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Tony Campolo

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The Surprising Evangelical Support for Newt Gingrich

Posted: 01/27/2012 11:05 am

The need for Red Letter Christians to no longer be labeled "evangelicals" became abundantly clear this past Saturday following the South Carolina Republican Primary. Most Evangelicals claim to be politically non-partisan, and say they only identify with the Republican Party because the Republicans are committed to "family values." The truthfulness of that claim became questionable this past Saturday when South Carolina Evangelicals voted in surprisingly large numbers for Newt Gingrich, in spite of the fact that he's hardly a model husband in their eyes. Not only is he on his third wife, having had divorce papers served to one of them while she was lying in a hospital bed recovering from a mastectomy for breast cancer, but, if his second wife is to believed, wanted an "open marriage" so that he could have a sexual affair on the side.

Now Mr. Gingrich has been converted to Catholicism, and has, as part of his conversion, confessed his sin and asked for God's forgiveness. Evangelicals will say that this being the case we should forgive, forget and move on "to other concerns." I have to ask, however, why they didn't do this when a Democratic president repented of his sin?

Are we to assume that there are two different standards for "forgiving, forgetting and moving on," or could it be that evangelicals are willing to forgive and forget because they have found in Newt Gingrich a very bright and articulate debater who might defeat President Obama in the upcoming presidential debates? If the latter is true are they then ready to admit that their desire to elect a Republican president trumps the "family" values that they deem so very important.

I, for one, am quite willing to join the "forgive, forget and move on" crowd, but it does make me wonder if Evangelicals are going to sound believable when they say that they tend to vote Republican because of their religious commitments to the family.

Red Letter Christians believe in the doctrines of the Apostle's Creed, are convinced that the Scriptures have been inspired by the Holy Spirit, and make having a personal transforming relationship with the resurrected Christ the touchtone of their faith. But we want to be more non-partisan politically than appears to be the case for so many of our South Carolinian Evangelical brothers and sisters.

 

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10:13 PM on 02/19/2012
dear tony, when will you stop masquerading as a Christian? Admit it, you do not belive the scriptures are inspired by and the word of God. Stick to psychology
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chw777
03:00 PM on 02/10/2012
ANYTHING to get Obama out of there before he completely destroys our country. Anyone!!!! Rick Santorum is a good guy and I like him, but he is a BIG government politician if there ever was one. And he does not stand a chance against the scoundrel who is presently in office.

If Chris Christie and Ann Coulter say that Mitt is the man, then I will go with Mitt.
10:01 PM on 02/09/2012
I was very surprised at the support of Newt by SC Evangelicals many of which are Southern Baptists, Independent Baptist and yes even Calvinists. None of which are fans of Catholicism. Newts embrace of Catholicism wouldn't impress them much since many of them do not consider Catholics Christians. I think it was in fact the words "family values". Whatever that means... Politicians just use it to get votes and religious people fall for that old political gag every time.
07:23 PM on 02/06/2012
Sadly too many of my fellow Christians and certainly "Evangelical” Republicans, don’t understand the teachings of Christ and fail to exemplify His character, if they are actually believers at all. Unfortunately it gives Christianity a bad name and concept when in reality the entire life of Jesus was in service to others and not in amassing wealth for Himself. The mark of a good Christian is not only how he follows the Lord Jesus, but how he also helps the poor. The two go hand in hand…you can not profess to love the Lord and ignore the cries of the poor. Jesus was...and still is...a representative of a great Leader who never put His needs and wants before others, but was a great example of promoting the value of “the least of these” and humbling those who thought so highly of themselves and concerned themselves only with the pursuit of their own needs, especially at the expense of others. His answer to the rich man who asked him "what must I do to be saved, was, "sell everything you have and give it to the poor, then come and follow me." I have yet to see any leader come close to this…maybe Mandela if we believe the recorded information, (however, I don’t know what his professed faith is). Unfortunately in this world and certainly in this nation, how could the rich possible get richer without wantonly using the poor and keeping them in their poverty?
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soma77
Author, Speaker, Retreat Facilitator
03:43 PM on 02/04/2012
The Evangelical endorsement of Newt Gingrich shows that group to be mean minded to support someone who proposes actions that hurt the poor and middle class. Mean will always vote for mean because that is what they know.
08:45 AM on 02/09/2012
Well said!
06:13 PM on 01/30/2012
I may forgive Newt his many human frailties as I hope he would forgive mine, should we meet. That does not mean that those frailties don't count in my assessment of who will best serve the nation's interest in the troubled time in which we live. He comes up short.
ThinkCreeps
Seriously, it's time.
04:05 PM on 01/30/2012
Repent, rebirth these dudes do.
Reform, no-repeat, and reparations, they're not so good at.

They should market a born-again brand laundry detergent. It might even shift santorum.
ThinkCreeps
Seriously, it's time.
04:04 PM on 01/30/2012
He's got three families to value.
ThinkCreeps
Seriously, it's time.
03:59 PM on 01/30/2012
These suckers go straight for the `recant' and `repent' BS.
They're not so keen on reparations and no-repeats.
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rsttho557949
What is Job's Crucible?
12:38 PM on 01/29/2012
It might be because folks know that no one is perfect and all have sinned. Just about everything that Newt has done, people have done. The other reason and perhaps closer to the truth, is that Newt comes across as "principled man" Said anther way, he has a reason for why he did or does things. There was a reason why he is divorced. There is a reason why his ex-wife said he wanted an open marriage. So long as he can come up with rational reason for his behaviors, Folks eat that stuff up.
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farmilyman
everything is illusion
12:09 PM on 01/29/2012
Hypocrisy knows no bounds on the right.
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chw777
03:03 PM on 02/10/2012
Anti-Americanism and big government knows no bounds on the left.
08:37 AM on 01/29/2012
Evangelicals , as they like to be called, would not accept Jesus if he came back to earth today and walked in their church gathering. They support Republican candidates because the Republicans know they only have to say one thing to them to get them fired up; I oppose abortion.

They oppose it in their talk but do nothing about it once they get in office. GWB tried to do a little bit about it with partial birth abortion act but that is like saying you can kill with a knife but not with a gun. These people in office know what to do in order to gather votes from the Evangelicals. Promise them they will fight against Blacks on welfare and say they are 100% against abortion.

Notice how it helped Rick Santorum in Iowa when he made his famous statement about Blah people and welfare and then turned around and made his statement about no abortions regardless of the circumstances. It works like a charm every time.
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KOSMOCITIZEN
time is truth
08:05 PM on 01/28/2012
let me give you an inside information who Evangelicals really are
white folks most of them with European descent ( western and , north Europe)
they feel superior to any other ethnicity, religion and culture and for them, America is their fantasy country that should be the super power to dominate and be the fearsome nation of the world
THEY ARE IMPERIALISTS TO THE CORE
oh ! by the way Jesus always agrees with them, talking to them or whatever
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DiogenesOfAlaska
Mitt Romney for president - of the Cayman islands!
06:42 PM on 01/28/2012
You are afraid of a potential conflict between family values and faith in a political candidate with a proven track record of cynicism with respect to family and power abuse?

Man, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Try this guy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henry-VIII-kingofengland_1491-1547.jpg
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05:15 AM on 01/28/2012
I am not the least bit surprised that evangelicals have chosen to support a racist, seixst, hypocritical hatemonger. In fact, I'd be surprised if they ever supported someone actually like Jesus the Christ.