Christianity Today

Panelists on Thursday's Focus on the Family broadcast (listen) had mixed reaction to Tuesday's election results, asserting both that "we didn't succeed," and that "our values were validated in this election."

The panelists, which included Focus chairman James Dobson, Focus vice president of public policy Tom Minnery, Focus analyst Carrie Gordon Earll, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, and FRC former president Gary Bauer, praised Democrats while savaging Republicans.

"Our good friend John Hostettler from Indiana lost to Brad Ellsworth, and Brad Ellsworth identified himself as pro-life, pro-gun, and anti-Pelosi," said Minnery. "Now, we're not necessarily pro-gun, but he identified himself as a social conservative. A gentleman running in North Carolina, Heath Shuler, ran openly as a born-again Christian as a Democrat. We're glad to see Christians emerging in the Democratic Party. There has been a growth of them. But they have to recognize, even if the Republicans do not, the value of values."

Minnery also quoted favorably from a recent speech from Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who has announced that he is considering a run for president. However, Minnery said, "He sounds like a social conservative. All it is so far is rhetoric. He doesn't vote according to these words."

Still, Minnery said, Democrats have "moved into the vacuum that the Republicans have left."

Perkins agreed. "The values that we care about," such as abortion and gay marriage, he said, "are issues that not just evangelicals care about, but more people in this society care about, even, as we've seen, the Democratic candidates running on those issues. … We can't shrink back now. Our values were validated in this election. We simply have to get people ...

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