By Dr. Greg Cochran, ICC Fellow Recently, The State of Theology Research Report, compiled by Ligonier Ministries, was released. In this latest study, most evangelical Christians (54%) agreed with the statement: Christians should not allow their religious beliefs to influence their political decisions. In one sense, this is not surprising because past studies have produced similar results. At least since John F. Kennedy offered his assurances to the Houston Ministerial Association in 1960, Americans have grown comfortable with relegating faith — religious beliefs — to a “private” sphere that somehow remains separate from the “public” sphere of everyday life.