Evangelical Retreat from Politics?

There is more and more evidence that the alliance between Religious conservatives and the GOP is fracturing. Part of it is a changing of the guard -- the deaths of James Kennedy and Jerry Falwell together with the aging of Pat Robertson and James Dobson has removed some of their clout. Ted Haggard who once boasted of his access to the White House had to resign amidst scandal. And many of those pastors who are emerging from their shadows are taking a much more wary position. Haggard's own successor is pulling back from politics and many of his parishioners are glad.

The GOP presidential candidates as we've seen have failed to catch fire with religious conservatives -- the one candidate most closely aligned with them -- Mike Huckabee -- is still fairly far behind and takes economic positions that are fairly -- shall we say -- "liberal."

Of course we know that Obama and Hillary and other Democrats are courting religious voters, but it's unlikely that we'll see something like what's been transpiring these past several decades on the right.

And such is the story that's told today in the LA Times in an excellent article that details this change.