Christianist crack-up?

Is a Christianist crack-up in the works? We can only hope (or, if so inclined, pray).

There have been reports of tension inside the so-called religious right. It seems the leadership does not tolerate members taking the initiative on issues that have not been pre-approved as following the party-line. It is leadership style that may sound familiar to those who recall the Soviet Union.

This article is by Stephen Bates in today’s Guardian. He writes,

In his consulting room in a suburb of Montgomery, Alabama, gastrologist
Randy Brinson is a worried man. A staunch Republican and devout Baptist, Dr
Brinson can claim substantial credit for getting George Bush re-elected in 2004.
It was his Redeem the Vote initiative that may have persuaded up to 25 million
people to turn out for President Bush. Yet his wife is receiving threats from
anonymous conservative activists warning her husband to stay away from politics.

The reason he has fallen foul of men whose candidate he helped
re-elect is that he has dared to question the partisan tactics of the religious
right. "Conservatives speak in tones that they have got power and they can do
what they want. Only 23% of the population embraces those positions but if
someone questions their mandate or wants to articulate a different case, for the
moderate right, they are totally ridiculed."

You can read the entire article here.

Amy Sullivan had a piece covering the same subject in the April issue of the Washington Monthly. You can read it here.