What Bristol Palin is telling us about evangelicals

Without ever intending to do so, the soon-to-be-married daughter of Governor Palin has allowed the evangelical community to re-introduce itself to the rest of America.  How much the rest of America is willing to listen remains to be seen.

I’ll admit, after I first heard of Bristol’s pregnancy, the political calculator started to whirr, and I didn’t like what it spit out.  I was worried about the reaction of religious conservatives.  As the blog title shows, I don’t call myself a conservative at all, in no small part because I don’t wish to go back to a past that I consider to be far more checkered than many (but not all) conservatives realize.  I am also far more skeptical of government preserving “traditional values” – especially when it’s so busy actively destroying them.

Thus, religious conservatives and I – while agreeing on many issues – do so from very different philosophies and political angles.  In many respects, I understand my political opponents more than many of my own allies.  It was in this relative ignorance that my fear of religious conservatives turning their nose up at Governor Palin was grounded.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Cathouse Chat has all the details, but the evangelical community is far more in the world and aware of human frailty that outsiders (including even yours truly) recognize.  Of course, they were thrilled that Ms. Palin would become a mother and a wife, but there has been no anger or haughtiness at the pregnancy itself.  Instead, the rest of America is finding a community that has seen several of these things before – and like the rest of us – is doing its best to support the family in question when they are able and it is appropriate.

Voters may never see evangelicals the same way again.  The blinders of our various prejudices our gone.  The only question now is how many of my fellow Americans will join me and open their eyes.