Preachers, politics and campaign 2000

Church & State, Sep 2000 by Boston, Rob

Robertson also urged the crowd to "mobilize for a great crusade this fall."

AU's Lynn warned people not to become complacent or to assume that the Religious Right is a spent force. Lynn said the Christian Coalition is clearly experiencing internal problems but added that those difficulties may not prove fatal to the organization. Even if they were, he added, other Religious Right groups are waiting in the wings and would be eager to pick up the pieces.

Former Family Research Council head Gary Bauer, for example, is reportedly starting a new Religious Right group. Bauer, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP presidential nomination this year, may be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Robertson and parlay his failed quest for the White House into a national grassroots political organization.

Remarked Lynn, who has monitored the Religious Right since its emergence on the national scene in the late 1970s, "The Christian Coalition still has a lot of money and huge telephone banks and mailing lists. Alongside that, groups like the Traditional Values Coalition, Jerry Falwell Ministries and others are jumping into the fray and ratcheting up their political activity. Anytime you have a volatile situation like this, the potential is there for the creation of massive political machines for disseminating misinformation and influencing elections."