The God machine was busier than usual this week trying to keep up with Ted Haggard’s “indiscretions,” but now that his career is left in tatters, it’s worth taking a moment to get to know his replacement. Meet Rod Parsley, perhaps best known for his role in Ohio’s right-wing Restoration Project, and his desire to be the next religious right powerhouse.
[Embarrassing Update: All of the content about Rod Parsley is accurate, but I got a fairly significant detail completely wrong: Rod Parsley isn’t replacing Haggard, Ross Parsley is. Folks should, of course, still be familiar with Rod Parsley’s work, but he is not filling Haggard’s shoes. My apologies for the confusion.]
Parsley… is looking to make a national name for himself, and his CMC’s web site is heavily devoted to congressional issues, such as packing the federal courts with socially conservative jurists and passing a federal anti-gay marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The CMC’s web site proclaims, in a promotion of Parsley’s Silent No More book, that the pastor’s “entire life and ministry” have prepared him to lead “a moral reformation of America.”
On April 16, Parsley kicked off a multi-state book tour with a rally at his church, where prominent ultra-conservative pundits Ann Coulter and Alan Keyes joined him. According to a Columbus Dispatch account of the event, Parsley, Coulter and Keyes “argued that the notion of separation of church and state is a lie – and that it’s time for conservative Christians and ‘values voters’ to be more involved in” politics.
Indeed, according to the newspaper, Parsley bellowed, “We are the largest special-interest group in America, and the world and the nation are about to find out that we have a voice.”
In an April 5 promotion of his book, Parsley sounded as shrill, if not more so, than televangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. According to the e-mail missive, “America is facing its most dangerous hour…a threat far greater than another terrorist attack on our shores, a nuclear holocaust or chemical warfare.” So buy his Silent No More book, the promotion urges, and help the televangelist “reclaim this nation.”
And what, prey tell, does Parsley see as the nation’s most dire threat? That would be “the infiltration of the enemy into our very legal system, and of course, the homosexual agenda and the deception of Islam and Allah.”
Haggard was at least nominally moderate on a handful of issues. His replacement with toe the right-wing, theocon line across the board. Great.
And speaking of evangelicals, we learned some interesting tidbits this week about their political perspectives this election year.
As my friend B.P. noted via email, the latest New York Times poll broke out public opinion based on religion. In a pleasant surprise, when self-described evangelicals were asked which party they planned to support in the midterm elections, 42% said they’d back Democrats, while 41% preferred Republicans.
To be sure, “evangelical” is not synonymous with “Christian conservative,” but the GOP has always counted on evangelical voters breaking heavily in their favor. At least as far as this poll shows, that isn’t going to happen this year.
And why not? Gallup released a poll yesterday offering a big hint.
White Americans who are personally religious have formed a core constituency of the Republican Party in recent years. This group is much more likely than nonreligious whites to identify with the Republican Party and vote for Republican candidates. Republican strategists have taken advantage of this fact and have focused a good deal of their now-famous “get out the vote” efforts on direct communication with religious whites, using a wide variety of communication channels.
One might assume that the subgroup of religious white Americans so heavily courted by the GOP would be focused on moral and values issues — including concerns about liberalization of abortion, same-sex marriage, and stem-cell research policies — were the Democrats to take control of Congress.
A review of recent open-ended data indicates that religious whites are not much different from all other Americans in terms of what their priorities are for government and the White House.
When self-identified “white frequent church-goers” were asked “what one or two issues should be the top priorities for the president and Congress to deal with at this time,” a strong majority (60%) said the war in Iraq, which was very much in line with everyone else. Gay marriage was named by 2% of white frequent church-goers, which put the issue in 13th place among all issues. Only 1% named abortion.
And, finally, with this being the last weekend before the elections, I’m pleased to report that Roman Catholic leadership does not want U.S. congregations getting caught up in partisan politicking.
Religion News Service reported today that Cardinal William H. Keeler, chair of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities, has asked parishes not to use voting guides that are not approved by the Church.
The message from Cardinal Keeler settles a debate that began in 2004, when organizations such as the San Diego-based Catholic Answers began a systematic campaign through paid advertisements and printed voting guides to convince Catholics only to consider abortion, same-sex marriage, stem cell research, human cloning, and euthanasia at the voting booth. Many observers viewed this message as an attempt to undermine the Bishops’ 2003 Faithful Citizenship voting guide – which lists more than fifty issues relevant to Catholic voters, and characterizes Catholic citizenship as a call to promote “the common good.” Partisan organizations such as Fidelis and the Catholic League have actively promoted this narrow view as well.
Today’s news deals a major blow to those who have misused Catholic teaching for political gain.
Keeler’s message is good advice. Let’s hope churches follow it.