Regular readers may recall that I’ve taken an interest in the “Matthew 25 Network,” a new religious political action committee spearheaded by Mara Vanderslice, who served as director of religious outreach for Kerry-Edwards in 2004, and who has been active in encouraging Democratic candidates to discuss matters of spirituality more openly on the campaign trail.
The group’s first ad was a radio spot, and the group unveiled its first TV ad today.
While the first spot emphasized Obama’s religion, this one highlights Obama’s role as a family man (after, that is, a pastor is quoted touting Obama’s “Christian faith”). The viewer is told, “As a pastor, I know you can tell a lot about a man’s character based on how he treats his family…. Throughout his entire career, Sen. Obama has stood by families — including his own — and as president, he’ll stand by yours.”
Now, I have no idea whether the ad was made after the recent unpleasantness surrounding John Edwards. For that matter, it’s hard to say whether there’s a subtle dig here at John McCain over the difficulties in his first marriage.
Either way, the simplicity of the ad works pretty well. It’s a straightforward enough message: Obama is a pro-family Christian. That’s it. That’s the whole ad.
I can think of worse messages for a mainstream audience to hear right now.
On a related note
, I’d add that there seems to be a growing audience of young evangelicals who may very well be receptive to a “religious left” message.
Jonathan Merritt is a Baptist preacher’s son with a pristine evangelical lineage. It was his dad, the Rev. James Merritt, who reportedly brought President Bush to tears in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks when he called the president “God’s man for this hour.” The Rev. Jerry Falwell was like a grandfather.
“I grew up believing an evangelical couldn’t be a Democrat,” said Merritt, 25. “The two were mutually exclusive.”
But in the past year, as the presidential campaign has focused on the country’s problems, Merritt has begun to question the party of his father. There was his recent revelation that “God is green,” a mission trip to orphanages in Brazil that caused him to worry about global poverty, an encounter with a growing strain of politically liberal evangelicalism that has taken off online, and a nagging sense that Bush’s unpopularity has been an embarrassment to the evangelicals who overwhelmingly voted for him.
“When you look at the political party that has traditionally championed poverty, social justice and care for the least of these, it’s not been the Republican Party,” said Merritt, who now considers himself an “independent conservative” and is unsure whom he will vote for in November. “We are to honor the least of these above even ourselves. It’s very difficult to reconcile totally.”
He is part of a growing group of young born-again Christians standing on one of the many generational breaks surfacing in this election cycle. Merritt still shares his parents’ conservative convictions on abortion, a core issue that forged Falwell’s Moral Majority and brought evangelicals firmly into the Republican camp, but he says they are no longer enough for him to claim the Republican Party.
In fact, Merritt is of particular interest as an anecdotal example. It was Merritt who gained national attention earlier this year for pushing Southern Baptists on environmental issues. Soon after, to Merritt’s surprise, the Obama campaign reached out.
“They tried to feel me out and see where I stood,” he said. “They weren’t pushy.”
We’ll see soon enough if I’m right, but I continue to think the evangelical vote will be worth watching on Election Day.