Religious right should seek bipartisan alliances

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Rove, the president's chief political strategist, addressed a gathering of pro-family leaders via phone and described the dynamics of the 2004 presidential victory. He communicated a view that left many of us shaking our heads in disbelief. According to Rove, the grass-roots evangelical activism in Ohio generated by the state marriage amendment had not been a decisive factor in the outcome of the presidential election in the state and therefore the nation.

Rove's statement was either convenient amnesia or an attempt to rewrite history. Moreover, his cavalier manner served to convince these leaders that the Christian moral-values agenda would no longer be a priority of the administration.

After Rove's discouraging declaration, Harry Jackson, a registered Democrat and African-American pastor, spoke up, reflecting the sentiments of everyone in the room. He shared that he had felt compelled to work with the Republicans because of their moral agenda - primarily the defense of marriage. He suggested it was beginning to appear that the Republican Party was taking Christians for granted, just as the Democrats had taken blacks for granted.

Many evangelical leaders have undertaken a painful self-examination about the fruit of the close alliance between the right and the Republican Party. What had been accomplished in this 30-year courtship?



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