Evangelical Christians have issued a document called "An Evangelical Manifesto". Well,more accurately, a group of 75 evangelical leaders have done so. Their names can be found here. Some names, like the president of the Southern Baptist Church (who was not invited to comment), however, are notable for their absence. Others have also pointed out the lack of any female or African American names on the list.

On the one hand, the document attempts to serve as a self-chastising document combined with a rallying cry -- and one is encouraged briefly when raeding things like:

"That way faith loses its independence, the church becomes 'the regime at prayer,' Christians become 'useful idiots' for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology in its purest form," the document reads.
"Called to an allegiance higher than party, ideology and nationality, we Evangelicals see it our duty to engage with politics, but our equal duty never to be completely equated with any party, partisan ideology, economic system, or nationality," the document says.

But wait..there is more.

We are committed to a civil public square – a vision of public life in which citizens of all faiths are free to enter and engage the public square on the basis of their faith, but within a framework of what is agreed to be just and free for other faiths as well. Every right we assert for ourselves as Christians is a right we defend for all others.
Third, we are concerned that a generation of culture warring, reinforced by understandable reactions to religious extremism around the world, has created a powerful backlash against all religion in public life among many educated people. If this hardens into something like the European animosity toward religion in public life, the result would be disastrous for the American republic and would severely constrict liberty for people of all faiths. The striking intolerance shown by the new atheists is a warning sign.

All too often we have attacked the evils and injustices of others, such as the killing of the unborn, as well as the heresies and apostasies of theological liberals whose views have developed into ―another gospel, while we have condoned our own sins, turned a blind eye to our own vices, and lived captive to forces such as materialism and consumerism in ways that contradict our faith.

So let me understand this.....the withdrawl from politics and the open attitude toward the voices of other faiths in the public square -- and then the paragraph about "killing of the unborn" (hardly a phrase that invites dialogue) not to mention the "heresies and apostasies of theological liberals" -- well, it has me wondering how this moves us, as a nation, forward.

Then this

Let it be known unequivocally that we are committed to religious liberty for people of all faiths, including the right to convert to or from the Christian faith. We are firmly opposed to the imposition of theocracy on our pluralistic society. We are also concerned about the liberalism of politically correct attacks on evangelism. We have no desire to coerce anyone or to impose on anyone beliefs and behavior that we have not persuaded them to adopt freely, and that we do no not demonstrate in our own lives, above all by love.

That love caused this statement (and 6 paragraphs more) about liberal Christians:

The liberal revisionist tendency was first seen in the eighteenth century and has become more pronounced today, reaching a climax in versions of the Christian faith that are characterized by such weaknesses as an exaggerated estimate of human capacities, a shallow view of evil, an inadequate view of truth, and a deficient view of God. In the end, they are sometimes no longer recognizably Christian. As this sorry capitulation occurs, such "alternative gospels" represent a series of severe losses that eventually seal their demise.

One would hope that there would be an equally strong denunciation of the far right. Here is the sole paragraph in the same section as the above:

Christian Fundamentalism has its counterparts in many religions and even in secularism, and often becomes a social movement with a Christian identity but severely diminished Christian content and manner. Fundamentalism, for example, all too easily parts company with the Evangelical principle, as can Evangelicals themselves, when they fail to follow the great commandment that we love our neighbors as ourselves, let alone the radical demand of Jesus that his followers forgive without limit and love even their enemies.

pjmiler at Sola Dei Gloria says:

Global, Global, Global, seems to be the key word in this document released today, along with a Political tone. The very title: An Evangelical Manifesto - The Washington Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment, is political. I find that very odd when the reason given for why this document was deemed necessary was, and I quote: “the drafters are troubled that in recent years the term “Evangelical” has often been used politically…”

Kelly at Reclaiming the Word (faith) says

I sensed that I was hearing the voices of brothers, not even distant cousins, but brothers (and the charter signers are, in fact, overwhelmingly male - the steering committee is all male) ...

She goes on to add her articulate and heartfelt dismay that a document that resonated with her so strongly got bogged down in the old "affirming the sanctity of straight marriage" ("s mine, not hers) which flew in the face of a message that supports dialogue on many other fronts.

Caitie at Bonitarojita is delighted.

I LOVE this. Love love love. As one who is a student studying political science at a very liberal, secular university, I find myself frequently not just defending my beliefs but my whole identity in Christ. I struggle every day with how my faith fits in with what I study, where I live and who I come in contact with, especially non-believers. I cannot count the number of times I’ve been on the verge of denouncing myself as an evangelical, even though I know that in the truest sense of the word an evangelical is precisely what I am.

It took about 3 years to assemble this document. There will be lots of sound and fury about it. The blogosphere is abuzz. I see no changes forthcoming, do you?

In fairness, here is a paragraph I wished I could believe was true. I wish. I wish.
"Called to an allegiance higher than party, ideology, and nationality, we Evangelicals see it our duty to engage with politics, but our equal duty never to be completely equated with any party, partisan ideology, economic system, or nationality. In our scales, spiritual, moral, and social power are as important as political power, what is right outweighs what is popular, just as principle outweighs party, truth matters more than team-playing, and conscience more than power and survival. "