Fright PLAN

Church & State, May 2006 by Leaming, Jeremy

Texas Preacher Scares Up A 'War On Christians' In Bid To Turn Out 'Values Voters' For The GOP In The 2006 Elections

The Rev. Rick Scarborough is on a mission to save evangelical Christians from what he claims is a cabal of left-wing forces bent on oppressing their values and ruining America.

At a Washington, D.C., gathering in late March sponsored by his Vision America organization, the Texas preacher and an array of invited speakers spent hours blasting the alleged enemies of Christianity and arguing that to save America from moral ruin more evangelicals needed to get politically active.

Even though Congress and the White House are controlled by people who have been friendly to the Religious Right cause, Scarborough and his cohorts maintained during their '"War on Christians' and The Values Voter in 2006" conference that animosity towards Christianity is on the increase.

"We are here in Washington, D.C., so we can bring a focus and hopefully initiate a national debate on this matter of the growing hostility to all things religious," Scarborough told a sparsely attended opening session at a ballroom in the Omni Shoreham.

After two days of speakers, including U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), Phyllis Schlafly, Alan Keyes, Gary Bauer, TV preacher Rod Parsley and a string of panel discussions, it was hard to come away not thinking that despite all the bluster and overwrought rhetoric, the conference was nothing but a thinly veiled effort to rally so-called "values voters" on behalf of the Republican Party for the approaching elections and bolster Scarborough's national profile.

As the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told Cox News Service, "This 'war' is nothing real. The fact is, Christians in America are a cultural majority, and they are an extremely powerful group. But what you have here are second-tier preachers who are hoping to hit the big time, desperately hoping for a national spotlight."

Scarborough's effort to spark a national debate over Christians' plight in the public square appears to have fallen flat. His conference, however, rife with over-the-top performances from a string of Religious Right warriors, did draw a smattering of media attention.

Americans United representatives attended the meeting to report on Scarborough's efforts to advance the Religious Right agenda. The speakers focused on slamming gays, Hollywood, the media, federal judges and the public schools.

The majority of those who came to the microphone also had books to peddle - all of them about those liberal forces supposedly mobilized against evangelical Christians. Many of the books' titles reflected the tone of the March 27-28 conference, such as: Home Invasion: Protecting Your Family In a Culture That's Gone Stark Raving Mad; The Criminalization of Christianity; Silent No More: Bringing moral clarity to America while freedom still rings; and Same Sex Marriage: Putting Every Household at Risk.

Not far beneath the vitriolic and bombastic rhetoric were Scarborough's pleas to evangelical Christians to turn out in large numbers on Election Day for candidates beholden to the Religious Right's agenda.

Scarborough urged attendees to disseminate among their communities a "Values Voters" Contract with Congress," which detailed what the so-called "values voter" should look for in candidates.

The document, which Scarborough said was endorsed by several leading Religious Right figures, stated that office seekers should support organized prayer in public schools and other public places, a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage, laws restricting reproductive rights and limits on the power of federal courts to hear constitutional cases.

A week before the conference, Scarborough sent an e-mail to his supporters boasting about his involvement in a meeting with congressional leaders. Scarborough claimed that after he distributed the values voters' contract, one of the congressional leaders told him during a break that the document was "the most visionary thing" gleaned from the meeting.

Scarborough has a relatively small operation at present, but he aspires to a larger role in politics. His Lufkin, Texasbased organization took in only $823,000 in fiscal year 2004. Of that sum, $115, 800 went to pay Scarborough's salary.

But the Texas preacher has made enough noise on behalf of right-wing religious-political causes to attract some star power to his Washington event.

Several members of Congress made appearances at the "War on Christians" conference.

Sen. Cornyn gave a short speech blasting the U.S. Supreme Court. He said the high court is suffering from a "poverty or bankruptcy of judicial reasoning."

Cornyn captured headlines last year when he suggested that a rash of violence against federal judges could be attributed to unpopular rulings by the courts. The Texas Republican did not offer the attendees anything as inflammatory as that, but still ridiculed the high court, calling it a dysfunctional body that has "re-interpreted the First Amendment of the Constitution to essentially erect a wall of hostility towards religious expression."