One of the buzz notions is the idea of the newly moderate evangelical. A close corollary is that the Religious Right is moderating, because the agenda is expanding.

Now of course, there have always been truly moderate evangelicals, both theologically and politically speaking.  (Some have even been Democratic presidents of the United States.) And it is also true, and interesting, that various white evangelical leaders, organizations and denominations are no longer in rabid denial about the reality and consequences of climate change and the spread of HIV/AIDS, and other matters. Of course other religious constituencies (for example, mainline Protestantism and Reform Judaism) have been at or near the forefront of responsible concern and action on these matters for a very long time, but get far less credit or attention for their good work.

That's a question that Harvard historian Richard Parker starts to address over at TPMCafe in answer to the punditocratic slogans about changes going on on the religious right, and more broadly in evangelical Christianity.  

Before we get to that, one quick observation. A surpising number of people conflate evangelical Christiany with the religious right. Yes, conservative evangelicals have led the religious right political movement, but not all evangelicals are conservative. (Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Jimmy Carter are evangelicals, for example).

If last night's Iowa results prove anything, it's that religion isn't leaving the public square when W. rides home to Texas. Huckabee's huge victory over robot Republican Mitt Romney is the most obvious sign that Holy Ghost power still matters in power politics. But Obama's victory should be read as almost as big an indicator that we are living in a deeply religious moment. Of course, other factors played bigger roles in both men's victories -- Huck's faux-populism, Obama's pure charisma -- but there's no denying that both Republicans and Democrats in Iowa chose the two most faith-fueled candidates.

Like most Americans and the Democratic presidential candidates, I am pro-choice although I believe the first defense against unwanted pregnancy, and STDs, is prevention.  (Today's Washington Post reveals that the "best-kept secret" for AIDS prevention in Africa is birth control, not giving antiretroviral drugs to pregnant women. And, notably, Africa is but one of the continents where  First Lady Hillary Clinton worked hard for eight years for women's rights and economic empowerment.)

There is a compelling moral exception: A fetus born alive during an abortion becomes an infant, and shouldn't be left for hours or days to die without medical care, a practice in some U.S. hospitals.

Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama differ markedly in their voting records on the live birth of an aborted infant.

I comment here as Ishmael, but I write about the religious right for magazines such as Harper's, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, and others under my real name, Jeff Sharlet. I've been writing about religion for 12 years, and the religious right for six. I've taught American religious history at NYU, and next spring, HarperCollins will be publishing the result of several years of research, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. I mention this only to bring whatever credibility I've earned to my main argument: The religious right isn't dead, it's changing, just as as it always has. Progressives who succumb to wishful thinking are setting themselves up for a fall.

In March, the late Jerry Falwell wrote that "There is a developing cultural divide occurring within the evangelical community over an unlikely subject: global warming."

Three days earlier, the AP had reported on deep divisions within the religious right, writing:

Christian conservative activists are more split than ever over whether to keep the movement's focus on abortion, marriage and sexual chastity, or scrap that approach as too narrow.

The founders of the religious right, now in the twilight of their leadership, see even the suggestion of expanding the agenda as a dangerous distraction. In public, and sometimes in personal ways, they are trying to beat back the challenge.

Now, we may be seeing deeper evidence of this fissure assert itself in the presidential campaign.  The Politico, in a piece titled "Social Conservatives Bite Bullet, Back Rudy," reports that the former NY mayor, abortion-rights supporter, and former roommate of a gay couple is winning among social conservatives.

Last week, I came across a blurb on a conservative web site about a Ohio mother of three who was enraged at one of those "The Way I See It" quotes that have become part of the Starbucks experience in recent years.

You're probably familiar with the series. The quotes are often inane, sometimes amusing, and every once in a while (on the best of days) they challenge the reader to re-examine some of their views regarding the world around them.

This story would have slipped on by until I heard the newscaster on the local news Tuesday morning reporting this woman's outrage as news (if this passes as "news" in the liberal Bay Area, how is it being sold in the heartland?), so I thought to myself again, "Why are these people so frightened to have their faith challenged?"

I mean, the "Way I See It", if you're faith is strong, it should  withstand all the doubters and wouldn't be threatened when a charlatan (not to mention a random quote on a coffee cup, for chrissake!) comes peddling his nonsense.

Or, maybe I just don't understand this concept, this mysterious thing called "faith"?

The sound of absolute panic can still be heard outside of Senator McCain campaign office after a very public rebuke by prominent Evangelical leader James Dobson.  It’s rare to see a candidate who presents himself as the intellectual conservative macho, scurry the very next day and state that he hopes to "patch things up" after being publicly bitch-slapped by the very man who will make or break his candidacy.

Pastor Rick Warren visits Meet the Press

Sen. Barack Obama is just short of midway in his first term as Illinois' junior senator, but I can't believe the buzz he is creating as he is exploring a possible run for the presidency in 2008.
Obama made a stirring speech during the 2004 Democratic convention, but NEVER did I imagine the excite he is creating (I've heard some rosy things about him from some of my fellow workers at my regular job).
More below:

After the meeting, the Syrian News Agency quoted him praising Syria's record of religious tolerance and blasting the war in Iraq.

The reaction on the right was swift and venomous. You'd think he had voted for a Democrat or something.

One of the main reasons why the Rev. Jerry Falwell co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979 was to decry the corruption of America's values. For decades, the Southern Baptist pastor has hectored Hollywood, trash-talked TV, been het up on hip hop, and spouted vitriol about video games. But this once bold, big lion who strode the stage popping off about pop culture lately has been reduced to a peewee church mouse. On his claim to fame, Rev. Falwell's got no more game. When it came time to denounce Left Behind: Eternal Forces -- a Christian supremacist video game that one Republican attorney has characterized as "the worst example to date of how the corrosive pop culture has conformed the Church to its image" -- the broken down old culture warrior has cut and run. And he's not the only one to show such cowardice. But now he's being called out in public for the first time by a fellow culture warrior.

Talk to Action's three-part series on the Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game, in which Christian militias wage physical and spiritual warfare using the power of prayer and modern military weaponry to convert New Yorkers and kill those who resist, has set forth some provocative positions and boldly stated views. And for that, a web site on Christian apologetics, called Christian Cadre, has organized a campaign against Talk to Action and its series. In this piece, Talk to Action researches and rebuts criticism from the leader of this campaign, a blogger who uses the handle Layman. But first, let's review how the series has been received elsewhere in the media.

"Sit down, pour yourself a cup of Holy-CRAP-These-People-Are-

Insane and read this," advises Father Dan, in a post titled "Schlock Fiction Left Behind Series Now a Bigoted Video Game." The San Francisco Chronicle's Mark Morford read it and spread it through his column, "Jesus Loves a Machine Gun."

Mark Carver, a top aide to mega-church pastor and best selling author Rick Warren, has resigned as a business advisor to Left Behind Games, the developers of a video game in which Christian militias wage physical and spiritual warfare using the power of prayer and modern military weaponry to convert New Yorkers and kill those who resist. Mr. Carver's abrupt resignation, announced in a statement e-mailed to Talk to Action by Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Ministries on June 6, 2006, came in response to a two-part series on Talk to Action that criticized the game's antisocial nature (warriors shout "Praise the Lord!" as they blow infidels away, and players can switch to the side of the AntiChrist to kill Christians). The series also revealed the game developer's links to Mr. Warren's empire and their emulation of his network marketing techniques.

We've all witnessed the power of blogs to shame and bring down the powerful ( for example, see "Jews and the 2% Solution" ).

The latest victory of the netroots in the battle to curb hateful speech and cultural display:

This story is hot folks. In a moment I'll put up the pictures to show you why - images released to promote a new "Christian" video game appear to show paramilitary forces firing on - or executing - unarmed NYC residents. The company making this game has publicly stated, on its website, its hope of winning an "appropriate for ages 6 and above" rating for the videogame, and the scandal that has ensued following Jonathan Hutson's Talk To Action expose series on what Hutson terms the games' "antisocial nature" seems to have led to the resignation of Mark Carver, a top aide to Christian "A Purpose Driven Life" superstar-author and mega-church pastor Rick Warren.

below: zoom of image from above, and additional promotional image ( orange rectangular areas display "spiritual strength" levels of characters ), with "blood" added for realistic depiction of what's going on

A top aide to mega-church pastor Rick Warren is advising the makers of a children's video game in which characters kill New Yorkers while shouting "Praise the Lord." When children tire of converting or killing New Yorkers, they can switch sides and command the demonic armies of the AntiChrist, and kill the conservative Christians. The real-time strategy game, slated for release in October 2006, is based on the best selling series of Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. The web site of Left Behind Games states the involvement of Mark Carver on its Advisory Board. This web-based marketing tool also highlights his role as Executive Director of Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church. What appears to be going on here is an old-fashioned business practice called "endorsement by association."

This is the story that Talk to Action broke on Memorial Day, and it has drawn significant interest from the blogosphere. And now we're ready to delve more deeply into the mysteries of mega-church marketing.

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.