Liberal pollsters are reportedly asking if Ontarians would be more or less likely to vote for the federal Conservative Party if they knew it had been "taken over by evangelical Christians." What is this, an evangelical conspiracy theory?

Only last week the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice called for a renewed commitment to religious

tolerance in the wake of anti-Semitic violence. Now their party seems to be trying to make religious affiliation a wedge issue in an election campaign.

Make no mistake, the same impulse that drives anti-Semitic violence drives this style of polling about religious affiliation. And it is no more acceptable when it is directed at evangelical Christians than it is when directed at Jews, Catholics or Muslims.

Of course, it is not new to attempt to paint evangelicals as "scary." It is always easy to incite fear of a group if you don’t know any members personally. But the reality is, most Canadians probably do know many evangelicals personally. Fully 12 per cent of the Canadian population are evangelicals, some of these are in mainline churches, and another seven per cent are Catholics who share the same beliefs.

Are people who run soup kitchens scary? Are those who run homeless shelters scary? Are you afraid of people who help starving AIDs orphans in Africa? Evangelicals have taken a leading role in these kinds of initiatives.

But the term "evangelical Christian" is not widely known. It is used to identify a movement within Christianity characterized by four essential beliefs: the authority of the Bible as the word of God; forgiveness of sins through the life, death and resurrection of Christ; a commitment to Christ and a belief in the importance of sharing this faith.

According to a recent Ipsos-Reid poll, evangelicals are more likely to volunteer in the community and donate to charity (other than their church) than non-evangelicals. And according to another Ipsos-Reid poll conducted several years ago, evangelicals are more tolerant of multiculturalism than non-evangelicals.

Then there is the issue of the term "taken over by" in the polling question. This implies that there is a conspiracy. A conspiracy would require a degree of political uniformity among evangelicals that simply doesn’t exist. As for conspiring, critics would complain that evangelicals are more prone to shouting into megaphones than whispering in corners.

There is no plot and there is no conspiracy. Given the percentage of evangelicals in the general population, one would presume that 12 per cent of candidates will be evangelicals; 12 per cent of MPs will be evangelicals; 12 per cent of your neighbours and co-workers will be evangelicals.

Evangelical Christians do not vote as a bloc. In fact, pollsters tell us that evangelicals vote along similar lines as the rest of Canadians. This means that if the Liberals alienate evangelicals, they will lose a significant base of support.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has 39 affiliated denominations, and this by no means includes all evangelicals. The fastest-growing evangelical churches are ethnic churches that represent a diversity of cultures and languages.

Evangelicals are an active part of Canadian life and society. Why would an evangelical suddenly not be responsive to Canada’s diversity when elected to political office? To suggest otherwise breeds suspicion and religious intolerance.

In 1999, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives conducted phone polls asking if people would be "comfortable voting for a 'member’ of the Canadian Jewish Congress," and whether they would "vote for the son of a Holocaust survivor." Canadians rightly cried foul. The Tories subsequently apologized and fired the pollster.

This would be an appropriate way for the Liberals to deal with their offensive polling question.

Bruce Clemenger is the president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. This article was originally published in The Globe and Mail (April 24, 2004). Related articles are posted at www.christianity.ca