





The Religious Right's Secret Organizing Meeting in Dallas Frederick Clarkson print page Mon Nov 29, 2010 at 12:45:49 PM EST Its all Sarah Palin all the time in medialand and the blogosphere these days. But Mainstream Baptist's report should give everyone some pause from the spectacle of Palin's celebrity -- since the secret meeting to plan the political ouster of President Obama in 2012 was intended to replicate the results of a similar meeting organized in an effort to plan the defeat of Jimmy Carter in 1980. Mainstream Baptist thinks their candidate will be Huckabee, who certainly has the potential to be a serious contender. Many of those attending the event supported Huckabee last time. But whether or not that proves to be the case, it is worth highlighting the possibility as well as the broader intention to mobilize for 2012 no matter who the GOP candidate turns out to be. The underestimation of the political clout and capacity of the Religious Right and various of its leaders, institutions, organizations and issues is such a persistent theme in modern American politics, that no discussion of either one is complete without it. Indeed, habitual underestimating the Religious Right and its constituent parts can now be considered a significant factor in national elections. Here at Talk to Action we repeatedly discussed misunderstandings of the Huckabee campaign in 2008. Among the most remarkable of these was that Huckabee got just about all of the endorsements from Religious Right leaders that mattered, although mainstream reporters and academics managed not to notice, announcements on the Huckabee campaign site and press releases not withstanding. He even got the belated endorsement of James Dobson. The Religious Right vote was divided among McCain, Romney and Huckabee because the Religious Right, brittle stereotypes not withstanding, does not vote as a bloc, and never has. The sole exception over many election cycles was 2004, when George W. Bush had no GOP primary challengers. But the divided electorate was treated as a somehow singular and historic phenomenon, when it was and is utterly normal. Certainly part of the takeaway lesson here is that Huckabee did surprisingly well in 2008 and if he runs again, he will haves a significant base of support on which to draw. he will transform the race if he gets in, even if he does not ultimately win. But even if he does not run, the names of the participants in the secret meeting to plan the 2012 defeat of the president are worth considering in light of their intentions. Reporter Brian Kaylor in the article names a number of significant conservative Christian leaders and political operatives: Southern Baptist leaders attending the meeting included: Richard Land (president of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission); Richard Lee (pastor and the editor of The American Patriot's Bible); John Meador (pastor of First Baptist Church of Euless, Texas); and Paige Patterson (president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary). Others at the meeting included: Tony Evans (a megachurch pastor in Texas); Father Joseph Fessio (founder and editor of Ignatius Press); Craig Groeschel (pastor of LifeChurch.tv); Miles McPherson (a megachurch pastor in California who spoke at the 2008 Republican National Convention); Johnnie Moore (a vice president at Liberty University who defended the school's decisions to have Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich as recent speakers); Tom Mullins (a megachurch pastor in Florida); Doug Napier (legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund); Dino Rizzo (a megachurch pastor in Louisiana); Dave Roever (an evangelist who prayed at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally); Mark Rutland (president of Oral Roberts University); David Stone (a megachurch pastor in Kentucky); and Stu Weber (a megachurch pastor in Oregon). Several conservative Christian leaders highly active in politics attended the meeting, including: Stephen Broden (a pastor and Republican politician in Texas); Keith Butler (a pastor and Republican politician in Michigan); Maggie Gallagher (a conservative columnist who received tens of thousands of dollars for her work from the George W. Bush administration); Jim Garlow (chairman of Newt Gingrich's organization, Renewing American Leadership); Harry Jackson (pastor of Hope Christian Church in Washington, D.C.); Gene Mills (executive director of the Louisiana Family Forum); and Tony Perkins (president of the Family Research Council). Other individuals helped plan the September meeting but were unable to attend. They included: Jerry Falwell Jr. (president of Liberty University); Jack Graham (a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention); O.S. Hawkins (head of the SBC's Guidestone Financial Resources); Jack Hayford (president of Foursquare International); and author Ravi Zacharias. The social/political movement we generally refer to as the Religious Right is, as we have often discussed, still in a significant period of transition as the founding generation of leaders passes from the scene. The secretive Dallas organizing meeting is probably best seen as one more piece of the evolving puzzle.



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