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1. Describe your beliefs candidly and clearly. As Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals says, "Democrats have to be able to demonstrate a personal spiritual reality that isn't contrived." A corollary is that you needn't pretend to be something you're not. Demonstrate competence and justice.

2. Walk your talk. Professions of faith are not enough. As James said nearly two millennia ago, "Faith without works is dead." Bill Clinton, who wore his Baptist roots on his sleeve, famously said he wanted to make abortion "safe, legal, and rare." But Clinton ended up supporting unfettered access even to grisly partial-birth abortions. Tell us how your beliefs relate to your policies.

3. Stand up to the anti-Christian orthodoxy of the sexual left. Like it or not, most evangelicals oppose gay marriage and unrestricted access to abortion. Despite the perennial pro-choice plank in the Democratic Party platform, many Democrats support some common-sense abortion restrictions, such as parental notification. Forty percent of Democrats are prolife, according to Democrats for Life of America (DLA). But most Democrats running for national office who express anything other than blind allegiance to pro-choice propaganda face ritual denunciations from zealots. The Democratic National Committee, for its part, refuses to even provide a link to the DLA on its website. To gain credibility with evangelicals, those who run the Democratic Party must at least allow for meaningful diversity in their own ranks.

Our Republic needs its two major political parties to be friendly to Judeo-Christian principles. Democrats too have a rich, faith-based track record, especially in civil rights and standing up for the poor. If their heirs today explain how their faith informs their policy, they may indeed find many evangelicals willing to listen.

Stand up to the anti-Christian orthodoxy of the sexual left.

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today.Click for reprint information.

More from Politics & Law about faith and public life include:

Misfires in the Tolerance Wars | Separating church and state now means separating belief and action. (Feb. 24, 2004)

'Swing Evangelicals' | Democrats seek to show that they also have faith-based values. (Jan. 09, 2004)

One Nation Under God—Sort of | We've got bigger problems than the Pledge of Allegiance. (Jan. 07, 2004)

The Twelfth of Never | Bush administration drastically lowers goals for faith-based initiative. (Dec. 22, 2003)

CT Classic: Work over Welfare | Former Illinois Senator Paul Simon discusses his plan to put the poor to work. (Dec. 10, 2003)

Bill Pryor, the Man in the Middle | Alabama attorney general catches flak from all sides. (Sept. 24, 2003)

The Unflappable Condi Rice | Why the world's most powerful woman asks God for help. (Aug. 22, 2003)

'The Privilege of Struggle' | How Rice understands suffering and prayer. (Aug. 22, 2003)

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March 2004, Vol. 48, No. 3