Church & State October 1992 Robertson Roulette by Joesph L. Conn The Bush Campaign needs The Religious Rights Support, But Can The Average American Voter Stand Pat? A although many pundits have described 1992 as the "Year of the Woman" in electoral politics, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson isn't so sure. "The feminist agenda," he observed in a recent letter to his supporters. "is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands. kill their children. practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." Robertson undoubtedly intended his remarks to be seen only by a select audience -Christian Coalition donors in Iowa where an Equal Rights Amendment is on the ballot this November. But the Virginia Beach television evangelist's diatribe was leaked to the media, and stories about it appeared in newspapers and on news broadcasts around the nation. Democrats were gleeful. Such shrill rhetoric coming from a George Bush ally who gave a major address at the Republican Party convention in Houston was sure to turn off female voters and paint the Republicans as extremist. At a rally in Memphis. Pauline Gore. mother of the Democratic vice presidential candidate, drove home the point. Noting that similar things were said when women were fighting for the right to vote, she criticized both Bush and Robertson. "It's appalling to me that they have left the family values the they were taught," she remarked. A pleased Bill Clinton stood nearby beaming. Red-faced Republican campaign officials scurried for cover. "Because someone is supportive of the president does not mean the the campaign is associated with every statement that person may utter," Bush flack Tony Mitchell told the Virginian-Pilot. A vacationing Pat Robertson was unavailable for comment, but his top political aide Ralph Reed was unrepentant. "I've received nothing but accolades from supporters around the country," he boasted. The feminism flap is just one example of why the president and his Republican Party allies are nervous about their ties to Robertson and other branches of the Religious Right. The religious conservatives' exotic views and insatiable political demands make an alliance problematic at best, but the Republican team covets the Virginia Beach broadcasters sophisticated computerdriven network of grassroots activists and loyal right-wing voters. Bush campaign official Charles Black said Robertson represents a "very powerful, important constituency." The Bush team has worked tirelessly to prove to Robertson and company that he deserves their support. Tn addition to a primetime spot on the podium at the GOP convention, Robertson was given Vice President Dan Quayle to address the Christian Coalition's "God and Country Rally" in Houston. In July the president himself granted Robertson an exclusive interview for his "700 Club" program on the Christian Broadcasting Network. (The two were photographed in front of the Old Executive Office Building in Washington.) In August Bush traveled to Virginia Beach to address the Christian Coalition's "Road to Victory II" Conference. The Religious Right is clearly a growing force in the Republican Party that must be dealt with. Robertson and his Christian Coalition claimed only 300 delegates at the GOP convention, but when other religious conservatives were added in, some observers estimated that as many as 40 percent of the delegates represented factions of the Religious Right. The party platform, an agenda far to the right of Bush and many Republicans, showed the Religious Right's strength -and its hard-nosed antipathy to compromise on social issues. The same hardline mentality showed up in many states around the county as Christian Coalition troops and their allies fought Old Guard Republicans for control of the party apparatus. The frequent result was animosity and lots of negative press. Here are some examples: * California: The battle between Republican moderates and religious conservatives in California is well known (see "California Dreamin."' October 1991 Church & State), and recent press accounts indicate that the bitterness is escalating. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, a vulgar flier has been distributed in San Diego County attacking the Mainstream Voters Project (MVP) a group that monitors the Religious Right. The flier called one MVP leader a "bitter man-hating b----" and another "a militant dwarf who uses MVP to meet other women with hairy chests." Christian Right leaders denied any knowledge of the document and charged that the MVP may have produced it to create publicity. * Texas: With the Christian Coalition's Dick Weinhold and other Religious Right figures serving on the platform committee, Texas Republicans adopted an agenda in June that included support for private and home schooling, a federal voucher system, an end to the teaching of "secular humanism" in public schools, support for "creation science," a school prayer amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a ban on all abortions and "swift and unencumbered" capital punishment. Dr. Steven Hotze, a newly elected state executive committee member observed in the Houston Chronicle. "If we are to survive as a free nation, and if justice and liberty are to be restored in our land, then biblical Christianity, with its absolutes, must once again be embraced by our citizens." * Washington: Although Washington is one of the nation's most unchurched states, the Republican convention there was dominated by Religious Right forces who adopted platform planks calling for a ban on all abortions, the removal of "witchcraft" from the public schools and a ban on the hiring of homosexuals in the fields of education and health care. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, some delegates openly called for the abolition of church- state separation. * Virginia: Pat Robertson favorite Patrick McSweeney was elected GOP chairman earlier this year, signaling new strength for the television evangelist in the Old Dominion. Robertson and his son Gordon (who serves as 2nd District party chairman) were among Virginia delegates to the national convention. When the Christian Coalition's clout resulted in the election of several state legislators in the Virginia Seach area, some GOP critics were intimidated into silence. "There's a lot of concern that Pat Robertson and his Christian Coalition is trying to dominate the party." GOP delegate Tony Zevgolis told The Washington Times. "But nobody in their right mind would snub the Christian Right. They're too valuable in winning elections." Controversial Reagan administrations figure Oliver North, a Robertson crony, met with the Virginia delegation in Houston in preparation for a possible U.S. Senate try. * Iowa: Christian Coalition members and their allies easily dominated the stale GOP convention, adopting a platform that Des Moines Register columnist Jennifer Mitchell said "reads like one of those religious pamphlets hawked door-to-door and on street comers." The platform attacks secular humanism, situation ethics, one-world government, "the PETA philosophy" and the Equal Rights Amendment. It supports an abortion ban, capital punishment, corporal punishment, prayer in public schools and "teaching the recognition of the existence of a Supreme Being and the validity of moral absolutes." Former state representative Sue Mullins told the Register, "This is no longer a political party. This is a religious cult." . * Colorado: Christian Coalition activists in the Centennial State made no secret of their views on the relationship between religion and government. According to Rocky Mountain News columnist Peter Slake, the group distributed a flier at the state GOP convention which said. "The Separation of Church and State is (1) Not a teaching of the founding Fathers; (2) Not an historical teaching; (3) Nor a teaching of law (except in recent years); (4) Not a biblical teaching. "In summary." said the CC's state director David S. Nelson, "There should be absolutely no 'Sepitrarion of Church and State' in America." * Louisiana: According to New Orleans-baed reporter Jason Berry, evangelicals control a third of the GOP State Central Committee's 144 seats, voting in lockstep on controversial issues. Writing in the Washington Post, Berry charged that in some communities Religious Right forces are teaming up with followers of neo-Nazi David Duke to seize control of local party offices. * South Carolina: Republican Gov. Carroll Campbell and other GOP leaders seem willing to make a marriage of convenience with Robertson and his congregation. The governor attended a June 27 kickoff luncheon for the state Christian Coalition affiliate. Other Republican officials and candidates showed up as well. According to The State, a Columbia newspaper, Robertson Told the crowd of 1,000 that his organization hopes to build a nationwide network of 600 chapters by the end of the year. "Our goal in 1992 is to elect a strong conservative majority in Congress." he said. * Alaska: Religious Right forces remain strong in the state GOP. Former state legislator Edna DeVries has been chosen as national committeewoman. DeVries is perhaps best known for her unsuccessful 1986 campaign for lieutenant governor. During the race. she called the United States a Christian nation and dismissed the concept of church-state separation. Of those who disagreed with her stand, DeVries said. "I thing they have a right to do what they want, but they shouldn't live in the United States. Maybe they should live in some other country. If they don't honor the United States as a Christian nation and they don't want to be a Christian, then there are many other countries that are not Christian." The extremist rhetoric from Christian Right figures around the country is probably worrisome to Bush campaign officials, but it really isn't that much different from the shoot-from-the-hip statements made by Pat Robertson himself -some of them aimed at the party's presidential nominee. In his most recent book "The New World Order," the television evangelist claims that an international conspiracy has been plotting for centuries to install a one-world Satanic dictatorship. Noting George Bush's ties to the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission, Robertson suggests that the president and those around him may be part of a sinister plot. "It may well be," writes Robertson, "that men of goodwill like Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, and George Bush, who sincerely want a larger community of nations living at peace in our world, are in reality unknowingly and unwittingly carrying out the mission and mouthing the phrases of a tightly knit cabal whose goal is nothing less than a new order for the human race under the domination of Lucifer and his followers." The millionaire broadcaster has also continued his dalliance with Christian Reconstructionism, the radical movement that seeks to impose "biblical law," including harsh Old Testament sanctions, on all aspects of modem American society. Robertson recently told Christianity Today that he is not a devotee of the theocratic drive, but he refused to disavow its goals. "I don't agree with Reconstructionism." he said. "although I do believe that Jesus is Lord of all the world. I believe that he is Lord of the government, and the church, and business and education, and hopefully, one day, Lord of the press....I want the church to move into the world." In a subsequent issue of the magazine, Christian Reconstructionist leader Gary DeMar said Robertson's stated position represents the "heart and soul" of the theonomic movement. "Reconstructionists have been saying this and getting criticized for it for over 30 ycvrs." he said. "At the very least. Pat Robertson, as I've always suspected, is an operational Reconstructionist." Robertson political operatives know that in many ways Bush needs them more than they need him. Well on their way toward building a strong grassroots army, they are confident of their ultimate success regardless or the outcome of the race for the White House. Their agenda is rapidly advancing no matter what happens in this year's presidential contest. The Christian Coalition's Ralph Reed told Christianity Today. "The media are missing it. This isn't the year of the woman; this is the year of the Lord."