Evangelical groups are fighting tooth and nail to keep their fundamental missions from being watered down by distractions and dubious side activities. Take the decisive action by the Pat Roibertson-founded Christian Coalition of America, which beat back an attempt by a new president, Rev. Joel Hunter, to turn them away from their core values.

The Reverend elected to take over as president of the Christian Coalition of America said he will not assume the role because of differences in philosophy.

The Rev. Joel Hunter, of Longwood’s Northland, A Church Distributed, said Wednesday that the national group would not let him expand the organization’s agenda beyond opposing abortion and gay marriage.

[...] Hunter, who was scheduled to take over the socially conservative political group Jan. 1, said he had hoped to focus on issues such as poverty and the environment. “These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about,” Hunter said.

He resigned Tuesday during an organization board meeting. Hunter said he was not asked to leave. “They pretty much said, ‘These issues are fine, but they’re not our issues, that’s not our base,’” Hunter said.

Good riddance. I mean, only some sort of cultaral-relativist wishy-washy radical nut could argue that opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage weren’t The Primary Goals of any Goodly, Godly Christian organization. Right?