Falwell says evangelical Christians now in control of Republican Party

By Scott Shepard
Cox News Service

Sunday, September 26, 2004

WASHINGTON — The Rev. Jerry Falwell boasted Friday that evangelical Christians, after nearly 25 years of increasing political activism, now control the Republican Party and the fate of President Bush in the November election.

"The Republican Party does not have the head count to elect a president without the support of religious conservatives," Falwell said at an election training conference of the Christian Coalition.

Falwell said evangelical Christians are now "by far the largest constituency" within the Republican Party, their route to dominance beginning in 1979 with his founding of the Moral Majority, a precursor to the Christian Coalition.

"I tell my Republican friends who are always talking about the 'big tent," I say make it as big as you want to, but if the candidate running for president is not pro-life, pro-family ... you're not going to win," he added.

"Big tent" is a term the late Lee Atwater coined as chairman of the Republican National Committee after the 1988 presidential election to summarize his view that the Republican Party should expand beyond its conservative base to include political moderates.

Falwell expressed confidence in a Bush victory over Democratic nominee John Kerry, adding "You cannot be a sincere committed born-again believer who takes the Bible seriously and vote for a pro-choice anti-family candidate."

Falwell was among roughly a dozen speakers at the Christian Coalition workshop, which was held in a U.S. Senate auditorium, a courtesy arranged by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority whip, the No. 2 Republican position in the Senate. The speakers included:

—Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who said Bush's re-election was critical because "the next president is going to appoint two, perhaps four, Supreme Court justices," making it possible to reverse the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling.

—Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, who, in announcing a $1 million campaign to mobilize church-going voters, likened politicians who support abortion rights to individuals who support terrorism. He did not mention Kerry by name, however, but said supporting abortion, like supporting terrorism, is "one of those stands ... that (should) exclude that person from public office."

—Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., who insisted that "preachers must be free to speak out" in favor of anti-abortion office-seekers because liberals are attempting to "eliminate the Judeo-Christian principles upon which this country was founded and we cannot let that happen." Jones is a sponsor of legislation that prohibit the Internal Revenue Service from removing the tax exempt status of churches engaged in partisan politics.

The "Road to Victory 2004" conference concludes Saturday at a downtown Washington hotel with several hundred Christian activists attending training sessions for registering new voters and getting those voters to the polls on Election Day. It will include the distribution of the Christian Coalition Voter Guide for the November election.

But Roberta Combs, the organization's president, said the Christian Coalition has been registering new voters for more than a year, not just in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. "We haven't told anyone, but we've been out doing our job," she said.

The Christian Coalition, founded in 1989 by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, does not appear to be as large as it once was. Its "Victory' conference this year attracted several hundred activists, compared to the thousands it drew when it was led by Ralph Reed, now a senior Bush campaign strategist.

Still, "it would be a mistake to underestimate its political potency," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which has acted as a foil to the Christian Coalition.

Indeed, Falwell said that the Christian Coalition has been involved in voter registration in more than 225,000 churches across the country in preparation for the presidential election. And he predicted a "landslide" for Bush in November, largely as a result of the efforts of evangelical Christians.

Scott Shepard's e-mail address is sshepard@coxnews.com.