The Religious Right *gasp* Evolves

Hot on the heels of the death of Jerry Falwell, today's New York Times has a lengthy article about the changing face and goals of the Religious Right. In short, the pioneering giants of the movement - Robertson, Dobson, etc. - will shortly go the way of Falwell. The second generation - ReligiousRight v2.0, if you will, is changing the focus of the movement. That focus is looking to shift away from social issues and towards political issues that are generally thought of as more "liberal:"

Typified by megachurch pastors like the Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., and the Rev. Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago, the new breed of evangelical leaders — often to the dismay of those who came before them — are more likely to speak out about more liberal causes like AIDS, Darfur, poverty and global warming than controversial social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.

Which is not to say that the social issues are no longer important. The question is, will some sort of effective coalition form to work on these new issues, regardless of the positions on social issues? Time will tell.