On November 2, the American electorate delivered a stinging rebuke to Pres. Barack Obama and the Democrats. According to a post-election survey conducted for the Faith and Freedom Coalition by Public Opinion Strategies, 32 percent of all voters were self-identified conservative Christians, and they cast 78 percent of their ballots for Republican candidates and only 20 percent for Democrats. Nearly 9 million more religious conservatives went to the polls than in the midterm elections four years ago.

Understanding the motivation of religious voters is therefore very important as we head toward 2012. In City of Man, Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner, …