of the issues and vote their conscience, we would be able to dictate public policy," said Pastor Christopher Peddie of Lakeside Family Church in Stevensville.

"It's not that we're pushing our morals," said Eron Powers, 25 and a member of Brighton Christian Church in Brighton.

"I think a lot of people, whether they are affiliated with the church or not, have seen that morals have decayed over the last several decades. And even from the left they see that rules are important and we need some sort of (moral) basis."

An evangelical believes the Bible is accurate and true, that Satan is real and not simply a symbol of evil, that a person cannot earn his or her way into heaven by simply doing good deeds, Jesus Christ did not sin while on Earth, that one must share his/her beliefs with those whose beliefs are different.

Lastly, religion is very important in an evangelical's everyday life, according to The Barna Research Group, a privately held, for-profit company that researches primarily Christian issues and topics.

With the growth of mega-churches -- some with memberships as high as 28,000 -- and the expansion of televangelism, the number of evangelical and born-again Christians is increasing, said Carolyn Haggard, spokeswoman for the National Association of Evangelicals. NAE has 47,000 member congregations with 30 million members, several of whom are in Michigan.

"We believe the it's absolutely true, and, globally, studies are showing that the church is enormously expanding, and it's something that we here in the United States can learn from on how to do church and how to reach out to souls," said Haggard.

You can reach Alison Bethel at (202) 906-8202 or abethel@detnews.com.