Christianist Angst

Things are not sweetness and light as the leaders of the wingnut Christianists face the upcoming presidential election. While it may not be the Christian thing to do, the pain amongst these folks truly gives me pleasure. Great pleasure, in fact. These folks basically hate everyone who is not just like them and who does not subscribe to their intolerant, fear/hate based form of religious belief. How can anyone feel loved by a God who per their description is a mean, vengeful monster? I mean, according to them, God sits poised to condemn you to Hell at the drop of a hat - ESPECIALLY if one is gay. But I digress. Seems the fundies had a meeting called by Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel and dean of the law school at Liberty University (who bungled the case for the Virginia "former lesbian" who was in a custody battle with her former Vermont civil union partner). The topic of the meeting? The possible loss of power and influence on the part of the Christianist leaders - and we know that their real agenda is power and money. I have to laugh at their whining about blacks and Hispanics not embracing them. Why would they when the Christianist organizations are anti-immigrant and under the surface racist? Here are some highlights from Charisma, a Christian newsblog:

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More than 90 evangelical leaders representing millions of conservative Christians met in Denver on Tuesday to lament the condition of the religious conservative movement and to conclude they should get behind Sen. John McCain even if they didn’t like everything about him as a candidate. The alternative is so bad we must support John McCain,” said Phyllis Schlafly, founder and president of Eagle Forum, . .

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Mostly white and middle-aged, the group was called together by Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel and dean of the law school at Liberty University.

"Our shared conservative evangelical values and our concern about judicial activism compelled us to unite around the presidential candidate who most closely aligns with us,” Staver said. “That candidate is obviously Sen. John McCain. United we will move forward to advance our values in the short- and long-term. Various speakers lamented the lack of a unified strategy that had evangelicals supporting various primary candidates and the fact that their message does not seem to resonate with younger voters, African-Americans or Hispanics in the same way Sen. Barack Obama’s does. More than an hour was spent listening to younger leaders tell the group that religious conservatives must be perceived "to care" about social issues and the environment to appeal to young people who are voting for the first time.

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Obama has reached out to evangelical leaders more than McCain, a fact that irked some at the meeting. But others said they must support McCain regardless because an Obama presidency would mean passage of highly liberal policies that would probably allow "same-sex marriage," severely hurt religious freedom and ensure the appointment of only judges who would keep abortion on demand as the law of the land.

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Others privately said they feared an Obama landslide. One participant said he couldn't imagine anything worse. "Obama has done the impossible," he said. "He's made Hillary Clinton look good to Christian conservatives."

Pastors Urged To Caucus By Huckabee Supporters

Meanwhile, we have Mike "Let Lock Up Gays" Huckabee using the same tactics used by the late Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson in Virginia to get out the Christianist vote - i.e., Have the churches act as virtual arms of the GOP (http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/12/pastors_urged_to_caucus_by_huc.php). I have seen it time and time again and often wonder how/why the IRS does not step in. The pastors do everything short of giving an endorsement speech for the pulpit and including candidate campaign materials in the church bulletins. As for Mike Farris, he is from Virginia and a certifiable religious lunatic. Here are a couple relevant highlights:

Here's an explicit example of how Mike Huckabee is relying on an outsourced Get-Out-The-Caucusers effort and on the implied support of pastors -- under the radar. Pastor Rick Scarborough is hosting a conference call with Iowa pastors to discuss the caucus... joining him are Dr. Tim "Left Behind" LaHaye and Dr. Michael "Home School" Farris.

All three are committed supporters of Mike Huckabee. An e-mail sent to Iowa pastors advertising the call doesn't mention Huckabee -- that wouldn't be legal -- but does say that pastors "have a duty" to keep their congregants "informed" and to lead them to "participate" in the caucuses. Farris has been a senior unpaid adviser to Huckabee from day one and was key in helping to organize the families of home schoolers to attend the Republican straw poll in Ames last summer.

This is all, again, legal, provided the pastors stay within certain guidelines. But it's very easy to see that a mobilization of pastors and their congregants helps a single candidate. And given how successfully evangelicals have knocked and dragged their voters in the past, their might -- even uncoordinated -- could overwhelm the most established of Iowa organizations on caucus night.