Frank Schaeffer : Far-Right Evangelicals And The Campaign Against Obama

[RedEarth]

In his book The Family, Jeff Sharlet has done a masterful job of exposing the machinations of the of shadowy evangelical group known variously as “The Fellowship,” or “The Family,” (or, most recently, “those nuts from Congress living in a far-right commune on C Street who counsel wayward congressmen regarding adultery.”)

Recently, Rachel Maddow has helped bring the whole issue of subversive far-right evangelical religion to a wider public (and gotten some flak for it). But in the light of the Obama presidency—and the rabid right-wing opposition to it—it’s worth noting that the majority of the lies being told about our president, his programs, and the Democratic Party are originating not just from the right wing but from the evangelical right wing in particular.

Destroying the Credibility of Faith

I grew up as the son of Francis Schaeffer, the spiritual father to just about all the people in the news connected with the evangelical right. My father is the man who inspired evangelicals to get involved in politics. Today’s leading anti-gay activists, Obama-haters like Charles Colson and Dobson, publications like World Magazine, and others like the late Jerry Falwell got into far-right evangelical-inspired politics because of Dad’s theology of “taking back” America for Jesus.

Without people like Dobson—remember his paranoid lie-filled “letter” warning his followers about an Obama presidency?—the lies now commonly circulated about Obama wouldn't have been given traction. When I check who’s sending me the most scurrilous email (Obama is the “next Hitler,” he’s the “Antichrist,” etc.), I find a lot of it comes from the evangelical right, now the bedrock of the anti-Obama camp. I’m a religious person, so they are my enemies too; the far-right evangelicals are doing more to destroy the credibility of faith than Hitchens and Dawkins could in a lifetime.

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religiousright/1717/far-right_evangelicals_and_the_campaign_against_obama

see also.........

Rachel Maddow & Frank Schaeffer

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/7/763546/-Update:-Thank-You-Rachel-MaddowFrank-Schaeffer!