Back of the Envelope

I have by now become used to the mainstream media's inability to determine the difference between fundamentalists and evangelicals, much less to understand what the religious right is. Heck, I'm not sure I understand what's meant by the term. Sometimes it's nothing more than a catch-phrase to describe all those conservative Christians who are also political conservatives, which would include my fairly moderate self. The mainstream media tends to lump them all together, which wouldn't be a problem except that they then ascribe the same beliefs to the far left of the religious right as to the far right. Thus we all want to see abortion banned, a ban on gay marriage, an end to stem cell research, and prayer in public schools. Of course, when they go into full demagoguery mode, Democrats accuse the religious right of wanting to round up gays in concentration camps, to keep women out of the workplace and legally subservient to their husbands, and to remove all trace of other religions from the public square--or perhaps just deport all the unbelievers. Now, there are probably some people who believe those things, but I've never met them, nor do they make up even a sizeable minority in the evangelical movement. Bush is an evangelical, and he's a fairly moderate one. His positions on embryonic stem cell research, partial-birth abortion, and gay marriage are not only middle-of-the-road for evangelicals, they're also middle of the road for America, which is why I find The Economist's complaining so annoying (Hat tip Megan McArdle at Instapundit):

If Mr Bush is re-elected, and uses a new team and a new approach to achieve that goal, and shakes off his fealty to an extreme minority, the religious right, then The Economist will wish him well.

Once again, by "fealty to an extreme minority, the religious right," The Economist means "openly religious and opposing partial-birth-abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and gay marriage." So how extreme a minority is someone holding these positions? Let's check some statistics:

• 84% of Americans say that religion is very important or somewhat important in their lives (55% say very important)
• 70% of Americans agree or mostly agree that it is important that the President have strong religious beliefs (same link as above)
• 69% of Americans oppose partial birth abortion
• 57% of Americans oppose abortion on demand (same link as above)
• 47% of Americans oppose federal funding for embryonic stem cell research
• 62% of Americans oppose gay marriage

So much for the extreme minority meme, huh? Bush's positions are pretty clearly mainstream.