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LIBERTY
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Christinity Jodi brought together the views of
seven conservative evangehical Christians ina
series of short essavs answer the question “ls
the Religious Right Finished? Included
among the seven were Thomas and Weyrich,
along with tormer head of the Christian
Coalition Ralph Reed, Jerry Falwell, former
Reagan aide Don Eberly, Tames Dobson, and
Charles Colson. Weyrich s prece was a shghily
condensed version of hus February fetter, and
Dobson’ was his June letter of rebuttal. Reed
defended Christian political activism from a
historical perspective che has a Philby his
‘0 be sure, the Religious Right is not
finished. Rather, it is maturing.
tory, arguing that much good has in fact come
from such activities and that the culture would
be mn much worse shape than it iv had
Christians of the Religious Right not been active
in recent vears. In short, he refuted the
Weyvrich-Thomas-Dobson argument that the
culture war is being lost. Rather as with other
sociopolitical movements such as abolition and
women's rights, it will take decades of nore
mentalism to transform the culture,
Following the written exchange 1m
Christianity Today several Religious Raght lead
ers. met at the Library of Congress mn
Washington, D.C, to discuss the Wevrieh
Thomas-Dobson thesis. Participants my the dis
cussion that was covered by C-SPAN mmcluded
the three principals, addong with Charles
Donovan, Ralph Reed, Christian Coalition
executive director Randy Tate, Republican rep
resentative trom Pennsylvania Joseph Pitts, Dor
Eberly, and same others.
Wevrich passionately rebutted the suggestion
that he had ever encouraged people to withdraw
from politics. Rather. he argued, his message
was that he wanted more honesty, “We better be
honest about what we are saving.” he urged his
fellow Religious Right leaders. “Frankly, some of
the organizations that put out intormation that
suggests Lo the people who are coming across
with the dollars, that in fact theyre on the verge
of a brand-new era of winning in the political
process and mm the cultural crac they are not
being honest... There is a limit to what can be
done in the political arena” Likewise, Eberly.
Thomas, and others supported the notion that
conservative Christians must be mmvolved in
Bel Dats Zaud
more than politics. They must also penetrate
the other watckeepmg mstitutions of sooty
such as law ournahism, the ares and entertam:
ment. While the imdinvaiduals did votron out all
disaereements, there emerged a consensus tha
there is much to be done and that polities was
only one part of the equation.
tovether, the various vores repre
&
Laken
seitted ihe mime ssmpostion ur Clin
Today and mothe C SPAN roundtable discos
ston answer the question “ls the Rehaions Right
ron
finished? with a resounding “No! To be sure,
the Religions Richt ts not finished. Rather iis
maturing. While this was
not the acknowledaed
conscrsus nn either
tori. this Is what the
exchange in Chrstiannye
C-SPAN
that
today and on
revealed. There wre some who believe
mbant movements cannot allord to wive the
rmpression that there is diversity in ther ranks.
let alone dissension, Under this interpretation
of group dynamics 10s ony as they mature and
become comtortable with thar status in the
Larger scheme of things that they can bevin to
turer mward to reflect onawhat nage be the beat
way to advance the cause. NMoreovero it is only
when movements mature that they can pecome
selt critical While i infanay or adolescence
thev go to great lengths to present a united front
deans! the enemys Thar own sense of insecu-
rity in the face of enemies, real and imavined.
orecludes them from reahsucaliv facing thar
wedhaiosses, Alb menthers must wall in lockster
m the carly vears of the revolution.
Thomas himself acknowledges this in
Blsded bo Nigh when Tie tells of his resistance
Moral
Majority used in the carly TUsoss Bn fact a good
to the negative mailouts that the
part of Thomas's criticism is that Reliwtons
Right pohtical organizations use deceptive, and
methods 100 rae
theretore  un-Christian,
money. After reviewing a Moral Maori
mailout that contained the standard litany of
powertuthy evil forces that were opposed to tra
ditional morality, Thomas asked one ot the
direct-mail fund-raising gurus who advised the
Moral Majoriy, "Why don't we ever send out a
positive letter on what weve accomplished with
people's moneys The tundraising expert
responded. “You can’t raise money on ou posi
tive Indeed, Tames Dobson's cntiguic of
Blinded the Miceli used this necative exervong: is-
auainst-us style, then asked, not for money per