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Family Ties - Top Congressional Leaders Promise Action On
Religious Right Agenda At The Family Research Council's
Closed-Door Washington Briefing
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has a carefully cultivated
public image as a moderate conservative
with a non-ideological bent. The clean-cut Tennessee doctor
comes across as a pragmatic public official who steers pretty
close to the political center. But behind closed doors at the
Family Research Council's "Washington Briefing" in March, Frist
sounded a lot like Jerry Falwell, praising his Religious Right
audience and launching into a litany of Religious Right goals he
hopes to accomplish. Speaking by telephone to the crowd of 300
activists gathered at the Willard Hotel, the top congressional
leader
promised to try to rein in "activist judges," pass laws
restricting reproductive rights, amend the
Constitution to block gay people [and polyamorists] from
marriage [etc. ...]. Frist's remarks are just
one indication of the extraordinary power that the Religious
Right wields today in Washington, D.C. In
addition to the Senate majority leader, others appearing at the
three-day conference included House
Majority Leader Tom Delay, U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.),
U.S. Rep Bobby Jindal (R-La.), newly appointed Federal
Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin [he's in charge
of censoring TV and radio] [etc. ...]. But despite this show of
mainstream political influence, the Washington briefing also
featured an array of speakers who outlined a chilling portrait
of an American future where civil and religious liberties are
sacrificed on the altar of fundamentalist Christian power.
These activists want to scrap the concept of an independent
judiciary, ban all abortions by law, deny gay people legal
protections, make divorce more difficult to obtain and make
adultery a punishable offense.
But most of all, they seek to overturn church-state separation,
making America an officially "Christian
nation." To do so, they hope to repeal the federal ban on
church electioneering and create a church-based political
machine that controls politics throughout the country. This
agenda may seem far out, but the FRC's friends in high places
seem willing to help make it happen. Frist told the gathering,
"[Y]ou stand up for our children, you stand up for our families,
you never back down. That's why we are winning these larger
battles today." He also promised to coordinate with the FRC to
ensure that a Senate vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment
[banning gay and polyamorous marriage] is scheduled to achieve
maximum influence at the polls. "[...] We want to protect
marriage from activist judges once and for all, and we will do
it." [...] Unlike the Tennessee senator, [House Majority Leader
Tom] DeLay is open about his close relationship with the
Religious Right. He has publicly blasted church-state
separation as a concept that does not appear in the
Constitution, and he says he makes his political decisions based
on a "biblical worldview." Speaking at the March 18 luncheon,
the Texas Republican called for greater church involvement in
politics, citing a House bill he supports that would revise the
federal tax law ban on electioneering by tax-exempt groups and
allow pulpit endorsements of political candidates. [...]
While the FRC conference covered many issues, speakers returned
time and again to their rage against a federal court system that
ensures church-state separation, protects the rights of
unpopular minorities and stands in the way of unfettered
majority rule. In an early morning session March 17, James
Dobson of Focus on the Family and FRC's [President Tony] Perkins
commiserated about the problem in a joint appearance on the
briefing stage. Perkins said gaining control of the judiciary is
now the organization's top priority, ahead of even the Federal
Marriage Amendment. He vowed to support Republican efforts to
break a Democratic filibuster in the Senate and approve
President George W. Bush's most controversial appellate court
nominees. "We're going to work as hard as we can to get that
marriage amendment through," he said, "but the battle for this
moment is over the judiciary. So our top focus this year is
breaking the filibuster, getting the confirmation of these
[right-wing extremist] judges and fighting for these [right-wing
extremist] replacements on the U.S. Supreme Court. [...]
Perkins talked about various ways to undercut federal judges who
are already on the bench. He said he was at a meeting of the
Republican House and Senate leadership the previous week and
[...] options discussed at the GOP gathering included defunding
the courts or limiting their jurisdiction. [...] Although their
organizations are tax exempt and supposedly nonpartisan, Dobson
and Perkins indicated their willingness to play political
hardball to get their way. Perkins listed senators who refused
to toe the Religious Right line on judges and other social
issues [... and] Dobson made a pitch for money from the crowd to
take out newspaper ads to target these [U.S. Senators]. He said
the advertisements were discussed at the FRC board meeting the
day before the briefing. [...] Gay people remain targets of the
deepest hostility among FRC speakers. FRC President Perkins
railed against homosexual influence in society and warned darkly
that "they are after our children." Perkins and company have
used that kind of scare tactic to meld evangelical churches in
many states into political machines. Ostensibly recruited to
pass state-level marriage referenda that deny gays [and
polyamorists] access to marriage, the church-based political
coalitions can be turned to other issues as well as partisan
ends, FRC strategists hope.
Former FRC president Gary Bauer, [...] who sought the GOP
presidential nomination in 2000, [...] made
it clear that he wants to convert the Republican party into a
vehicle totally committed to fundamentalist
Christian goals. [...] For Americans who care about religious
freedom and church-state separation, it's
a deeply disturbing prospect.
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