There was a controversy recently, when Jim Wallis and allied evangelicals proposed "abortion reduction" as a central feature of the Democratic Party Platform. This has been concerning as religious right ideas have been percolating in the party of late as part of efforts to appeal to conservative religious voters.

The just published draft platform clearly rejects such a view, even while shoehorning in the word "reduction" in a way that will probably not alarm the vast majority of Democrats who are prochoice.

(What follows is a revision and reframing of my diary of yesterday. Hopefully, it is worth the effort.)

There has been quite a flap going on ever since pastordan took the new blog site Progressive Revival to task about a few things over at Street Prophets.

The new blog, a project of BeliefNet, is owned by conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch of Fox News fame. The site says of itself that although coming from different traditions, the writers "all are dedicated to the revival of religious progressivism and its influence in American politics." Pastordan says, among other things, that it looks far more centrist than it is progressive. But whatever else the site may be, it also home to a man who as a nominal Democrat has headed organizations of the Religious Right and supported George W. Bush over Al Gore in 2000.  Among the featured writers is Ray Flynn, best known as the former mayor of Boston and U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican under president Clinton.  But if you did not know about Flynn's involvements with the Religious Right, he would like to keep it that way.

It may not seem like it at first, but this headline really does go with the diary. So please bear with me. It is actually the point of the diary.

There has been quite a flap going on ever since pastordan  took the new blog site Progressive Revival to task about a few things over at Street Prophets.

The new blog, a project of BeliefNet, is owned by conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch of Fox News fame. The site says of itself that although coming from different traditions, "all are dedicated to the revival of religious progressivism and its influence in American politics." Pastordan says, among other things, that it is far more centrist than it is progressive. But whatever else the site may be, it also now home to a man who as a nominal Democrat, has in recent years headed organizations of the religious right and supported George W. Bush over Al Gore in 2000.  Among the featured writers is none other than Ray Flynn, best known as the former mayor of Boston and U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican under president Clinton.  But if you did not know about Flynn's involvements with the Religious Right, that is just the way he wants it.

Well, actually, I didn't win this one.

In fact I didn't even know my friend Jerry Sloan who did, and whose story this is, until years later. But I remembered his story well from news accounts. In what has become an annual tradition at Talk to Action, Jerry retells his famous story, which is an example of how dedication and smart activism can make for illuminating victories even in dark times. I am reposting this in its entirety with his blessing, and our hope that whatever your struggle, that you will find hope and inspiration and a smile.

Without further adieu:

It was not so long ago, that John Hagee was at the pinnacle of his power.  Last year Sen. Joe Lieberman publicly compared him to Moses at the annual  conference of his Christians United for Israel (CUFI); and John McCain was in the middle of his long courtship of Hagee’s support for his presidential campaign. McCain eventually secured Hagee's endorsement, but it only took a few months for the the relationship to end in a mutual renunciation tht sent shock waves throughout American public life.

Since then, bloggers, reporters and interest groups have been taking a closer look at the world according to Hagee. And as Bruce Wilson (whose video showing that Hagee says God sent Hitler to drive the Jews to Israel, sparking McCain's disavowal of Hagee) among others have shown, Hagee's fanatical views and demagoguery have been out in the open in his books and sermons for all to see for a long time.  It has too often been the case, that leaders of the Religious Right have not received the scrutiny they merit over the course of their careers. But times have changed a bit.  There are now more reporters, bloggers and interest groups who are paying attention than ever before.  And the entire Hagee episode is an excellent case example that merits more detailed study.

For months bloggers and reporters have been digging into the truly bizarre and high profile activities one Walid Shoebat, a professed ex-Palestinian terrorist who has been presented as an expert on Islam and on terrorism at government and other high level conferences.

The problem is that his story doesn't add up, and there is not only no  independent corroboration for any of it, but there is a great deal of public skepticism, even from members of his own family.  He claims to be using a pseudonym because terrorists are out to get him, when in fact Walid Shoebat is his real name. All that, plus he is a messianic Christian Zionist and pseudoscholar who has recently claimed that Muslims are agents of the anti-Christ.

As it happens, life has intervened and I am going to be unable to make it to Netroots Nation.  However, Ryan Valentine of the Texas Freedom Network has graciously agreed to stand in, and to read my panel presentation for me.

For those of us who are unable to be there, all is not lost.

NN has announced that much of the Netroots Nation agenda will be video taped and live streamed via ustreamtv -- including the panel pastordan and I organized:  Whatever Happened to the Religious Left?. It will also be archived and available after the convention.

I usually speak only with a rough outline and notes because if I write a speech or a presentation for myself -- its boring. But because I could not be there I had to write a 12 minute speech for someone else to read for me!  I have been a writer, editor and public speaker for 25 years, but have never had to do that before.

We will all get to find out whether it worked -- or whether it was weird -- or just boring -- on Saturday at 4:30 Central time.

Jim Wallis recently proposed changing the Democratic Party platform to emphasize what he calls "abortion reduction." This has been properly understood as not merely finding ways to common ground with conservative evangelicals and Catholics, but to represent an anti-abortion and probably anti-family planning position.

Fortunately, longtime abortion rights proponents, (and actual experts on the subject) Kate Michelman and Frances Kissling, have published at Salon.com a thorough debunking of the abortion reduction agenda of Wallis and his allies. In the big tent of the Democratic Party, we will have many such disagreements. Wallis et al are welcome to assert their views; and when they do, they can expect that they will be answered. Here are some excerpts from this important answering:

A book by our own Ishmael has been much discussed here.

But as happens to many books that shed an unwanted light deep into the Washington, DC establishment -- the establishment press has generally ignored it. But Jeff Sharlet has not let this deter him, and he has -- with the considerable help of the blogosphere -- managed to get his book The Family: the Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, on the "extended" New York Times Bestseller List. Coming in at number 31 out of 35. (Check it out.)

This a victory for the blogosphere and further crashing of the gates of the establishment press and DC power elites. Congratulations, Jeff! Congratulations Kossacks!

Ohio Religious Right leader Phil Burress recently said of McCain, "We don't like him, and he doesn't like us." But Burress has gotten himself out ahead of the pack of Religious Right leaders who appear poised to finally get around to helping McCain. In the wake of McCain having been recieved by Billy and Franklin Graham, and a widely reported meeting of Religious Right leaders in Denver this week, we are about to see how badly the Religious Right wants to stop Barack Obama, or at least limit the damage.

This is not a question so much as an announcement.

Indeed, pastordan and I have teamed up for a panel under that title at Netroots Nation this year in Austin, Texas, July 17-20th.

This diary is nothing less than a shameless, but mercifully short, advertisement for our session.

Peter Akinola is not exactly a household name, but he could well be the problem pastor of neo-conservatism. He is certainly less well known in the U.S. than John ("McCain threw me under the bus") Hagee, but he is every bit as consequential.

   
He is he spiritual leader of thousands of Americans, including many Washington insiders who attend schismatic Episcopal churches that have placed themselves under his authority in recent years. He is Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, a cruel and ostentatiously anti-gay cleric and a driving force in the widening schism in the worldwide Anglican communion, who makes James Dobson seem liberal and Hagee a relative man of peace.
 

All that now stands in the way of legislation, passed with the help of Democrats, that would allow the teaching of creationism in the Lousiana public schools is an unlikely veto by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal  

While we mull that over, Barbara Forrest, one of the nation's leading experts on the knavery that is "intelligent design," has posted at Talk to Action a discussion of the role of the Religious Right's Discovery Institute and Focus on the Family's state political affiliate in the passage of the bill, and how these organizations have apparently cowed or owned political leaders of both parties.

I think he can.

James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, says the Barack Obama distorts the Bible and has a "fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."

This according to the Associated Press, which was provided a copy of Dobson's pretaped remarks that will air on Tuesday on his nationally syndicated radio program.

Dobson's colorful attack on Senator Obama, who taught constitutional law for twelve years at the University of Chicago, invites examination of Mr. Dobson's views on the Constitution -- something I have written about from time-to-time.

The Commencement season has rolled around again, and as I hear reports of what various important people have said, I can't help but be reminded of a commencement address, that for me is a commencement address for all seasons; for all schools; and for all time.

I first blogged about this three years ago, and intend to make it an annual thing, as long as I continue to blog.

Commencement addresses are tricky things. Most speakers go in knowing that expectations are at once very low and very high. People would love to hear a remarkable address, but they know they are unlikely to hear one, the best efforts of the speaker not withstanding. But sometimes a commencement speaker rises to the occasion and captivates an audience -- and is remembered -- if for no other reason, than for having done so.

The 2008 Platform of the Texas Republican Party -- will make the Religious Right weep for joy. That is, no doubt, because they wrote it. The Religious Right continues to dominate the state party in Texas and the 2008 platform is Exhibit A.

Fortunately, The Texas Freedom Network has sifted through the platform for us -- and found a document that demonstrates that politicaly powerful elements of the the religious right not only have a theocratic agenda -- they have put it in writing.  

Here are a few examples from the TFN's just released report that illustrate my point.  

I have pounded the theme that the religious right is not dead so often that I am too bored to say it again.  But suffice to say, that the religious right has become a problem for John McCain. Not so much because there are evangelicals, particularly young people, who are disaffected with the GOP (because there are); and not so much because the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party are pursuing them (as they are) but because many serious activists are going to sit out the presidential race or work down ticket races instead. This general idea has been promoted by longtime conservative movement leader Richard Vigeurie for a long time. He and other movement leaders argued that the GOP has "betrayed" them, and that it is time to regroup. Add to this the longstanding tensions between McCain and the religious right (and movement conservatives in general), and there is a potential electoral disaster brewing for John McCain.  

I am updating and reprising this post because the issue of John McCain's professed Christian nationalism is a real question that goes to his core beliefs as well as his ongoing relationship with the religious right.

In an interview with BeliefNet, last year, John McCain came out as a Christian nationalist. This is a disturbing development from a man who has been profoundly critical of the religious right in the past, but has courted movement leaders, and received the endorsement of some (and was forced to renounce some too) while seeking the GOP nomination for president over the past year.

In this interview, he comes out more strongly as a Christian nationalist and critic of separation of church and state than any nominee for either party in modern American history.

The notion that America once was, and should be once again, a Christian Nation, is one of the  definitive characteristics of the ideology of the religious right.