by
TAPE: church music fade up slowly and fade under narration.
NARR: At Trinity Baptist Church on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the congregation is split almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats. Church members like Betty Berg are in a quandry over who to support in the upcoming presidential election.
ACT: BETTY BERG
You know they're in the same place I am, not really deciding which is the right one to really back, which is the one that is saying what we want to hear.
NARR: Many evangelical Christians have wanted to hear about what are known as 'core issues,' like marriage and abortion.
These were important concerns in the last election for the white conservative evangelical movement - a group that is largely credited with the election of President George W. Bush. Seventy-eight percent of evangelical Protestants voted Republican last election, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. But Randall Balmer, a professor of American religious history at Barnard College, says that may not be the case this time.
ACT: RANDALL BALMER
I think that the evangelical vote for the first time in several election cycles is in play. And I think the democrats have been making a play for that.
NARR: This election, there's no candidate that's a clear choice for many evangelical Christians. And there's something else at play: there's a huge emerging group of moderate white evangelical Christians who don't vote lock-step with Republicans, nor according to the so-called 'core issues'.
They care about marriage and abortion, but their priorities also include the environment, poverty and humanitarian crises like Darfur. Many of them are part of a young generation. Randall Blumer of Barnard College says these evangelical Christians may be changing the stereotype of religious voters.
ACT: RANDALL BLUMER:
And what I see this year as opposed to four and eight years ago is a larger number of evangelicals who are either committed or seriously inclined towards the democrats this time around and it might be in fact a decisive change in the fall election.
NARR: There are a couple reasons a change like that might happen. When there's no candidate who adresses the most important issues for evangelical Christians, they'll probably vote on other concerns they have, according to Paul Devries. He's the director of the New York Divinity School and a board member of the National Association of Evangelicals.
ACT: PAUL DEVRIES:
For a person who is born-again, who does take the bible as the final issues for faith or life, then those issues will rise above the personal issues about what's going to keep my taxes lower or whatever, but when there's no clear attraction on that upper level issue, then people still think they should vote and then vote on whatever they can vote on.
NARR: But there's yet another shift afoot. Before the 2004 election, Christian conservatives were holding rallys and mobilizing their constituents to get out the vote. But things are different this time. Kyu Rim works for the New Jersey Family Policy Council, an affiliate of the national conservative group Focus on the Family. He says that without a candidate who promises to champion their issues, Christian conservatives may not have the same presence in the lead-up to the elections as they did last time.
ACT: KYU RIM:
If there's not a candidate that represents the core values of the evangelical, there certainly is not going to be an increased activity by the evangelical community, I think unfortunately the response will be somethow apathethic, somewhat frustrated, somewhat less involved with the political process.
NARR:
The upcoming election could prove to be a watershed moment for evangelical Christians. In the mean time, Pastor James Leonard of Trinity Baptist Church tries to guide his flock through difficult decisions.
ACT: JAMES LEONARD:
What I'd like them to see as their core issue is what Jesus would care about and what the gospel represents and evaluate the candidates in light of that.
SOUND: Church music fade up slowly after 'Clinton.'
NARR: After this week's primaries went in favor of Senator Hillary Clinton, members of Leonard's congregation are looking at all three candidates.
SOC: Nadja Drost, Columbia Radio News.
Sound: fade up music, hold for 10 seconds. Director to fade out when needed.