Conservatives, Religion, And Government - No Longer BFFs?

Considering that Conservative political figures - and those that write about them - love the subject of religion, this can almost be seen as something moderately shocking.

Social conservatives are growing more wary of church involvement in politics, joining moderates and liberals in their unease about blurring the lines between pulpit and ballot box, a new study found.

Fifty percent of conservatives think churches and other places of worship should stay out of social and political matters, up from 30 percent four years ago, according to a survey released Thursday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

That significant shift in conservative thought has brought the country to a tipping point on the question: a slim majority of Americans - 52 percent - now think churches should keep out of politics.

That's an eight percentage point increase over 2004 and the first time a majority of Americans has held that opinion since Pew officials started asking the question 12 years ago.

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The hardline conservative media seems to drag religion into every argument where it can barely be squeezed in. But religion and politics have been partners in conservative ideology for as long as I can remember.

Are conservatives beginning to think that some topics of discussion within their churches are likely to come to the forefront?

Considering the Right's lambasting of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, this seems more than just a mildly plausible option.

Pastor John Hagee's Anti-Catholic rhetoric put the "fear" into McCain, though the media seemed to think that it wasn't as "important" a story? Why is that? Could it be that this is a common theme among many congregations that practice their faith in a simular fashion?

But, more to the point of this story, what is a Social Conservative anyway?

People are so caught up with the notion that everyone must be compartmentalized, be labeled, be broken down into statistical groups so much until we tend to not even fully understand who they are.

By default, Social Conservatives - and what they strive to maintain - go hand-in-hand with "the church": preservation of the 'sanctity of marriage', maintaining a "pro-life" stance, are for government involvement in promoting "family values" and "social morality", as well as preserving "second ammendment rights".

Social Conservatives do, in fact, "cling to guns and religion".

So, why the sudden shift?