[KIM] LAWTON: Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is one of the most prominent evangelical colleges in the country. Students here tell us they're concerned about a broad spectrum of issues. Nineteen-year-old sophomore Emily Daher is active in politics and has been working to reduce the influence of money on the electoral process. She says she does believe abortion and gay marriage are important, but they aren't the things she's focusing on this election.

EMILY DAHER: There are so many issues that, as a Christian, I'm being called to help with as well. And I feel specifically in this election we have the war in Iraq, we have this economic situation, we have health care, we have all these issues that are really being pushed and really need help with.

LAWTON: Daher says she's particularly concerned about the environment. In our survey, nearly 60 percent of young evangelicals said that combating global warming is extremely or very important to them, and nearly 80 percent supported an international treaty to end global warming.

Ms. DAHER: As a Christian, especially the environment is really important to me, because I was put on this earth in God's creation to take care of the earth and be a steward to the earth. And if we don't take care of it then we're just letting this beautiful, wonderful creation from the Lord just go to waste.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Young Adults • * Economics, Politics • US Presidential Election 2008 • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Evangelicals

1. DonGander wrote: If that page of responses are typical of American youth, the USA has no hope. Don November 2, 10:34 am | [comment link]

2. Ralph Webb wrote: This is a not surprisingly very good piece from Kim Lawton that doesn’t shrink from the complexity of the issues. Instead of jumping on the rise of the evangelical left bandwagon (an overly simplistic take that has unfortunately become trendy), the story suggests that an “evangelical middle” is more likely to hold sway among younger generations in the near future. Speaking purely descriptively (as opposed to prescriptively), the different points of view given here seem to represent well the current trends. November 2, 3:39 pm | [comment link]

3. Fr. Andrew Gross wrote: Any Anglicans want to do a church plant here?  Grand Rapids is ripe for Orthodox Anglicans to share the tradition that we’ve been given. Summer Gross November 2, 6:41 pm | [comment link]

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