(ABP) -- I began this election year with The Future of Faith in American Politics, a book arguing that there is an emerging political center in the white evangelical community.

This center breaks with the evangelical right in that it is more politically independent, prioritizes a wider range of moral issues than the traditional family values concerns, eschews the right's mood of angry nostalgia and seeks consensus solutions to advance the common good.

I suggested the right was losing its hold on younger white evangelicals, who were moving in this more centrist direction (and sometimes further left) and that it never really had a hold on a majority of nonwhite evangelicals.

During the election campaign just concluded, the right pretty much acted according to type. Especially once Sarah Palin was added to the ticket, Christian right leaders swung into action in support of the Republicans. They focused strongly on abortion and gay marriage, communicated a mood of intense anger and fear in relation to Barack Obama and pursued classic culture-war strategy to mobilize supporters.

Early exit poll results demonstrate that white evangelicals supported the McCain-Palin ticket at 74 percent, to 24 percent for Obama. In 2004, white evangelicals went for President Bush at 78 percent and Sen. John Kerry at 21 percent.

John Green, an expert on evangelical voting patterns, has reported that 32 percent of younger white evangelicals (18-29) voted for Sen. Obama, a significantly higher proportion than their elders. It also appears likely that regional differences between southern and non-southern evangelicals will emerge with further analysis.

One might conclude from these numbers that if there is an emerging white evangelical center, it hasn't emerged very far quite yet.

But I never argued that the evangelical center would vote Democratic. I said that centrists would be more open to voting Democratic, and that they would evaluate candidates according to a wider range of moral considerations.

From conversations on college campuses all year, it seems clear to me that Barack Obama's stance on abortion proved a major obstacle among evangelical centrists who were otherwise quite open to voting for him. Younger evangelicals remain just as unhappy with abortion on demand as older evangelicals, even as their positions on other issues, including homosexuality, are moderating.

Therefore, Barack Obama seems to have won the evangelical left, as expected, but only a relatively small percentage of centrists. However, he did make gains that, according to Beliefnet writer Steven Waldman, probably amounted to as many as 2 million white evangelical votes swinging his direction in comparison with 2004. This is a significant incremental change.

The evangelical right's white-hot anti-Obama rhetoric places it in a poor position to function as anything other than an opposition voice during the Obama years. After eight years of access and influence in the Bush administration, this will undoubtedly come as a shock.

On the other hand, this is how the Christian right began -- as an opposition movement. In some ways, it will mark a return to their roots.

The coming wilderness years will provide an occasion for the Christian right to rethink its approach, as will other branches of the tattered Republican coalition in the years to come.

I think they should move to the center. But somehow I don't think anyone over there cares what I think, and my intent is to leave them to their discussions while turning my attention to where the action is likely to be in the next stage. 

The center and left of the white evangelical community are in a far better position to play a constructive role in affecting major policy decisions on the ethically significant issues that will be decided in the next four years.

Of course, we will not do so alone, but will work in partnership with the black and Hispanic evangelical communities, the center-left of the Catholic community, and a host of other interested parties who are ready to work with the Obama administration on a number of challenges our nation and world faces.

I am eager to see the Obama administration reverse Bush administration detainee policy as decisively as possible; sponsor necessary climate-change legislation and alternative energy measures; press for effective abortion-reduction strategies; spearhead comprehensive immigration reform; posture the United States as an adherent of international norms and practitioner of creative diplomacy; lead the world in the reduction and eventual elimination of nuclear weapons; ensure that every American has access to needed health care; and jump start our economy in a way that especially benefits those who most need help now.

These would all, in various ways, be significant steps toward justice, human dignity and a livable planet. They would all fulfill government's mandate to advance the common good and promote the sacredness of life. It is exciting to contemplate participating in the achievement of such goals in the days to come.  

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-- David P. Gushee is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University.

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