Evangelicals 'face new issues': Panel

Conservative evangelical Christians still influence government policies, but they also face additional issues, pro-family leaders said in a National Press Club panel discussion. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said, "Religious right and evangelical, social conservatives are having a pronounced impact on the shaping of the policy in this country. ... It's just that the issues are changing, and [evangelicals] are working through trying to come up with responses to those issues," he said.

Those issues include the "value of life, immigration, poverty and justice, racial reconciliation, religious liberties, rebuilding the family, the environment and global warming," said Harry Jackson, chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition and senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Lanham, Md. The panel also included Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, and Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners. The March 12 exchange focused on ideas in a new book coauthored by Jackson and Perkins, "Private Faith, Public Policy," Baptist Press reported Tuesday.

"Historically, the white-led evangelical church in America has been focused on righteousness issues ... The black-led church in America has oftentimes been occupied with justice issues ... My point was righteousness and justice, the Bible says, are the foundation of God's throne," Jackson said.