The death of the religious right

By Weekly Archive On Nov 27, 2007

No
matter who becomes the next president of the United States, the
American people have already won a great victory — with the total
disintegration of the once all-powerful religious right.

Starting
in 1979, when Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority, Christian
conservatives have been the most powerful voting bloc in the
Republican Party. Ironically, they began by casting out of the White
House a born-again Christian who continued, as president, his
life-long practice of teaching Sunday school, and replacing him with
a divorced and remarried man who seldom stepped inside a church.

But
of course, Jimmy Carter was a Democrat and Ronald Reagan was a
Republican. And by staying united, the religious right has been able
ever since to exercise its veto power over Republican candidates and
dictate the issues — abortion, same-sex marriage, stem cell research
and school prayer — they would campaign on. Until, that is, the
presidential campaign of 2008.

Today,
the religious right has splintered into as many different factions as
O. J. Simpson has alibis. Unable to find one candidate who fits the
bill of being both true-blue on the issues and electable, America’s
ayatollahs have divided their loyalties. Indeed, in some cases,
they’ve even declared war against each other.

The
National Right to Life League has endorsed Fred Thompson, even though
he opposes a constitutional amendment to ban Roe vs. Wade and admits
he only goes to church when visiting his mother — while James Dobson
says he’s not even sure Thompson qualifies as a Christian. Sam
Brownback has endorsed John McCain, who once called Jerry Falwell an
"agent of intolerance." And Bob Jones III and Moral
Majority Co-Founder Paul Weyrich have even endorsed a Mormon, because
they think Mitt Romney is the only one who can beat Hillary Clinton.

Meanwhile,
Mike Huckabee, the only ordained Baptist minister in the race, is
almost totally ignored by his fellow Christians because, even though
Huckabee scores 100 percent on the issues, they don’t think he has a
snowball’s chance in Hell of winning. Huckabee’s only evangelical
endorsement comes from Tim LaHaye, co-author of the "Left
Behind" novels — which may be the appropriate title for
Huckabee’s campaign.

And,
in one of the most bizarre pairings in politics, Pat Robertson, who
blamed gays for Sept. 11 and prayed for a meteor to strike Disney
World’s gay pride parade, has endorsed Rudy Giuliani — perhaps
because he’s counting on Giuliani to assassinate Hugo Chavez. James
Dobson has said he will never vote for Giuliani, even if it means
staying home. But the fact remains that, with Robertson’s help, the
Republican Party could very well nominate for president a candidate
who is twice-divorced, thrice-married, pro-choice, pro-gay rights and
an occasional cross-dresser.

Merely
entertaining Giuliani as a candidate demonstrates that, for many
conservatives, political power counts more than Christian values. The
religious right is dead. It will never again exercise the political
clout it once had — which is bad news for Republicans, but good news
for the republic.

While
in the long-term, some moderate Republicans might welcome relief from
having to genuflect in front of the pro-life movement and Terri
Schiavo, the short-term political impact for the Republican Party is
a disaster. Christian conservatives probably won’t vote for a
Democrat. They’re more likely just to stay home. But the result’s the
same: Overnight, Republicans have lost their biggest and most loyal
bloc of support. It’s the political equivalent of Democrats’ losing
support of the unions.

But
for Americans generally, the demise of the religious right is good
news. It means tolerance is back. It means we don’t have to worry so
much about efforts to turn the United States into a Christian nation.
It means "secular" is no longer a dirty word. It means
politicians will be judged by more important issues than how many
times they utter the God word in one sentence. It means the list of
moral issues will expand from abortion and gay marriage to include
health care, a living wage, global warming, pre-emptive war and
torture.

In
short, the dying influence of Christian conservatives means that
people of all faiths, or no faith at all, will feel comfortable
participating in the political process — and not just those who
subscribe to the narrow-minded, intolerant, mean-spirited brand of
religion espoused by Dobson and Robertson. And for that we
collectively pray: Thank you, Jesus.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "How
the Republicans Stole Religion." You
can hear "The Bill Press Show" at billpressshow.com. His
email address is: bill@billpress.com. His Web site is:
www.billpress.com.