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.
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John Cord lays bare the false teachings of forty Christian leaders on such controversial topics as abortion, homosexuality, tithing, salvation, idolatry, and religious terrorism. These influential leaders, mostly American televangelists, include Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Robert Schuller, and Jimmy Swaggart. Cord studied over 700 hours of television ministries and talk shows, and provides verbatim excerpts of false religion, featuring interview segments conducted by Bill O'Reilly, Larry King, Geraldo Rivera, and Hannity & Colmes.
The Christian Right ... or Wrong? presents a robust sampling of the selfishness at the heart of corporate Christianity, whose age-old, "traditional" lies about God's Message shall, per Christ, be taught to the end.
Customer Review: Highly recommended.
Written by a committed Christian, for committed Christians and those of all faiths who are committed to selfless good works in the name of the divine, The Christian Right... or Wrong? Of Corporate Christianity and its Leading Media Evangelists is a scathing dissection of the self-serving hypocrisy, idolatry, and divisive claims of forty influential, modern-day American Christian leaders, including Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Robert Schuller, and Jimmy Swaggart. Winner of the 2005 Ethos Award, The Christian Right... or Wrong? denounces the greed of corprotized church tithing (especially in terrorizing one's flock with accusations of thievery from God if they do not relinquish 10% of their income), the Catholic Church's idolatry of its system of concentrated power that does not hold child-molesting priests accountable for their crimes (though it is a myth that child molestation happens only in Catholic churches - it occurs in Protestant and other churches as well), the harm in exhorting that man is saved through faith alone, neglecting the importance of good works in bringing one's spirit closer to the divine, and much more. Author John Cord does not shy from such thorny topics as homosexuality, abortion, and reincarnation. Cord refutes self-serving scriptural arguments from corrupt religious leaders with an honest and refreshing "common sense" look at scripture that emphasizes the importance of bringing one's soul closer to God through one's noble and charitable deeds. Highly recommended.
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