For years, that was the religious right’s stated goal with Republicans — they wanted a “seat at the table.” The idea was, the GOP is made up of a series of competing factions; groups like the Christian Coalition wanted the opportunity to weigh in on the Republican agenda to make sure it reflected the movement’s priorities.
But as the religious right’s influence in the party grew, it quickly became apparent that they not only had a seat at the table; they practically owned the table.
Under Bush, the religious right finds itself with everything it could possibly want. There’s a full-time White House liaison who does nothing but make sure politically-conservative evangelicals are happy. When the administration assembles delegations to the United Nations to represent the United States on issues ranging from health, to science, to the rights of families, groups like Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council dominate and act in our name.
And, as a helpful MSNBC report noted this week, religious right figures not only have close relationships with the administration; they’re actually on the payroll.
The administration has … made a practice of appointing conservative religious activists to regulatory and oversight boards that operate without public scrutiny.
For example, Bush’s Office of Personnel Management (the federal government’s HR office, responsible for hiring the federal workforce) is run by Kay Coles James, who up until recently helped run TV preacher Pat Robertson’s college.
Then there are Justice Department lawyers most Americans never hear about, but do key behind-the-scenes work.
Typical of many of these appointments is that of Eric W. Treene, who was installed at the Justice Department as special counsel for religious discrimination. Treene, who was litigation director at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm, is a favorite of conservative religious activists.
“Eric’s presence there sends a positive signal to people like me and other organizations who are concerned regarding religious issues,” the Rev. Robert Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council, told The Washington Times in 2002. “I am not sure why the Department of Justice doesn’t show him off to conservative Christians. Treene’s presence sends a signal that it’s a friendly place for people like us.”
If Treene is making guys like Schenck happy, it should be making the rest of us nervous. Indeed, activists like Treene have already had an impact. Last year, he used the weight of the Justice Department to lean on a biology professor in Texas who wouldn’t write letters of recommendation to students who rejected the science of evolutionary biology. Facing a possible federal discrimination charge, the professor backed down.
Before Bush took office, even under Republican administrations, religious right groups would complain about a controversy like the one in Texas until officials took steps to make them happy. Now, the same groups don’t even have to wait — the groups have colleagues “on the inside” who’ll advance the movement’s agenda proactively.
“What’s different from the past is that it’s integrated into the Republican Party,” said Duane Oldfield, a political scientist at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., who studies the religious right. “The Christian right has gone from being outsiders to insiders.”
I believe everyone, regardless of their faith or ideology, should be equally able to participate in the political process. That said, I’m looking forward to 2005 when we’ll hopefully have a president who won’t rely on the religious right to advance the nation’s policy agenda.