Christian Coalition fading fast

[kweerwolf]

Rocked by financial debt, lawsuits and the loss of experienced political leaders, the Christian Coalition has become a pale imitation of its once-powerful self.

Some say the group — now based in Charleston and headed by a South Carolinian — is on life support, having been eclipsed by higher-profile, better-funded groups such as Focus on the Family.

“The coalition as we knew it doesn’t exist,” says Lois Eargle, former chairwoman of the Horry County Christian Coalition.

The 16-year-old organization once was a political juggernaut. But it has been in steady decline since it lost one of its most effective national leaders, executive director Ralph Reed. Reed left in 1997 to form his own political consulting firm in Atlanta.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/politics/12676171.htm

Can I get an "amen"? ... All I can add is that it's about friggin' time!

[NJCher]

1. I wish this fate upon them all

Cher

[Crunchy Frog]

2. Sort of a form of natural selection in action

but of course, all that means is that weaker organizations are being replaced by stronger ones that are every bit as evil, but are more effective. Therefore, I'm not really seeing anything here to be pleased about, unfortunately.

[Old and In the Way]

8. I think there may be some important differences, though.

FoF is a smaller organization that is much more centralized and political. It seems to be Christian PAC for Republicans. CC seemed to have had broader support.

I think the Republican "grassroots" are drying up. They've been replaced with a cultivated inorganic substitute that exists to funnel money $ to/from the Syndicate.

[Fenris]

3. The problem is that it has been replaced by equally odious groups.

But it is nice to see that the CC is a pale shadow of its former self.

[FreedomAngel82]

6. I like to think

It's God. ;)

[YOY]

4. As much as I would want it to happen

I'll believe it when I see it.

Chances are if this is 100% true they will splinter into several smaller groups with less political efficiency and more potential for raising havoc.

[atommom]

5. And not a minute too soon! But unfortunately, there are a lot

more groups out there that are just as bad, and still thriving.

[koopie57]

7. a Horny County Christian Coalition?

[tularetom]

9. I think too many people

began to recognize "Christian" as a code word for religious fanatacism and intolerance and lost interest in this group. The new code word of course is "family" - it sounds so wholesome and harmless, like Ward and June Cleaver. But of course it implies to some of us the same bullshit that "christian" has come to mean and eventually it will turn off most thinking people as well.

I even hate "The Family Circus" although that's probably just because its the lamest cartoon in our local paper now that they axed "Mallard Fillmore".

[kweerwolf]

10. That reminds of a quote I like ...

"You know ... whenever some yahoo talks at me about how he hates the fact that Gays took a Perfectly Good Word and ruined it, I reply that what I hate is the way some people took a Perfectly Good Word like 'Family' and turned it into a code word for intolerance."
- Bruce Garrett, artist and software engineer

[calimary]

32. Look what they did to the word "Christian."

They have spread mud and shit all over the face of Christ. As far as I can remember from all my years in Catholic school - Jesus was NEVER about intolerance. EVER.

[Arugula Latte]

16. I have semi-fundy cousins

When I visited them in, I think, '90 or so, they kept talking about their "family groups" that they just loved. "Well, that's harmless enough" I thought. HAH! It turns out they were referring to FOTF, among others (they live near Colorado Springs -- bleah!). I hardly speak to them anymore. The sad thing is, I'm close to considering them enemies, and they are actually very nice people at face value.

[belle]

11. One of the most telling paragraphs in there:

Black staffers filed a $39 million racial discrimination suit against the coalition, alleging they were forced to use a separate entrance at its headquarters. The suit was settled with an out-of-court payment of some $300,000 to the employees.

***

I suspect that that's a ah fundamental problem with the evangelical right wing, not just a CC scandal. They like to present an image of racial tolerance, even anti-racism these days (now that other people have done all the hard work to make such a sentiment mainstream, and now that gay people and other sexual/gender minorities provide a handy scapegoat substitute). But I think that surface image is fingernail thin; under it is the same ol' institutional racism that's been there all along. Hell, it's pretty true for mainstream America in general; you think it wouldn't be *more* true for the "traditional values" champions of the Old South?

Thing is, they need black evangelicals and other black religious conservatives; they must make up a significant percentage of their base.

[kweerwolf]

24. Very true, belle

Most of the evangelicals/fundamentalists started out as segregationists ... a fact I don't see how African-Americans can overlook.

Consider this from Southern Poverty Law Center's report on the religious right:

At the height of the civil rights movement, in 1965, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, an ambitious young minister in Lynchburg, Va., gave a sermon called "Ministers and Marches."

Falwell laid into Christian leaders who were actively supporting civil rights, reminding them of a Bible verse that fundamentalists often invoked as evidence that God did not want them to participate in politics: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh" (II Corinthians 10:13).

Fourteen years later, Falwell co-founded the Moral Majority, the first national effort to stimulate fundamentalist political participation and elect candidates who would, in the words of co-founder Paul Weyrich, "Christianize America."

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=522

Also, with so many poor black churches, it gets tempting for their clergy to buy into the right-wing agenda in order to grab a piece of the "faith-based initiative" pie. You have to admit, that was a smart move by Bush, Rove, or whoever to attract black voters by letting the ministers promote the right's wedge issues for them.

[Stinky The Clown]

12. This is not good news

This is a case of an ever-morphing virus. It becomes more resistent to known cures. The powers behind this are deadly serious about reaching the goals and will stop at nothing to reach them.

As the CC was starting to be seen for what it was, the new groups are not yet fully understood.

Liken them to Al Quaeda. They are, in fact and in deed, no different.

Was Eric Rudolph a lone actor?

Was the call to kill Chavez a misstatement?

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. Exactly.. so one of them dies, there's still a pile more left to deal with

[bluedawg12]

14. The FRC has stepped in

and is powerful. Google them.

[bluedawg12]

15. RW Group Watch info.

"These often single-issue groups have the ability to create multi-issue networks that can respond on a wide range of issues." (1)

This is how they tied up gays, guns, God and then added to the list of so called liberal sins.

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=3147

>Right Wing Organizations (1)

For over 20 years, People For the American Way Foundation (PFAWF) has countered the Right Wing’s efforts to roll back, or stop, social justice progress and to reshape government and society to its liking. Our research center monitors the power of right-wing groups, documenting their connections, funding, and reporting on their political influence.

Right-wing organizations come in all shapes and sizes, from think tanks to legal groups, local and national lobbying organizations, foundations and media forums. At any given moment, the Right is at work in our public school systems, courthouses, in Congress and state assemblies. At the same time, right-wing groups are reaching huge audiences through media outlets they own or influence—promoting regressive policies that seek to drive wedges between and among Americans. <

[tanyev]

17. Ra-men!

[nvliberal]

18. It's not needed anyway.

The christo-fascists pretty much own the government lock, stock, and barrel now.

[calimary]

33. Welcome to DU. Focus on the Pharisees has done a horrendous

amount of damage to this country.

If they'd just get their nosey noses out of the book of Leviticus and study the New Testament - especially that much-ignored part about the Beatitudes - they MIGHT be able to get back on a good path. But naaaaaaaaaaa... we have to abide by the dictates of a handful of nomads and sheep-herders from about 2,000 BC.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

19. RAmen

[Robertwf]

20. Kristian Koalition

AMEN brother ... here have a snake

[Claymore]

21. FYI on Ralphie-boy Reed....

....Reed has already announced running for Lt. Governor here in Georgia. Even the Georgia GOP isn't happy about that...they're calling him a political opportunist with nothing but "inside the Beltway" connections. His more vocal critics say he's only trying to use the office as a stepping stone to the...(que evil music)...White House. :(

[bluedawg12]

22. He's a Raygun clone hair and all, but smart

and very ambitious. Sort of an evil genius.

[belle]

30. Reed gives me the wiggins. Kind of reminds me of the evil robot in T2.

Same cold blue eyes, same deceptively polite manner (when it's not killing you horribly, that is).

[npincus]

23. Yippee!

Pat Robertson is NUTS.

[montana500]

25. the CC did it's job.

The larvae outgrew it's shell and found it's adult host - congress.

[Fire Walk With Me]

26. If only.

Christians have the same right to not have any particular religion forced down their throats as the rest of us. But...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=grooming+politicians+for+christ

There's a thread at FR as well. I'm off to check that out!

[Fire Walk With Me]

27. Funny reply, don't know if anyone at FR got it..

No one replied to this; it's even in Haiku form!

---------------
Hey, remember in
the Gospels when Jesus runs
to become mayor

of Jerusalem?!
And, then, remember when Paul
has the big sword fight

to replace Caesar?!
Yeah, the Bible teaches us
to live politics . . .


13 posted on 08/23/2005 7:24:56 AM PDT by theFIRMbss

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1468789/posts

[bluedawg12]

29. Fatwell's University now has a law school for conservatives.

They are working on getting in to every nook and cranny of society- american taliban.

[kweerwolf]

31. Here's a scary (but revealing) quote from the article

on "grooming politicians for Christ:"

They learn to view every vote as a religious duty, and to consider compromise a sin.

That provides tremendous insight into the black and white/all or nothing world view of the fundies. There can be no negotiation with people who don't believe in compromise. Add to that equation their zealous belief that they are God's mouthpieces in this world and you have some very scary people.

[bluedawg12]

28. The Family Research Council has their paws in many things

and has lot's of money and influence they need to be watched closely.

[dhinojosa]

34. Where's your god now Christian Coalition?

hahaha