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Religious Right Finds Its Center in Oval Office
Bush Emerges as Movement's Leader After Robertson Leaves Christian
Coalition
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 24, 2001; Page A02
Pat Robertson's resignation this month as president of the Christian
Coalition confirmed the ascendance of a new leader of the religious
right in America: George W. Bush.
For the first time since religious conservatives became a modern
political movement, the president of the United States has become the
movement's de facto leader -- a status even Ronald Reagan, though
admired by religious conservatives, never earned. Christian
publications, radio and television shower Bush with praise, while
preachers from the pulpit treat his leadership as an act of
providence. A procession of religious leaders who have met with him
testify to his faith, while Web sites encourage people to fast and
pray for the president.
There are several reasons for the adulation. Religious conservatives have regarded
Bush as one of their own since the presidential campaign, when he spoke during a
debate of the guidance of Jesus. At the same time, key fi
gures in the religious right -- Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Billy Graham
and Franklin Graham -- have receded in political prominence or influence, in part
because they are no longer mobilized by their oppositi
on to a president. Bush's handling of the anti-terrorism campaign since Sept. 11 has
solidified his standing by painting him in stark terms as the leader in a fight of
good against evil.
"I think Robertson stepped down because the position has already been filled," said
Gary Bauer, a religious conservative who challenged Bush in the Republican primary.
Bush "is that leader right now. There was already a g
reat deal of identification with the president before 9-11 in the world of the
Christian right, and the nature of this war is such that it's heightened the sense
that a man of God is in the White House."
Ralph Reed, who once led the Christian Coalition and now is chairman of the
GeorgiaGOP, notes that the religious conservative movement "no longer plays the
institutional role it once did," in part because it succeeded in
electing Bush and other friendly leaders. "You're no longer throwing rocks at the
building; you're in the building."
Conservative Christians tend to view Bush's recent success as part of a divine plan.
"I've heard a lot of 'God knew something we didn't,' " Reed said. "In the evangelical
mind, the notion of an omniscient God is central t
o their theology. He had a knowledge nobody else had: He knew George Bush had the
ability to lead in this compelling way."
Bush himself dismisses the notion that he is part of some divine plan. "He does not
believe he was chosen for this moment," a senior aide said. "He just views himself as
governing on his beliefs and his promises. He doesn
't look at himself as a leader of any particular movement."
Still, some of those around Bush say they have a sense that a higher purpose is
involved. "I think President Bush is God's man at this hour, and I say this with a
great sense of humility," Bush aide Tim Goeglein, describe
d as a "strong evangelical," told World magazine, a Christian publication.
Partially a victim of their own success, groups such as the Christian Coalition are
finding fundraising difficult. Some leaders, such as Focus on the Family's Dobson,
have retreated from political involvement.
Some religious conservative leaders have inflicted wounds on themselves. Falwell was
roundly criticized, even by supporters, for saying on television, with Robertson's
agreement, that "abortionists and the feminists, and
the gays and lesbians" and civil libertarians were to blame in part for the Sept. 11
attacks. Franklin Graham produced a furor by declaring Islam a "very evil and wicked
religion."
Voting patterns also show a declining religious right. Karl Rove, Bush's top political
strategist, said that only 15 million of the 19 million religious conservatives who
should have voted went to the polls in 2000. "We m
ay be seeing to some degree some return to the sidelines of previously involved
religious conservatives," he said.
And Bush, his advisers acknowledge, deliberately circumvented the power of the leaders
of the religious right, appealing to conservatives himself rather than paying homage
to the Christian Coalition during the campaign. "
In the old days, Republican presidential candidates went to religious conservative
leaders to seek their imprimatur," said a Bush adviser. "George W. Bush was able to go
directly to those who sat in the pews."
Bush's effort succeeded. "He is the leader of the Christian right," said Marshall
Wittmann, a former Christian Coalition figure now with the Hudson Institute, a think
tank. "As their institutions peel away, he can go over
the heads" of religious conservative leaders.
Bush, aided by speechwriter Michael Gerson, himself a religious conservative, speaks
the language of religion better than any president since Jimmy Carter, religious
leaders say, and Bush's policies appeal more to conserv
atives. To many outside the religious conservative movement, Bush's faith-infused
words may sound sanctimonious; to those within it, the words sound familiar and
comforting. Across the country, churchgoers share Bush's "t
estimony," his discovery of God 15 years ago with the help of Billy Graham. "Reverend
Graham planted a mustard seed in my soul, a seed that grew over the next year," Bush's
memoir recounts. "He led me to the path, and I b
egan walking. It was the beginning of a change in my life."
As Bush had embraced religious conservatism, religious conservatives have openly
embraced him. The Internet has several sites offering prayers for the president's
success. One example: "Call on the name of the Lord to hed
ge him in from terrorists and violent people. Psalm 91:11-12; 1 Corinthians 1:10-11."
World magazine, which is edited by one-time Bush adviser Marvin Olasky, named Bush's
attorney general, John D. Ashcroft, its "Daniel of the Year." Ashcroft himself
considered running for president in 2000 as the candidate
of the religious right. "Just as the biblical Daniel faced an established
idol-worshiping religion in Babylon, so our Dans must not back down in the face of
deadly persecution abroad or the scorn and harassment that come
s domestically from the academic and media high priests of our established religion,
secular liberalism," Olasky wrote.
The top Daniel, of course, is Bush himself, a view liberally offered by the many
religious figures who pass through the White House. In an account of one such meeting,
Jean Bethke Elshtain, a professor at the University o
f Chicago Divinity School, wrote of a "powerful and moving moment" with Bush and an
ecumenical group of religious leaders. "One of our group asked, 'Mr. President, what
can we do for you?' He indicated that we could 'pray
for me, for our country, for my family.' He believes in the efficacy of prayer and
needs wisdom and guidance and grace, he said. A Greek Orthodox archbishop was invited
to lead us in prayer. We all joined hands in a pray
er circle, including the president."
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.)
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Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
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