Sofia,
This is not the thread for much of this, but I recognize that you, george and Timber, like so many reasonable, thinking conservatives find it difficult to take the threat of the extremist religious right wing seriously. And as Setanta says, I suspect that's because you have rarely been exposed to this element. You may know of them, but you very easily dismiss the danger as insignificant. I'll give you some references here and a short quotation which includes a few statistics.
Quote:Christian Right media is extensive and reflects a large subculture in our society. For example, televangelist Jerry Falwell periodically sends material to 162,000 conservative pastors and churches through Pastor's Policy Briefings. In late 1998, he solicited funds to expand in order to "[A]lert, educate and rally America's 200,000 conservative pastors who collectively speak to 50-60 million persons each week." Moreover Falwell is just one of many national Christian Right leaders seeking to mobilize evangelicals and fundamentalists to engage in conservative political action. In January 1999 Pat Robertson's "700 Club" TV program featured a special week-long series of reports on "Americas's Moral Crisis." Evidence of America's moral decline included abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, and "America's obsession with sex." Viewers with concern about the moral crisis were urged to call the National Counseling Center, part of the Christian Broadcasting Network Ministry. According to the "700 Club," the Center logged 5,000 calls per day. Studies show members of some Christian Right activist groups, such as Focus on the Family and Concerned Women for America, share three related attributes; they are much more likely than the general population to:
Depend on religious television, radio, magazines, and direct mail as important sources of information.
Vote in primary and general elections
Believe that most political issues have "one correct Christian view" that shouldn't be compromised.
http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v13n1/PE_V13_N1.pdf
These figures come from an article in The Public Eye Newsletter in 1999, so the numbers are old. But the numbers have not decreased over the last four years, but rather multiplied. And the idea that Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson or Ralph Reed are no longer powerful is simply an illusion created in order to decrease the alarm factor that resulted when they addressed the Republican Convention in 1992, exposing the American public to the fanatical ideas they promote.
It seems that many people who come from home situations in which they were not exposed to these fanatical types find it hard to take this warning seriously. Even many of my Democratic friends say, "poo poo" when I first begin talking to them. It's hard to believe that such madness could be taking control of our government. But it's true.
For more on this subject, I'll be posting on this thread:
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13977&start=30
And here is another reference to look at:
"The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party," on a web site produced by TheocracyWatch, a project of the Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy at Cornell University.
