Christian values rock!

Sioux Falls, South Dakota: With his shoulder length blond locks, a white tank top hugging his skinny frame, and his defined arms outstretched horizontal to the ground, Phil Joe really looked like a rock star Jesus. Perhaps that was the point. After all, this was a Christian Rock show. And, with 120,000 people watching (this was day three of the LifeLight Festival), Phil Joe probably had more followers than Jesus ever had while alive.

While Joe jumped around stage, doing a better impression of Mick Jagger than of a preacher, I took the time to walk around and see what the young Christian vote had to say about Sarah Palin.

I walked past tents handing out free bibles, and people giving out free hugs. I walked past people wearing shirts that looked like they advertised Pepsi, but instead said “Jesus.” The son of God’s head literally spun as Frisbees with his profile sketched on top flew past. Next to a henna booth, I met a young engaged couple who were following the election with much fervor, and were both very excited about the addition of Palin to the Republican ticket.

“She might not have a lot of foreign policy experience, but she has more executive experience that Obama and Biden,” said Tim Cruise, 21 who was a large 6′4″ with yellowing teeth. “She’s good for the Republican party because McCain has had so much controversy of whether he is liberal or conservative. This pick makes it a lot more clear what he stands for. It’s good that she has her conservative values like being pro-life and very Christian-based. I’m not going to say that I would vote for someone if God is not important to them.”

His fiancé, Katie Kruger, 20, agreed that Palin’s religious values were an important characteristic. Like many conservative Christians, Kruger picked up on a particular story that she feels indicates Palin’s core beliefs.

“She is a real inspiration to me,” Kruger said. “She could have had an abortion, but she chose not to. She found out that her child was going to have Down Syndrome, but they had the baby anyway and are raising it now. She’s not just saying that abortion is awful, she had to deal with it in her life, and she proved that she will stand by her principles. She didn’t say, ‘I can’t handle this,’ she dealt with it, and she had the baby instead of killing it. Now that’s leading by example. Plus. She’s not like Hillary Clinton, she’s more approachable, and just seeing her on TV holding a gun makes her look so powerful.”

For many people I spoke with, Palin was just the icing on the cake.

“Listen, I was always going to vote for John McCain,” said Connor McIntire, 20, adjusting his Elvis Costello black rimmed glasses. “The difference between the two candidates is that there is one who is ready to lead with experience, and one who puts himself forward as some sort of false messiah, a guy who can give a galvanizing speech but really has no substance. McCain might not have been perfect, but a lot of his flaws can be covered by Palin. Nobody is a perfect Christian, but Palin gives the ticket a religious face and a religious core that it lacked before.”

While some feel a deep sense of civic duty when it comes to the election, other young Christians speak as if the outcome is really out of their hands; as if whatever happens in November is just part of God’s plan.

“I’ve just been praying and asking that God’s will will be done with the election,” said Andy Hedlin, 22, who came to this concert from St. Louis and constantly fiddled with a cross hanging around his neck.  “I know that Jesus is not Republican and he’s not Democratic, he wants to establish his kingdom. And it’s not even a democracy it’s almost like a dictatorship where the king is a king of love. I’ve been praying that he will nominate the person that he wants. If it were up to me, I would elect Jesus, but that’s not going to happen until he comes back from the clouds. I can’t remember what Psalm it is, but it says that God gives the desire of all people’s hearts, as a nation, we get what we ask for, no matter what, whoever is elected, it’s because God has put them there.”

When I told him I was from Boston he said, “Oh man, you came all the way here from Boston, that’s holy.”