I am not Christian, but I really do appreciate the work you are doing. It's good to see the focus on our common goals rather than the things that can divide us.

This one isn't too strong, to tell you my honest opinion. If the goal though is to start getting out there and gaining credibility among Evangelical voters more than to really encourage votes for Obama directly, though, I think it gets the job done. Once you've got that credibility, I hope you'll use it for more targetted messages.

Evangelical voters just need a credible source to tell them that their faith doesn't have to be tied to the right wing. You guys are doing some great work here; thank you.

Great Ad! I am a Matthew 25 Network Facebook member, eon though I'm not religious. It has definitely been a mistake for Democrats not to woo religious voters. My sister is hardcore evangelical and she loves Obama. The best thing is she gets others at her church excited about him too.

I think that story has been retired.  Our intent was to point out that the McCain campaign was pushing it.

I hadn't seen the CNN clip - but it sounds unfortunate.

The % of the country that would vote against him or simply not vote "just in case" is significant and worth courting. Silly or not, the belief is widely held even among the less devout.

I hate to be cynical, but I think this is a question that needs to be asked.  How many evangelicals can actually be persuaded to vote for Barack this time around?  If an evangelical hadn't figured out by 2004 that Bush was not living up to his Christian morals, I wonder what exactly would induce them to vote for Barack this time around.

There are certainly some number of evangelicals that live their lives according to immovable Christian principals.  There is also certainly some number of evangelicals that use Christianity as a pretext for pushing their own reactionary, conservative approach to everything under the sun.  Problem is.  No one dares guess about the numerical split between these two.

I don't mean to be a wet blanket, but I really hate to get my hopes up about any of this.

Great work! And I love the pictures of the Obamas you chose for your ad!

that you and others are doing this.

I just hope that Obama and the Democrats don't start relying on and kissing the butt of religious groups. I am already not to thrilled with the upcoming religious forum with Obama and mccain.

Over the years, the republicans morphed into the worst parts of what the Democrats used to be. I DO NOT want to see the Democrats morphing into the worst parts of what the neo-con republicans are (religion, flag, war, etc) and loose their identity, their focus and what this country and our Constitution really stand for.

Progressive Blue

Is the ad playing on television?  Where?

Did you ever hear from my friend's son in the DC area about staying with them?  She subsequently told me her son and his wife were going through a rough patch so they might have been distracted.

I'm glad to see you were able to work on your project.  Thanks for the update.

Grant, what are Matthew 25's plans to blunt the abortion issue being used as it was against Kerry, to devastating effect?

I believe the following points need to be stressed:

Jesus' mission on earth was to effect a change of heart and soul - to almost the exclusion of affairs of the world. There was little desire to change the political landscape by impacting the laws of the time ("Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, give to God what is God's")

The New Testament emphasizes the motivations of the heart over the deed. For example, the exhortation in Matthew 5:27-28: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (NIV). Passing laws against abortion have little impact on the desire in the heart to have one - they do nothing to effect a change of heart.

Many in the pro-life movement bring up the numbers of abortions since the beginning of time, to draw comparisons to the holocaust - and to juxtapose these against the numbers of war casualties. The key deception here is that the hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq resulted from the decision of one man, or one cabal of men; one key decision that robbed so many of their lives. In contrast, the millions of abortions are a result of millions of personal decisions and desires - desires that that (as explained above) won't change by outlawing abortion.

I've never understood how campaigns that are otherwise adept have been so completely clueless when it comes to defending against an issue as lethal as this one. I hope that with your help, this will change.