(Photo: AP Images / Elaine Thompson)A voter walks toward an empty bank of voting stations at a polling place Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008, in Seattle, as Washington voters get a second shot at choosing their presidential favorites. Voting was slow at the site, where only six people had cast ballots in the first two and one-half hours.
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American culture is in moral decay as it drifts more to the left, many Christians say. But the demise of the country is not at the hands of nonbelievers or anti-Christians, says one conservative leader. It's at the hands of Christians who fail to be Christians.
"Christians have lost their vision of truly being a nation under God ... that God is interested in using them to change anything," said David Crowe, executive director of Restore America. "We're apathetic. We love the world more than we should. And we don't love God enough."
Crowe opened the 3rd Annual Restore America Conference Friday in Tualatin, Ore., with some 500 people. He and a lineup of speakers will inform fellow believers about the "culture war" they're in and how they can step up as Christians to restore the nation under God.
"We need to stand up for what God says and not compromise with what the world says. We need to fear God and not fear man," Crowe stressed.
The ministry leader believes Christians are running away from the truth of God's word and accepting compromises because it's palatable.
"We fail to shine the light and allow the other side to prevail with darkness," Crowe said bluntly.
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One way to shine the light is to vote.
Crowe called voting a fundamental responsibility for Christians. But many are not taking it seriously and not heading to the ballots. He says out of 52 million voter eligible evangelical Christians in America, only 33 million voted in the 2004 General Election. In 2006, only 20 million voted.
"We folded our arms and [now say] we're unhappy with the Republicans and nothing's happening the way we wanted," said Crowe. "We folded our arms and said we'll send them a message. We sent them a message alright – we allowed the other side to take complete control of the House and the Senate."
So when it's time to point fingers when the country's political leaders and courts make decisions that do not reflect a moral standard, the blame falls on the large absence of Christian voters from the voting booths.
Crowe's comments come as more Christian groups are urging pastors to speak up on biblical and moral issues such as traditional marriage and to encourage congregants to vote. While pastors cannot tell congregants how to vote, they are able to personally endorse candidates and present overviews of candidate positions, according to Christian legal group Liberty Counsel.
"If we would simply mobilize our votes and stand for fundamental principles, we would dominate who gets elected to office," Crowe insisted. "So when I say it's the Christians who are the problem, that's exactly what I mean by not voting."
As conservative Christians this year face a tough road in deciding the next U.S. president – given that many are unhappy with the likely Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain – Crowe's advice to Christians is to apply biblical principles in terms of social and moral when evaluating candidates and issues.
Another piece of advice he offers is to “vote for the lesser of two evils."
“It’s better off [to do that],” he said, regarding the dilemma many face between voting for McCain or the current Democratic candidates or sitting out the election altogether.
His messages are viewed as radical, Crowe acknowledged, but he says more are encouraged by it.
"It's not a matter of what man thinks, but what God thinks," he said. "If we would believe God and do what we're supposed to do, God would be with us and we would prevail."
