By Amie Newman

The Christian Coalition has proven to me once again that their freaky fixation on women's bodies and what we do with them goes beyond simple morality-mania. It extends to a genuine fear of women's bodies and the power we have to do nothing less than destroy the world with them. Why else would they continue to fight against any attempts to re-adjust their focus away from reproductive rights and towards the truly scary issues of poverty, global warming and HIV/AIDS? Clearly, women's bodies are dangerous to these people.

So, is it any surprise that on Tuesday, November 28th The Christian Coalition voted to accept President-elect Reverend Joel C. Hunter's resignation before he started because he wanted to expand their core issues beyond the confines of an anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality agenda?

This is Part VI. Read:

Part I, "Tempting Faith: Bush's 'Faith Based' Initiative a Scam"

PART II, "Tempting Faith: Bush Betrays Christian Conservatives"

PART III, "Tempting Faith: Bush Admin: Christian Cons are "Nuts", "Ridiculous""

In Part IV, Kuo reveals the administration's deliberate and conscious discrimination of non-Christian and otherwise non-Bush-supportive groups.

Clearly this is the most egregious trespass (among many) to American values laid out in Kuo's book -- a clear desecration of the first amendment.

Kuo charges that "the White House's own rationale for pushing the faith-based initiative -- an effort to make it easier for churches and other sectarian organizations to receive federal social-service funding -- was bogus."

(More over the flip...)

This is Part III. Read:

Part I, "Tempting Faith: Bush's 'Faith Based' Initiative a Scam"

and PART II, "Tempting Faith: Bush Betrays Christian Conservatives"

In Part III, Kuo reveals the Administration's disdain for and mockery of Bush's conservative Christian base.

...the book includes charges that high-ranking White House officials referred to prominent conservative Christian leaders as "nuts" behind their backs,

[...]

"National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as 'ridiculous,' 'out of control,' and just plain 'goofy,'" Kuo wrote. He added that top political officials in White House aide Karl Rove's office referred to the leaders as "the nuts."

Read Also:

Part IV, "Tempting Faith: Bush Admin Admits Discriminating Against Non-Christians"

This is Part II. Read: Part I, "Tempting Faith: Bush's 'Faith Based' Initiative a Scam"

In Part II, Kuo reveals the knife that the administration brazenly inserted into the back of their alleged allies.

Olbermann: "Kuo cites one example after another of a White House that repeatedly uses Evangelical Christians for their votes while consistently giving them nothing in return."

Olbermann: So, how does the Bush White House keep the 'nuts' turning out at the polls? One way, regular conference calls with groups lead by Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Ted Haggard, and radio hosts like Michael Reagan. ... They did get some things from the Bush White House, like the National Day of Prayer. ... Or 'Little trinkets like cufflinks or pens or pads of paper were passed out like business cards. Christian leaders could give them to their congregations or donors or friends to show just how influential they were.'"

Olbermann: "When cufflinks were not enough, the White House played the Jesus card, reminding Christian leaders that 'He knew the president's faith' and begging for patience.

(More over the flip...)

Yet another ex-Bush White House official is coming clean on the flagrant dishonesty, shameless politicization, and arrogant self-absorption of the current administration.

This time it's David Kuo, the former number two person in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Kuo, a self-described conservative evangelical, offers the inside scoop on the administration's pursuit of Christian conservative votes even as they mocked them behind their backs.

The full story, Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction (Still unreleased, his book is currently the #13 Best Seller at Amazon), will be released on October 16. But MSNBC's Keith Olberman was able to obtain a copy early and shared some of it's insights on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on October 11th.

(More over the flip...)

Welcome to my more-or-less weekly round-up of interesting and signficant posts about the religious right.  

As the election season rapidly ramps-up, we are likely to see a lot of posts about the religious right, pols and electoral politics. This week, they started to emerge -- and I suspect that it is just the tip of the iceberg.

The Wall Street Journal has joined a chorus of national publications chronicling the political woes of Ralph Reed, once the boy wunderkind of the Christian Right, who is running for his political life in the GOP primary for Lt. Governor of Georgia.

Several surveys show Mr. Reed still holding a narrow lead, but with high unfavorable ratings and many voters undecided.... Will Mr. Reed, a star of the national Republican Party, become the first campaign casualty of the Abramoff scandal when he squares off with state Sen. Casey Cagle in the July 18 primary?

I could be wrong, but I think I smell burning toast.

Blogorama on the religious right is an occasional round-up of signficant posts from around the blogosphere on the religious right and what to do about it.  

Jonathan Hutson, writing at Talk to Action, has the latest fallout from the Abramoff scandal that has busted out beyond the Beltway:  

The Christian Coalition of Alabama (CCA) is accusing trial lawyers, without any evidence, of funding an anti-Christian agenda through its contributions to judicial candidates. That's a whopper, and CCA knows it. CCA leader John Giles has surely not forgotten that he has criticized trial lawyers in The New York Times for contributing nearly a million dollars to the 2004 campaigns of three conservative Christian candidates for the Alabama Supreme Court. Those candidates advertised that they share the same judicial philosophy as former Alabama Chief Justice Roy S Moore, the "Ten Commandments" judge, who wants to remake America as a Christian nation.

So why is CCA engaged in a baseless smear campaign over judicial contributions? Maybe it's because the agenda that the CCA is pushing these days is not so much a pro-Christian agenda as a pro-corporate agenda. And maybe they're trying to distract conservative Christian voters from the fact that the CCA is embroiled in a scandal over its acceptance of $850,000 in contributions that trace back to one of the Indian tribal clients of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

According to the "Washington Wire", the Campaign to Defend the Constitution has "taken on three icons of the religious right: Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition, and former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed."

The group "launched an online and TV campaign Wednesday...saying the three 'have a serious gambling problem' and citing ties to disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff who worked on behalf of Indian casino gaming."

In addition, they're placing a single ad in the New York Times.

Although the campaign was launched just yesterday, Political Cortex's own Frederick Clarkson has been the primary driver for this story from the beginning:

Way back in December of 2005, it was Fred who alerted us to "Lucky Louie" Sheldon and his implication in the Abramoff-related Gambling Scandal:

There is one aspect of the rise of the religious right that, from where I sit, is grossly neglected. And it's not that many thoughtful, well-informed people don't understand the missing piece, at some level. But in the 16 years since the founding of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition, I can't think of an instance in which it has ever been addressed by any signficant opposing institution. The Christian Right has gotten as far as it has for many reasons. But the most important and obvious aspect receives the least attention -- at least when it comes to discussing what to do about it.