ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
About two-thirds of Americans identify as Christians, and they come from a variety of denominations and political persuasions. Often, the conversation around Christianity and politics focuses on conservative white evangelicals because they make up a large and unusually unified voting bloc. Well, now a group of supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris hopes to rally Christian voters around her campaign. NPR's Sarah McCammon reports.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: Over the past few weeks, supporters of Vice President Harris have been gathering online in groups based on their identity. There were calls for Black women for Kamala, white women for Kamala, white men, Black men - and the list goes on. Tonight, it's Christians for Kamala. One of the organizers, John Pavlovitz, says he wants to bring together moderate and progressive Christians...
JOHN PAVLOVITZ: Who feel like the conversation on spirituality has been hijacked by the Christian right.
MCCAMMON: Pavlovitz is an author and activist based in North Carolina. He's spent time as a pastor, including in some evangelical churches. He's also hoping to reach Christians who don't feel at home in the Republican Party but may not feel that Democrats are speaking to them either.
PAVLOVITZ: I think, in some ways, the Democratic Party has often ceded the conversation on spirituality to the Republican Party, and we just want to offer a dissenting opinion.
MCCAMMON: Co-organizer Malynda Hale is an actress, singer and activist from Los Angeles, with a background in the Black Christian tradition. She also hopes to make a case for supporting Harris to white evangelicals.
MALYNDA HALE: I want white evangelicals, even though some of these social justice causes may not affect them personally, if you're going to claim to be a Christian, you have to advocate for others in the same way that Jesus did.
MCCAMMON: About 8 in 10 White Evangelical Christians supported Donald Trump in the past two presidential elections. Longtime conservative activist Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition says many remain grateful to Trump for policy victories like the overturning of Roe v. Wade. He says Democrats lag far behind Republicans when it comes to faith-based voter outreach.
RALPH REED: It's a lack of credibility. It's a lack of relationships. It's a lack of infrastructure.
MCCAMMON: Reed says his group is planning its largest get-out-the-vote effort ever this year, targeting tens of millions of conservative voters. Michael Wear led religious outreach for President Obama's 2012 campaign and now runs the Center for Christianity in Public Life. He says Democrats should take outreach to religious voters seriously because even small shifts can make a big difference. Given white evangelical support for Trump and worries about rising Christian nationalism on the right, Wear says Democrats face a key question.
MICHAEL WEAR: Do Democrats want to appeal to religious constituencies, or do they want to use religious constituencies, particularly conservative Christians, as a foil to motivate base Democratic voters?
MCCAMMON: Then there's the question of whether religion and politics should be combined at all in a country that values the separation of church and state. Christians for Kamala organizer John Pavlovitz says he thinks people of faith can bring their values to the voting booth while respecting that principle.
PAVLOVITZ: While we want the separation of church and state, we realize that people vote their personal faith convictions, and we want to encourage them in that.
MCCAMMON: Tonight's Christians for Kamala meeting includes leaders from several progressive Christian groups who will urge supporters to get behind Harris through organizing and fundraising. Sarah McCammon, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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