How does religion make a difference in the Republican Party, as opposed to just promoting conservative values?
Religion connects you to a set of moral principles that are more than just conserving the past or the free market. Americans like the free market, they like capitalism, but it’s not that inspiring. To really inspire people and inspire young people, you’ve got have a more serious moral mission. So I think social conservatives at their best provide that. As long as it’s not a social conservatism that is about how sinful everybody else is. Is there anything that evangelicals can do to repair their image? It comes and goes. I understand [that] Rick Warren’s not the leader, but I think people like him have a positive effect. There are a lot of people all around the country less famous than he is that don’t have churches with thousands of people but who do that on [a] day-to-day basis. The more those people are in public life, the more familiar the country gets with them. I thought, to be honest, Jerry Falwell did damage, and frankly I think James Dobson does damage sometimes. His work on ps
