FAITH AND POLITICS: The Rise of the Religious Right and Its Impact on American Domestic and Foreign Policy - Part 1
by David Halton

My subject tonight is the rise of the Religious Right in U.S. politics and its impact on American domestic policy. Tomorrow, I will examine the role of Christian nationalism in shaping American foreign policy, and conclude with some thoughts about the future of faith and politics in the United States.

It was my good fortune to spend fourteen years in the United States covering American politics for the CBC. It was a turbulent and fascinating period that spanned the last year of George Bush Senior’s presidency, the Clinton years, and the first five years of George W. Bush’s tenure in the White House.

When I look back over that period, there’s no doubt in my mind that the single most important trend in U.S politics has been the extraordinary growth in the power and influence of the Religious Right. It is a trend that has led to the near-capture of a governing political party by a religious movement for the first time in the history of the Republic, and that has threatened to undermine the separation of church and state that has been a pillar of U.S. democracy. It is a also a trend that, in my view, has allowed an intolerant sectarianism to have a profoundly negative impact on many facets of American life.


Let me immediately put my own personal biases out front. As you may have already guessed, my perspective on this subject is that of a fairly typical secular Canadian; in my case, that of an agnostic who is strongly opposed to the notion of religion being used to win votes but open to the idea of Christian principles being used to guide political action.

Let me also begin with a brief explanation of my terminology. I have used the phrase Religious Right, as opposed to Christian Right, because we are focusing on a broad ecumenical movement that has included Orthodox Jews and even, on some issues, American Muslims as well. The movement also includes Roman Catholics and adherents of the mainline Protestant churches.

Evangelicals
But for more than three decades, the driving force behind the Religious Right has been the wide range of churches that call themselves Evangelical -- the Southern Baptist Convention, the Assemblies of God, Pentecostals, Charismatics and smaller Fundamentalist groups. All of them have been growing rapidly, their ranks swollen by a steady exodus of the faithful from older traditional churches.

NOT THE END

This is a great article with things I had no idea about, if you thought you knew about the religious right, maybe you had not ideea either. Anyway Mingle doesn't seem to allow too much text in one post, so the rest is here:

http://www.trinity.utoronto.ca/News_Events/News/halton.htm

Interesting and thought provoking

That was an interesting article by David Halton, from Canada.

I can agree with his view

"…… but open to the idea of Christian principles being used to guide political action.
"

I can also understand some of his view concerning some of the right-wing christian organizations.

Sadly, on either side of the spectrum, until people learn to control the self-will, there can be a potential for evil. I tend to be wary of extremes in either direction.

Another interesting article..

The warring visions of the religious right:

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/95nov/warring/warring.htm

And I thought our country had a separation of church and state. But looks to me like the Right wants to move in and reign over everyone, and not just here in America.. I bet even most church goers have no idea what their own churches are ultimately up to..

Nothing like programming young students to infiltrate all spheres of society to gain control.. They really are serious. So much for freedom 'from' religion... dang..

I remember when I thought christianity was a peaceful compassionate inclusive religion. Looks like the Right is looking for complete control, and not just on the republican side of the isle but now on the left.. ack Boy was I naive...

Well that's enough scarey stuff for one night.. Looks like Haggee isn't the only religious right figure to be having end times wishes:

Armageddon on their minds

According to Dr. Evans, the mission of EIBN "is to guard, protect, and defend Eretz Yisrael and its people until the Messiah
comes to Zion." The phrase "until the Messiah comes to Zion" is more than a little troubling, especially if you're a Jew. Many
believe that Bishop Harris' vision and Dr. Evans' dedication to the cause is motivated by belief in the "end-times", which will
take place in Israel only after the Jews have returned there. "The key episode in pre-millennial theology is an event called 'the
rapture,'" writes author Fred Clarkson in Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy. "All the saved
Christians, dead and alive, are brought up into the clouds with Jesus prior, during or after (depending of the school of theology)
a period called 'the tribulation.'"

Craig Horowitz: "Though specifics are a little sketchy, there is a generally accepted version of events leading up to Judgment
Day. First, and this is key, Jews will return to Israel. A wicked world leader -- the Antichrist -- will assume power by deceiving everyone into believing he will bring peace. Soon after, the final battle, the Apocalypse, Armageddon, will be fought.

"At its conclusion, Jesus will descend from Heaven. He will come down the Mount of Olives on the east side of Jerusalem,
through the Golden Gate, and into the city. (Just in case, Muslims bricked over the Golden Gate when they controlled the
Old City.) There will then be a thousand-year reign of peace on Earth."

In "Armageddon Anxiety: Evil on the Way" William Cook quotes Grace Halsell, author of 14 books including "Prophecy and
Politics: The Secret Alliance Between Israel and the US Christian Right," who says Christians Zionists believe that "Every
act taken by Israel is orchestrated by G-D, and should be condoned, supported, and even praised by the rest of us." In 1988,
Halsell wrote that "Christian Zionism is a dangerous and growing segment of Christianity."

"These days, however, the [Religious right] movement's agenda appears to have become our president's vision for the country,"
Maureen Farrell wrote in a Buzzflash.com Reader Commentary just prior to the invasion of Iraq. "[President] Bush's flirtation with End Times rhetoric makes some suspect that he actually perceives himself as G-D's instrument," columnist and author Gene
Lyons pointed out.

The first chapter of Joel Rosenberg's new novel "The Last Days" deals with Islamic militants targeting and attacking a U.S. diplomatic and CIA convoy heading into Gaza with a massive and deadly bombing. This morning such an event actually
happened inside Gaza." Rosenberg, a well-connected conservative activist, columnist and author wrote on the morning of
October 15.

"Is the West Bank and Gaza the next battleground in the global war on terror? Should Yasser Arafat be brought to justice, dead
or alive, along with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein?" asks Rosenberg, whose previous best-selling novel, "The Last Jihad," was a fictional account of the war against terorism that takes America, Israel and Iraq to the brink of a nuclear conflagration. That book was published a few months before the president's invasion of Iraq and has been recently released in paperback.

Politically savvy Christian fundamentalist leaders are wise enough to either deny or to equivocate at the suggestion that their support for Israel -- or for the war in Iraq for that matter -- is rooted in Biblical or End Times theology. In 2002, however,
Gary Bauer was a bit more forthright in a conversation with a Washington Post reporter, saying that the conservative Christians believe that "America has an obligation to stand by Israel" based on "readings of the Scripture, where evangelicals believe G-D
has promised that land to the Jewish people."

well, I read to the end..

"When I asked Terry Lindvall about his personal hopes for Regent, he told me that he is still a film maker at heart, and that he believes the
next century
will be shaped by the people who can tell the best stories. ......
------------------------------------------
Copyright © 1995 by The Atlantic Monthly Company.



Interesting, it seems he might be right.


I will avoid quoting scripture, but that is one good reason people of faith should rightly divide the word of truth and not follow after man.

Being able to see the whole picture helps also, rather than a one-sided view of the problem.

I think it would serve people better to figure out what they want for the world as a whole, do most normal decent people want to live in peace.
Do they value freedom. Concentrating on what unites people instead of dividing is surely a better way to reach that goal.

well I tend to doubt that many christians know the difference about following after man, they might assume men as in non-believers, but they follow their church leaders where ever they might lead even if they really have no clue where those leaders are actually taking them maybe even before they are ready to go...

Personally I think the church and it's supporters have a definite problem with defining 'normal decent people', which I think actually leads people to turn from christians as a whole.

I would agree that PEOPLE have to decide what kind of world they want to live in, but it seems more and more Christian folks have decided that they want to be ruled by faith in all areas especially in government and that means ruling the lives of others that might not see things their way. So exactly where is the separation of church and state when the church is forcing their agenda by the day and not just in this country?

I think that doesn't do much to to work toward a peaceful solution when a vast campaign to bring about their messiah is the main goal.

Makes me wonder how other folks like Buddhists and Hindus and others figure into the Christian's idea of god's rule .....

We keep hearing Christian politicians saying on thing but what they are actually doing behind the scenes is another matter altogether.

I don't understand why the Christians god would want to 'force' his rule. Or at least the Christian version...

I find the idea of Christians running the world's governments, local and else where pretty terrifying considering the things I see in here as just a small example. Thinking back to the crusades...

I think this is part of the problem with the Muslim faith, I think they too see Christianity as trying to take over, just as the Islam may also want that same spot.

When even the many many groups of Christians and others want to dominate each other, one has to wonder about all religion, period.

He doesn't. That is man's thinking; that never works.

The crusades were in response to an invasion, even though they got out of hand. It seems whatever group has too much control, trouble is not far behind.

.

I take it to mean human beings (period).






People are people, no matter what their culture, belief system, or lack thereof.

Hopefully there will always be more good.

As for other countries, there are those that wish to stop parents being able to discuss religion with their children, and if they do so to have the children removed. I don't expect that to make it into law any time soon, so it does not worry me unnecessarily but the idea is ridiculous. What about the children's rights to be able to think and inquire.

I would be equally against the reverse. I was fortunate to grow up in a home where I did not have religion preached at me, my faith was something I chose for myself. My Dad and I talked about evolution and I concluded it was not for me.

Well, I can think of no greater source of diviseness than religion. There are Believers and unbelievers, and the context forced upon unbelief by the Believers is nearly always a negative one. I guess that's to be expected when the Believers see moral exclusivity in everything they don't hold to be 'true'.

I think it would serve the human race far better to turn his back on the Priesthood and all Holy Books and pick up implements of science to rid the world of pestilence, hunger and Holy Wars fought in the name of the Holy Buzzwords. It's those Holy Buzzwords that slay our heritage of sentinence and the power to reason, question and discover and then circle like vultures to pick clean its carcass. It's no accident that the time period in which religion had the greatest hold on people is now known as the Dark Ages.

Accept your fate as a finite being with composure. Know that as you pass into the racial memory that your effect on others of your kind by your deeds when you walked this mortal coil had far more demonstable effect than the Holy Buzzwords could have ever have had had you taken back their power by refusing to mime them thoughtlessly and relentlessly.

If you have to have faith, have faith that the human race will someday walk fully erect intellectually to challenge the strictures of being a finite being, and that even if it doesn't fully succeed, it will have, at the least, bought an utopian existence for _all_ its members to live out their finite existences in peaceful coexistence with each other without knowing the pains of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse that their ancestors knew.

That would _truly_ be the noblest of goals, to be able to say to the future that 'We who are about to die salute you and hope you will carry on with the pursuit of our common dream.'


-Kerry O.

I agree that removing children that are taught religion is ridiculous, no one will let that happen However I personally think it might be as ridiculous as having it forced upon you as a child, when you can least object to it.

I didn't learn about evolution until many years after I left catholic school. It made far more sene to me that what I was thought in bible school and it didn't have all the conflict that the bible creates between peoples and other faiths.

I do agree that not being preached at helps even adults. That never works.

If only it were so.. Thanks Kerry O

The religious Right is the Only reason that GW has been in office for 8 years.

I wish they would leave well enough alone Shalom..Miles

Boo as usual you are trying to mask some kind of study for yet another excuse to attack Christians.We all know you are not going to mention a single word on any other religion but the Christians and yes I know you are going to blame the Christians for all of Americas problems in the Bush administration from the terrorism to the economy.

But before I turn you loose on your conspiracy theories I have to tell that you are way off right from the start.Christianity and Christian morals and principles whether it is private or public have been under attack in every single way for the last 10 or so years.There has been a huge and successful campaign by both liberals and God hating Aeithest to remove prayer from schools,prayer from courts and sports arenas,and other public places where prayers were allowed.Christian logic such as Intelligent design has been banned from schools.Christmas and things like Christmas trees,lights,and other Christmas related objects in public places have been under tremendous pressure to be removed by hateful Aeithest groups.The government has even gone as far as to say churches can not preach anti-gay sermons as they consider this a form of hate speech.The right as Christians to protest(such as the prop 8 fiasco)has resulted in death threats,attacks,and government condemnation.

The truth is Christianity has all but been taken out of govenment.Yes it is still there but only because someone hasn't filed a lawsuit to take it out which always happends.You are dreaming if you think in this day and age someone in the house or congress is going to pass a law or a bill to protect Christians from being discriminated against.


Your wrong on Christians.What is running our government is Godless liberals.That's why our government is going downhill.They are taking God out of our government.

Would you mind citing some examples how Christians are "taking over goverment".

When did people ever say prayers at sports arenas?

Lots of times especially in high school such as before football games.I remember every time I went to the monster truck shows we used to have the pledge of allegiance and then a prayer following that.I can remember going to hockey games and it was the same thing.Not anymore.When I went to the car races it was practically un heard of not to have a prayer to protect the race car drivers.

The Crusades were Christian military and religious expeditions launched both against rival religions (primarily Islam) and even other Christians. Not only did the Crusades lay the groundwork for medieval Christian society and feudalism, but they also laid the groundwork for contemporary violence between Muslims and Christians. Both Islam and Christianity become involved with mass murder over religion, holy sites, and religious beliefs for centuries.

When I was in high school, we didn't say prayers before games.

I don't do truck shows. I've been to St. Louis Blues Hockey games and didn't see praying. I've never been to car races.

I've never seen praying before games.

The right wing evangelicals believe a false interpretation of the prophetic scriptures. They are being manipulated for political purposes and most of them are not smart enough to realize it.

I agree and I'm a Christian.

see the "sack of Constantinople"