Evangelicals in Exile

But according to evangelical leaders and activists, most in the movement are determined to mount a massive counterattack in 2008 -- beginning with a no-holds-barred effort to reconquer the Republican Party and reignite the "culture wars" over abortion, gay marriage and stem-cell research. Rather than examining its own role in last year's electoral defeat, the religious right blames moderate Republicans for mounting a centrist campaign that failed to stir up voters on hot-button issues. As evangelicals see it, the party took them for granted in 2006, refusing to champion a "pro-family" agenda at the polls. "They court us in the primaries -- and once they get elected, they tell us to take our place in the back of the bus," says Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, one of the most powerful groups on the Christian right. "But we're not going away. They need us more than we need them. If they cut off the evangelical arm of the party, they'll be a minority party for years and years. If they try to divorce themselves from values voters and groups like ours, they'll suffer the consequences."

Like Samson pulling down the temple on himself as well as the Philistines, social conservatives aren't afraid of bringing down the whole Republican Party. Back in 1996, when moderate conservative Sen. Bob Dole carried the GOP presidential banner, many Christian-right voters didn't bother to vote, and Dole was handily defeated. Unless the GOP heeds the Christian right, Wildmon warns, millions of evangelical voters may once again refuse to go to the polls next year. "It's true we have nowhere else to go, except to stay home," he says. But the message to Republicans, he adds, is clear: "We would rather go down on our principles. We lose? You lose!"

To ensure that Republicans get the message in 2008, the religious right is redoubling its efforts to mobilize its political machine -- including tens of thousands of churches, hundreds of radio stations and two national television networks. The Family Research Council, a leading lobby for the Christian right, is planning a huge expansion on the Internet, including videos and podcasts, to reach millions in next year's election. "We want to be sure that the lessons of the last election have been learned, and that the Republicans understand that we are not a lock for the GOP," says Charmaine Yoest, the council's vice president of communications. "When you're looking at razor-thin margins, you better pay attention to your base."

The group fired an early shot across the GOP's bow in January, when it delivered a videotaped response to President Bush's State of the Union speech. "The president failed to draw a line in the sand on behalf of life," charged Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council. "What will become of the culture of life, of the defense of marriage?" The council displayed a chart on which it noted the number of times the president mentioned the Christian right's core issues: marriage, 0; abortion, 0; stem cells, 0; cloning, 0; abstinence, 0; and values, 0.

But it won't be easy for evangelicals to force Republicans to cater to "values voters." The biggest obstacle they face is striking: Unlike the born-again George W. Bush, who paraded his Christian beliefs to win the support of the religious right, all of the leading candidates for the GOP nomination in 2008 are distinctly unsympathetic to evangelicals and their agenda. Sen. John McCain of Arizona earned the enmity of the religious right in 2000, when he denounced evangelical leaders Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "agents of intolerance." Despite his recent efforts to mend fences with evangelicals, McCain has had little or no success. "I pray that we will not get stuck with him," James Dobson of the Christian-right powerhouse Focus on the Family told reporters. "Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances."

Rudy Giuliani is equally anathema to evangelicals, not only because he is pro-choice and supports gay rights but also because he flaunted his less-than-puritanical lifestyle with his mistress while he was mayor of New York. "He is unacceptable," says Perkins of the Family Research Council. And Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, is still viewed with suspicion by many Bible-believing Christians because he has supported gay rights and because he is a Mormon.