That doesn't necessarily mean that it is new. It seems every time someone from the mainstream media reads a church newsletter (they don't tend to actually attend the service) and finds a reference to something they didn't know *boom* it's news.

Today's illustrative case is this piece by ABC News' Bill Redeker.

The evangelical movement has long been considered a powerful political entity. An estimated 65 million Americans consider themselves conservative Christians. Their anti-gay, anti-abortion views are well known as is their support for mostly Republican political candidates.

But times are changing.

Now there are evangelicals speaking out on global warming and supporting adoption. Neither would have been endorsed only a few years ago.

Evangelicals wouldn't have been supporting adoption "only a few years ago"? Really? Seriously?

And here I thought I was an evangelical. I must have gotten an advance copy of the adoption memo ... two decades ago!

Next week Redeker will probably break news that evangelicals are "poor, uneducated and easy to command."

Once again, this illustrates a serious problem with the mainstream media -- there's apparently no evangelical in the newsroom to give the story a once-over. Anyone who's been going to an evangelical church for, say, a month would be able to wave off this silly statement.