David Lane founded the American Renewal Project to "restore America to her Judeo-Christian heritage."
It's time once again for the ol' "Could evangelicals decide the election?" story—a staple of U.S. campaign coverage ever since Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority of the '80s and Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition of the '90s.
The new evangelical influencer, David Lane, is reportedly more of a grassrootsy type guy who founded the American Renewal Project, reports Jason Horowitz.
“An army,” he said. “That’s the goal.”
And Mr. Lane is positioning himself as a field marshal. A fast-talking and born-again veteran of conservative politics with experience in Washington, Texas and California, Mr. Lane, 60, travels the country trying to persuade evangelical clergy members to become politically active.
Just for context, Ralph Reed, who ran the Christian Coalition during much of the '90s, also promised
a resurgent and decisive evangelical vote in 2012. They
turned out alright, making up about 26 percent of the electorate (three percent higher than 2004) and voted 78 to 21 percent in favor of Romney over Obama. But they couldn't match the coalition of Obama voters—many of whom tend to be turned off by the ultra-conservative evangelical message.
“You can’t just overperform among voters of faith,” Reed continued. “There’s got to be a strategy for younger voters, unmarried voters, women voters — especially single women — and minorities.”
So apparently Mr. Lane plans to test this theory all over again in 2016—can he motivate enough evangelicals to the polls to sway the election? The flip side of that question is, can the Republican nominee motivate that base without alienating other essential demographic groups?
Head below the fold for more about Lane and just how successful he might be.
All this activity has caught the attention of liberal opponents, who call Mr. Lane an extremist for his belief that abortion will incur divine vengeance on America and his argument that the Republican Party will be destroyed by its acceptance of same-sex marriage just as the Whig Party was destroyed by its acceptance of slavery in the 19th century.
Lane has reportedly built an email list of 100,000 pastors nationwide. That list could be worth something depending on how active and responsive those recipients are. In 2010, for instance
USA Today counted more than 600,000 ministers in the U.S., meaning Lane could potentially have around one sixth of them on his list.
Accordingly, many Republican 2016 candidates—like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Bobby Jindal—want to impress Lane with their conserva-cred.
Two years ago, Mr. Paul, his wife, Kelley, and their sons joined about 50 pastors and evangelical leaders on the trip. Afterward, Mr. Lane said, he received a note from Mr. Paul in which he wrote that he had awaked from a dream singing “How Great Thou Art” and that two of his sons had committed their lives to Christ...
Last month, Mr. Lane took 60 members of the Republican National Committee to Jerusalem at a cost, he said, of about $500,000. A trip to Israel with Mr. Jindal is planned for July.
Interestingly, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie turned down Lane's invitation, which displeased him. Lane is also frowning on Jeb Bush's choice of a young, 26-year-old evangelical liaison and an openly gay communications director. Lane said of Bush:
“I don’t understand what he’s up to. Personnel is policy.”
Naturally, Lane is looking to be a big player in Iowa. Progressives can only hope he saddles every GOP candidate who plays there with conservative stances so outside the mainstream that it dooms them in the general election.
Here's some of Lane's wisdom, courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Government is not going to save America. Wall Street is not going to save America. The Republican party is not going to save America. If America is going to be saved, it will be done by Christian men and women restoring a Judeo-Christian culture to the country.” – Washington Times, 11/23/2014
“Let’s make it crystal clear: Those who embrace homosexual marriage and homosexual Scouting – or homosexuality in general – know little and practice nothing of Christianity.” – “Wage War to Restore a Christian Nation,” World Net Daily, 6/5/2013
“If God allows, we intend to launch, in the 2013-2014 political cycle, the American Renewal Project, to engage the church in a culture war for religious liberty, to restore America to our Judeo-Christian heritage and to re-establish a Christian culture.” – “The Plan to Put Bible, Prayer Back into Schools,” WND, 12/19/2012
“What we’re doing is the mobilization of pastors and pews to restore America to her Judeo-Christian heritage. That’s our goal.” – American Prospect, 1/23/2008