Freedom Writer

_Road_to_Victory_roundup_

David Barton

David Barton, founder and president of the Texas-based Wallbuilders, 
often dresses in red, white, and blue attire. His presentation focused 
on defending the Religious Right's agenda. "We're dead right, center, 
mainstream Americans," Barton said. "This is what people have wanted 
for years and years and years." Featuring slides of old paintings 
of the Founding Fathers, Barton's powerful presentations are overly 
biased toward religious establishment. He claims that years ago "the 
opening prayer session in Congress lasted for hours and hours." Barton 
is the author of _The_Myth_of_Separation_, a popular book attacking 
the separation between church and state. Strangely, the official position 
of the Christian Coalition is now supportive of separation, yet Barton 
is still invited to speak at the Coalition's conferences.

Gary Bauer

Gary Bauer heads the Washington, DC-based Family Research Council, 
an affiliate of Focus on the Family. "If you don't remember anything 
else I say today," Bauer told the Christian Coalition delegates, "remember 
this: I am absolutely convinced that your values will prevail." Bauer's 
presentation served as a reminder that the fall of Soviet communism 
precipitated the conservative movement's shift in focus from communism 
to American domestic policies. In Bauer's group, for example, abortion 
and gay rights are the main focus. Closing his talk with a warning, 
Bauer said, "I'm not afraid that we will take over the Republican 
Party; I'm afraid the Republican Party, or some other party down the 
road, may take us over." Bauer supports a third-party option in case 
the Republicans "go off the rails."

Robert Bork

Judge Robert Bork, whose nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court was 
defeated in a heated battle between liberals and conservatives, spoke 
about the American judicial system. "Most Americans aren't aware," 
Bork said, "that a struggle for dominance between a philosophy of 
reading the Constitution as it was originally understood, or reading 
it in accord with the philosophies of modern liberalism, that struggle 
is being waged in our law schools, where our judges are being [sic] 
trained for the last 40 years. The heroes of the professors are Earl 
Warren, William Brennan, and Harry Blackmun. Definitely not William 
Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas. Both Bill [Clinton] 
and Hillary [Rodham] were my students when I taught at Yale. Well, 
I no longer say they were my students; I say they were in the room."

Dan Coats

Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN): "There is something terribly wrong in America 
today, when our children in school learn everything about condoms, 
and nothing about the Ten Commandments. Now, you're going to hear 
most of the Republican presidential candidates. They're going to address 
issues that are important. I would like to give you one piece of advice: 
listen carefully to their words, but also carefully weigh their actions. 
The Scriptures have instructed us, 'by their fruits you shall know 
them.'  I've invested a very significant part of my life — more than 
I ever intended — in the issue and career of politics. I believe, 
for me, it's a Biblical mandate. The next step in the Republican revolution 
is to ... fund the indispensable, irreplaceable role played by faith-based 
institutions in renewing American society."

Chuck Colson

Convicted Watergate felon Chuck Colson is president of Prison Fellowship 
Ministries. He told the audience that he changed his affiliation from 
Republican to Democrat just before he went to prison. "The truth was," 
he said, "I couldn't stand seeing a Republican in prison." "I have 
enormous respect for this movement called the Christian Coalition," 
Colson continued. "You guys are really doing it right. Not starting 
from the top and trying to tell everybody in the country what to do, 
but rather, getting involved in the political process. Augustine told 
us that Christians are to be the best of citizens, because we do out 
of the love of God what others do only because they are forced to. 
We belong in this business."

Bob Dornan

Outside of California, Congressman Robert Dornan may be the least 
recognized of the long line of Republican Presidential candidates. 
Shown here without the red beard he sometimes sports, Dornan is the 
subject of the book _Shut_Up,_Fag!_ According to Dornan Watch, "This 
book is one of the most extraordinary collections of public statements 
ever uttered by an elected official. As a testament to Dornan's record 
as a representative, this book will shock Republicans and Democrats 
alike." "Now," Dornan said before Congress on October 19, 1990, "as 
a stumbling, sinning, but loyal Catholic, I have had it up to here, 
Mr. Speaker, with the bigotry in this country, approved by the dominant 
media culture against Christianity in general, but with a special 
focus on the largest of all Christian denominations, and the oldest, 
the Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic faith."

Keith Fournier

Keith Fournier is the executive director of Pat Robertson's legal 
arm, the American Center for Law & Justice. He is the author of _A_
House_United:_Evangelicals_and_Catholics_Together_. An evangelical 
Roman Catholic, Fournier leads the Christian Coalition's newest endeavor, 
the Catholic Alliance.  Fournier's mission is two-fold: to bridge 
the gap between Catholics and Protestants, and to "proclaim the truth" 
of Christianity in every area of American society. "In any discussion 
of religious freedom," Fournier writes in _A_House_United_, "the issue 
of what has come to be called the 'separation between church and state' 
always comes into play. Though I affirm the separation between church 
and state, I strongly oppose the growing effort to separate religion 
from public life. It is an ominous step toward religious cleansing."

Alan Keyes

Alan Keyes is the host of "America's Wakeup Call," a nationally syndicated 
radio show. He and Pat Buchanan, another talk show host, are closest 
in ideology of all the Republican presidential hopefuls. Keyes, with 
his preacher-like speaking style, received enthusiastic support from 
the Christian Coalition audience. His message focused on "choosing 
a winner" versus choosing the candidate who is "right." "Nothing is 
more important than the marriage-based family," Keyes said. "Why on 
earth would you put your seal of approval behind people who put it 
on the back burner, and give it the back seat, and only talk about 
it when you force them to? What's the matter with you?" Keyes called 
for abolition of the income tax, replacing it with sales taxes. This, 
he claims, will give families more money, helping to keep them intact.

Howard Phillips

Howard Phillips, head of the Conservative Caucus and the U.S. Taxpayers 
Party, appeared briefly as an observer. Though an important Washington-based 
Radical Religious Right operative, Phillips' formation of a third 
party currently runs contrary to the mission of the Christian Coalition, 
which is to take over the Republican Party. Prominent Religious Right 
leaders, such as James Dobson, Gary Bauer, and Chuck Colson, have 
issued warnings that if the Republicans fail to nominate "prolife" 
candidates for both president and vice president, they may support 
a third party ticket. Phillips' U.S. Taxpayers Party will hold its 
convention next year in San Diego on the heels of the Republican National 
Convention. Potential nominees  include Pat Buchanan, Alan Keyes, 
Bob Dornan, and Howard Phillips.

Phyllis Schlafly

Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum, called "the sanctity 
of life" the "central moral issue of our time." At conception, she 
claimed, DNA testing can tell whether a baby is a male or female. 
"The Declaration of Independence that proclaims that our Creator created 
us and gave us our inalienable rights is our founding document," she 
said. "And you have to ask yourself, 'When did we get those rights?' 
It wasn't at birth, because sometimes babies pop out sooner, and we 
find out they're babies after all, even if they show up at seven months 
instead of nine. You began your life when the DNA of your father joined 
the DNA of your mother." Schlafly appealed to keep the prolife plank 
in the Republican Party and called for the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

Jay Sekulow

Jay Sekulow is chief counsel of Pat Robertson's legal arm, the American 
Center for Law & Justice. An ardent defender of religious liberty 
and the Religious Right, Sekulow has argued and won six cases before 
the U.S. Supreme Court. In one case — _Mergens_v._Board_of_Education_ 
— he successfully defended the right of students to hold Bible and 
prayer clubs at public schools. "There is a new sense of revival breaking 
forth in this land," Sekulow said. "There is a new sense of Biblical 
conviction addressing the issues of the day; and for that we must 
be pleased, for the Lord will honor what we do, as long as we are 
obedient." Sekulow and Robertson  founded the American Center for 
Law & Justice to counter the American Civil Liberties Union. Some 
observers see it as a tool to push Robertson's agenda.

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Copyright 1995 IFAS
The Freedom Writer / ifas@crocker.com

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