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In today’s column , Pete Spiliakos responds to R.R. Reno’s ” Our Challenges ” from the August/September issue with some practical suggestions:

Aside from the policy problems, the over-identification of faith with one party damages the appeal of the faith itself. There are some steps that religious conservatives could take that might increase their leverage within the Republican party while making their political concerns less specifically Republican.

Religious believers concerned to impact politics should adjust their overall strategy while making tactical adjustments:
Religious conservatives could be less party-centric and reactive in how they spend their political time and energy. They could (and should) continue to vote for the candidate closest to their principles. This would often mean taking an interest in the Republican nominating contests and voting Republican in the general election. But politics could be much improved if a selection of religious conservative donors (and religious conservatives who are not presently donors but take an interest in politics) shifted their donations away from Republican candidates (and third-party organizations dedicated to helping Republican candidates) and toward making the case to the general public on a few key issues. Pick the issues long before the election, and fund a message to appeal to the uncommitted.

Read the whole column here .

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