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The End (of the religious right) Is Not Near
The First Annual Family Impact Summit is being held in Brandon, outside of Tampa and according to the St. Petersburg Times: Hundreds of conservative Christians are expected to converge here today for a three-day meeting intended to mobilize support for the bedrock issues of the religious right... [the] event will feature a variety of speakers and panelists who represent a Who's Who among the Christian Right. Scheduled presenters include Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council; Richard Land, who leads the Southern Baptists' lobbying arm; and former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer will serve as a keynote speaker, and Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo, is expected to talk about right-to-life issues." Although the entire schedule is not posted, the event is clearly oriented to both rally and train grassroots political activists at the beginning of the campaign season. The format is also more like those of the Christian Coalition at its height in the 90s, than an event designed to showcase candidates on television. The conference is being hosted by a local group and is co-sponsored by, among others, the Family Research Council and the Florida political affiliate of Focus on the Family. (One of 36 state-level groups. For a detailed discussion of the Focus on the Family state political operations, see my 1999 article, Takin' It to the States: The Rise of Conservative State-Level Think Tanks. (PDF) Although much has changed since then, the basic analysis I think holds up very well. Indeed, the Focus on the Family political network has stablized rather than declined, and in recent years has led the way on state anti-gay marriage ballot initiatives.) From this distance, it seems likely that this event is moving in on the territory once occupied by D. James Kennedy's annual Reclaiming America conferences in Ft. Lauderdale -- whose future has been in doubt since the closing of Kennedy's political offices prior to his death. The religious right is a large and vibrant movement that will generally fill-in vacuums left by the deaths of leaders and other institutional transitions. And we are likely to see many such transitions over the next few years. But as we frequently note on this site, each and every downturn for the movement, small or large, will be read by many as the death or steep decline of the religious right. Such marginally informed proclamations always remind me of Mark Twain's famous remark on the occasion of reading his obituary in the newspaper: "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." I wonder how many times we will have to read such obits before most thoughtful people realize that the end is not near? The conference also features a number of other national religious right figures, including Don Wildmon of the Arlington Group and American Family Association; Ken Blackwell of the Family Research Council, and Tom Minnery, the top political hand at Focus on the Family. Minnery is not as well known as a lot of the others, but here is the bio from the conference web site: Tom Minnery is the Senior Vice President of Government and Public Policy at Focus on the Family, a division he has led since 1988. He oversees the production of several magazines, internet sites and radio broadcasts including Citizen Magazine, Family News in Focus, and CitizenLink. The Public Policy Division also oversees a nationwide network of Family Policy Councils, which emphasize and encourage grassroots political and cultural involvement at local and state levels, as well as several seminars, conferences and debates around the country on issues such as homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, abstinence, physician-assisted suicide, pornography, gambling, and marriage. No matter who the GOP picks as its candidate for president, the movement goes on, and there are lots of races for offices at all levels. The Values Voter Summit this past week seems to have been exceptionally badly staged and more about the egos (ultimately bruised) than any reasonable measure of the state of the religious right. But if one were to look to one event to get a reading on the state of the religious right, this weekend's event, (with its high powered backing from the Family Research Council/Focus on the Family axis) may be a pretty good measure. This conference is about mobilizing the kinds of activists that make issue and electoral campaigns go -- and that has always been the greatest strength of the religious right.
The End (of the religious right) Is Not Near | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
The End (of the religious right) Is Not Near | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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