Lecture Thirty One
The Christian Coalition (Part II)
As I suggested last time, the Moral Majority was a precursor to the Christian Coalition. The Moral Majority had it's origins in the Thomas Roads Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia where Jerry Falwell was the pastor. Falwell first came to national attention through his television ministry "The Old Time Gospel Hour." Building on a base of support among conservative evangelicals, Falwell proposed to launch a Moral Majority "to take back" America and restore it to its Christian roots.
In many ways, the the Moral Majority was a pioneering organization, using sophisticated direct mail, telephone polls, and other marketing tools to become one of the best known para-church bodies of all time. A Madison Avenue agency was even employed by Jerry Falwell to help sharpen the Moral Majority's message, and to broaden its appeal in the hopes of bringing moral renewal to America.
But Falwell did not stop there. In addition to restoring the ethical foundation of the nation via the Moral Majority, Falwell (who was a college drop-out) also believed that God was leading him to start a new university. (This is something God seems to do with some frequency; witness Oral Roberts University, Bob Jones University, Jimmy Swaggart Bible College, among others.) Its purpose, he asserted, would be to train the "champions for Christ" that would be needed to renew America, and reverse her spiritual decline. With the establishment of Liberty College (soon to be University), Falwell began to have himself introduced as "Dr. Jerry Falwell." He also began to market himself as the founder and chancellor of Liberty University, one of the fastest growing universities in America. Many of these students were the first in their families to go to college--as might be expected given the constituency of the more conservative evangelicals--and they provided many of the foot soldiers who manned the ranks of the Moral Majority.
But for all the hype, publicity, and money generated, the Moral Majority was ultimately a failure. According to Robert Wuthnow, national polls showed that while 51% of Evangelical Christians had heard of the Moral Majority, negative feelings toward the group outweighed the positive by 3 to 2, and only one in seven ever contemplated joining the organization.
These negative feelings proved difficult to overcome. In time, they were such an impediment that Falwell found he could not fully meet the financial demands of "The Old Time Gospel Hour," the Moral Majority, and a growing University. As a result, he was forced to pull the plug on the Moral Majority, and to concentrate his energy and resources on keeping the television network and Liberty University solvent.
Today, there is abundant evidence that the financial crunch continues for Jerry Falwell. His television programs are filled to overfollowing with offers of videos, tape cassettes, scholarships to Liberty University, and correspondence courses. All of these offers are designed to bring in new financial resources to fund Falwell's empire.
The 700 Club and The Christian Coalition
Pat Robertson is yet another tel-evangelist with great ambitions. His 700 Club is a rival to Falwell's "Old Time Gospel Hour," and tended to appeal to the growing Pentecostal movement, whereas Falwell readily identified himself with a resurgent Fundamentalism. Robertson--not to be outdone--and recognizing a good idea when he saw one--organized his on effort to reshape American political and cultural life. This new entity would be called the Christian Coalition.
To direct the Christian Coalition, Robertson recruited a newly minted Ph.D from Emory University named Ralph Reed. Reed grew up in Toccoa, Georgia and was a very partisan Newt Gingrich Republican eager to find a way to overthrow the ascendency of the Democratic Party in the South and in the nation. A veteran of numerous political campaigns--including those of Jesse Helms--Reed was hired by Robertson, and charged with creating an institution that has had, and continues to have a profound impact on American political and cultural life.
The Christian Coalition's 1.7 million members have come to represent a potent political force in American life. Not only can the Christian Coalition generate hundreds of thousands of cards and letters to Congress on a given issue, their voter guides distributed at election time, and their phone banks, are a major reason for the success of the Republican party in the 1994 mid-term elections. And their influence continues. If you visit the Coalition's home page on the World Wide Web, you will see just how this influence in exercised. Each issue of concern to the Christian Coalition is spelled out in "Congressional Scorecard," as well as how a particular congressman voted. Under the page "Legislative Affairs" "action alerts" are posted for particular issues of concern, the uncommitted congressmen or senators are listed, and the Coalition's troops are provided with suggested language for letters and messages to these pliable politicians so that intense pressure can be brought to bear.
While the Christian Coalition began as a largely Pentecostal and Protestant movement, it does not intend to remain that way. Under Reed's leadership, the Coalition is pursuing a strategy in which it is making a concerted effort to reach Roman Catholics, and to enter into an alliance with them. One step taken recently to this end was the organization of a "Catholic Coalition" under the control and auspices of the Christian Coalition. These efforts are paying dividends. In New York, the archdiocese under the leadership of Cardinal John O'Connor has distributed Christian Coalition voter guides.
Less certain, is the Christian Coalition's views of Jews. Pat Robertson--for instance--has been accused on a number of occasions of anti-semitism. When confronted with anti-semitic quotes from Robertson's book The New World Order, Robertson's defenders have argued that Robertson himself does not harbor prejudice for Jews. Instead, these remarks are attributed to a ghost writer who was not adequately vetted.
Like Falwell, Robertson has also established a university to "train mature young men and women for the challenge of representing Christ in their professions." This institution began with 77 students and was called the Christian Broadcast Network University, but in a marketing decision, the name was changed to Regent University. Today it has 1400 students in schools of law, divinity, business, education, counseling, government, and communication. As the Harvard Theologian, Harvey Cox, explains in an article entitled
As Cox points out, Regent University is fast becoming a focal point for those who would seek to better understand the religious right. It embodies a profound shift that is occuring in American evangelicalism where eschatology (the doctrine of the end times) is concerned. Since the late nineteenth century, evangelicals or fundamentalists have tended to see this second coming as being pre-millennial. In other words, Jesus Christ will return before the establishment of his Kingdom, but before he comes things must get much worse.
This dominant point of view about the end-times, however, is undergoing a revision. A shift is occuring back towards post-millennialism which was the dominent view in the early nineteenth century. It assumes that before Christ can come again, society and the earth must be "prepared for his appearance." If things are headed to hell in a hand bucket, there is no need to lobby Congress for anything. But if Christians can labor to bring about the Kingdom, then there is justification for groups like the Christian Coalition to enter the political realm, and seek to bring about change.
Dominion Theology
Clearly, that is happening with the Christian Coalition and Regent University. It is now widely assumed by persons in positions of power within the Coalition and the University that Christians are called upon to assume power "in order to build a more righteous and God-fearing society." Indeed, some are advocates of Dominion Theology which hold that since God gave man dominion over the creation in Genesis 1:28, they are to have dominion over "the world's major institutions," and that "they should rule the earth until Christ comes again. To many, it conjures up images of the "entire nation run at all levels by the faithful," and that appears to be the vision that "inspired Robertson to rename his university "Regent."
Certainly, Robertson seems to suggest as much in his writings. Regent University is to be a "Kingdom institution' in which people will be taught how to "enter into the priviledge they have as God's representatives on earth." In The New World Order, he writes: "There will never be world peace until God's house and God's people are given their rightful place of leadership at the top of the world. How can there be peace when drunkards, communists, atheists, New Age worshippers of Satan, secular humanists, oppressive dictators, greedy moneychangers, revolutionary assassins, adulterers and homosexuals are on top?"
These views are troubling because of how much they sound like another prominent figure in the Dominion Theology movment: Rousas John Rushdoony. Rushdoony has called for the death penalty to be imposed on "adulterers, homosexuals, blasphemers, astrologers, witches, and teachers of false doctrine." He has also called for the reestablishment of the institution of slavery since it is taught in the Bible. (For a collection of writings by advocates of Dominion--or Reconstuction theology as it is sometimes called--click here) Robertson claims not to be an advocate for such extreme views, but he clearly sympathizes with them to some degree.
Conclusion
Although Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition, the 700 Club, and Regent University continue to prosper, they should not continue to be ignored. While precedent would suggest that they will go the way of the Moral Majority, history does not always repeat itself. If Harvey Cox is correct in his analysis of Robertson and company, they bear watching.
