Their faith in Obama is wary

Barack Obama isn’t in the White House yet, but conservative evangelical Christians are worried that he will threaten their freedom to live according to the Bible and profess it as the literal word of God.

If evangelicals don’t act now, prayer in schools and on the airwaves would give way to pornography and same-sex marriage, some predict.

“We’ve seen what we feel is a clear rise in hostility among our institutions -- political institutions and media institutions,” said Craig Parshall of the National Religious Broadcasters, a Virginia group. “There are those who believe religion is unhealthy for society.”

Obama has endorsed faith-based initiatives and conversation about the role of religion in public life. Despite objections from gay rights activists, he plans to have the Rev. Rick Warren, a popular evangelical minister from Orange County, deliver the invocation at his inauguration.

But conservative evangelicals, who had a great deal of access to the Bush administration and influenced its policies on abortion and other issues, worry that Obama’s commitment to listen to their concerns comes with caveats on issues such as same-sex marriage and hiring gays and lesbians.

They fear he would favor religious organizations such as his own liberal denomination, the United Church of Christ, which was the first mainline Protestant church to condone equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender.

Conservative critics worry that potential vacancies on the Supreme Court would open the door for Obama to create a liberal-leaning judiciary that views the Constitution as a changing document that accommodates culture, just as many progressive Christians interpret Scripture.

Others fear the possibility that federal regulations on airwaves could be used to silence Christian broadcasters on issues involving homosexuality on the basis that such talk could be considered hate speech.

And they fear that elementary school teachers and home-schoolers could be forced to teach about same-sex relationships. They don’t trust the president-elect to push laws that would reduce the number of abortions.

Critics point to Obama’s liberal record as a state and U.S. senator. They also cite the appointment of seven openly gay advisors to Obama’s transition team. Younger evangelicals’ support of Obama has also sparked fears illustrated by the recent surprise resignation of Richard Cizik, the lead spokesman for the National Assn. of Evangelicals, who expressed support for Obama in a National Public Radio interview this month.

“The influence of that [gay] community will drive what legislation Congress considers,” said Carrie Gordon Earll, senior director for public policy for Focus on the Family, a Colorado Springs group founded by James Dobson, a pillar of the religious right. “That will have an impact on Christians and people of conservative faith.”

Earll added: “We’re not doing anything yet. . . . But we are anticipating and expecting that threat will be before us.”

Moderate evangelicals say conservatives’ concerns are premature and unwarranted. David Gushee, professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University and president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, said negative reactions to Obama’s record and appointments had more to do with his link to the “D” word: Not the devil -- Democrat.

Despite widespread predictions that many evangelical Christians would stay home or vote for Obama, John McCain garnered 1.5 million more white evangelical voters than President Bush did four years ago.

Well aware of the concerns, Obama’s transition team has pledged to listen to and consider all points of view.

“We look forward to working with a range of partners in the faith community, who will have an opportunity to offer their views and input,” spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

Even Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and a stalwart social and fiscal conservative, tends to agree that some criticism is premature.

“That’s the intriguing thing about President-elect Obama,” Land said. “He is in many ways an unknown quantity.”

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mbrachear@tribune.com