The Tennessean picked up an interesting Los Angeles Times story today regarding conflict among evangelical Christians over their political agenda. Jim Wallis, who has recently challenged Focus on the Family leader James Dobson to a debate, had the following to say:

“Are the only really “great moral issues’ those concerning abortion, gay marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence?” Wallis asked in his challenge. “How about the reality of 3 billion of God’s children living on less than $2 per day? … What about pandemics like HIV/AIDS … (and) disastrous wars like Iraq?”

Dobson and other evangelical stalwarts are claiming that issues such as poverty, environmentalism and health care are overshadowing traditional issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Though I disagree with Dobson’s stance on these two issues, I don’t expect him and his colleagues to abandon their focus on them. At the same time, what is wrong with adding other relevant and serious concerns to the conversation? Even the evangelical right won’t address Iraq, wouldn’t addressing poverty, health care and global warming be compassionate and worthwhile things to do?

By criticizing other evangelicals who are focusing on these issues, it appears to me that Dobson and others in his camp are only reinforcing negative stereotypes. Isn’t there a chance that lending support for other worthwhile issues might help the general public better understand evangelicals and their core social issues? If it were solely up to Dobson, we might never know the answer to that question.