With the results of the election fresh on his mind, pastor Ken Friendly called a meeting of black and white ministers in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss forming a chapter of the Traditional Values Coalition.
The African-American pastor of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship said the group will ensure that his state's legislators and school board members hear the racially diverse voices of religious conservatives.
“I don't care if a person is polka-dot,” said Friendly. “If they're concerned about the will of God being done, then that's who this group is for.”
Fired up by pre-election summits and rallies and invigorated by election results, some African-American and Hispanic religious leaders say they're ready to join their white evangelical brethren to support traditional marriage and work on issues ranging from judicial nominations to improved adoption procedures. If successful, these racially diverse coalitions could influence the fate of a constitutional amendment on marriage as well as local, state and national elections for years to come.
As the presidential election illustrated, even small demographic shifts can make an enormous political difference. President Bush significantly increased his share of the Hispanic vote nationally, thanks in part to values-laden issues. In Ohio, Bush nearly doubled his share of the black vote from 2000, to 16 percent, pushing him to a narrow state and national victory.
Many analysts attributed the Ohio vote to black churchgoers' opposition to gay marriage, which Bush also opposes.
Yet while some religious activists are willing to cross racial and denominational lines to oppose same-sex marriage, many say they are not about to support other Republican positions, such as lowering taxes and reducing the size of government. These black and Hispanic leaders say the time might be right to focus on issues and values that uniquely energize their ethnic constituencies.
Dwight McKissic of Arlington, Texas, traveled to Washington for a September summit that Traditional Values Coalition chairman Louis Sheldon pulled together for African-American pastors to join the fight against same-sex marriage. But McKissic, a Southern Baptist, said the bipartisan “Not on My Watch” group he started with other African-American clergy will remain an “intentionally black” endeavor, seeking passage of both state and federal constitutional amendments banning gay marriage, but not joining white evangelicals on other causes.
“Many black pastors I know chose to make that effort independent of white evangelicals because they did not want to be seen as carrying water for the Republicans or white conservatives,” he said.
Hispanic leaders, too, are taking different approaches to future alliances.
Yuri Mantilla, director of the Colorado-based Focus on the Family's Hispanic Voter Education Project, said the same diversity reflected in the campaign against gay marriage is needed to address issues such as embryonic stem cell research and judicial nominations.
“The future of these movements has to be diverse-Hispanic-American, African-American, Asian-American, all united,” he said. “That's essential.”
Daniel de Leon, pastor of Templo Calvario in Santa Ana, Calif., one of the largest Hispanic evangelical churches in the country, said he and other Hispanic leaders are considering forming a separate bipartisan network to influence Capitol Hill with stances opposing abortion, supporting the traditional family and selecting judges who will uphold such positions.
He said there's a need now for Hispanics to start some political action on their own.
“I think the coalition will start small and narrow but I think it's almost, by its very nature … going to expand,” he predicted.
But some scholars are voicing skepticism that the chain of events that gave them victory in November will lead to much more.
“There are some things that bring them together, but there are a lot [of things] that hold them apart,” said Clyde Wilcox, professor at Georgetown University in Washington.
Religion News Service