Christian right leader has Bush's ear

[struggle4progress]

By HOLLY EDWARDS
Staff Writer

As leader of the policy arm of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, Richard Land has .. the ear of the Bush administration through weekly teleconferences with the president's aides, and leaders of both parties routinely consult him as they shape policies and issues.

The 58-year-old Texas native, who lives in Franklin, typifies the new breed of evangelical Christian leaders who have progressed from a group of outsiders banging on the doors of government to gain influence to respected partners of the Republican Party, helping to frame and define public policy. <snip>

That popularity makes some moderate Christians uncomfortable. They are calling for the moral conversation in the country to be broadened from its focus on abortion, pornography and gay marriage to include war, poverty and the environment.

''When you look at the life of Jesus, you find him gravitating toward those on the fringe, those who are suffering and have fallen by the wayside,'' said the Rev. Charles Strobel, director of the Nashville homeless shelter Campus for Human Development. ''But somehow Jesus has been morphed from a radical pacifist to a crusading leader for war.'' <snip>

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/05/01/65897298.shtml?Element_ID=65897298

[tanyev]

1. He was one of the attendees at the infamous

Rev. Moon sponsored inaugural breakfast.

In one of his first moves as president, George W. Bush signed a proclamation designating the day after the inauguration as a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving. Hold onto your prayer shawls my friends, because behind the most prominent Inaugural weekend prayer event was the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Out of the pomp and pomposity of the inauguration comes the rising of the Rev. Moon.

The January 19, pre-inaugural prayer luncheon was attended by some 1,700 religious, civic, and political leaders. The guest list included a host of Religious Right luminaries; the ubiquitous Rev. Jerry Falwell, former National Evangelical Association President Don Argue, Trinity Broadcasting Network's Paul Crouch and a host of leaders from the Southern Baptist Convention including President James Merritt, Executive Committee President and CEO Morris H. Chapman, and Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land.
http://www.alternet.org/story/10569

It's no fun trying to play six degrees of Rev. Moon with Republican or radical Religious Right leaders--way too easy.