Why are church leaders drawing lines over politics?

I am pretty sure that my pastoral friends who frequent (and run) this site wll disagree with me strongly on this. But I am quite perturbed that the National Association of Evangelicals has decided that they must throw their hat into the political ring by taking stands on Global Warming and the Iraq War. This is the quote which I find particularly troubling.

But one of the board members, the Rev. Paul de Vries, said, "It ought to be God's agenda, not the Republican Party's agenda, that drives us.
"We're actually tired of being represented by people with a very narrow focus," he said. "We want to have a focus as big as God's focus."

I am troubled by two things. One, the implication that to be an Evangelical had meant being a knee-jerk Republican, who does not think for one's self. Two, the clear suggestion that political issues like Global Warming, the Iraq War, etc. are more important than saving souls.

This is different than the church taking a stand on Slavery, Naziism, or Abortion. The issues that the NAE appears to be starting to address are those upon which reasonable people disagree. Am I way offbase here?