For many evangelicals, it will be the end of the world if Obama wins
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2008/1028/1225061111621.html


[image: Daniel Lopez, his wife Diana, James Krause, Matthew Lopez and James
Vorja outside Focus on the Family's
headquarters]<http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/images/2008/1028/1225061111621_1.html>Daniel
Lopez, his wife Diana, James Krause, Matthew Lopez and James Vorja outside
Focus on the Family's headquarters

The evangelical movement is fearful on many fronts, *Mark
Hennessy*discovers in Colorado Springs

QUIETLY SPOKEN, religiously and politically conservative, and living in the
heartland of evangelical Christianity in the US, Daniel Lopez pondered the
end of time that could come if Barack Obama becomes president.

"When I think of it, it brings to mind the prophecies that the Bible tells
us about," said Lopez, sitting in the shade outside Focus on the Family's
headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

"On the one hand, it is exciting for us as conservatives because we can
actually see what God prophesied coming about; but on the other hand, it is
frustrating to see somebody become president who is a blatant liar."

Lopez and his family moved three years ago from California to Colorado
Springs, which has over the past couple of decades become home to thousands
of evangelical Christians, and more than 100 of their churches.

The most influential religious operation in the city is not, however, a
church as such, but the sprawling Focus on the Family complex established by
James Dobson, one of the US's most influential figures.

Each year, he broadcasts to 200 million religious conservatives at home and
abroad, and he reigns supreme in Colorado Springs since pastor Ted Haggard
fell from grace after he was found to have solicited a male prostitute for
sex and drugs.

The Haggard experience, and general suspicions that the press is
everlastingly liberal, mean the evangelicals are not keen on journalists,
even if they are polite about it. "No sir, I'm afraid there is no one you
can talk to. They are attending a meeting on homosexuality and I cannot
disturb them. It's quite a sensitive subject, you know," a Focus on the
Family staffer gently, but firmly, told *The Irish Times* .

The evangelicals believe the world is swimming against a tide of filth:
promiscuity; homosexuality; and the curse of relativism.

Eight years ago, and again in 2004, the evangelicals, who number up to
one-quarter of the US population, were on a political roll, and were crucial
to the election of George W Bush.

Today, they are still influential, as can be judged by Republican
presidential candidate John McCain's selection of Alaska governor Sarah
Palin as running mate.

During the battle for the Republican nomination, the evangelicals' dislike
of McCain was evident, with Dobson saying he was convinced the Arizona
senator was not a conservative.

"In fact, he has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those
who are. I cannot and will not vote for senator John McCain, as a matter of
conscience," he declared.

Times have changed since then, and Dobson, faced with the unacceptable
prospect of a liberal in the White House, now says he is "supportive" of
McCain's campaign, even though he cannot bring himself to endorse it. "It's
probably obvious which of the two major party candidates' views are most
palatable to those of us who embrace a pro-life, pro-family world view,"
Dobson wrote in a weekly e-mail to supporters.

Palin, on the other hand, the evangelicals like. Last week, the
vice-presidential candidate, herself an evangelical, was interviewed by
Dobson for 20 minutes on his syndicated radio show, which has 1.5 million
daily listeners. Describing herself as a "hardcore pro-lifer", Palin voiced
confidence that, by "putting this in God's hands, that the right thing for
America will be done at the end of the day on November 4th".

The evangelicals' main complaints about McCain are that he does not support
federal constitutional bans on gay marriage and abortion, and he favours
embryonic stem-cell research. A ban on all three is Republican Party
official policy, and Palin assured Dobson that McCain would follow it if the
duo wins: "I do believe that, from the bottom of my heart."

With time slipping away, evangelicals still hope McCain can win in Colorado,
particularly because a state referendum that would grant "personhood" to a
fertilised egg should rally the local conservative vote. But Obama's
eloquence and campaigning skills, and a sense that the political winds in
the US are running against them, have disconcerted the evangelical movement.

Fearful on many fronts, they particularly fear for Israel if Obama wins.
James Borja, a youth pastor, said: "Right now, we are one of the few nations
giving them support. They have the rightful ownership of that land, rather
than the Arabs who covet it. Once our support ends, you will see the end of
Israel and the beginning of the end for America.

"Truly, the Bible says of Israel, 'I will bless those who bless you, and
curse those who curse you'."

But Borja holds out hope that many Americans will act like his father-in-law
in the campaign's final days.

"He has always voted Democrat, a lifelong trade unionist. But he says now
that he is voting Republican. He says, 'I can't vote for my pocket. I've got
to vote with my conscience'."

However, the future is already written, said James Krause, who disagrees
that evangelicals have reasons to be afraid if a Democrat takes the White
House. "God holds everything in his hand. There is no doubt in my mind that
what happens on November 4th has been pre-ordained," he said.

(c) 2008 The Irish Times


-- 
"Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges."
- Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome.


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