We are long overdue for a rescue round-up but there certainly has been alot happening in the Greater Blogosphere regarding the religious right and what to do about it. No doubt, there is much I have missed.
But before we get to the more traditional rescue round-up, I want to note that lately, an influential faction in the Democratic Party that overlaps with the agenda and talking points of the religious right has come under fire. As I wrote here on Daily Kos, some fashionable political consultants think that candidates should jettison use of the phrase separation of church and state because, they say it sends up "red flags with people of faith." What ever the merits of the scriptwriters du jour, fortunately, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which has for 50 years been led primarily by "people of faith" brushes off such glib faddishness. Lauren Smith reminds us this week in their blog The Wall of Separation:
On this date 128 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court took a major step toward defining the separation of church and state. Reynolds v. United States decided on Jan. 4, 1879, was one of the first cases to consider what the First Amendment means by "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."... church-state separation advocates see the Reynolds decision as a milestone for reasons that go beyond the facts of the case. Reynolds was the first time the Supreme Court cited Thomas Jefferson’s "wall of separation" metaphor to describe the proper relationship between religion and government.
After his election as president of the United States, Jefferson wrote to a group of Danbury, Conn., Baptists to thank them for their support and to express his views on religious liberty. In his Jan. 1, 1802 missive, he said that the American people through the First Amendment had built "a wall of separation between Church and State."
Chief Justice Waite stressed the metaphor’s authority in his opinion: "Coming as this does from an acknowledged leader of the advocates of [religious liberty,] it may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment thus secured."
Since first appearing 128 years ago in Reynolds, Jefferson’s "wall of separation" metaphor has become synonymous in the public mind with the Constitution’s requirements. Many Supreme Court opinions have also reaffirmed Jefferson’s idea, although the high court has been less devoted to that protective barrier than many of us would like.
In a recent case involving taxpayer aid to parochial schools, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, "Whenever we remove a brick from the wall that was designed to separate religion and government, we increase the risk of religious strife and weaken the foundation of our democracy."
Much more from the Greater Blogosphere:
Also writing on the The Wall of Separation, Rob Boston reminds us that the late president Gerald Ford was a frequent opponent of the religious right, and that he and Betty were prochoice and progay rights.
Ford defended his values against Religious Right criticisms, remarking, "I'll put mine up to theirs any day."
As president, Ford appointed John Paul Stevens, a strong advocate of church-state separation, to the Supreme Court.
Blog from the Capital
Don Byrd demolishes Christian right attorney Jay Sekolow's "mixture of red herring and straw men with the usual blend of sky-is-falling hyperbole" from a recent syndicated column.
Many of us who value the separation of church and state, and are religious, believe that using religion for political ends or to glorify the trappings of the state is demeaning to the high calling of religion; that the promotion of religion by government is a necessarily exclusive act, an exclusion that is not simply "offensive" (like when your mother says you look like you gained weight) but a violation of constitutional rights; and that when the religious freedom rights of some of us are violated, those of all of us are threatened....
The point is not to "remove every religious reference from American public life" - who says such things?
Street Prophets
Pastordan discusses a major new study of church growth, which has many interesting implications for the mainline churches -- including their struggles with religious right factions seeking to dismantle the historic protestant communions that have been leaders in promoting religious freedom and separation of church and state, among many other mainstream and progressive values.
this should be another nail in the Zombie Lie that Liberal Churches Don't Grow. They can grow, and so can conservative congregations, if they know what they're about, and have something to offer the people around them. Forget the culture war, forget even the worship wars: preach joyfully, take care of (and include) the kids, and settle disputes, and your church should be okay.
I do need to say one other thing, however. As Fred Clarkson and many others gathered at Talk to Action have documented, there has been a concerted effort over the past thirty years to foment conflict in mainline denominations to serve secular conservative political ends. That project has filtered down to the congregational level, creating or exacerbating existing divisions. They bear a certain responsibility for the decline of the mainline churches, in other words, both for sparking fights and for preventing less conservative churches from establishing and promoting a coherent identity.
Indeed. One of the study's key findings was: Congregations that have experienced major conflict are quite likely to have declined in attendance. The strongest correlate of growth is the absence of serious conflict.
The Revealer
Jeff Sharlet Has An exclusive interview with the chief of staff of Christian Embassy, the behind-the-scenes ministry in the news for proselytizing in the Pentagon: Inside the Christian Embassy
Little while ago I received a phone call from Mikey Weinstein, the prime mover behind the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, created in the wake of 2005's revelations of widespread evangelical proselytizing at the Air Force Academy. Weinstein told me that he'd spent Thanksgiving morning reading my December, 2006 Harper's feature, "Through a Glass Darkly" (online in January), which included a brief discussion of the now mildly infamous Christian Embassy video featuring high-ranking military officers testifying in uniform on behalf of the behind-the-scenes fundamentalist organization, an apparent violation of military regulations. Weinstein has since launched a crusade of his own in response to the video, with the backing of a group of generals determined to maintain separation of church and state in the military.
I promised Weinstein I'd review my notes from an interview I conducted with Christian Embassy's chief of staff, Sam McCullough, on November 2, 2005 for a Rolling Stone profile of Senator Sam Brownback. Following are ten key points from McCullough’s description of Christian Embassy...
Jews On First!
Jews on First! has an excellent archive of material on the religious right's favorite (outgoing) state attorney general, Phill Kline of Kansas -- including discussion of Kline designation as Man of the Year, by the notorious antiabortion group, Operation Rescue.
Talk to Action
CynCooper reports on a 21st century Catholic Inquisition in Nebraska where the Bishop ordered the mass excommication of groups associated with free masonry, Planned Parenthood and the progressive Catholic group, Call to Action, among others. The order had to be endorsed by the Vatican, which recently said 'go for it.'
Frank Cocozelli explains how the theories of economist Frederich Hayek promote a modern form of "theocratic serfdom."
In 1944 F.A. Hayek published The Road to Serfdom. In it, the libertarian-minded economist warned that societies with "centrally planned" economies (read that either as New Deal-style Liberal or British Labour governments) eventually succumb to tyranny. It was his belief that contemporary liberal economics leads directly to the rise of a despot. But if Hayek were alive today, he would see that the very thing feared by traditional Conservatism --Caesarism -- would come from the Right's more fundamentalist religious allies.
Upon its release The Road to Sefdom, immediately became popular among the ranks of the tradition-minded British Tory class. It was also well received by American conservatives many of whom hated the New Deal and its progeny. By 1948 Reader's Digest published an abridged version while General Motors released a comic book film version. In fact, shortly before she became Prime Minister, speaking before Parliament Margaret Thatcher held up a copy of the book and thundered, "...and this is what we believe."
Bartholomew updates the ongoing efforts by the upper echelongs of the National Park Service to promote creationist notions of the formation of the Grand Canyon.
Lauren Sabina Kneisly has a first-hand account of the strange "dominionist prayer" offered-up by the late president Gerald Ford before a stadiumful of would-be teenage Christian right activists a few years ago.
So, back to the year 2000, we're once again at the Pontiac Silverdome, for a second Teen Mania 'national event,' this time entitled "Stand Up" which will include many speakers over the course of a weekend. Sessions are held Friday evening, Saturday morning, and afternoon, with a finale held Saturday evening. Over the course of those many hours, language and concepts are methodically redefined and there is a great deal of expectation setting. The finale of the Saturday night event will be Ford and Ron Luce. Pat Robertson was another, earlier featured speaker that final night. Robertson's speech is a whole 'nother topic, for another day.
While the previous year's "Day One" had been a mass spectacle of its own sort, the final evening, the emotional climax of Stand Up featuring Gerald Ford, was a spectacle we have not quite seen the like of before or since. When it came time for Ford to come out on stage the audience was at an emotional peak. They had spent many hours listening to speaker after speaker, interspersed with worship sessions, and for many, very little sleep. But this wasn't going to be the entrance of just any speaker; it was going to be a grandiose spectacle. Accompanied by a color guard and regal music, Ford was brought to the stage in an electric cart, and presented with an award created solely for the occasion.
Chip Berlet profiles some of the religious right groups to watch in the run up to the '08 elections.
Who will be setting the agenda for the Christian Right in 2007? Several groups would like to assume that role, although they will have to figure out exactly what happened in the 2006 midterm elections and how to ensure that White Christian evangelicals vote the Christian Right party line in 2008.