Overview:
Since their earliest debut in Regan Administration politics (‘America’s first “pro-family” executive’), the Religious Right has buffed and rebuffed their mechanisms, maintaining a push for (their self-promulgated vision) of control of America by both political and cultural means. From being critiqued for their publicized bigotries against Islam, to being exalted as part of America’s cultural elite, the leaders and organizations of the religious right are indeed central in today’s pop-culture politics, as they have strengthened their firm grip on political religion in its various manifest issues while raising both funding and alarm from the public and government.
The purpose of this paper is to catalogue the key people and institutions of the Religious Right that have so rigorously engaged in the American “Culture War,” and to highlight history as well as current status/function and major issues of the movement for engaging a critical understanding of today’s US political spectrum. Clearly, this mapping is a large task, and one which has proved lengthy for many scholars who have already attempted to engage that understanding. This piece works best as an overview, by no means complete, of the many detailed mappings available to readers with specific interests, much of this information is available from the websites of the institutions themselves.
Contextualizing the Religious Right:
Certainly the historical link between the Religious Right and the executive branch is established by the pattern of support, both financial and political that derives therein. Essentially, the Conservative Christian elite give both money and faithful voters to the Republican Party around election time, and the Republicans give it back to them in the form of public funds, grants and sponsoring new agencies.
The patterns within the Faith Based Funding initiative of the current Bush Administration (Edsall 2006) clearly define one part of how the historical link between the socially conservative elites and the Executive Administration (via Department of Health and Human Services, HHS) continues to be a strong one. The funding provided through this initiative is both heavily in favor of Bush supporters and surrounded by controversy from both sides of the political spectrum; though disputes have been ineffective for change against the compassionate conservatism platform of ‘the decider.’ Even Pat Robertson contested the initiative before he was given his cut (Benen 2002). One little know fact, is that the Bush Administration’s new initiatives (new by comparison, ie: the Compassion Capital Fund) comprise but a part of an estimated US $2 billion in federal grants that annually goes to religiously affiliated organizations[1], and is certainly one way that conservative social groups maintain a high level of political influence. One contradiction that Bush’s initiative and our close church-state ties make clear is: that despite all the righteous rhetoric of supporting laissez-faire governmental policies, conservatives will gladly take their (unfair/uneven) share of the taxation-funded kick-back pie.
The organizations found in the section below are mostly multi-million dollar enterprises, which comprise a multi-billion dollar market; who are these people and what are they paying for? The proliferation of websites and organizations is one primary function of the elite Christian Right, a function which could be considered a sort of manufacturing of consent. Each key leader of the religious right having distinct connections both in Washington and amongst one-another (from their original introduction in Washington D.C. in the early 1980’s) has been central to how the religious right functions- by simultaneous coordination and propagation; that is, not necessarily in digits representing people, but certainly at least organizations. It appears the dream of this elite network of religious/cultural leaders is to flood our airwaves, internet browsers and, yes, political parties with as much (often inaccurate and self-sourced) information as possible.
The leaders of the religious right have certainly realized the benefits of the technological pushes of the quick information age; each organization has several versions of quick information, ranging from radio and TV stations, to new-age publications and website(s). Generally, these websites represent a group of branch organizations (derived in the parent structure) which also often incorporate the same news sources as the websites of every other key institution on the Christian Right. In fact, all of these online groups have fairly similar layout- and play off the mixture of leader’s propaganda and relatively limited interest of their membership base. Each group site contains statements regarding that group’s position on a particular issue (we support/denounce ___) - these responses tend to be fairly uniform across the Christian Right, and are mostly written by the leaders of each organization. Each site also generally includes a section on “how to get involved,” basic instructions and/or forum for individual response to political leaders; that is, despite the fact that the leaders of these organizations have come to realize the efficacy of directly influencing policy, with monetary contributions as much as internal/discrete political pressure. So, it might seem that -despite the layout of these organizations’ websites- the majority of influence coming out of these organizations manifests in lobbying and other ways of directly influencing their political peers. These organizations also push for presidential and congressional candidates while supplying information to voters, including slanted scorecards. Most specifically, these groups utilize and tout their (sometimes inflated)[2] membership base as influences for political (and frequently monetary; see Funding Foundations below) gain. Many of these organizations also have several branches (described below in the structure of each group) that are obviously meant to appeal to varied audiences, but that generally do not vary in political stance from their parent organization. The results of this technique vary in application and no doubt also their effectiveness, but one may commonly find that at the very least it provides a parent/sister organization greater application to keyword searches in most internet search engines. Electronic proliferation facilitates dissemination of the leaders’ information to everyday internet browsers. At an extreme position, the spread of organizations and their (gender or age defined) factions account for more literal and even physical dissemination of propagandized political-religion; as can be seen in the movements of the Christian Right’s elite to build new universities. Below, please find an overview of movements and leaders that comprise major parts of the Religious Right movement in US politics.
Additionally, it is the position of this paper that defining movements is augmented by a wider perspective to national politics that will prove valuable to constructing a critical understanding. It is pertinent therefore that highlights of this movement should also consider a widening division of mantra in the conservative agenda. Today’s internal fight over the priorities of the Republican Party stages two main groups, Neocons (libertarians) vs. Paleocons (evangelicals). The lines drawn between the two major wings in power on the right in the
A WEB of RIGHTEOUSNESS;
Mapping the Institutions and leaders of the Religious Right-[3]
The Christian Coalition of
History and Leadership-
Within the history of the Christian Coalition, we see the beginnings of a refurbished Christian Right movement. The Christian Coalition is among the first of all the Religious Right’s organizations to arrive on the scene of public policy via utilization of the internet. The CCA was founded in 1989, just after Falwell’s Moral Majority dissolved, and today their website boasts a membership of over 2 million “Americans of faith” and purports the history of an established and effective campaign for national policy- though more critical surveys suggest a dwindling membership base (PFAW link). Within that history, we also find the story of one of the Christian Right’s most central players, Pat Robertson.
M.G. (Pat) Robertson
Robertson, a venture capitalist and ring leader of the Christian Right, personally acts as a (self-proclaimed-providential, and frequently erroneous) source of information to the US public, while concurrently he finds himself being the bearer of incredibly bad predictions from his version of God (Smith 2007) - one who must certainly be both a Republican and a sadist. Take for example, statements made only days after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, where Robertson (along with show guest Jerry Falwell, who later made a public apology- unlike Robertson) claimed that the attacks were a sure sign of God lifting his protection from a nation that had insulted God with its own moral penuries; including as they described liberals, the ACLU and the GBLT movement (King 2001); a biblical story indeed (if one were fixated on a select few stories of the Old testament), but perhaps not very informed. In addition Robertson has also announced God telling him 2007 would be an incredibly rough year for the
Like many of the leaders of the Religious Right, Robertson has a history of founding institutions- one could say it’s their hobby, though strategy is probably more accurate. Throughout his career, Robertson has pioneered some relatively major projects of cultural conservatism, in addition to setting up some unrelated (except in fluidity of funding and morality; King 2001) capital ventures. This leader first founded the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) in 1960, which still airs one of America’s longest lived television programs, the 700 Club (hosted by Robertson himself) that boasts a viewing audience of one million American viewers- daily[4]. Christian media CBN collected about $186,482,060 in non-profit revenue in 2004 (Boston 2006[5]). Robertson went on to found Operation Blessing in 1978, a privately run NGO that is surrounded with a history of funding controversy; from accusations of fraud and abuse in the 1990’s[6] to most recently becoming a recipient of one of President Bush’s ‘Faith-Based Grants’ (The “Compassion Capital Fund” of the Health and Human Services Department- yes, that’s taxpayer money). The Organization continues to run strong, financially at least. Robertson also founded (1990) and presides over the American Center for Law and Justice, with chief counsel Jay Sekulow. The group seeks to rescind Supreme Court rulings in the issue areas of gay rights, abortion and church-state separation, and was also involved in the Bush II 2000 electoral/judiciary victory. In 2005 the ACLJ claimed tax deductible donations totaling US $14,485,514.
Robertson’s various non-profit agencies collected a combined total revenue of US $461,475,115 in tax-free donations in 2004 (Boston 2006). That is not however the extent of this powerful man’s financial experience, which seems deserving of further research[7].
Most recently, Robertson made headlines in 2006 with a public call for the assassination of
Robertson relieved himself from the position of President in the CCA in 2001, ceding his position to the current president Roberta Combs.
The CCA Major Policy Positions:
At the beginning of 2007, despite the resignation of their nominated replacement president Joel Hunter[9], the Christian Coalition set up a strong front line as it posted the 7 major issues on their new annual legislative agenda (see http://www.cc.org/issues.cfm).
The first of these goals is to “protect religious television programming,” which clearly falls in line with the agenda of the original president, Robertson who runs CBN (as much as a host of other movement leaders who work with and own media networks). This action is to be resumed in 2007 by the Coalition’s “Faith and Family Television Task Force,” that is trying to influence the “multicast equal-access” element of new legislature regarding digitized television. The Coalition describes the movement wanting the government to step in on behalf of the “small local broadcasters” pitted against the “major corporate cable” companies to require the airing of the smaller companies’ programming (of which apparently local religious stations are primary).
The second issue of the 2007 CCA was listed as “passing ‘Net Neutrality’ to ensure fairness for all on the internet” which briefly described once again that religious “grassroots” organizations like the CCA could not afford to contend against corporate power (even if they are corporate power?). This goal, along with the first, is clearly set up to preserve the institutions heavily utilized by the Religious Right.
The third major issue on the CCA agenda was listed as “confirming as many conservative judges as possible.” Here is the policy position reflecting the vision of the Religious Right, that the court system is seen as one of the major fronts of the cultural fight over
The fourth issue lists as “keeping votes for human embryonic stem cell destruction research bill to a minimum.”
Issue five lists: “support legislation stopping religious discrimination against evangelical Christians in the military.” This is just one of many appeals to “Christian Persecution” that many organizations of the religious right incorporate in their agenda.
Issue six: “ensuring all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts enacting into law and due to expire in 2010 are protected.” In the brief on this issue, the CCA boasts on the success of their support in enacting Bush’s Tax cuts. This is an established trend, the institutions of the Christian Right can be cited as frequently boasting their effectiveness in political action, though rarely will they describe how in fact they contributed to that cause- which ought to be considered as one of several ways the Christian Right is severely lacking in transparency (also why we must also move to other sources to describe the trends in funding for such institutions). Most importantly, this position is an appeal to the libertarian trends and allies of the religious right, and shows the semi-consistent belief of the Christian Right in the Reganite economics of their beginning.
The last, though certainly not the least telling of the points on the CCA 2007 agenda is listed as “attempting to get a vote on a Federal Marriage Amendment.” CCA briefed an emphasis on state chapters of its organization to push for state constitutional amendments while not missing the opportunity to jab at “dictator” judges who have ruled in favor of gay marriage in the past, particularly those of
At least half of the major issues of this organization involve ways to ease the troubles of the organization itself, as it seeks to influence policy to make the media playing field favorable to the propaganda of the religious right. This position reflects both the tight position of a struggling elite led and funded ‘grassroots’ movement as well as the greatly the awkward and hypocritical stances of the libertarian agenda in the religious right- fundamentally, that free trade is preferable except in cases of self-application, where appealing to big government market/policy interference should be acceptable; especially when protecting their version of ‘culture.’ It is this contradiction that also permeates the religious right to allow for incredible variance on big government issues that frustrate allies in the GOP (Sager 2006).
Focus On the Family (1977)
Key leaders of this 501(c)4 institution include Dr. James Dobson, a founder, current chairman, radio program host, and ‘chief ministry architect’ as well as Jim Daly, president and CEO of FOF. Dobson’s audience is even bigger than Robertson, as Dobson’s radio programs are estimated to reach more than 220 million people daily, across 164 countries (carried on approximately 3,000 radio stations in North America), where FOF is also on 60 US television stations daily. Dobson is the original founder of the Family Research Council, which was ceded to president Bauer, in addition to being one of the central creators of the Council for National Policy (CNP see below). Dobson served on several White house commissions, including the E. Meese’s Commission on Pornography (under Reagan), where he undoubtedly found and networked with many other members of the Christian Right, including at least Donald Wildmon. FOF also reaches 2.3 million people via its 10 magazine publications (targeting gender or age defined audiences from pre-teen through late adulthood). Dobson has also followed the trend for electronic resources, with DVD’s, handouts, pamphlets and even his own kinder culture experiment cartoons like “Wit’s End”. Focus on the Family has 17 different wings, all of which are quite large in scope, but among them are a center for pregnancy information (Heartlink), a college (Focus on the Family Institute), a conference for ‘healing’ homosexuality (Love won out), teen and children targeting programs, as well as the FOF Action, a PAC and CitizenLink, which is the non-profit arm of legislative agenda influence. Outside of FOF Dobson has been instrumental in organizing the religious right, as member of the Council for National Policy, a founder of several other institutions including the Alliance Defense Fund, and a Government coordinator (advisor to Reagan and Bush). The 2005 revenue of the Colorado Springs based FOF reached $137,848,520, setting this group high on the list of profitable institutions (that is for ‘non-profit’ agencies) of the religious right.
FOF Major Policy Positions:
The FOF team has a fairly standard and proliferated agenda, including strengthening, mobilizing and defending families. Their website exerts that “family structures are compromised when individual ‘rights’ trump biblical truth;” which is said to result in proliferation of disease (as cited as HIV/AIDS), abortions, and homosexuality. FOF asserts its front burner issues are against “judicial tyranny, homosexuality, pornography and gambling.” Additionally, Dobson holds a unique perspective on the role of men and women in the household, something which figures into his strengthening activities, as marriage counseling books are some of his most popular selling books. Dobson’s relationship counseling boils down to the ‘basics of love and respect,’ that is; a woman should respect her husband, and a man should love his wife- simple and clearly gendered vocabulary.
Free Congress Foundation (1977)
The FCF website quotes, “In the mid-1980’s, Free Congress Foundation pioneered ‘cultural conservatism,’ a project to rally conservatives in defense of our traditional, Judeo-Christian, Western Culture. Many other conservative organizations told us we were dreaming. Today, those same organizations have their own cultural conservatism projects.” This direct quote is almost accurate, as FCF was central in the push to ally with libertarian forces in the 80’s.
The central leader of the FCF is Paul Weyrich who as the founder, acts as Chairman and CEO of FCF. Weyrich is also President of the Coalitions for
The FCF has six major centers. The first of these is the ‘Center for Conservative Governance’ that provides training and education to leaders and the public on their understanding of effective governance. The second is the ‘Center for Technology Policy’ acting as a watchdog for the legislative and executive branches on issues of privacy, publishing information and holding seminars. The third of these is the ‘Center for Cultural Conservatism,’ which holds the political ends of the organization, publishing films and articles against the various schools of thought derived in the
The FCF website displays a creed of its foundation, one which is most central to the Religious Right movement itself, where in its mission statement Weyrich posts: -“As a nation we are no longer virtuous and alert,”…“The American Republic cannot be restored unless civilization as we know it is restored. To save civilization, individuals must commit themselves to living a godly life, privately and publicly.”…“We believe, for example, that truth comes from God and that does not change.” Also available from the FCF website are other important publications; including “After Bush: The next Conservatism,” by Paul Weyrich, a historical analysis of American Conservatism that places emphasis on the importance of culture in establishing a new conservative agenda and society/nation. In this piece Weyrich lays out his plans for continuing the ‘Culture war.’ The 1997 revenue of FCF was $11.4 million (PFAW.org reference link).
FCF’s Major Policy Positions:
The below positions act as supplementary to ones directly covered by the missions of substructures above, and instead are taken from various articles of the FCF website, since no direct list is provided. The first two major policies that research illuminated are critically important to recognize as distinct from many of the other organizations on this list; that is the FCF’s policies on
Second on the FCF’s major statements was about immigration; the FCF is “Pro-Border Security,” and against illegal immigration by the argument that this is an “actual national security issue,” as opposed to those proposals for the Patriot Act and the Iraq war (cite: “the Next Conservatism”).[11]
FCF also posts slanted media attention to authors against Islam. This position was gleamed from a FCF Press Release on August 10, 2005 “Non-Muslims Need to Unite against Islam.” (accessed October 5, 2006) This piece takes from the arguments of Robert Spencer in “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades),” where Spencer makes an obvious call for “a [non-traditional] crusade” against Islam as the root of antichristian terrorism. The gist of FCF’s take on Islam lies within the title, Weyrich and other FCF members find Islam to be a threat to western society, often the language resorts to likening forms of that religion to that of political fascism, or taking the stance that Islam is an inherently violent tradition- all claims which are poorly considered, but also out of the scope of this paper.
Weyrich posts positions generally to the right of Bush’s Administration, claiming that Bush has slowed the pace of the next conservatism, and his lecture series “After Bush” has been given to many institutions, including CWA.
The Center for Moral Clarity (July 2004)
CMC is an organization of Rod Parsley Ministries whose mission is “defending truth, [and] shaping culture,” and it is linked to the other functions of Parsley Ministries. The CMC seeks to shape culture to defend truth, and to react against what they consider the quick paced decline of morality in
The CMC is led by one major player, Rod Parsley the founder and president of the Center for Moral Clarity, and televangelist (Break-through and/or Trinity Broadcasting Network-TBN). Parsley has a strong resume: his big local projects include, the
CMC on the Issues:
CMC supports the Marriage Protection Act (against Gay Marriage), and is “pro-life”, anti-abortion and pro-abstinence education. CMC is also strongly in opposition to pornography- as it is cited by this Pastor as the “root of sexual-based immorality in our society;” a common position on the right. CMC also places bioethics on its agenda, which essentially means they are against stem cell research, this has nothing to do, in the minds of Parsley and company with the debate over global giant Monsanto and GMO’s which could also be considered as a “bioethical” issue. CMC believes that poverty has been complicated, conditioned, and more widespread through government programs, and is therefore against welfare programs, while it advocates replacement of government social programs with church-bound charity work. The CMC also stands officially against “Judicial Tyranny”, most particularly the decision of Roe v Wade, and a number of
Finally, CMC is pro-Israel as their website sports a Christian’s United for Israel (CUFI) link, an organization Parsley encourages his membership base to join, (please see section on CUFI).
The Center for Moral Clarity holds that its foundation is in the “moral decline of the Nation,” which sets the agenda for this group against the perceived deviants of society and the political law which permits such actions. The center purports a three tier approach including prayer, information and activism; which is aimed at the purposes of shaping culture, growing healthy families and empowering churches. As seen in the Reformation Ohio strategy, Parsley mixes political empowerment with the agenda of a socially conservative religious message, creating a culture of conservatism movement that would certainly gain the approval of Paul Weyrich, as it has consistently with the members of government that it supports. The Ohio gay marriage ban is the pride of this institution’s efforts, as is the re-election of Bush by which the center claims a strong role in the Ohio elections- which were nonetheless contentious in that state in 2004.
Concerned Women For
This group promotes itself as the nation’s largest public policy organization for women; CWA claims to have a membership of over 500,000 across all 50 states. CWA is another group that strongly utilizes the Paleocon mantra of proliferation. With several institutions, CWA is able to utilize tax laws and internet space while making maximum political impact.
Key Leaders:
The founders of CWA are Beverly (author of Who But a Woman) and Tim LaHaye (founder of the CNP and author of the bestselling series Left Behind, a set of fiction books based on the evangelical Christian version of the rapture; Spence 2006. T. LaHaye has also given substantially to Falwell’s
Another important member is CWA President Wendy Wright. Wright was named among “the 100 Most Powerful Women in
Janice Crouse (Ph. D) is Senior Fellow of the Beverly LaHaye institute, speaker and Former President Bush speech writer. Crouse is also an official US delegate to United Nations Conferences, though she often opposes US involvement in that body due to its ‘active Anti-Americanism’ [14] (Crouse 2006). In addition to the above two, Jan LaRue is CWA’s chief counsel and Legal Studies Director.
CWA is an example of an organization that has definitely spread its influence, using several institutions to get their “message against darkness” into the political arena. While the parent organization contains a Legislative Action Committee to determine agenda exploiting the 501 c(3) status of CWA[15], another organization, the Concerned Women Political Action Committee (CWPAC- also created by B. LaHaye) directly lobbies on issues, which are explained as “the values of religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, American sovereignty, and traditional values.” In addition the organization has its own institute, the Beverly LaHaye Institute and one foreign institution: Escuela de Libertad. Libertad is a school built in the jungle of
CWA’s Major Policy Positions:
CWA started as an organization by fighting the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The organization considers itself, like the Eagle Forum and the Independent Women’s Forum as an anti-feminist organization. These groups consider feminism as a contributor to the fall of traditional family structures, as they are considered inextricably linked to the gay rights movement and rising trends in single parenthood. The CWA website lists many briefs concerning the “Pro-life” (anti-abortion), and “Pro-Traditional Family” (against homosexuality and ‘public demagoguery’) issues.
Public Media/Television- In 1981, CWA joined the Clean Up TV Campaign of Don Wildmon (see TVC). Similarly, the organization involved itself actively by asking major TV networks not to air condom commercials in 1988.
Jerry Falwell Ministries (1979)
Two influential leaders of this institution are the late Jerry Falwell (1934-2007) and his son Jerry Falwell Jr. who has been increasingly valuable to maintaining the estates the ministry runs. Falwell Sr. was a familiar face among members of the religious right and a member of the Council for National Policy. The 1980 Moral Majority was Falwell’s brainchild, though is long expired now, once the moral majority was championed as the first major public policy institution of the Christian right (which claimed to have mobilized over 9 million voters to help put Reagan in office in 1980). Until his death in May, 2007 Falwell Sr. still preached at his Thomas Road Baptist Church with a grand membership over 24,000, which holds 4 services per week. In 1995 Falwell began publishing the National Liberty Journal, a politically conservative, monthly newspaper. Falwell had also been developing
Falwell on the Issues:
Falwell Sr. was among the members of the Christian Right critiqued for their statements about Islam. In a Belief.net interview Falwell cites, “I think the Moslem faith teaches hate.” Falwell was also opposed to homosexuality, and stood centerfold in the Right with positive reflection on the Bush administration and was an advocate of the war in
American Family Association (1977)
The main leader of the AFA is Donald E. Wildmon, who founded and acts as president of the organization. Wildmon served on the E. Messe Commission on Pornography (during the Reagan Era) with Dobson, has co-founded the
The ADF was put together by a group of 35 ministry leaders; among them were James Dobson, James Kennedy (Coral Ridge Ministries, see below), Donald Wildmon, and the late Bill Bright and Marlin Maddox. The ADF provides legal and financial assistance on what they consider three core issues. The first of these issues is the “Sanctity of Life,” and includes end of life, abortion and bio-ethics (stem cell research) cases. The second core issue is traditional family, which includes cases against pornography, homosexuality and sex education. The third is religious freedom, which according to the ADF website fights for “equal access to resources for disempowered Christians” and seeks preservation of historical Christian symbols in public (government) places.
Currently Alan Sears is the Chairman, CEO and Chief Cousel of the ADF, and by that position guides the activities of the organization, heavily influenced by the member organizations. The 2004 revenue of the ADF reached $17,921,146 (Boston 2006).
Campaign for Working Families (1996)
Gary Bauer founded this institution in 1996 to ‘represent the interests and values of
Gary Bauer is a graduate of the
CWF’s Major Policy Positions:
To ‘defend traditional marriage’ Bauer pushes support for the Marriage Protection Amendment Vote in Senate. The CWF holds the belief that Marriage is a union between and man and woman, and that states and ‘tyrannical judicial powers’ are undermining that institution, therefore federal law should be passed to fortify the fight against polygamy and homosexuality; a fight that CWF claims is therefore also against unelected judges.
CWF is against stands on immigration- and supports ‘securing the border now!’ The CWF supported the Secure Fence Act of 2006.
Bauer suggests “Supporting the Constitution”- by redefining years of progressive Constitutional change with the Constitution Restoration Act of 2005. This act prevents Federal Courts from hearing cases involving the public acknowledgement of God. Additionally, it prohibits judges to look overseas to foreign laws for guidance when interpreting the constitution. And last, but not least, asserts that any judges who exceed the limitations of this act are subject to impeachment or removal from office. This was an attempt at destroying the checks and balances of our system by a past republican-controlled legislative branch. In addition CWF supports the “Pledge Protection Act of 2005,” against “rogue” judges that are applying constitutionality to anachronic institutions.
The CWF is against abortion.
American Values (no start date given)
This organization was also founded by Gary Bauer and acts to disseminate information on similarly selected political issues. The American Values website features links to Bauer in the news, Bauer’s own “End of the Day Report” (distributed by email to members), past speeches and op-ed pieces by Bauer and a link to political action (writing letters to representatives). Bauer’s issues here are similar to the ones above. In that mix, Bauer adds admonitions about confronting the ‘threat of Islamo-fascism,’ and more specifically the foreign threat of Hamas – (a common pro-Israeli stance) - and other foreign policy foci that appear to be relatively frequent among the more political institutions of the religious right (see for instance Rick Santorum’s foreign policy focus at the EPPC, a platform which also subsequently failed to re-elect this Senator in 2006).
Family Research Council
Key leaders of this institution include founder James Dobson, Tony Perkins as current president and CEO, and former presidents Ken Conner,
Coral Ridge Ministries (1974)
The leader and 1974-founder of
Ethics and
The EPPC is a
Key Leaders of the EPPC include:
Edward Whellan III is the president of the EPPC.
Richard J. Neuhaus is the vice chairman of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Neuhaus is also president of the Institute on Religion and Public Life, and a leader in the conservative Catholic movement.
George Wiegel is a member of the editorial board of EPPC. Weigel is also a board member of the
Michael Novak is a member of the EPPC editorial board. Novak is also a board member of Empower
William Kristol board member of the EPPC, and Project on the Judiciary leader. Formerly Kristol led the Project for the Republican Future helping to win red seats in 1994 legislative elections. He started the publication Weekly Standard in 1995 with fellow activist Norman Podhoretz. Kristol was also a signatory member on the Project for the New American Century.
Midge Decter this leader, along with her husband Norman Podhoretz has been very influential in the history of the religious right. Along with Donald Rumsfeld, Decter was co-chair of the Committee for the Free World, and a founding member of the Independent Women’s Forum (a pro-Iraq war and openly anti-feminist organization). Decter is also on the board at the Heritage Foundation, and is a member of the Project for the New American Century.
Rick Santorum (‘Gang of 7’)
Santorum held office in the House of Representatives for Pennsylvanian 18th District from 1990-1995, and as a Pennsylvania Senator from 1995-2007. While in political office Santorum played a strong role for libertarian politics in the Republican agenda while maintaining his use of evangelical rhetoric- particularly on gay-rights issues. (Morse 2006). Santorum’s resume is large and includes the foundation of the Congressional Working Group on Religious Freedom, in addition to leading to pass the Bush-like (and possibly foreshadowing) legislation of the Syria Accountability Act and the Iran Freedom Support Act, while maintaining his position as the Chairman of the Senate Republican Committee (a role making him the ‘3rd ranking Republican state official’ from 2001-2007). Santorum has strong ratings among the agenda supporting institutions of the Family Research Council (a 100% issue voting record) and the National Taxpayers Union[16] (ranking him either A or B in his years in office). (Morse 2006) Santorum has also led legislation to cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.[17] Santorum’s role in the EPPC was preceded not just by his congressional track record but by his 2006 campaigning which relied heavily on foreign issues ( threats of immigration and terrorism), in addition to the standard evangelical traditional marriage (anti-gay rights), and Pro-Life (anti-abortion) agenda (www.ricksantorum.com). In 2007, after an unsuccessful 2006 re-election campaign, Santorum joined the EPPC to begin a program titled “
Elliot Abrams
Abrams served as active president of the EPPC from 1996-2002. Abrams was formerly a columnist for Belief.net, one of the online media sources of the Christian Right. Also a member of the Committee on the Free World and the Project for the New American Century, Abrams still plays an important role in the web of the religious right.
With a strong history the EPPC continues with the same rhetoric as the rest of the organizations on the right, including the moral penury of modern society as is evidenced in godless leftists, humanists, and feminists. The EPPC is among the better connected of the groups on the religious right, and as such are more invested in movements like the
Institute on Religion and Public Life
Key leaders of the IRPL include President and chief editor of First Things: (Father) Richard J. Neuhaus, and co-founder and Editorial Board member Michael Novak. Rightweb describes Neuhaus as exploring positions to the right of the Bush administration, claiming that the Religious Right has suffered because of many of his policies, while Novak represents more supportive views. The IRPL’s main function is the distribution of ‘First Things; a monthly journal of religion and public life.’ Other IRPL board members include, George Wiegel and Midge Decter. Both IRPL and First Things received funding from the Bradley Foundation through the Rockford Institute. According to Rightweb, reviewing its 2004 IRS Form 990, IRPL received $3.4 million in gifts and contributions and made more than $2.5 million in receipts the same year, that is in addition to the over 9 million in grants from conservative philanthropic organizations (many of which are listed below and on mediatransparency.org) from 94-2005. The policies of this group mirror those as above in the EPPC.
Traditional Values Coalition (1980)
TVC is an inter-denominational public policy organization claiming to represent over 43,000 churches. Among its key leaders one finds Louis P. Sheldon, founder of the TVC and Andrea Lafferty (Sheldon’s daughter). TVC is a 501 (c)4 education and leadership institute (tax deductible arm of TVC).
TVC on the Issues:
TVC claims to derive all of their policy positions from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. They list 9 major positions they derive from that text. The first of these is “Right to Life” (with limits)- “every human has the right to life, from conception to death,” which means for TVC, they are against abortion and euthanasia. However, TVC openly admits a belief in the death penalty and ‘righteous war’, as it is perceived the government’s responsibility to provide order for the people. TVC lists their second issue as Fidelity in marriage and abstinence before marriage. Third, TVC takes issue with homosexuality, bisexuality, transgenderism and other deviant sexual behaviors, arguing that the bible clearly condemns all such actions. TVC’s fourth issue, pornography, is said to be a serious threat to our society, and is claimed to result in familial instability, child and spousal abuse. Next off the TVC list is Patriotism, Loyalty to country, and political involvement, this issue is accompanied by an admonishment to support armed forces and law enforcement officials, as well as a statement about the TVC’s support of “free enterprise, limited government, low taxes and personal responsibility”- it does not reference a holy duty, but quotes that “the best government is the one that governs least.” TVC does not seem to note that these principles may be contradictory; how can we have low taxes and support war and our troops? The list goes on to their next issue, religious freedom, and elaborates their version of the history of
Council for National Policy (1981)
Information on this institution is difficult to source. Strangely, the CNP has no official website, as they also appear to be relatively secretive about the inner workings of their organization. Apparently, that secrecy is meant to shelter the organization from the ‘liberal bias of the media’ (see NY Times link). This organization is, gathering from the little information found from other websites of the religious right, one obvious result of the Regan Administration- members include Weyrich, Dobson, Bauer, Robertson, Falwell, in addition to other political names like lobbyist Jack Abramoff, anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly, several Senators, and many corporate interests (and high-up libertarians as found in Grover Norquist of American’s for Tax Reform, Edwin Fuelner of Heritage and Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association). Other than that it is difficult to say exactly what CNP is or does;[18] though internet sources disseminate leaked phone books suggesting that this group is around 500+ members, and gives an understanding of who the regular members are, as well as suggesting that Tim LaHaye was the founder and first president of the group that started in 1981.[19] In any case, if limited and even problematic sources are correct the CNP acts as the cohesive unit for the leaders/elites that are involved heavily in both the Religious right’s movement and political spheres.
Christian’s United for Israel (CUFI)
Found as a link on several of the main institution’s web-pages, including the CMC, CUFI is an organization started by another Televangelist Dr. John Hagee. Hagee is the senior pastor of a
Other Institutions to Watch and Affiliated Members:
American Enterprise Institute; Michael Novak (co-founder)
Institute on Religion and Democracy; R. J. Neuhaus (board of directors) G. Weigel (board member). Ellen Bork (treasurer)
Empower America- William Bennett (co-founder), Michael Novak (board member), Donald Rumsfeld (former board member), Steve Forbes (former Chairman).
The Hudson Institute
Eagle Forum- Phyllis Schlafly
National Endowment for Democracy
Foundation for Defense of Democracies- Gary Bauer, Steve Forbes, Newt Gingrich, William Kristol, Frank Gaffney, Richard Pearle
Project for the New American Century (1997-a powerhouse collective?); William Kristol (co-founder, president), Elliot Abrams, Dick Cheney, Midge Decter, Ellen Bork, William Bennett, Francis Fukuyama, I. Lewis Libby, Norman Podhoretz, Steve Forbes, Dan Quayle, Donald Rumsfeld, George Weigel, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Pearle, and Jeb Bush were founding members of this small institution, which is widely cited as the group behind the original 2003 plan/decision to invade Iraq.
News Organizations: There are several news organizations that these institutions source for information.
Agape Press: Operated by the AFA. Used by American Values, Christian Coalition,
Barclay Press:
Notable News Now: FCF
Christian Post: TVC, AFA,
Belief.net:
National Review (online): Key Leaders and Writers: Edward Whellan III, Stanley Kurtz, Michael Novak, Frank Meyer, Richard J. Neuhaus (Religion Editor).
Universities:
Universities are another front on which conservatives are fighting liberal culture, to protect the new protégé Christian Right population. Several universities have been created/founded by the influential elite of the Christian Right. Though these institutions are large and accredited today, many of them were fresh and floundering institutions just prior to the Reagan administration. They built their success throughout the 80’s and into the 90’s, and remain today as limited bastions of the conservative Christian social development scheme. They have not however, completed the journey to largess without the heavy financial and political support of others in the Christian Right’s elite league.
Founded by Jerry Falwell Sr. in 1971, this institution has changed its name from
Pat Robertson founded this university in 1978 with a total of 77 students. Originally known as
Focus on the Family Institute (FFI)
FFI was started through Dobson’s FOF, though its website does not list the founding dates. Through a credit program with
Foundations that Fund the Right:
Several foundations and funds have historically, and heavily, funded the conservative institutions we now see today. Much of this funding takes the form of grants, to which each organization strategically gives multi-million dollars worth annually. Among them are:
Adolf Coors Foundation, Sarah Scaife Foundation, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Earhart Foundation, Carthage Foundation, John M Olin Foundation, and more. For in-depth information about “Strategic Conservative Philanthropy” please follow this link: http://www.mediatransparency.org/conservativephilanthropy.php
Bibliography:
Benen, Steve. 2002. Pat gets paid: TV preacher Robertson gets ‘faith-based’ grant from Bush administration. Church & State. Vol.55 Iss. 10; pp 4-7. Online resource: http://proquest.umi.com (Proquest access required)
Boston, Rob. 2006. Religious right power brokers; the top ten. Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Online at: www.au.org link: Top Ten Article (Posted June 2006, accessed
Center for Moral Clarity, the. (CMC) Online at: http://www.centerformoralclarity.net/
Chafets, Zev. 2007. A Match Made in Heaven; American Jews, Christian Zionists and one man’s exploration of the weird and wonderful Judeo-Evangelical
Christian Coalition of
Concerned Women for America (CWA), http://www.cwfa.org
Concerned Women Political Action Committee (CWPAC),
Crouse, Janice S. 2006. Misguided attempts to eradicate global poverty; an analysis of the National Council of Churches study guide for the Millennium Development Goals. Online Resource at CWA.org: (Posted August 15, 2006) Link: Crouse's Article
Edsall, Thomas B. 2006. Grants flow to Bush allies on social issues; Federal programs direct at least $157 million. the
Ethics and
Free Congress Foundation, the. (FCF) Online at: http://www.freecongress.org/
Focus on the Family. Online at: www.family.org
_____Action. Online at: www.focusaction.org.
John Hagee Ministries, Online at: www.jhm.org
King,
Link: King's Post Article (accessed December 7, 2006)
Media Transparency (a watch group). Online at: www.mediatransparency.org
Morse, Jennifer Roback. 2006. Libertarians for Santorum; it's the responsible thing to do. National Review Online November, 1. NRO article link. (The author, Morse is a senior fellow in economics at the Acton Institute).
People for the
Posner, Sarah. 2005. With God on his side; Meet Rod Parsley: rising star of the religious right, GOP ally- and subject of lawsuits over his church governance and secretive fund-raising practices. The American Prospect. (November) pp. 25-30.
Right Web (an organization of the International Relations Center). Online at: www.rightweb.irc-online.org
Robertson, (Pat) M. G. The Official Site of Pat Robertson, (auto)Biography: Online at: http://www.patrobertson.com/
Sager, Ryan. 2006. The Elephant in the Room; Evangelicals, Libertarians, and the battle to control the Republican Party. John Wiley & Sons;
Smillie, Dirk. 2006. Prophets of boom. Forbes Magazine (Sept 18). Online at www.forbes.com Link: Falwell's Liberty
Smith, Lauren. 2007. Pat prognosticates: Robertson says 2007 will be a rough year. The Wall of Separation. Posted and accessed January 03. Online Resource: http://blog.au.org/2007/01/pat_prognostica.html
Spence, Gerry. 2006. Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power; the rise and risks of the new conservative hate culture.
Weyrich, Paul. 2005. After Bush: the next conservatism (Link)
[1] A number which the Post (Edsall 2006) compares to “decades of at least US $1 billion in federal funding” annually under prior executives.
[2] See Boston 2006, for questions of the TVC’s inflated base. Or below referenced, 700-club audience. Additionally, the Christian Coalition is in that group suspected of inflating audience range data (link: PFAW brief on CCA). Further research on this topic is likely warranted.
[3] Unless otherwise cited, the information for this portion of the paper comes directly from the websites of the organizations or people herein discussed (outside sources are used due to lack of transparency on issues like sources of funding, and for the sake of critical claim). Please see the bibliography for direct links to these sites and other online resources. Find Right Web, People For the American Way, or American’s United for the Separation of Church and State for more analyses of the interconnected leaders and institutions on the right- (as Right Web asserts) it is the proliferation and coordination of the right leaders which supplies much of the strength of the movement.
[4] This number comes from the official website of Pat Robertson, though Neilson Media Research quotes roughly 830,000 daily (Boston 2006)- which for questions of scale one could compare to the top ten TV broadcast programs in late 2006 (ie CBS’s CSI) which range from approx. 10-16 million daily viewers (www.neisenmedia.com).
[5] This budgetary information, along with any cited from “(Boston 2006)”, comes from IRS form 990 filings. See bibliography for a link to this resource.
[6] In 1994, Robertson used funding (in the form of planes) from Operation Blessing to help haul mining equipment in and out of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) for his diamond mining company the African Development Corporation- that was funding for which he used his 700club show to solicit (Benen 2002). On the money; Operation blessing received their IRS Tax-exempt status in late 1987. Additionally, it may be worth noting that, after Robertson’s alleged financial fraud (of which he was never convicted), Operation Blessing has undergone annual financial auditing by KPMG International.
[7] Please see Spence 2006, King 2001, Benen 2002 for more on Robertson’s portfolio.
[8] Chavez is a leader of the latin American anti-US hegemony movement, who also controversially referred to George W. Bush as ‘the devil’ in an international UN meeting. Many Religious right organizations reflect an interest in Latin American Politics; the CWA, and the EPPC had open connections to the anti- left, US-sponsored dictatorship of the Somoza family in
[9] A
[10] That think tank that originally drafted the plans and argument for the increase in troop deployment to
[11] See Coates’s chapter on Immigration for more on the various positions given in this argument assumed by political colleagues of Weyrich.
[12] Parsley generally avoids the crowd on this number, it seems oxymoronic to suggest that leader of the CMC would have great appeal to the Black population (considering historical ties of that population to the Democratic Party and its issues). However, with rising stigmas placed on Gays in Black populations (a phobia conceivably linked to increases in HIV/AIDS within the black public, and a supposed lack of education on that subject; HIV Fact Sheet) there may be a more natural alliance on social issues yielding this interesting statistic. Mediatransparency.org gives one side of this story: link.
[13] The ERA, first proposed in 1923, this legislation now holds 35 out of its needed 38 state ratifications to become the next amendment to the constitution.
[14] The UN is a western institution that is often critiqued for undemocratic structure that favors the
[15] A task often carried out by members of CWA’s “Project 535” who go to D.C. to directly lobby officials every month.
[16] Established in 1969, The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has been a big proponent of limited government (libertarian viewpoints) and is a major contributor to the annual CPAC. Founded in 1977, its sister institution, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) is a think tank that produces research on the policy concerns of the NTU.
[17] Established by Congress in 1965, The National Endowment for the Arts is the largest annual contributor to the arts in the
[18] Try this link from the NY Times for a brief on the 2008 presidential goals of the CNP
[20] For more on the historical link between Zionists and the Christian right, see Zev Chafets’s 2007 book, “A Match Made in Heaven,” noted in bibliography.
