WASHINGTON (ABP) — Evangelical leaders shouldn't be afraid of expressing their beliefs in the blogosphere — or of a potential Mormon as president — conservative law professor and radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt recently told a group of evangelical theologians.
Hewitt, speaking in Washington after a midterm congressional election that swept many religious conservatives from power, said the next year will have “enormous significance” when it comes to faith and politics.
Hewitt teaches at the Chapman University School of Law in California and is a weekly columnist for conservative publications The Daily Standard and World.
According to Hewitt, theology will have an essential role in politics for the next election, because Americans are very concerned about their spiritual beliefs.
“Partisan positions should not be taken from the pulpit because that is the law of the land,” Hewitt said. “However, you are an American citizen, and you have the right of expression of any political views you want. That's an important distinction, and one that we should work to communicate to the pastors and the clergy and the parachurch organizations in the United States.”
One of the quickest and most effective ways to exert influence is through blogs, Hewitt said during the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, an association of religion professors. He told the theologians that each of them should be involved with a blog in some way.
Indeed, blogs have created a powerful new forum for anyone interested in expressing an opinion. In 1999, less than 20 blogs existed, according to Hewitt. Now there are more than 60 million.
Hewitt's website, www.hughhewitt.com, received more than 300,000 unique visitors on election day alone, he said. He credits such interest to readers' trust that he will provide truthful commentary on politics. And in his opinion, professors, pastors and theologians have the same potential to influence voters.
“You can be as active and engaged in civic society as you care to be, because all you need is a modem and a computer,” he said. “No part of the world will soon be closed to your corners of reason and of faith.”
Blogs are integral to evangelicalism also because they provide a forum to defend against what Hewitt called “America's secular absolutist[s].” The absolutists are led by the “Gang of 500,” a term coined in 2002 by an ABC news director to describe the key group of insiders and journalists who influence decision-making in mainstream media outlets.
Those opinion leaders are “not only left and liberal, but overwhelmingly secular” and make it their goal to attack conservative Christians, Hewitt claimed. Then, when a conservative public figure, like actor/director Mel Gibson, “stumbles,” he said, the vilification is complete.
“The cruelty that meets that effort is often quite amazing,” Hewitt said. “Some way, however, we have continued to hang in there and to make progress. The reason [conservative religious people] are winning is because it's unconstitutional to drive us from the public square.”
Hewitt is currently writing a book about Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day-Saints and prominent potential contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Hewitt said he believes evangelicals have the potential to help or hurt themselves in how they react to the possibility of a Mormon in the White House.
As a result of Romney's potential, Hewitt noted, journalists will inevitably begin asking evangelical professors and pastors for their take on a potential Mormon in the White House.
He cautioned against disparaging or inappropriate comments about Romney's faith. Every theological or philosophical argument evangelicals use against a Mormon candidate or Mormon theology will eventually be used against evangelicals, he said.
“Many in this room in the next year to year-and-a-half will be asked by students and the media, 'What do you think about Mitt Romney?'” he said, adding that once “secular absolutists” get them to talk about theology, they open themselves to attack. “If we begin to ask Mitt Romney about which [Morman] practices and doctrines he subscribes to, it cannot be capped. It will not be stopped.”
According to Hewitt, most people have three main objections to Romney's presence, should he win the election: that Mormon leaders in Salt Lake City will control the White House, that a Mormon president will energize Mormon missionaries around the globe, and that it's “irrational” to be a Mormon.
All three concerns, Hewitt said, are unfounded. And if people see evangelicals bashing Mormons for their unique beliefs, the thinking goes, secular leaders will turn their own argument against evangelicals seeking the presidency.
“They do not want us in politics and in the public square because they believe us widely to be irrational,” he said. “It would be tragic to me that in the course of rushing off to do battle with Mormon theology, you attract our common opponent,” the secular absolutists.
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