AlterNet /
By Sarah Posner Exposing the Christian Right's New Racial Playbook
A diversity summit at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University reveals that the religious right's survival depends on the black and the brown. April 28, 2010 |
"When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line. The true Negro does not want integration."
That was the assertion made by a young Rev. Jerry Falwell in a sermon he preached at his Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, 1958, four years after the Supreme Court struck down school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education. But at a gathering of the religious right earlier this month at the late preacher's Lynchburg compound, integration was not only the topic of the day, but touted as the future of the conservative Christian movement.
The inaugural Freedom Federation Summit that took place April 15-16 in the sanctuary of church Falwell founded, and on the campus of his Liberty University, was sold as a group of "multiracial, multiethnic and multigenerational faith-based and policy organizations and leaders committed to plan, strategize, and mobilize to advance shared core values to preserve freedom and promote justice." The religious right's quest for diversity coincides with renewed efforts by the Republican Party to recruit African-American and Latino candidates for elected office. This year, 37 African Americans are running for seats in the U.S. House and Senate, according to the Associated Press. .......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.alternet.org/news/146634/exposing_the_christian_right%27s_new_racial_playbook_