Time has listed the top ten news items connected to religion in 2008. The first article was about the economy and how the recession turned out to be far more important for voters in the presidential election than the politics of religion. David Van Biema wrote about how many incidents in the campaign centered on the faith of the candidates (particularly Obama and the Wright scandal), but in the end, far more religious voters (13% more Catholics for example) decided to vote for Obama than Kerry in 2004. Those voters were expressing their positions on other issues not central to the typical religious hot topics. He also noted that "a late October poll showed that only one in 10 Americans regarded the country's moral and spiritual condition as their foremost electoral criterion." In reality, though, religion and ethics were the driving forces in the election and were factors behind voters' other priorities. The war in Iraq, healthcare, and even the slowing of the economy in general had appeals of urgency with foundations in the concept of ethical government. For this reason, there were significant attempts by the Democrats to appeal to religious voters.
Two of the other top ten articles are directly connected: the first is "The Birth of the New Evangelicalism," and the second , "The Challenge of Recession." 2008 was a political season for Evangelical leaders to move "beyond classic issues of individual sin to questions like economic inequality, material aid overseas, and the environment." Moreover, because of the recession, people have been increasingly turning to religion and faith for answers. The New York Times, for example, at the end of December had an article that discussed the evangelistic opportunity for the churches during the economic downturn. The author mentions a recent study that has looked at U.S. recession cycles and the rate of growth in evangelical churches. Protestant and Catholic churches also see increases in memberships but not at the same rate.
