Liberal Christians Mobilize to React to Religious Right

[JME2]

Here

MADISON, Wis., Oct. 9 - The efforts of conservative Christians to mobilize voters against same-sex marriage and abortion and in support of President Bush have stirred a growing backlash among more liberal believers. And they are taking their cues from the religious right.

Members of the First Unitarian Society here, Claire Box and Linda Knox are part of a broad effort by moderate and liberal religious people to register voters, especially in swing states like Wisconsin and in poor areas with low voter participation.

One autumn morning, the women went to neighboring Madison Town and stepped out into the parking lot of the Maple Glen apartments, home to working-class and poor families, hoping to find new voters. In minutes, those people found them.

"Can I vote?" Tracy Briggs, 26, asked Ms. Box, balancing her baby nephew on her hip.

Soon, Ms. Briggs's younger sister, Tyree, 24, told Ms. Knox that she, too, needed to register. Then came Clarence Martin, 48, a meat plant worker.

None voted in 2000. All were determined to vote on Nov. 2.

Ms. Knox has not been so politically active in 30 years. But as is the case with so many fellow volunteers, the politics of conservative Christians and President Bush have taken her to places like Maple Glen, she said.

"The religious right is defining what it means to be a patriotic American, and they're patriotic because they believe in their God, they have Bush, and they are convinced they have the answer," Ms. Knox said later. "But as Unitarians, we don't believe there is a single right answer."

Long scattered and out of the limelight, some liberal believers, led by Christian groups, said they saw this election as the first step to regroup and take back an agenda and a faith that they believe the religious right has hijacked.

Liberal preachers are barnstorming the country, telling Christians that they are not alone in their moderate views or their questioning of the government. Parishioners are registering people in their congregations, going door to door in their communities and enlisting volunteers to get out the vote.

No one says these Christians are as well organized, well financed or politically formidable as conservative Christians. But they are rousing people, mainly in areas that lean Democratic, around issues of social justice like the environment, the war and, most often, poverty.

"In this election, some religious voices say all our beliefs can be boiled down to - I'd say strangled by - two hot-button issues, abortion and gay rights," the Rev. Jim Wallis, convener and president of Call to Renewal, said in a sermon here.

Mr. Wallis, whose group is committed to reducing poverty, added: "We have Southern Baptists who wear buttons that say, 'Vote your values.' I say, 'Vote all your values.' The cries of the poor ring from cover to cover in my Bible. God hears the cries of the poor. Do we?"

The effects of the efforts will not be known until after Nov. 2, because registration continues in some states like Wisconsin through Election Day. Yet, a partial picture is emerging. In Dane County, home to Madison, the nonpartisan but mostly liberal Go Vote coalition has registered 20,000 voters, many of them low-income.

The Gamaliel Foundation, a grassroots interfaith organization, estimated that it had registered 44,000 people through its Rolling Thunder voter campaign in 18 states. That includes more than 17,000 in the Detroit metropolitan region, or more than 1 of every 10 among the 100,000 new voters registered in southern Michigan this year, the campaign director, Laura Barrett, said.

In Minnesota, the state's Baptist Convention, an affiliation of black churches, led a coalition that has registered more than 10,500 voters, said the Rev. David L. Everett, program coordinator.

Through its Let Justice Roll antipoverty network, the National Council of Churches said it had registered more than 100,000 voters, with 40,000 in Oregon.

Though the groups say they are exceeding their targets, their numbers are modest compared to bigger, better financed efforts like Rock the Vote by MTV. That effort says it has signed up almost 1.4 million voters.

Conservative Christians say their more liberal counterparts pose no threat. Their activism is too weak to slow the momentum of the evangelical movement, said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a conservative group.

"Historically, what they advocate is a nondescript position devoid of any values, including principles in Scripture," he said. "It's hard to get people excited about mush."

[mauldooku]

Good thing that there are still sensible Christians out there. This sounds exactly like the kind of the movement that's necessary: fight the fundamentalists from 'within', so to speak.

[Fire Fly]

I always hear of the religioust, but what about the other Christians? The moderates and the liberals ones, where are they? Its like they don't care or what? Its good to know there are some out there who have an opposing view point to the religious right and are willing to be active and visible.

[irishmick79]

I'm getting married in First Unitarian Church of Madison next april. Kind of weird to see them featured in the nytimes like this...

[Enforcer Talen]

I dont remember a get out the vote campaign like this in 2000. college, job, mall, everyone is being told to vote.

[Rogue 9]

I gotta say, it's about time. Perhaps this backlash against the Religious Right will reach to the web boards as well...