<p>I thought Tony Perkins <a id="t554" href="../../../view/times-are-changing" title="made an interesting case">made an interesting case</a> about the way the religious right is evolving. But when I heard him speak Wednesday, he offered one bit of evidence about the movement’s ongoing strength that was hard to accept.<br />

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&quot;The fact that we have a John McCain candidacy shows that the evangelical movement remains strong,&quot; Perkins said. Huh? I thought he still had a long way to go to bring social conservatives to his side.<br />

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Well, Perkins said, it could have been worse. Despite early polls that held great promise for Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor couldn’t get close to winning the Republican nomination. The reason, Perkins said: The religious right thinks his &quot;Big Apple values [are] totally inappropriate.&quot;<br />

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I guess it’s all relative.</p>