Advance directives respect familial relationships, spiritual values, and individual choices, says the president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

“Will evangelicals turn out in large numbers and be energized as volunteers and financial supporters of Mitt Romney? It just takes a few million evangelicals to choose to not get as actively involved in this race to cost Mitt Romney the presidency,” according to evangelical journalist Warren Cole Smith.

“Mitt Romney has studiously avoided the subject of religion whenever possible. He’s a technocrat. He’s very careful. He’s highly managed in his public presentation. He knows that bringing up Mormonism conjures a host of associations he’d like to avoid.”

“I would say that Mormon culture, Mormon doctrine, Mormon belief have been well outside the mainstream of both American culture and Christian culture for many years.”

Evangelicals are a key Republican constituency, especially in the primary season, and they still appear to be up for grabs.

Actress Vera Farmiga plays a woman who is “wrestling with the Lord and refusing to let him go until she understands and until he blesses her,” says writer and author Frederica Mathewes-Green.

“When they ask for public monies to fund putting out their particular point of view, that’s where we have a problem,” says Rev. Joseph Phelps of the Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

Watch more of our conversation with Cherie Harder about religion and politics in 2012.

A progressive evangelical says how you cut the federal deficit is a moral question.

Join our discussion of the most anticipated religion and ethics news in 2011, from social and cultural issues to the political and economic debates that loom ahead.