-Caveat Lector- >From SalonMagazine.CoM -----Robertson redux SPLITS IN THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT WILL MAKE IT HARD TO RECAPTURE THE CHRISTIAN COALITION'S GLORY DAYS. BY FREDERICK CLARKSON After two years in self-imposed exile, Pat Robertson is resuming control of the Christian Coalition just in time for the 2000 presidential campaign season. But in his second coming as coalition president, Robertson will preside over an organization struggling to move beyond recent problems with the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Elections Commission and recapture its declining political influence among Christian conservatives and within the Republican Party. As the GOP continues its soul-searching in the wake of the disappointing 1998 election, many Republicans, most notably the Republican governors, are calling for a move away from the culture war. But similar calls have also been heard from within the party's fractured right wing, exacerbating a power vacuum within the religious right created by the 1997 departure of Robertson and executive director Ralph Reed from day-to-day operations of the Christian Coalition. Now, Robertson, back at the helm, is locked in a power struggle. Eleven years after Robertson's surprisingly strong second place finish in the 1988 Iowa Caucus led to the creation of the Christian Coalition, Christian activist Gary Bauer represents perhaps the most serious challenge to his political and evangelical preeminence. Like Robertson before him, Bauer is parlaying his popularity among Christian activists into a bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He has long been the head of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian lobby group closely linked with radio psychologist James Dobson's "Focus on the Family." Dobson's family values rhetoric and Bauer's inside-the-Beltway savvy have always contrasted with Robertson's strident Christian nationalism. Bauer is a regular on Dobson's syndicated radio program, which reaches millions of listeners every day. Their national network of public policy groups rivals the Christian Coalition for influence in several states. Russ Bellant, author of "The Religious Right in Michigan Politics," called the Michigan Family Forum "the major religious right organization" in the state. Though the two share similar political goals, the rivalry between Bauer and Robertson surfaced earlier this month at a Coalition powwow for prospective presidential nominees in Manchester, N.H. As a warm-up act for candidate speeches, Robertson was addressing a crowd of more than 1,000 party activists and reporters, recalling the history of his political organization's name. "People wanted to make some sort of milquetoasty name, you know, like 'Greater Family Foundation,'" he recalled. "But I said, 'No, I'm not ashamed to be a Christian! We're going to call this organization the Christian Coalition.'" The reminiscence was a thinly veiled swipe at the Family Research Council and Bauer, whose candidacy threatens Robertson's preeminence in the Christian right. N E X T+P A G E+| "We are the fat lady!" ROBERTSON REDUX | PAGE 1, 2, - - - - - - - - - - This infighting between Bauer and Robertson stems partially from the turf and ego battles that mark most political tiffs. But there have also been differences over the impeachment issue. Robertson surprised and outraged many conservatives when, weeks before the close of the Senate impeachment trial, he declared that Clinton had won, the trial should end and conservatives should cut their losses. (He later said his comments reflected "political analysis," not his own views.) This pragmatic approach did not sit well with many of the true believers who accused Robertson of capitulating. Indeed, all of the candidates at the Christian Coalition's New Hampshire forum roused the crowd with calls for Clinton's ouster. Playing off House manager Henry Hyde's declaration that impeachment wasn't over "until the fat lady sings," radio talk show host Alan Keyes went to work. "I mean no insult to the Christian Coalition, [but] it's time that we remember before we are even tempted to throw in the towel, that we are the fat lady, and we better start singing!" Despite the thunderous applause, Keyes was playing to a crowd that is clearly not as powerful as it was earlier in the decade. Christian Coalition meetings used to command the appearance of George Bush, Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich in the glory days of the early 1990s, and Republican political hopefuls of all stripes came to pay their respects to the coalition rank and file. At this latest forum, however, the only presidential candidates to make the trek were Bauer, Keyes and publisher Steve Forbes. Former Vice President Dan Quayle sent a video greeting, while a handful of other well-known presumptive candidates took a pass altogether. The decline in the coalition's power stems from a series of financial and legal problems that ultimately led to the 1997 leadership change within the organization. Reed and Robertson were replaced by former Rep. Randy Tate and Don Hodel, who served as energy secretary under Ronald Reagan. The organization was faced with sagging revenues, declining membership, a pending IRS investigation and a lawsuit by the Federal Election Commission alleging illegal campaign contributions to Republican politicians. But like the rest of the Republican Party, impeachment remains the most sensitive open wound for the right wing, and Robertson's comments seem to have only worsened the Christian Coalition's problems. As part of the impeachment fallout, there is an increasing malaise evident among top lieutenants in the right wing's culture war, the people who helped bring the Christian movement to political prominence over the last decade. Paul Weyrich, head of the Free Congress Foundation, a once-powerful right-wing lobbying group, recently posted a dejected "Dear Friend" letter on the group's Web site. Weyrich, who coined the phrase "moral majority" and helped elevate Rev. Jerry Falwell to national prominence, suggested that "there is no moral majority" among the American people. He blamed American culture, which he dubbed "an ever-wider sewer" and bemoaned America as "a state totally dominated by an alien ideology, an ideology bitterly hostile to Western culture." Given this "cultural collapse of historic proportions," Weyrich suggested the presidential prospects for conservatives are dim. Instead, Weyrich called for a self-imposed Christian cultural "quarantine," to keep from becoming "infected" by a degenerate American society. The challenge for power brokers within the Christian right will be to stop the exodus of conservatives like Weyrich from the political front lines, while maintaining their clout within the Republican Party at large. Whether these are simply growing pains of a movement in transition or the beginning of a departure of Christian conservatives from the political process -- heralding a much more fundamental political shift within the GOP -- remains to be seen. If nothing else, the current rift threatens the effective strategy employed by the Christian right throughout the 1990s -- to work as a small, untied voting bloc to help conservatives in Republican primaries. The current tensions and disarray among them suggests a lively presidential primary season in which the struggle for leadership of the conservative movement, as well as the Republican Party, will be at stake. SALON | Feb. 24, 1999 Frederick Clarkson has reported on the religious right for 15 years. He is the author of "Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy" (Common Courage Press, 1997). ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----- Ask Pat Robertson THE REVEREND SAYS HIS CALL TO HALT IMPEACHMENT WAS JUST "POLITICAL ANALYSIS." HERE'S A LOOK AT SOME OF HIS OTHER PEARLS OF WORLDLY WISDOM. BY JAMES PONIEWOZIK | Religious broadcaster, former presidential candidate and sweater model Pat Robertson stunned much of the conservative right Wednesday by declaring that President Clinton "hit a home run" in his State of the Union address, and "they might as well dismiss this impeachment hearing and get on with something else, because it's over as far as I'm concerned." The tide must be turning in the president's impeachment trial, it seemed, if one of Clinton's most outspoken critics was now calling on the Senate to drop it and move on. Or so we thought for a moment. It turns out that Robertson is a big enough man to learn from the pot-smoking draft-dodger he has reviled for years. Backing away from his statement, Robertson revealed that he's able to "compartmentalize" his public actions as well as any skirt-chaser in the White House. "I was speaking in my capacity as a political analyst," Robertson said through a spokesperson. "I was not advocating this, nor do I favor this." It's a useful reminder that Robertson gives us, for, as viewers of his broadcasts on "The 700 Club" or readers of his columns at the Christian Broadcasting Network Web site know, Pat is no mere fire-breathing prophet of the apocalypse. By goodness, he's as dispassionate, detached and bloodless an analyst of the world political, economic and social scene as any Jeff Greenfield, Lou Dobbs or Cokie Roberts -- a secular prognosticator who sets aside personal passion and dogma to give us his cold-eyed read on the way the ballgame is played. But in case you don't believe it, we've culled a few examples from Robertson's level-headed oeuvre, from the "Pat's Perspective" section of the CBN Web site. Here's Pat Robertson, speaking in his capacity as a welfare-reform analyst: Some years ago I talked one Sunday night to a volunteer receptionist who was completely upset. She was partially disabled, but under revised guidelines she no longer qualified to receive welfare assistance. Her world had collapsed around her. I knew that despite her physical disability, she was uniquely gifted in making exquisite Christmas ornaments with religious scenes. I challenged her to use her talents. International-terrorism analyst: They have small nuclear weapons they can bring into this country and detonate in any of our major cities. If you think that's not going to happen in the next few years, you are living in a fantasy world, because the Middle East is a flaming cauldron. All this is a result of America rejecting God ... God is not going to put a hedge of protection around sodomy and abortion. Personal-finance analyst: We owe the payment of taxes for the necessary services government renders to us ... (But) when any civil government steps outside the mandate authorized by God Almighty, then that government does not have any further claim over its citizens. After that, we ask God for our daily bread -- whatever we need to carry out His work. It may be money, a car, food, clothing, a house, or a $20 million budget for a Christian organization. Clinical-psychology analyst: As I struggled to wake up, I realized I was under demonic attack. I immediately took control over it and said, "Satan, in the name of Jesus, I cast you forth." The minute I said that, my mind was free and my despair was gone. Population-demography analyst: I realized later that the Seattle-Tacoma area led the nation in suicides. The spirit that was coming upon me was a suicidal spirit, the sort of influence that would lead to such depression that a person would wish to kill himself. I was in an area where many had been gripped by this kind of demon. Music-industry analyst: And then you add a rock group like Marilyn Manson, who's apparently depraved ... Divorce-law analyst: The Pauline privilege (see I Corinthians 7:15), which I mentioned earlier, permits divorce on the grounds of desertion by an unbelieving spouse ... Obviously, a couple composed of two born-again Christians does not fall under the Pauline privilege. And finally, Pat Robertson, speaking in his capacity as a medical analyst: Let's assume you had an accident in which your leg is broken. You can say, "I broke my leg. It hurts. But God's power is healing my leg right now. The pain is leaving. Jesus is doing a miracle, and I thank Him for it. I thank Him that regardless of what happened to my leg, a miracle is taking place. Therefore I command my leg to knit together and be healed. Praise God!" SALON | Jan. 23, 1999 James Poniewozik writes Salon's Media Circus column on Wednesdays. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <<This guy, Pat, would have made a good Buddhist ... perhaps he still has time. <<Excerpt from: The Four Thoughts which Turn the Mind from Samsara, Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche <<http://www.diamondway-buddhism.org/ <<The Disadvantages of Samsara <Picture>Because of our karma which leads to the ripening of certain experiences, the wheel of conditioned existence continually turns. This is samsara. Actions and karma accumulate, and through this experiences manifest. When positive actions are predominant, one will experience a more or less joyful result. When negative actions predominate, one will mainly experience suffering. In this way, within samsara one differentiates between six different kinds of experiences or states of existence: paranoia realms, ghost states, animal existences, human existence, half-god, and god states. >> << A<>E<>R >> >From Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) OnLine Why There is Suffering in the World The existence of suffering in this world is a complex subject that might cause many Christians and non-Christians alike to question the love of God. But we must remember that God is not the cause of our suffering. As Pat reveals, often the problem is us. Suffering touches everyone who lives on this planet. All you have to do is pick up a daily newspaper or listen to a news broadcast to know that a great many people are suffering. They suffer because of automobile accidents or because of terrible diseases or because of crime. Some suffer because they were born in poverty, others because they were born in countries ruled by dictators. There are many causes of suffering, and the list could go on for pages. But our question is not concerned with causes. We are looking for the reasons for suffering. To say there is suffering because there is crime, or because there are auto accidents, is not nearly enough. Our question goes far beneath the surface, where it hits at the very roots of human pain and anguish. The first thing to be said about suffering is that most of it comes about because of the activities of a powerful supernatural being called Satan, or the devil. He delights in hurting man and in trying to turn man away from God. Very often people blame God when they suffer, but is it God's fault? Satan takes great pride in seeing God gets the "credit" for his misdeeds. Suffering is also caused by man's rebellion against God and by the evil in men's hearts. How much suffering has been caused in the modern world, for instance, by Communism, or by men hurting other men? Godless dictators hurt their own people, and they hurt the people of neighboring nations as well. Just consider how much suffering has been caused, in this century alone, by men such as Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Mao Tse-tung. As the result of godless dictatorships, there is suffering in the form of heartbreak. You might say that suffering is a result of freedom. God has given man a certain amount of freedom. If man were merely a robot, an automaton, then God could always force him to do what is right. But God gives man the freedom either to love and obey Him or to rebel against Him. When man rebels against God, he hurts not only himself but also his fellow man. Something else to remember about suffering is that God set up certain natural laws to govern the universe. If it were not for the law of gravity, we would all go floating off into space. But that same law is going to cause pain to people who jump from the tops of tall buildings! Consider the hurricane, the earth's way of releasing pent-up heat and energy. Heat from the southern climates has to move north and be discharged from the earth. When that happens, it causes a violent wind to blow. That wind, in turn, stirs up huge waves when it passes over the ocean. The hurricane is not meant to cause suffering, but if people ignore the warnings of nature, they will be injured by hurricanes. The same is true of faultlines, such as the San Andreas Fault. Faultlines are necessary to keep the earth from just breaking apart. But if people insist upon building houses on the San Andreas Fault--as they do--then they are going to suffer when an earthquake comes. Such suffering does not result from God's intentions, but comes rather from man's foolishness. We can either go along with natural forces and accommodate ourselves to them, or we can ignore them and be hurt by them. Much sickness, too, is man-made. Some of it is because of improper nutrition. People do not eat the right things. God gives us natural sugar, but we bleach it and make it white. We eat white bread, when whole wheat is much better for us. God gives us naturally fibrous fruit and plants, but we boil the fiber away. We do the same thing with oranges, when we squeeze the juice out of them and throw away the pulp, which is a beneficial part. We also peel potatoes and eat only the inside. In doing so, we throw away the part that God made to help us stay healthy. It is probable that 75 to 80 percent of the illnesses in the United States are psychosomatic. We have not learned to cast all our cares upon God, as we are advised to do in I Peter 5:7, and so we let our worried and harried minds make us sick. We also make ourselves sick voluntarily through doing such things as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and ingesting drugs. Automobile accidents cause fifty-six thousand deaths in our country each year--and half of those involve drunken driving. The technological state of our society contributes to suffering too. If there were no automobiles, there would be no deaths and injuries resulting from highway accidents. Our air would not be polluted with smoke from factories and automobile exhaust if there were no cars and factories. All of these things are part of the price we pay for our state of civilization. If we do not want to pay the price, we can go back to a more primitive society. In today's world, our lifestyle is a large contributor to sickness and disease. To illustrate again how man contributes to his own suffering, consider what has happened in Africa. The northern plain of that continent was once a beautiful, fertile, wooded area. But over several centuries, people cut down all the trees. As a result, the topsoil eroded and there was nothing left but desert. Without the protective cover of the trees, temperatures in the region rose steadily. The people moved farther south, seeking fertile land. As they moved southward, they continued cutting the trees, and consequently the desert moved southward. Today there are three-and-a-half million square miles of desert in the northern part of Africa. In northern Africa and in many other areas of the world, men have disturbed the ecological balance in nature. As a result, poverty and hunger are worse and worse. India has a similar problem. India was once one of the most fertile lands in the entire world. But the Indian people have embraced a philosophy that says rats and cows are sacred. So the cows eat up much of the vegetation, and the rats devour a good deal of the grain. Given a new understanding of nature, proper agricultural techniques, a forestation program, and a cleansing of rivers, which are now polluted, India could be agriculturally self-sustaining. The problem is not caused by an act of God, but it stems from man's foolishness over a period of years, perhaps centuries. And the problems are steadily compounded over successive generations. There are other forms of suffering that men bring on themselves. Consider, for example, such diseases as genital herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea, and AIDS. These all result from a conscious lifestyle that is opposed to God's Word and breaks God's laws. God did not send herpes. It is a natural consequence of immorality. When it spreads, it becomes an incurable disease, affecting millions and millions of people. Why does God allow this to happen? When we ask this question, it brings us back to the statement that God has created man as a free being--free even to the point of ruining much of God's creation. God has sent preachers, prophets, and other holy men to warn the people to change their ways but most will not listen. They would not listen to the prophets four thousand years ago, and most of them will not listen today. It is true that the righteous often suffer, and this will continue as long as we live in a world of wickedness. If someone speaks out against wickedness, he is going to be involved in a struggle, and that struggle may result in pain and suffering. Jesus said, "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). Jesus Christ was the only perfect man who ever lived, and people killed Him. Why? Because He came into contact with evil and tried to do something about it. John the Baptist was beheaded because he told people they were breaking God's laws (see Mark 6:25-28). It has been true throughout the ages that those who are God's messengers are often set upon and hurt by the people they have tried to warn. That kind of suffering is virtually unavoidable as long as we live in a wicked world of superstition, hatred, and ignorance. Suffering, if we allow it to, does have a way of purifying us. Many people have had to suffer in order to turn to God. Until they had their material things stripped from them, and often their health taken away, they had no desire for spiritual things. Those who are suffering may be tempted to turn away from God. They should never allow this to happen. Instead, they should worship God and be blessed and benefited, even in the midst of their suffering. Those who hurt must remember that it is not God's will for anyone to suffer. They must remember, too, that He will intervene for those who diligently seek Him. Thousands of people can testify that God will intervene to relieve pain and suffering, but this depends on a closeness and an intimacy with Him. Should we, then, accept everything, and thank God for whatever happens to us--good and bad? God answers this question specifically in the Bible. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). It is important to understand that accepting things is not the same thing as being resigned to them. You must accept suffering without becoming bitter, and you can accept it without resigning yourself to it. It is not your "lot in life" to suffer. Those who do suffer should never quit seeking God's touch and asking Him to set them free. Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8). The key is to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking. One final word about suffering. There is a certain amount of pain involved whenever growth is taking place. When people are moving to a higher level of intellectual activity, there is a struggle that has to take place, and in that struggle there is pain. When people who are great athletes are pushing through the limits of endurance to get to new records, there is constant pain. There is pain when you are running a mile or two at top speed, when your lungs are gasping and your body wants to quit. But there is also the overwhelming joy that comes when you finally do break through into that new dimension. This kind of pain is not the same thing as suffering. Some people do not recognize the difference between the suffering that is caused deliberately by evil and the pain that comes about through striving to reach a new plateau of experience. Such suffering merely marks the transition period of going from one level of accomplishment to a higher level. All suffering is temporary. It will all pass away when Jesus Himself returns to the earth. Revelation 21:4 reads: "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority. -Thomas Huxley + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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