Religious leaders prepare demands for Bush

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Religious leaders prepare demands
For backing Bush, the groups want action on abortion and gay marriage.
By Mark I. Pinsky and Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel Staff Writers

November 5, 2004

America's conservative religious leaders, credited with providing the margin of victory for President Bush's re-election, are ready to present the White House with a bill for services rendered.

The list, they say, is a lengthy one, beginning with the nomination of U.S. Supreme Court justices who will overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision on abortion, increased support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and a larger role in policing decency for the Federal Communications Commission.

The Rev. Steve Smith, spokesman for First Baptist Church of Orlando, said Bush's election and his support among conservative Christians shows large portions of the electorate are "grounded in traditional family values."

On abortion, for example, "there's no question" there will be pressure from Christian conservatives to appoint judges who "value the sanctity of human life," Smith said. Conservative groups will continue to push for an end to abortion or, at the very least, legislation "greatly limiting" the practice.

Paul Scroggins, the executive director of the Christian service agency Vision Orlando, said social and cultural matters important to evangelicals may become more of a priority for all lawmakers if the group continues to flex its political muscle at the polls.

"I think many evangelicals in the past have been either too busy or too apathetic or even too lazy to get involved," Scroggins said. "I sense though that people now have a greater understanding of their responsibility -- a willingness to express those convictions through voting."

Although Republicans supported faith-related causes during the past four years, expectations have increased.

"You always want more," said the Rev. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "One of my jobs is to never be satisfied."

Land, a strong Bush supporter, predicted the proposed amendment banning gay marriage would be added to the Constitution. With White House backing, he said, it will pass the U.S. Senate by the required two-thirds majority -- it has already passed in the House by a simple majority--- and will be ratified by three-fourths of the nation's state legislatures.

Nor was the Southern Baptist leader daunted by the demonstrated ability of the Senate's Democratic minority to block judicial nominations by filibustering.

With an increased margin, Land said, Republicans intend to change Senate rules, preventing the minority from using unlimited debate to block court appointments. This would open the door to new justices who could reverse the Roe v. Wade decision permitting abortions.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, said confirming such nominees is now more likely. However, he is not so certain that enough justices could be appointed in four years to reverse the landmark decision.

New judges could overturn other close decisions defining church-state relations, such as permitting prayer at high-school football games and graduation ceremonies, Sekulow said. They also might uphold another congressional ban on partial-birth abortions, which the federal court rejected earlier.

Conservative religious leaders also want to further limit federal support for stem-cell research, increase "abstinence-only" sex education, and ban human cloning and international population programs that include abortion.

However, religious leaders and activists are realistic about what they can expect from the Bush administration and the GOP-controlled Congress. They acknowledge that gains may come with policy decisions and executive orders, which do not require congressional approval.

One area dear to conservative Christians involves television and radio.

Some advocate that even tighter decency standards be imposed on broadcast media by the FCC. Others are raising the possibility of bringing some cable television -- where sex, nudity, violence and profane language are common -- under the FCC.

"We strongly support both of those," said the Southern Baptists' Land. Freedom of expression, Land said, "does not mean freedom to assault the public airwaves" or to use telephone lines to transmit offensive cable programming.

Tom Minnery, vice president of public policy for Focus on the Family, a powerful Christian media organization, agreed.

"Whatever the Congress can do to lessen the garbage kids are exposed to would be a wonderful advance," he said. "That's what makes Tuesday's election such a sweet victory for conservatives; Michael Moore and his Hollywood pals have been sent packing. That indicates the public's growing distaste for Hollywood values."

Some activists think what the president says for the next four years is as important as what he does.

Erwin McManus, a Los Angeles author and pastor who is in Orlando to speak at this weekend's Promise Keepers rally, said the president "does establish a cultural context, the values he personifies and the values he communicates. He has tremendous influence on cultural norms."

Charles Colson, former Nixon adviser and now head of Prison Fellowship, said the president "has a moral mandate, clearly." But Colson cautioned against going too far.

"Evangelicals should not be triumphal," he said. "I don't view this election as signaling a sudden change in American culture, or settling all the issues. It's strictly a window of opportunity."