by Daniel J. Gansle

Created on: April 30, 2008

November 21, 2005. As Michael Scanlon, former top aide to the indicted Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, is found guilty of conspiring to bribe public officials in a criminal partnership with convicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a memo is revealed that rocks the evangelical community to its core. The memo, written by Scanlon during his halcyon days of fortune and glory, lays out his opinion on how utterly simple it is to deceive and manipulate evangelical Christians to their desired end:

"Simply put we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them. The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees."

Just before the Supreme Court selected George W. Bush as our next president in the midst of a historically close election, I stood with the masses in protest on Massachusetts Avenue just across the street from Number One Observatory Circle (a.k.a. the Vice President's Mansion) chanting, "Get out of Cheney's house! Get out of Cheney's house!"

Indeed, I had fastidiously subscribed to the ideals of the Republican Revolution that began in 1994. President William Jefferson Clinton and the Democrats were God's sworn enemies, and the Republicans were the "party of God." If you were a Christian and not a Republican in that day, you simply weren't a Christian at all; you couldn't be.

The years following the Republican Revolution would go down in history as one of the most divisive eras in American Christendom. So controversial did the Democrat-Republican debate become amongst evangelicals, some kept their political views quiet. Others left churches on account of it; relationships were strained; and church splits became more commonplace.

The politicization of Christianity had begun, and Republican-minded evangelicals were all too eager to purge the evil liberals from their midst. Firebrand conservative media commentators rose up to cement the Republican-Christian nexus including the number one most popular radio personality amongst evangelicals, Rush Limbaugh. Conservative author and columnist Ann Coulter even wrote a book perpetuating divisive, unbiblical, fascist attitudes toward non-Christian liberals: How to Talk To a Liberal (If You Must) (Crown Forum, 2004).

On March 2, 1999, Texas Governor George W. Bush announced his candidacy for President of the United States amidst throngs of cheering evangelicals. Mr.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>