Rocking the Christian Vote Redeem the Vote encourages young evangelicals to register [& vote]

The Weekly Standard ^ | Oct 21, 2004 | Rachel DiCarlo

[Mike Fieschko]

THE PRESIDENT'S REELECTION CAMPAIGN is getting a big boost from a powerful Christian group that has enlisted dozens of entertainers on its behalf to convince young evangelicals to vote.

The group, Redeem the Vote, functions as the religious community's answer to MTV's secular Rock the Vote initiative that spurred many young voters to the polls in 1992. Back then, 18 percent of Bill Clinton's 43 percent of the vote came from people between 18 and 35-years-old. Exit polling showed a significant portion of that was a result of Rock the Vote.

"We're doing the same thing to involve evangelical young people," Redeem the Vote founder Randy Brinson says.

The organization is touring battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Florida with Christian rock groups, who put on concerts featuring individual bands and two- and three-day long multi-band music festivals or "Christian Woodstocks," like the Lifeline music festival in Wisconsin and Celebrate Freedom in Dallas, Texas.

Before registration deadlines passed, performers implored concert attendees to stop by voter registration booths set up at the concert venues. Now, the emphasis is on encouraging them to cast their ballots 12 days from now.

Tour stops are not only in states with coveted electoral votes--there are concerts planned in states whose electoral votes are not as hotly contested, like Tennessee, New Jersey, and New York, where higher voter numbers can help the candidates in the popular vote.

Sixty-thousand to 100,000 people have attended each of the music festivals, with a few thousand going to the smaller ones, and about 30,000 have registered to vote. Another 40,000 have signed up on Redeem the Vote's website. The numbers are significant, especially after the 2000 election when dozens of electoral votes came down to just a few hundred ballots in places like Florida and New Mexico.

Redeem the Vote has also persuaded Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ, to appear in a webcast, entreating all Christians to vote. The actor never explicitly endorses the president, but in the webcast he reminds viewers that Bush shares their opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, and judicial activism.

"In this election year Americans are faced with some of the most important issues in the history of our country," Caviezel says. "In order to preserve the God-given freedoms we hold dear, it's important that we let our voices be heard."

Caviezel's message has been disseminated to 20,000 churches and in millions of emails Redeem the Vote is sending to evangelical Christians, whose information was obtained from the marketing firms responsible for making The Passion a box-office smash. The response so far has been overwhelming Brinson says. "People are getting in touch with us and asking us how they can get it for their church."

The group bills itself as nonpartisan though and doesn't advise people how to vote, although the issues the moral issues they say should be considered align more closely with the president's positions.

Bush strategist Karl Rove has long contended that Bush would have won the popular vote if 4 million Christians had shown up at the polls four years ago. Republicans traditionally capture 70 percent to 80 percent of the evangelical vote.

Brinson says he sees a parallel between the evangelical vote and the African-American vote. "The two parties have these huge voting blocs that seem to be monolithic, but are very diverse," he said. "For years the Republican party wrote off African-Americans because they weren't able to make inroads with them, while the Democrats took them for granted. I see that with the evangelicals. Republicans have been taking them for granted, while the Democrats have written them off."

His group is hoping to change that pattern on November 2.

[BibChr]

Rock on.

Dan

[Sadie789]

I will always wonder why so many Christians have protested the war in Iraq. Iraq is home to some of the most important sites mentioned in the Bible. Christians should realize that after the fall of Saddam Hussein the door to the past will some day be opened to foreign visitors. That is, after Iraq becomes the nation that the United States has hoped it will be.

The Christian people will be able to visit the place where they are told it all began, at the crossroads of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, in whose lushness once stood the Garden of Eden in the city of Qurnah.

Another city the Christian people will be able to visit is the city of UR. Genesis 11 suggests that Abraham lived here. And, the city of Babylon is where the Tower of Babel was built.

For all Christians the journey to the past begins in Iraq.

http://www.ldolphin.org/eden/

[FreedomProtector]

Awesome!!!

[upcountry miss]

While waiting for the Sox game to start last night I was surfing and landed on TBN, a religious site. There was a gentleman on who was just fascinating. I didn't see the beginning of the program, but he sat at a table for a long time and just very quietly and precisely laid out all of Kerry's shortcomings and Bush's positives. Did anyone else see this program? At the end he said he would be on next Wednesday night. Don't know what his subject will be but last night he talked about prayer in the schools, the Ten Commandments, the importance of the Supreme Court and many,many other issues important to Christians. Would love to know this man's name and wish I had seen his entire program.

[americangirl1031]

I saw the program last night. That was Hal Lindsey. He's great, isn't he? You can visit his website at http://www.hallindseyoracle.com/

[upcountry miss]

Thank you so much for the link to that site. It is in my bookmarks. That gentlemen was more impressive to me than any other politician that I have watched. He even mentioned saying Grace before meals. I feel so strongly about these rights that are being taken away by the liberal left. Awhile back, I read an article stating that some retirees were told not to say Grace before their meal at their weekly meetings. What will be next?