McChurch - Pandering to the Wacko Fringe

Dobson: Thompson must express faith (Here we go! The litmus test of faith - repeating the Sinner's Prayer on national radio - is now the standard for excellence in political leadership...We're in trouble, folks, and this bully is laughing all the way to Armageddon! Stan Moody, author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship"and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry.") Story Highlights • Dr. James Dobson called on Fred Thompson to express Christian faith • Dobson in an interview said of Thompson "I don't think he's a Christian" • Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, is an influential evangelical leader • Thompson considering a bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As senator turned actor Fred Thompson considers a presidential run, his Christian credentials are being questioned by Dr. James Dobson, a major voice among Christian conservative voters. Republican strategist Rich Galen saw this as a positive thing. "If I'm advising Fred Thompson, which I'm not, I'd say 'Good news! We're big enough that someone like Dobson has to pay attention to us,' " he said. (Watch why some in GOP think actor is Mr. Right) In an interview with "U.S. News & World Report," Dobson said, "I don't think he's a Christian." A Thompson spokesman quickly contested Dobson's statement, saying "Thompson is indeed a Christian. He was baptized into the Church of Christ." But a declaration of Thompson's religion will not be enough for Dobson, who is viewed as being widely influential with evangelical Christians, a key Republican voting bloc. "We were pleased to learn from his spokesperson that Sen. Thompson professes to be a believer," said Nima Reza, a Dobson spokesman. "Thompson hasn't clearly communicated his religious faith, and many evangelical Christians might find this a barrier to supporting him." Why did that come up now, even before Thompson, a star of NBC's "Law and Order" and a former GOP Tennessee senator, has committed to running for president? Dobson has shown so far he's not a believer in any of the front-running Republican candidates. He gave Mitt Romney a lukewarm review and said he couldn't support Sen. John McCain or frontrunner Rudy Giuliani. It signals a split among evangelicals. "They're looking for someone to head off Rudy Giuliani. Some evangelicals want Thompson to be that person. But others want Newt Gingrich," said Dr. Charles Dunn of Regent University. Dobson recently had Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, on his radio show, where the former house speaker admitted an extramarital affair. "I asked you if the rumors were true that you were in an affair with a woman, obviously, who wasn't your wife at the same time that Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky were having their escapade?" Dobson asked. "Well, the fact is the honest answer is yes," Gingrich said. Dobson has not endorsed any candidates. He told "U.S. News & World Report" that he thinks Gingrich is the "brightest guy out there" and "the most articulate politician on the scene today." CNN's Mary Snow contributed to this report

McChurch - Steeplejacking: How the Christian Right is Hijacking Mainstream Religion

Steeplejacking: How the Christian Right is Hijacking Mainstream Religion

An extraordinary look inside the battle for religion in America, Steeplejacking: How the Christian Right is Hijacking Mainstream Religion shows how a strident theocratic minority is attacking-or "steeplejacking"-mainstream churches in order to eliminate progressive voices and take control of the churches.

An insider account by two ministers on the front lines of the United Church of Christ's longtime "shadow war" against the religious right, Steeplejacking reveals how right-wing groups infiltrate mainstream congregations in order to win "hearts and minds," often by willful distortion of biblical teachings and the use of social wedge issues like homosexuality to stir up "moral" dissent.

The book documents both the overt and covert signs that a church is under attack and discusses how the minister and other church leaders can act as either facilitators or protectors in the face of an attack. Churches that have been "steeplejacked" are examined to show how some are able to successfully fight back while others succumb, as the book also reveals the steps that churches can take to insulate themselves from future attacks.

An unprecedented look at the war currently waging inside religion, Steeplejacking shows how mainstream faith is under attack by the Christian Right and what it can do to fight back.

An ordained minister for thirty-three years, Sheldon Culver serves on the conference staff of the Missouri Mid-South Conference of the United Church of Christ.

Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer is a member of the conference staff for the Missouri Mid-South Conference of the United Church of Christ and a weekly contributor to talk2action.org.

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Lift High the Cross: Where White Supremacy and the Christian Right Converge Both the Christian right and right-wing white supremacist groups aspire to overcome a culture they perceive as hostile to the white middle class, families, and heterosexuality. The family is threatened, they claim, by a secular humanist conspiracy that seeks to erase all memory of the nation's Christian heritage by brainwashing its children through sex education, multiculturalism, and pop culture. In Lift High the Cross Ann Burlein looks at two groups that represent, in one case, the �hard� right, and in the other, the �soft� right�Pete Peters's �Scriptures for America� and James Dobson's �Focus on the Family��in order to investigate the specific methods these groups rely on to appeal to their followers.

Arguing that today's right engenders its popularity not by overt bigotry or hatred but by focusing on people's hopes for their children, Burlein finds a politics of grief at the heart of such rhetoric. While demonstrating how religious symbols, rituals, texts, and practices shape people's memories and their investment in society, she shows how Peters and Dobson each construct countermemories for their followers that reframe their histories and identities�as well as their worlds�by reversing mainstream perspectives in ways that counter existing power relations. By employing the techniques of niche marketing, the politics of scandal, and the transformation of political issues into �gut issues� and by remasculinizing the body politic, Burlein shows, such groups are able to move people into their realm of influence without requiring them to agree with all their philosophical, doctrinal, or political positions.

Lift High the Cross will appeal to students and scholars of religion, American cultural studies, women's studies, sociology, and gay and lesbian studies, as well as to non-specialists interested in American politics and, specifically, the right.
Customer Review: An Interesting Look at the Right
I expected to take issue with Ms. Burlein's thesis but could not. In a time in which left-of-center politics dominates academic debate and ideology, I expected to read a knee-jerk review and condemnation of conservative values. I was pleasantly surprised.There was no brow-beating of those who value heterosexulaity over its counterpart nor was there any denigrating discussion of the traditional values of the "white right."

"Lift High the Cross" is an excellent academic discussion of a widely-held worldview. Whether to believe the proposition that Christian Right is an extension of the klan is left up to the reader to decide. Though I did not grow up in Ms. Burlein's region of the U.S. I now live and teach there, I can appreciate her desire to discuss in neutral language a very pressing issue facing our nation today.

After reading her book, I have a better understanding of many of the issues concerning white supremacy, some of which I had never considered until I read her book. In conclusion, I must say that although my political beliefs incline toward the right, at no time did her thesis make me feel "wrong" because of my personal politics. I recommend this book highly.

McChurch - The Christian Right in American Politics: Marching to the Millennium (Religion and Politics)

The Christian Right in American Politics: Marching to the Millennium (Religion and Politics)

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The Values Campaign?: The Christian Right And the 2004 Elections (Religion and Politics)

McChurch - Foreign Policy by the "Word"

TV Evangelist John Hagee Wants War With Iran, and He Wants It Now! by Bill Barnwell by Bill Barnwell If anyone still thinks that the radical end-times "prophecy" movement is not a threat to peace and stability, think again. At the popular level, in terms of the TV preachers and the hot-selling prophecy books, the dispensational pre-trib stuff still reigns supreme. Most conservative-leaning Evangelical churches in America today are heavily influenced by popular dispensational theology to some extent. Even churches and pastors that don’t teach pretribulationalism still are influenced by dispensationalism to varying degrees. The most dangerous element of this prophetic paradigm, however, is its doom-and-gloom view of the world. And in most cases, those who have a fascination with the end of the world have a particular fascination with war and militarism as well. More problematic, it assumes that their wars of choice are not just their own foreign policy preferences or personal opinions. Rather they are ordained by God. In 2003, more than a few pastors and influential Christian figures basically said that opposing the Iraq war was opposing God’s end-time plan. According to Evangelical end-times enthusiasts, if you opposed the Iraq war, you didn’t just hate your country and the troops, now you were opposing God and the Bible as well. An even bigger obsession for dispensationalists has always been Israel. For the average dispensationalist, modern-day secular Israel is going to be the focal point in the end-times. Therefore, if the Bible really does teach in Daniel 9:27 that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is going to be torn down for a rebuilt Jewish Temple, why should any of us seek to prevent it? Sure, it very well might ignite a regional war and even ignite tensions around the world, but it's all part of God’s prophetic plan. Not to worry though, things might not get really ugly until after the "rapture," so the Christians today who are cheering for events that would bring about World War III won’t have to worry about it anyway. Unless of course, they are wrong about the whole thing. Enter the Rev. John Hagee. Hagee is the pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio Texas, where he has 18,000 followers right in his own congregation. He also has a global television ministry and has sold scores of prophecy books over the years. John Hagee is perhaps the most powerful and influential Christian Zionist figure in America. Hagee has a long history making strange predictions about world events that are almost always wrong. His books in the late 90’s trumped up Y2K hysteria to ridiculous levels. He inaccurately predicted that the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was the "Beginning of the End" in the book of the same name. In every book he writes, he is constantly warning of catastrophe in various forms right around the corner. According to one of his fans, he supposedly just preached a sermon predicting that 2007 would be a "significant" year in Bible prophecy and that his prophecy claims can be "mathematically" backed up by the Biblical text. Given Hagee’s prior success rate in making predictions, don’t be shocked if 2007 doesn’t shape up to be all that "significant" after all. As with all popular prophecy teachers, they are immune from making inaccurate predictions and false prophecies. Their followers simply forget or forgive them. Maybe they’ll even claim that God changed His mind. Most don’t even pay attention though and don’t even realize their superstars are constantly revising their predictions and end-times charts. However, Hagee is not just another goofy eccentric on TBN. He has political clout and regularly meets with influential national politicians. If you’ve ever watched him on TV, he clearly basks in this fact and drops little hints about his discussions with people in governmental authority and other positions of power. For years Hagee has hosted "A Night to Honor" Israel and is founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel. Their goals span beyond supporting Israel, but also implementing a one-sided and radical approach to the Arab-Israeli problems in the Middle East. There is no nuance to their policy prescriptions and ironically (or perhaps not so ironically) the agenda of Hagee and his group would actually make matters much worse in the Middle East. And he has more than a few fans out there. He has not been afraid to remind his church and television audience, repeatedly over the years, that there are "millions in America and around the world watching this program right now." Whatever the number really is, what is clear is that Hagee is reaching many people and has a networking system that spans into the rich and powerful, some of whom are making national foreign policy decisions. If left up to Hagee, there would be a military strike against Iran today. Since last summer, Hagee has been practically foaming at the mouth for a new war with Iran. Why? Because he thinks it is the rest of the world’s job to fight Israel’s wars and because he thinks such a showdown is a piece of the puzzle in regards to Bible prophecy. To Hagee, there is no middle ground on this issue. God told Abraham he would "bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you" (Gen. 12:3). That means if YOU aren’t on board with wars that might be in Israel’s interest, but not in the United States’, then YOU will be cursed by God. At least according to Hagee. To see just how bellicose, belligerent, and militaristic Hagee has come, just watch his speech at the AIPAC Washington conference. Behind his thundering prose and love for the Jewish people is a militaristic and even fanatical mindset that is hoping and praying for the world to fall apart. After all, Jesus can’t come back unless it does, but all is well since Christians before the "rapture" will escape the worst of it. Unfortunately for the Jewish people, they still await another massive holocaust, according to many dispensationalists. Anyone interested in this subject should read our own Gary North’s column, The Unannounced Reason Behind American Fundamentalism's Support for the State of Israel. An excerpt: Nothing can or will be done by Christians to save Israel’s Jews from this disaster, for all of the Christians will have been removed from this world three and a half years prior to the beginning of this 42-month period of tribulation. (The total period of seven years is interpreted as the fulfillment of the seventieth week of Daniel [Dan. 9:27].) In order for most of today’s Christians to escape physical death, two-thirds of the Jews in Israel must perish, soon. This is the grim prophetic trade-off that fundamentalists rarely discuss publicly, but which is the central motivation in the movement’s support for Israel. It should be clear why they believe that Israel must be defended at all costs by the West. If Israel were militarily removed from history prior to the Rapture, then the strongest case for Christians’ imminent escape from death would have to be abandoned. This would mean the indefinite delay of the Rapture. The fundamentalist movement thrives on the doctrine of the imminent Rapture, not the indefinitely postponed Rapture. Every time you hear the phrase, "Jesus is coming back soon," you should mentally add, "and two-thirds of the Jews of Israel will be dead in ‘soon plus 84 months.’" Fundamentalists really do believe that they probably will not die physically, but to secure this faith prophetically, they must defend the doctrine of an inevitable holocaust. This specific motivation for the support of Israel is never preached from any fundamentalist pulpit. The faithful hear sermons – many, many sermons – on the pretribulation Rapture. On other occasions, they hear sermons on the Great Tribulation. But they do not hear the two themes put together: "We can avoid death, but only because two-thirds of the Jews of Israel will inevitably die in a future holocaust. America must therefore support the nation of Israel in order to keep the Israelis alive until after the Rapture." Fundamentalist ministers expect their congregations to put two and two together on their own. It would be politically incorrect to add up these figures in public. Again, however, one can’t make too big a fuss about this, since "Bible prophecy" demands this carnage. It’s "God’s will" for the world to fall apart, for tensions to further inflame between Jews and Arabs, for the United States to lead the charge in a pre-emptive strike on Iran, to rebuild a third Jewish Temple after tearing down the Islamic mosque, etc. All you have to do to prove this is cut passages like Genesis 12, Matthew 24, 2 Thessalonians 2, Ezekiel 36 and 37, and Daniel 9:24–27 out of context (along with the entire book of Revelation), make up some handy-dandy prophecy charts, and confidently present it to Biblically illiterate Christians who don’t know any better. While there are many doctrinal disputes amongst Christians, there are none that have as much practical significance as this one. I strongly disagree with those who deny the Trinity, but those who deny the deity of Christ are not clamoring for war, bombs, and destruction. Likewise, Christians disagree vehemently over issues like eternal security or the proper mode of baptism, but thankfully we’ve grown up and stopped killing each other over those issues in the last couple hundred years. When it comes to questionable or inaccurate beliefs about the end-times, however, they are shaping many people’s foreign policy and worldviews for the worse. It is causing many to hold troubling escapist views towards the world. I know this because I am constantly told by other Christians that "we are not in the business of fixing up the world, we are just in the business of saving souls until the rapture!" It is in part because of faulty eschatology that Evangelical Christians, more than any other demographic group in America, supported the ill-advised invasion of Iraq in 2003. And it is faulty eschatology that is causing this same group of people to believe the militaristic agenda behind Rev. Hagee’s bombastic oratory. After all, it’s all been ordained, so how can we oppose it? But maybe, just maybe, their preciously held beliefs about future prophecy are way off. Maybe they are dead wrong in their views and maybe all the wars, destruction and carnage they think are inevitable aren’t necessarily mandated by God. Maybe the Bible is teaching exactly the opposite regarding these matters than what they teach. Alas, no matter how many false predictions these guys make, or how many damaging theological and political beliefs they espouse, people continue to follow their dangerous teachings. It’s time for both Christian and non-Christian alike to call this crowd out on their bad theology, false prophecies, and deadly worldview. Hopefully Hagee is right that 2007 is going to be a significant year in Bible prophecy. It would be significant indeed if Biblical scholars, pastors and laymen finally and at long last rescued the doctrine of eschatology from the doom and destruction crowd of militaristic pretribulationists. Here’s hoping that with each passing year the theology of Hagee and his ilk is exposed for how Biblically inaccurate and destructive it really is. March 22, 2007 Bill Barnwell [send him mail] is a pastor and writer from Michigan. He holds both a Master of Ministry degree and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies degree from Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana. Visit his blog. Copyright © 2007 LewRockwell.com

McChurch - "Growing in Grace" Church Doing So Without the Knowledge of Christ (2 Peter)

Pastor with 666 tattoo claims to be divine...

POSTED: 1908 GMT (0308 HKT), February 19, 2007

Story Highlights

• Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, a minister, says he is God
• De Jesus preaches that there is no devil and no sin
• His church claims thousands of members in more than 30 countries

By John Zarrella and Patrick Oppmann
CNN

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- The minister has the number 666 tattooed on his arm.

But Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is not your typical minister. De Jesus, or "Daddy" as his thousands of followers call him, does not merely pray to God: He says he is God.

"The spirit that is in me is the same spirit that was in Jesus of Nazareth," de Jesus says.

De Jesus' claims of divinity have angered Christian leaders, who say he is a fake. Religious experts say he may be something much more dangerous, a cult leader who really believes he is God. (Watch followers get 666 tattoos for their leader )

"He's in their heads, he's inside the heads of those people," says Prof. Daniel Alvarez, a religion expert at Florida International University who has debated some of de Jesus' followers.

"De Jesus speaks with a kind of conviction that makes me consider him more like David Koresh or Jim Jones."

Is de Jesus really a cult leader like David Koresh, who died with more than 70 of his Branch Davidian followers in a fiery end to a standoff with federal authorities, or Jim Jones, the founder of the Peoples Temple who committed mass suicide with 900 followers in 1978?

Prophets 'spoke to me'

De Jesus and his believers say their church -- "Creciendo en Gracia," Spanish for "Growing in grace" -- is misunderstood. Followers of the movement say they have proof that their minister is divine and that their church will one day soon be a major faith in the world.

But even de Jesus concedes that he is an unlikely leader of a church that claims thousands of members in more than 30 countries.

De Jesus, 61, grew up poor in Puerto Rico. He says he served stints in prison there for petty theft and says he was a heroin addict.

De Jesus says he learned he was Jesus reincarnate when he was visited in a dream by angels.

"The prophets, they spoke about me. It took me time to learn that, but I am what they were expecting, what they have been expecting for 2,000 years," de Jesus says.

The church that he began building 20 years ago in Miami resembles no other:

Followers have protested Christian churches in Miami and Latin America, disrupting services and smashing crosses and statues of Jesus.

De Jesus preaches there is no devil and no sin. His followers, he says, literally can do no wrong in God's eyes.

The church calls itself the "Government of God on Earth" and uses a seal similar to the United States.

Doing God's work with a Lexus and Rolex

If Creciendo en Gracia is an atypical religious group, de Jesus also does not fit the mold of the average church leader. De Jesus flouts traditional vows of poverty.

He says he has a church-paid salary of $136,000 but lives more lavishly than that. During an interview, he showed off a diamond-encrusted Rolex to a CNN crew and said he has three just like them. He travels in armored Lexuses and BMWs, he says, for his safety. All are gifts from his devoted followers.

And what about the tattoo of 666 on his arm?

Although it's a number usually associated with Satan, not the son of God, de Jesus says that 666 and the Antichrist are, like him, misunderstood.

The Antichrist is not the devil, de Jesus tells his congregation; he's the being who replaces Jesus on Earth.

"Antichrist is the best person in the world," he says. "Antichrist means don't put your eyes on Jesus because Jesus of Nazareth wasn't a Christian. Antichrist means do not put your eyes on Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Put it on Jesus after the cross."

And de Jesus says that means him.

So far, de Jesus says that his flock hasn't been scared off by his claims of being the Antichrist. In a show of the sway he holds over the group, 30 members of his congregation Tuesday went to a tattoo parlor to have 666 also permanently etched onto their skin.

He may wield influence over them, but his followers say don't expect them to go the way of people who believed in David Koresh and Jim Jones. Just by finding de Jesus, they say, they have achieved their purpose.

"If somebody tells us drink some Kool-Aid and we'll go to heaven, that's not true. We are already in heavenly places," follower Martita Roca told CNN after having 666 tattooed onto her ankle.

McChurch - ACLU Defends Free Speech of "Gay" Baptist Minister

February 24, 2007

Same-sex Marriage Critic in Court on Lewdness Charge in Oklahoma...

The lawyer for a former Baptist church leader who had spoken out against homosexuality said Thursday the minister has a constitutional right to solicit sex from an undercover policeman. The Reverend Lonnie W. Latham had supported a resolution calling on gays and lesbians to reject their ''sinful, destructive lifestyle'' before his January 3, 2006, arrest outside the Habana Inn in Oklahoma City. Authorities say he asked the undercover policeman to come up to his hotel for oral sex.

His attorney, Mack Martin, filed a motion to have the misdemeanor lewdness charge thrown out, saying the Supreme Court ruled in the 2003 decision Lawrence v. Texas that it was not illegal for consenting adults to engage in private homosexual acts. 'Now, my client's being prosecuted basically for having offered to engage in such an act, which basically makes it a crime to ask someone to do something that's legal,'' Martin said.

Both sides agree there was no offer of money, but prosecutor Scott Rowland said there is a ''legitimate governmental interest'' in regulating offers of acts of lewdness. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has filed a brief claiming that Latham's arrest also violated his right to free speech.

Before his arrest, Latham had spoken against same-sex marriage and in support of a Southern Baptist resolution that called upon gays and lesbians to reject their lifestyle. He has since resigned as pastor of the South Tulsa Baptist Church and stepped down from the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, where he was one of four members from Oklahoma.

On Thursday, Latham declined to talk to reporters at the non-jury trial. Judge Roma M. McElwee said she would rule on the motion and issue a verdict in about two weeks. If convicted of the misdemeanor, Latham faces up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. (Jeff Latzke, AP)

McChurch - Bibliography on the new Christian right

Bibliography on the new Christian right

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The Christian right and support for Israel. (Christianity and the Middle East).: An article from: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs This digital document is an article from Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, published by American Educational Trust on September 1, 2002. The length of the article is 2604 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Christian right and support for Israel. (Christianity and the Middle East).
Author: Fred Strickert
Publication: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2002
Publisher: American Educational Trust
Volume: 21 Issue: 7 Page: 80(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale
Customer Review: Unconvincing
Fred Strickert explains to us in this article that "for decades, the Christian right has offered one-sided support for Israel." And he quotes a Christian to indicate the reason for this is that those on the Christian right, based upon their "readings of the Scripture," believe that "God has promised that land to the Jewish people."

That may sound pretty obvious, but I am not entirely sure I'll stipulate to it. It just could be that many of those on the Christian right sincerely wish to support the Jews of Israel against the aggressors and bullies who attack them. It could even be that their interpretation of Scripture is influenced by this desire to support the victims of aggression.

Is there a difference between support for Israel under the George W. Bush administration and that during the administration of Bush's father? I think there is indeed more support for Israel under the present administration and so does the author. Strickert attributes this to George W. Bush being more receptive to the "influence of the Christian right." That could be true, but it could also be that the Christian right espouses a position that the younger Bush happened to favor in the first place.

Strickert does mention that George W. Bush has been fond of saying "Either they're for us or they're against us." And he jumps from this to say that the Christian right has "pushed the president" into seeing the Arab war against Israel "in similarly simplistic terms."

Um, wait a second. I'm all in favor of seeing the complexities and details of situations. But I think Strickert is wrong to imply that one ought to overlook the fundamentals! And it is fundamental that the Arab goal in its war against Israel is to get rid of human rights for Jews in the region by getting rid of Israel. And that the Israeli goal is to survive and prosper. That is pretty simplistic. But those who look only at the complexities and ignore this fundamental point are not going to contribute much to help resolve the situation.

This article includes a letter by some Christians who argue against supporting Israel. And they say that the war is having "disastrous effects on the Israeli soul."

Well, yes, if one's people are threatened with annihilation, I'm sure it isn't much fun to save one's life by killing one's attacker. And yes, saving one's life in that manner makes one a killer, even though it's self-defense. But I think the Israelis have learned that it is even worse to let oneself be killed. By dying, one enables one's killers and one deprives one's family, friends, and community of the beneficial contributions one would make if one were still alive.

I do not recommend this article.

McChurch - Governing with the Christian right: episodes in Dover, Pa., and other districts might assuage administrators' fears that a religious conservative board ... An article from: School Administrator

Governing with the Christian right: episodes in Dover, Pa., and other districts might assuage administrators' fears that a religious conservative board ... An article from: School Administrator
This digital document is an article from School Administrator, published by Thomson Gale on October 1, 2006. The length of the article is 3311 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Governing with the Christian right: episodes in Dover, Pa., and other districts might assuage administrators' fears that a religious conservative board majority brings excessive entanglement over religion.
Author: Melissa M. Deckman
Publication: School Administrator (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 63 Issue: 9 Page: 26(5)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Second Coming: The New Christian Right in Virginia Politics

By the early 1990s, the Christian Right was a force to be reckoned with in Virginia politics. In 1993, former Moral Majority leader Michael Farris won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. The following year, Oliver North became the party's candidate for U.S. senator. Both nominations were seen as undisputed evidence of the Christian Right's power in the state's Republican party. Yet, in those years of massive GOP landslides, both candidates lost their elections. These well-publicized campaigns set off bitter tensions between moderate Republicans and Christian social conservatives in Virginia and beyond--and raised new questions about the electability of candidates put forward by the Christian Right.

In Second Coming, Mark Rozell and Clyde Wilcox examine the role of the Christian Right in Virginia Republican politics. After the failures of the national organizations and campaigns of the Christian Right in the 1980s, the movement began focusing its attention on state and local politics. As the home state of the now-defunct Moral Majority and headquarters of the Christian Coalition, Virginia has one of the most visible and best organized Christian Right groups active today.

Building on a history of the Christian Right in Virginia from 1978 through 1992, Second Coming gives a detailed analysis of the 1993 statewide elections and the 1994 senatorial race, all of which attracted national attention. The authors draw on a wealth of sources--mail surveys from delegates to Republican state and national conventions, members of the Fairfax County Republican committee, and members of the Republican central committee; numerous in-person interviews of delegates at the 1993 and 1994 state conventions; and more than 100 in-depth interviews with Virginia Republicans and Christian Right leaders and activists.

Second Coming places Virginia politics in a national context and offers a revealing look at the struggles between Republican party centrists and Christian Right activists. With the struggle for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination well under way, Rozell and Wilcox offer an invaluable primer on the workings of the Christian Right--how its members make their voices heard at party conventions, get out the conservative vote, and make their presence felt in elections with strength far beyond their numbers."

Second Coming provides a superb treatment of the Religious Right in its homeland, Virginia. Treating a single state in which it has had success, the authors explore the Religious Right in all its roles--as political movement, party faction, and interest group--and they focus on tensions within the movement between the more pragmatic and the more purist factions. This book is an essential work for anyone who wants to understand not just the Religious Right, but politics in the United States in the 1990's and beyond. I highly recommend it."--Ron Rapoport, College of William & Mary

"The Christian Right is a potent force in American politics, but nowhere more so than in the State of Virginia. Rozell and Wilcox have done an outstanding job in explaining the Christian Right: who they are; what they want; and why they'll be around for a long, long time."--Richard N. Bond, former chairman, Republican National Committee

"The 'Old Dominion' is the cradle of the Christian Right, being the home state of both Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Rozell and Wilcox have provided a fascinating and highly readable case study of the movement on its own turf that reveals its origins, present power, and future prospects. The authors answer a pressing question: will the 'second coming' of the Christian Right be a brief visit or a longer stay?"--John C. Green, University of Akron

Customer Review: Picks up where THE DYNAMIC DOMINION leaves off.
PICKS UP WHERE THE DYNAMIC DOMINION LEAVES OFF - in that it was written later. I still, however found it to be an another excellent accounting of the history of Republican politics in the Commonwealth of Virginia. SECOND COMING goes into great detail about the nomination and candidacy of Lieutenant Gubernatorial hopeful Michael Farris in 1993 and US Senate hopeful Col. Oliver L. North in 1994 through the use of hands on research and interviews with many party activists. Though I liked the book very much, I feel that too much emphasis was placed on the oppinions and feelings of people from Northern Virginia and not enough was said about the oppinions and feelings of people from Richmond and Hampton Roads. The basic feeling that I got from the book is that, although Farris and North ultimately lost their elections, their races were relatively close, proving to me that the Religious Right will be a force to reckoned with in Virginia Politics for many years to come.

McChurch - Natural adversaries or possible allies?: American Jews and the New Christian right (Jewish political studies)

Natural adversaries or possible allies?: American Jews and the New Christian right (Jewish political studies)

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Getting on Message: Challenging the Christian Right from the Heart of the Gospel Fourteen prominent religious thinkers begin with the Bible to define real Christian values In the 2004 election, 80 percent of those who claimed "moral values" was the most important issue affecting their vote cast their ballots for Bush, as did 63 percent of frequent churchgoers. Since then, the Religious Right has continued to cement an association between "Christian" and "moral" values and conservative policies. Getting On Message challenges this association from the very heart of the Christian tradition. These readable and incisive essays use biblical framing to discern the personal and social ethics that truly embody Christian values in the contemporary world. - Marilynne Robinson discusses the link between personal holiness and a generous spirit - Garret Keizer looks at the growing wealth/class divide from a Christian perspective - Rev. Heidi Neumark examines hospitality as a core Christian value - Rev. Chloe Breyer explores a justice criterion for women's decisions on abortion - Rev. Bill Sinkford asks what really constitutes a God-approved marriage and family Getting On Message is a book for clergy, for politically active people of faith, and for progressive organizers and strategists who want to learn how to talk to religious believers about the values they share.
Customer Review: Not what I expected; better
There are several types of progressive critique of the religious right, all valuable in their own right. There is the "how the religious right violates the scripture", the "why the left is closer to the teachings of Christ and finally "what steps do we take to repair the damage they have done?" This book falls into the third category. The essays enclosed provide practical steps for progressive Christians heal the society that the right has wounded. Highly recommended.

McChurch - Prayers in the Precincts: The Christian Right in the 1998 Election.(Review): An article from: Journal of Church and State

Prayers in the Precincts: The Christian Right in the 1998 Election.(Review): An article from: Journal of Church and State
This digital document is an article from Journal of Church and State, published by J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State on January 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1100 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Prayers in the Precincts: The Christian Right in the 1998 Election.(Review)
Author: Richard B. Riley
Publication: Journal of Church and State (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2001
Publisher: J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State
Volume: 43 Issue: 1 Page: 163

Article Type: Book Review

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School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics (Religion and Politics Series (Georgetown University).) Customer Review: This is Not Solid Scholarly Research.
I find it hard to believe that this woman received a doctorate for her 'research'. The problem with this book is that her thinly veiled agenda, getting rid of 'those people' (you know, the crazy ones who don't believe in evolution and love Jesus)permeates the "research" at every turn.

She stops short of providing actual solutions for getting rid of 'those people' but it's clear that she has a bias towards liberals in Fairfax County who would hand out condoms to fifth graders, and against Christians of all stripes.

If she had written a similar book called "School Board Battles: The Jews in Local Politics" or "School Board Battles: Blacks in Local Politics" in which she (a.) provided a lens for identifying 'those people' (b.) provided a discussion of how 'those people' were messing up education policy in various school districts in the US and (c.) provided hints on making sure 'those people' don't become too powerful --well, somehow I don't think American University would be bending over backwards to award her a diploma.

Glad to hear the other liberal leftist reviewers awarded it five stars. They sound like objective scientists and will surely make great academics someday. In the future, it would be handy if they provided their university affiliation so I can make sure I don't send my children there.
Customer Review: Educate yourself about the religious right with this book
Washington College Assistant Professor Melissa M. Deckman delivers readers a fresh new portrait of the Christian right which, although still critical of their ultimate end goals, wants to understand how they were able to achieve their successes or not.

Differing from the organizational research reports and partisan titles which already flood the market, Deckman's book has readers instead consider why the religious right enjoys so much electoral success even if a majority of American voters do not formally appear to support their ideas.

She then wants us to consider how waging a campaign/counter campaign against these candidates and public officials is literally impossible when we actually do not know about the people who we want to run against.

The thesis of Deckman's book is that both sides in a community demonize each other in the process of school board and local elections in an attempt to win support from undecided voters. The Christian right is at once both more similar and more complex than previous attack campaigns/counter-responses publicly have conceded. Articulating this complex nature will then enable myself and others to win more campaigns and more effectively sell our own policies to that swing public.

Starting out with wanting to make major change, the Christian right candidates and/or elected officials subsequently are required to alter their grand world views in order to be a part of the system which they ultimately seek to change. Built on compromise, the American political system is subsequently not receptive to radical changes which these people (and other candidates) would like to make. Our campaign portrayals of these people might therefore indicate what they would like to do, but it does not actually acknowledge what they are permitted to do; held in check by the American government's system of checks and balances.

Deckman's data includes case studies of elections held in Fairfax County Virginia and Garret County Maryland. These case studies prove that although they share some important group characteristics and goals, not all Christian right campaigns and then the candidates who run them are virtual `carbon copies' of each other. A vulnerability to internal dissent among various religious right candidates and office holders further lessens their being the `mighty boogeyman' of political jargon.

She also suggests that both the `far right' candidates and my beloved liberal counterparts are much more alike than we actually are different. The research in this book uncovers that non-religious right school board candidates are also likely to be religiously affiliated and also are more likely to come from the community elite---who can afford to run in an election and hold public office. We have more in common with each other than we have previously thought and/or let on in campaigns and debates.

Although I also read the more conventional broadsides against the right, and tend to agree with the left, Deckman's book is a critical step for defeating Christian right candidates.

McChurch - The New Christian Right

The New Christian Right

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'Moral issues' = Christian Right agenda: conservative author huffs and puffs without mentioning Christ.(pop christianity): An article from: Presbyterian Record This digital document is an article from Presbyterian Record, published by Presbyterian Record on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 739 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: 'Moral issues' = Christian Right agenda: conservative author huffs and puffs without mentioning Christ.(pop christianity)
Author: Andrew Faiz
Publication: Presbyterian Record (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Presbyterian Record
Volume: 129 Issue: 1 Page: 35(1)

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McChurch - Getting on Message: Challenging the Christian Right from the Heart of the Gospel

Getting on Message: Challenging the Christian Right from the Heart of the Gospel
Fourteen prominent religious thinkers begin with the Bible to define real Christian values In the 2004 election, 80 percent of those who claimed "moral values" was the most important issue affecting their vote cast their ballots for Bush, as did 63 percent of frequent churchgoers. Since then, the Religious Right has continued to cement an association between "Christian" and "moral" values and conservative policies. Getting On Message challenges this association from the very heart of the Christian tradition. These readable and incisive essays use biblical framing to discern the personal and social ethics that truly embody Christian values in the contemporary world. - Marilynne Robinson discusses the link between personal holiness and a generous spirit - Garret Keizer looks at the growing wealth/class divide from a Christian perspective - Rev. Heidi Neumark examines hospitality as a core Christian value - Rev. Chloe Breyer explores a justice criterion for women's decisions on abortion - Rev. Bill Sinkford asks what really constitutes a God-approved marriage and family Getting On Message is a book for clergy, for politically active people of faith, and for progressive organizers and strategists who want to learn how to talk to religious believers about the values they share.

Customer Review: Not what I expected; better

There are several types of progressive critique of the religious right, all valuable in their own right. There is the "how the religious right violates the scripture", the "why the left is closer to the teachings of Christ and finally "what steps do we take to repair the damage they have done?" This book falls into the third category. The essays enclosed provide practical steps for progressive Christians heal the society that the right has wounded. Highly recommended.

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The Christian Right. (Letters to the Editor).: An article from: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs This digital document is an article from Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, published by American Educational Trust on June 1, 2002. The length of the article is 441 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Christian Right. (Letters to the Editor).
Publication: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2002
Publisher: American Educational Trust
Volume: 21 Issue: 5 Page: 77(2)

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McChurch - Christians on the Right: The Moral Majority in Perspective

Christians on the Right: The Moral Majority in Perspective

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The Transformation of the Christian Right Customer Review: Finally, something on the Christian Right!
This book was very informative. At last I can have a good book to read about the Christian Right (my favorite subject). This is not something you should defenestrate.

McChurch - "God and His Gays"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032001428_pf.html

(Note: This article demonstrates that as science becomes irrefutable, except among the unscientific, theology is adjusted to accommodate science...One thing that remains consistent is that the Christian Right, whenever wrong, merely adjusts the debate and moves forward - no apology...Stan Moody)

God and His Gays

By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Science is stealing up on America's religious fundamentalists, causing much alarm. Consider the dilemma of the Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and a leading figure in the Southern Baptist firmament.

Writing in his blog this month, Mohler acknowledged that " the direction of the research" increasingly points to the possibility that a "biological basis for sexual orientation exists." Should sexuality be determined in utero, Mohler continued, that still wouldn't justify abortion or genetic engineering.

Nonetheless, as Mohler noted in a later blog post, his admission that the data suggest that homosexuality may be as genetically determined as hair color produced a torrent of irate e-mail from his fellow evangelical Christians. Up to now, the preferred theory among Christian conservatives has been that homosexuality is behaviorally induced and thus can be unlearned. That gave added moral weight to the biblical proscriptions of gay and lesbian sex and to the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality as a sin -- though for those who believe in biblical inerrancy, no added moral weight was necessary.

But once you recognize homosexuality as a genetic reality, it does create a theological dilemma for the Mohlers among us, for it means that God is making people who, in the midst of what may otherwise be morally exemplary lives, have a special and inherent predisposition to sin. Mohler's response is that since Adam's fall, sin is the condition of all humankind. That sidesteps, however, the conundrum that a gay person may follow the same God-given instincts as a straight person -- let's assume fidelity and the desire for church sanctification in both cases -- and end up damned while the straight person ends up saved. Indeed, it means that a gay person's duty is to suppress his God-given instincts while a straight person's duty is to fulfill his.

Mohler's deity, in short, is the God of Double Standards: a God who enforces the norms and fears of a world before science, a God profoundly ignorant of or resistant to the arc of American history, which is the struggle to expand the scope of the word "men" in our founding declaration that "all men are created equal." This is a God who in earlier times was invoked to defend segregation and, before that, slavery.

This is a God whom vast numbers of this nation's self-professed believers (not to mention its nonbelievers, such as I) neither heed nor like very much, particularly the young, who in growing numbers support gay marriage and certainly don't consider gay coupling any more sinful than they do straight coupling. That said, this God still commands millions of followers, among them Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Old Time Religion, who recently declared homosexuality immoral in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.

Indeed, this God commands so many followers that the initial tendency of presidential candidates who know better was to duck when they themselves were asked last week about the morality of gay sex. Sen. Hillary Clinton, when first asked if homosexuality was immoral, answered that it was for "others to conclude," before righting herself to say that she didn't think being gay was immoral. Sen. Barack Obama, according to Newsweek, avoided a direct answer three times before coming to his senses and disagreeing with Pace. The spokesperson for Sen. John "Straight-Talk Express" McCain said that "the senator thinks such questions are a matter of conscience and faith for people to decide for themselves." Such political and moral contortions are hardly confined to presidential candidates.

In Utah, a new law requires school principals to police every student organization to ensure that there's no discussion of "human sexuality" (though experts believe the topic may still come up among teenage students). Lest it seem discriminatory, the statute applies to every student group under the sun, but it is entirely a reaction to the formation of gay-straight clubs at Utah high schools.

There is, however, no ban as yet on high school biology teachers discussing the biological basis of homosexuality, and as the data confirming this thesis continue to mount, that could confront even those of Pace's persuasion with Mohler's conundrum: how to reconcile a God who creates homosexuals with a God who condemns practicing homosexuals to hell? A mysterious God may be well and good, but a capricious or contradictory God can inspire so much doubt that He threatens the credibility of the entire religious enterprise.

After all, there are few American believers who don't profess at least some faith as well in the verities of proven science and the rightness of our national credo's commitment to human equality. By effectively insisting that God is a spiteful homo-hater, his followers saddle him with ancient phobias and condemn him to the backwaters of American moral life.

meyersonh@washpost.com

McChurch - Stations of the Cross: Adorno and Christian Right Radio. (Reviews/Comptes Rendus). (book review): An article from: Labour/Le Travail

Stations of the Cross: Adorno and Christian Right Radio. (Reviews/Comptes Rendus). (book review): An article from: Labour/Le Travail
This digital document is an article from Labour/Le Travail, published by Canadian Committee on Labour History on September 22, 2001. The length of the article is 948 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Stations of the Cross: Adorno and Christian Right Radio. (Reviews/Comptes Rendus). (book review)
Author: Judy Haiven
Publication: Labour/Le Travail (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2001
Publisher: Canadian Committee on Labour History
Page: 302(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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The Old Christian Right: The Protestant Far Right from the Great Depression to the Cold War

McChurch - Romance between Christian right, Jewish establishment seems to be cooling off.(Israel andJudaism): An article from: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

Romance between Christian right, Jewish establishment seems to be cooling off.(Israel andJudaism): An article from: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
This digital document is an article from Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, published by Thomson Gale on March 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1563 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Romance between Christian right, Jewish establishment seems to be cooling off.(Israel andJudaism)
Author: Allan C. Brownfeld
Publication: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Page: 60(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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American Taliban: the Fundamentalist Threats Within Our Borders.(The Fundamentals of Extremism: The Christian Right in America)(Book Review): An article from: Skeptic (Altadena, CA) This digital document is an article from Skeptic (Altadena, CA), published by Skeptics Society & Skeptic Magazine on January 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1694 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: American Taliban: the Fundamentalist Threats Within Our Borders.(The Fundamentals of Extremism: The Christian Right in America)(Book Review)
Author: Peter Lloyd
Publication: Skeptic (Altadena, CA) (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2004
Publisher: Skeptics Society & Skeptic Magazine
Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Page: 88(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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McChurch - Killing Two gods With One Prayer

It has been a subject of debate for some time as to whether the Christian Right were using the Republican Party for its own agenda, or whether the GOP were using the Christian Right for its toehold on power.

I suppose the question is a moot one, as prostitution customarily involves a mutual satisfaction of desires. For the GOP, having long since abandoned the core principals of the Republican Party (fiscal responsibility and self-determination), the god of pop-Christianity has fit well into its agenda. For the Christian Right, “Who needs patience, perseverance and faith when, with a flick of the mouse, you can change GOD to GOP?”

I wrote some years ago that this unholy alliance would result in the rejection by the GOP of the Christian Right. I was wrong. These two addictive systems likely are joined at the hip from now until Jesus comes, which, according to some, is so imminent as to obviate the need for public policy on such incidental matters as poverty, the environment and peace.

But hold on; something else is developing. The two-thirds majority of Evangelicals who wrestle with matters of faith and practice are showing signs that they have had enough with the pandering of their more vocal brothers and sisters to the culture of fear. Is it possible that this could become a trend?

E .J. Dionne, Jr., on Friday, March 16, published an editorial in the Washington Post entitled, “Christians Who Won’t Toe the Line.” It centered on the recent decision by the National Association of Evangelicals (of Rev. Ted Haggard fame) to tell the power brokers of the Christian Right, in a nice way, to get lost. You will recall that the conflict was that such matters as poverty and the environment would detract from the key wedge issues of abortion and homosexuality. The old guard Moral Majority wants to divide and conquer; the new guard wants to try love of neighbor, of all things.

The best line came from Rev. Rich Cizik, NEA’s VP for Governmental Affairs: “Tell the parents of children who are mentally disabled from mercury poisoning - tell them that the environment is not a sanctity of life issue!”

Author Dionne calls this development the beginning of a New Reformation. Imagine a world in which Evangelical hegemony begins to self-destruct as the money dries up or the leadership shrivels. With the exception of a crucifixion or two, the results should work to bring things back to some semblance of sanity. Too much to hope for, I suppose.

For the moment, however, the Christian Right, with its emphasis on the Old Testament law, has put America on a collision course with history. Two gods have been sacrificed with one prayer - “Even so, Lord Jesus, come now!”

The first god to be sacrificed is Christ Himself. If you can say “Premillennial Dispensationalism” without your lips leaving your mouth, you may be one who believes that there are two ways to get into Heaven - Judaism and Christianity, Judaism being God’s first choice. Never mind that Heaven is not an objective for most Jews. Under this scenario, the person and work of Christ is of diminishing significance as Jews head back to Palestine.

For the record, the Christian Right is overwhelmingly Premillennial Dispensationalist.

The second god to be sacrificed is America. So long as the Christian Right kept their convictions within the confines of religion, it flew beneath the radar of most Americans. With the merger of the Christian Right and the Republican Party, however, Armageddon, the final battle between good and evil on the Plains of Jezreel, becomes politically viable. America is positioned to become a key player in this thrilling adventure that will wipe out 2B people. Evangelist Hagee is calling for an invasion of Iran to trigger this “blessed event.”

Can’t you feel the excitement already?

Where God has failed in His feeble efforts to prepare the world for Christ’s return, America is now poised to succeed. What happens to America or to the Jewish people in this slaughter is of little consequence to those evangelical scions and politicians whose Bible dictates the nature and timing of international policy.

There are many fine minds being exercised over the timing of all this. There are other, not so fine minds, that are consumed with cutting the timing short.

We’re in trouble, folks. God may have stopped being amused by all this.

McChurch - "Christians Who Won't Toe the Line"

washingtonpost.com
Christians Who Won't Toe the Line

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, March 16, 2007

(As a Maine State Legislator who gave up on the Republican Party halfway through my first term, this is a welcome development...Stan Moody, Christian Policy Institute, Author of McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry)

Evangelical Protestantism in the United States is going through a New Reformation that is disentangling a great religious movement from a partisan political machine. This historic change will require liberals and conservatives alike to abandon their sometimes narrow views of who evangelicals are.

The reformers won an important victory this month when the board of the National Association of Evangelicals faced down right-wing partisans and reaffirmed its view that solving global warming was an important moral cause. In so doing, it also expressed confidence in the Rev. Rich Cizik, the NAE's vice president for governmental affairs.

Cizik, who combines opposition to abortion with a firm commitment to human rights, the poor and the environment, came under attack from a gang of ideologues who would freeze evangelicals on a political course set more than a quarter-century ago.

"This tussle over the issue of climate change is part of a bigger tussle over the definition of evangelicalism and who speaks for evangelicals," Cizik said in an interview.

Calling on evangelicals to "return to being people who are known for our love and care for our fellow human beings and the Earth," Cizik warned that "if you put the politics first and make it primary, I believe that is a tragic and fateful choice."

Since 1980, white evangelical Christians have been seen primarily as a Republican voting bloc. They delivered more than three-quarters of their ballots to President Bush in the 2004 election.

That is no accident. In 1979, a group of conservative activists led by Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation and Morton Blackwell, a Republican National Committee member from Virginia, went to the Rev. Jerry Falwell, urging him to organize what became the Moral Majority.

Their primary goal was not religious but political: to enlist evangelicals behind conservative Republican candidates. Blackwell candidly called evangelicals "the greatest track of virgin timber on the political landscape." The activists reaped a mighty load.

The Christian Coalition was equally political in its inspiration. Emerging from Pat Robertson's unsuccessful bid for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination, it sought to advance his influence in the party.

The political maestros can't abide any serious evangelical Christian daring to broaden the agenda beyond the limited set of issues (notably, opposition to abortion and gay rights) that keep the faithful voting Republican. Cizik was a threat, so they attacked him in a March 1 letter to the NAE board. It was signed by such conservative luminaries as Weyrich; James Dobson of Focus on the Family; Don Wildmon of the American Family Association; Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; and Gary Bauer, who ran for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination.

"Cizik and others," they said, "are using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time, notably the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children."

Worse, they smeared Cizik because he had expressed concern about the size of world's population in a speech last year at the World Bank. "We ask," they wrote, "how is population control going to be achieved if not by promoting abortion, the distribution of condoms to the young, and, even by infanticide in China and elsewhere?"

To suggest that Cizik, given his record, favors abortion or infanticide was scandalous. ("My wife shows up in church," Cizik laments, "and people ask her, 'Is your husband pro-abortion and in favor of abortion as birth control?' ") It was also unpersuasive. The board of the NAE, with only a single dissenting vote, backed Cizik and the organization's earlier stand on the importance of "creation care" in dealing with climate change.

What makes this fight strange is that Cizik is no liberal. On the contrary, he supported Ronald Reagan twice and George W. Bush twice. He is still proud of his role in drafting the invitation to Reagan that led to the former president's 1983 speech before the NAE calling the Soviet Union an "evil empire."

Cizik simply rejects the idea that his environmental commitment runs contrary to his support for the antiabortion movement: "Tell the parents of children who are mentally disabled because of mercury poisoning -- tell them that the environment is not a sanctity-of-life issue," he says.

"We should be primarily concerned with what the Gospel says," Cizik insists, "not whether you're getting off some political train." Those are the words of a New Reformation. Many evangelicals are boarding a new train. It runs along tracks defined by the broad demands of their faith, not by some party's political agenda.

McChurch - The Institution of Marriage in the Holy American Empire

I’ve never been much of a fan of Emperor Constantine, who took a poll one day and determined that the Christians were outnumbering the lions, and he was likely to be voted out of office. Besides, my instincts are that the church does better under persecution than it does as the theology of choice by 51% of the people.

Bring on the persecution!

What followed the creation of the “Holy Roman Empire” were the Warring Popes, the Crusades, Martin Luther, Henry VIII and America, not necessarily in that order. I am a fan of Henry VIII, not because of the way I eat chicken, but because Henry upset the theocratic applecart.

Of course, my fondness for Henry is not quite impartial. One of my ancestors, Edmond Moody, saved Henry’s life on a fox hunt so that Henry could flaunt further mischief in the face of history. Henry’s horse, it seems, braked to a sudden stop at the edge of a stream, while Henry continued on, a bloated guided missile whose head became lodged underwater in the mud.

Henry wanted a divorce - that’s all. Just a simple divorce. So he created a new Christian church (Church of England) out of which has come some of the best apologetics for the faith in Christian history. You might say, as well, that Henry began the momentum that drove the Puritans to the shores of North America to form a theocracy in their own image - a theocracy that gave us the Salem Witch Trials and our religion-neutral republic.

God bless Henry, while we pause for a moment of silence for Anne Boleyn, a tragic casualty in the marriage melodrama.

Now here comes (or came, as the case may be) Maine Legislative Document, LD 779, a bill to return the sacrament of marriage back to the church from the state by exempting certain licensed marriage agents, the clergy, from mandatory filing of marriages with the Town Hall.

With a hasty rap of the gavel on Tuesday, March 13, the bill died in Committee, 13x0, no work session intended.

The Evangelical Right was up in arms over this intended breach of the cognition of marriage by government as a divine institution. The fact that Evangelicals now enjoy a slightly higher divorce rate than do the rest of society and that the lowest divorce rate in the US is liberal Massachusetts would, you would think, persuade them to take a closer look.

As an evangelical pastor who stands in the distinct minority with the brethren, I resent having to file paperwork so that the state can keep track of who is doing whom and who is entitled to what. “Let the couples file their own paperwork if they wish to be on the official record,” is what I say.

In the meantime, if one of my marriages goes south, my role as licensed agent of the state is zip. The church giveth, and the state taketh away! What God has joined together, Caesar puts asunder.

The “hidden agenda,” of course, if there indeed was one, was to pave the way for same-sex marriages, the closest thing to persecution that the evangelical church has yet faced. The prospect that a same-sex couple might move in next door in our suburban enclaves of upper middle class, white Christian families strikes horror in the hearts of many, myself excluded.

I tend to be more focused on whether or not evangelist John Hagee will be successful in escalating the War on Terror to Armageddon, thereby killing two gods with one prayer.

Instead, let’s broaden the “War on Terrorism,” to include marriage. In the meantime, the church had better be about its mission of honoring and protecting the sacrament. Otherwise we may find ourselves uncoupled with the flick of a mouse.

Divine institution indeed!