Remembering Reagan and Rise of Political Consciousness

Tomorrow marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. Whatever one's opinion may be of his presidency, one must acknowledge that Reagan served our nation at what was a crucial time in our history. He was the "Great Communicator," who brought pride back to America after Watergate and the "malaise" of the Ford- Carter years. When he died in June 2004, I wrote the following article to call attention to one aspect of Reagan's influence.

In August 1980 a significant event occurred which changed the course of evangelical Christianity here in the United States. That event was the National Affairs Briefing. Evangelical pastors and laymen gathered to receive a “briefing” on what the could do to restore the moral foundations of our nation. Held in Dallas, it was touted as the largest gathering of its type in history. Ronald Reagan was the only candidate for president who agreed to attend, and the conservative, grass-roots views expressed at that gathering convinced him that Christians were serious about having a political voice. Reagan’s opening statement was, "I realize this is a bipartisan meeting and you can’t endorse me, but I want you to know that I endorse you!" If you want to date the origin of the Republican Party's evangelical swing vote, date it with that meeting. Reagan made it happen.

Prior to that time most evangelical leaders were uninvolved politically (with certain exceptions) and disinterested in the “dirty” business of politics. Most of us who were old enough to vote in 1976 voted for Jimmy Carter, not because of the political platform on which he stood, but because he was unashamedly a “born again” Christian. But after four years of the peanut farmer from Georgia, and the continual decline of “traditional moral values,” evangelical Christians were beginning to be awakened politically out of a long slumber.

In the Presidential election of 1980 evangelicals turned out in large numbers to support the Reagan candidacy. Suddenly voting became a Christian duty. Politics began to be viewed as “spiritual” and believers became aware of political issues. It was the dawn of a new day for many of us. Certainly there were others besides Reagan responsible for this new political consciousness, but Ronald Reagan was the candidate that believers felt they could rally around. He was a man who held firm convictions, a man who spoke about his confidence in God, and a man who was aware of the threat of atheistic communism.

Since that time we have faced many disappointments. The triumphalism that some of us expressed in those days has met with reality. Undoubtedly at times we placed too much confidence in the arm of “political” flesh. We were naive and at times were taken advantage of by the politically ambitious. We at times “married” the Kingdom of God to the Republican Party. But nevertheless, 1980 was a turning point for many of us. We can never go back to the retreatism of the old days. In 1980 I began a journey, which continues to this day, to seek to understand how God’s Kingdom is to effect the social and political agendas of this present world. Ronald Reagan helped start me on that journey for which I am grateful.