Resurgent Religious Right Ready To Push Theocratic Agenda In Upcoming Congress

Church & State, Jan 2005 by Boston, Rob

The day after the Nov. 2 election, Bob Jones III, president of Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., felt moved to write to President George W. Bush.

Jones, a Christian fundamentalist whose school earned notoriety in the 1980s for refusing to lift a ban on interracial dating, could barely contain his glee at Bush's re-election. He urged the president to move quickly to enact a far-right social-issues agenda and ignore all opposition.

"In your re-election, God has graciously granted America - though she doesn't deserve it - a reprieve from the agenda of paganism," Jones wrote. "You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly."

Bush spoke at the militantly fundamentalist school while seeking election in 2000, so Jones may have felt he had the green light to offer advice. He did not hold back.

Continued Jones, "Don't equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you."

Jones isn't the only Religious Right figure excited these days. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told The National Journal in December that he regards Bush as "the greatest president of my lifetime."

"Bush doesn't just understand our issues, he shares our worldview," Land gushed.

But Land made it clear that words and half-hearted measures will not be enough, remarking, "I want him to do more in the next Congress."

Religious Right groups are already bombarding the White House with wish lists for the 109th Congress. (See "Faith-Based Frenzy," page 7.) And, in one early skirmish, already have won a partial victory.

Just days after the election, several groups joined forces to demand that U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), one of a handful of Republican moderates left in the Senate, be denied the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee. (See "The Religious Right and Election 2004," December 2004 Church & State.)

Specter had angered Religious Right leaders when, during a post-election press conference, he reiterated his support for abortion rights and cautioned that Bush nominees with a far-right agenda would have difficulty winning Senate confirmation.

Furious Religious Right leaders demanded Specter's head - and nearly got it. Their followers melted down Capitol Hill phone lines, calling Republican senators and demanding that Specter be denied the chairmanship. The matter dominated the news for days.

Specter quickly began back-pedaling and said he never meant to imply that he would block Bush nominees or impose a pro-choice litmus test. All judicial nominees, he insisted, would get a fair vote.

But the Religious Right remained unsatisfied. In a desperate attempt to quell the growing controversy, Specter had a face-to-face meeting with Religious Right leader and former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. At the meeting, Specter reportedly reiterated his promise to support Bush judicial nominees. Some observers saw it was a complete cave-in to the Religious Right.

Asked about the matter on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight," TV preacher Jerry Falwell said he was satisfied.

"I've spent the day today here in Washington with James Dobson and a number of religious leaders," Falwell said. "Yes, we are well aware that he [Specter] is the chairman. He has made a firm commitment to all of us in writing and publicly and to the president, that he will, in fact, give a fair hearing to every nominee to the court and all the president's proposals, send them out to the Senate floor for a full vote. That's all anyone can ask."

The dust-up over Specter was the first big post-election squabble to involve the Religious Right, and at first glance, it may appear that the groups lost, since the Pennsylvania senator is keeping the judiciary slot. But the incident is really a good example of how even when the Religious Right seems to lose, it still walks away with something valuable: Washington observers say Specter is now under extraordinary pressure not to block any controversial nominees.

Religious Right groups went to the mat over Specter because they realize that issues like abortion, gay rights and religion in public schools are likely to be resolved by the courts, not Congress. With so much at stake, they are not afraid to flex their muscle.

To more effectively plot strategy, Religious Right groups have been gathering in a type of super-council in Washington. Representatives from about 70 organizations meet regularly. Calling themselves the "Arlington Group" (after the Virginia suburb where they first met), the groups have outlined an ambitious agenda for the next four years.

While information about the closed-door meetings is tough to come by, FRC's Perkins told The National Journal that a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage has been a constant topic of discussion. Perkins said he believes prospects for passage of the amendment are looking much better.