How far will the Catholic heirarchy go in silencing dissidents in the U.S.? We are familiar with the very public denial of communion to politicians who disagree with the Church on abortion. We know how Auxillary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit was forbidden from speaking out about the priest sex abuse scandals rocking the Church.  And we know about the many times Catholic colleges and universties have barred from campus speakers who happen to disagree with the Church on abortion and other matters.

But this authoritarian trend may be broadening and deepening in ways that cannot be good for the health of democracy in America, let alone the church.

Most recently, the heirarchy in Minnesota ordered a local parish not to allow a professor from the University of Minnesota medical school speak to an adult education class about torture.  According to Steven Miles, M.D., the heirarchy made their decision based on lobbying from the Minnesota affilate of the National Right to Life Committee (an integral part of the Religious Rignt in the U.S.)  

May First is the National Day of Prayer – aka the Official National Day of Religious Supremacism.

The congressionally authorized event is held annually, and the franchise to host official, and often controversial Day- related events is held by Shirley Dobson, wife of James. The official National Day of Prayer Taskforce operates out of the HQ of Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs. The legislation authorizing also reveals the role of the secretive network known as The Family, in shaping our national culture and political conversation, as detailed in the forthcoming book by Jeff Sharlet, who gave me permission to reveal some important facts from the manuscript of The Family:  The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.  

Just a week ago Alan Keyes, the gifted Religious Right African American orator and perennial Republican candidate, seemed to be the presumptive presidential candidate of the neo-theocratic Constitution Party. As a man with a national standing and considerable speaking and media skills, he was a natural for a party that had worked so hard to sustain ballot access in most states, but had never attracted a candidate of sufficient stature to get much attention.

When Alan Keyes finally (on April 15th) bolted the GOP for friendlier ideological pastures -- the party seemed (maybe) ready to gain some traction. But at the party national convention this past weekend in Kansas City -- Keyes was beaten by 3-1 by Chuck Baldwin, the 2004 vice presidential candidate. Baldwin it is fair to say, is no Alan Keyes, but he is a radio talk show host and the energetic pastor of a Pensacola, Florida megachurch.

Every year, there are controversies over the "National Day of Prayer," which has somehow become the exclusive province of the Dobson empire. This year it is being held on May first -- and the fireworks have already started.

But lest you think that this is an obscure bit of Bush administration taxpayer financed pandering -- note that even Democratic governors in blue states -- such as the Democratic governor of my state, Massachussetts, Deval Patrick -- are issuing proclamations as drafted by Focus on the Family. See for yourself here.

Alan Keyes, perennial Republican presidential primary contender, popular orator on the Religious Right, and one-time Obama opponent in his race for the Senate from Illinois --  is now the probable presidential nominee for the Constitution Party, which his holding its national convention in Kansas City, Missouri this week. Keyes, who had been considering bolting the Republican Party for at least a year, meeting privately with the CP National Committee on more than one occasion, took the leap last week and announced that he would seek the CP nomination.

The neotheocratic Constitution Party, which has been on the ballot in more than 30 states for every presidential election since 1996, kicked off its national convention in Kansas City yesterday.

When we suddenly notice highway signs out of the corner of our eye, having been so focused on what is right in front of us, we have to turn our heads quickly to see what it says.  

In a similar way it is easy to lose the markers of time in the blur of it all.  

That must be how I almost didn’t notice that we are coming up on the Third Anniversary at Talk to Action -- even though it was an event that changed my life and that of most, if not all of those who have participated in this innovative project.

That's the rhetorical question Welton Gaddy who heads the Interfaith Alliance posed in an e-blast today.  He makes a good point.

Sunday night's Compassion Forum on CNN provided an opportunity to get some relevant answers about the respective stances of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the role of religion in government. Instead, the moderators asked some clearly inappropriate questions about the candidates' religious beliefs, and failed to ask others that would have given the voting public insight into the candidates' positions on these important issues.

 Here is the money quote:

If a potential employer asked you questions about your religious beliefs in a job interview, it wouldn't only be offensive, it would be illegal. The media needs to stop imposing a de facto religious test on the candidates.

The Compassion Forum was essentially a public interview for the job of President of the United States. And if it had been an interview for any other job in America, a good number of the questions asked would have been downright illegal.

John McCain -- who last year declared that America was founded as a Christian nation, and refused to retract his claim even after being called on it by the Anti-Defamation League -- will no doubt be thrilled to hear the news that the Alabama House of Representatives agrees with him.  

The blog Jed Report has made a You Tube video from an interview conducted by Dan Gilgoff at Beliefnet last year. It is a compelling two and a half minute bit of vid, but Jed Report does not identify the source. The link to the original is below in this revised and updated post from a few months ago, which also provides a fuller context.

In an interview with BeliefNet, last year, John McCain came out as a Christian nationalist.  This is a disturbing development from a man who has been profoundly critical of the religious right in the past (as has at least one top advisor), but has courted movement leaders, and received the endorsement of some while seeking the GOP nomination for president over the past year.

In this interview, he comes out more strongly as a Christian nationalist* and critic of separation of church and state than any nominee for either party in modern American history.

What has been so remarkable during this period of retrenchment for the Religious Right in light of the disasters of the Bush administration; and regrouping because of passing of the founding generation of Religious Right leaders from the scene, is not that the religious right is dead or dying, but that it is changing (and not necessarily moderating.)

One change is that Mike Huckabee appears to be positioning himself to become one of the top leaders of the changed Religious Right. And he has an announcment to make:

There is quite a debate going on about the alleged death, decline or irrelvance of the religious right. It is a perennial discussion stretching back decades, and led mostly by waves of pundits and self promoters surfing the currents generated by Inside the Beltway PR shops. (I debunk these bogus rounds of sloganeering from from time-to-time.) Part of this is tied to efforts to marginalize public discussion of reproductive rights, marriage equality and matters related to separation of church and state.  

Fortunately, Barry Lynn and Welton Gaddy not only know that the Religious Right is not dead -- but they have coauthored a book about it with ideas about what to do. Related to this, thier respective organizations, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Interfaith Alliance Foundation have been promoting ten questions citizens should ask of candidates at all levels this election season.  All this has the editorial writers at the hometown paper of James Dobson's Focus on the Family gobsmacked! Outraged! And apparently out to prove Lynn and Gaddy correct.

Twenty far religious right leaders have come out in opposition to Mitt Romney as McCain’s choice for Veep.

These include former Romney supporter Paul Weyrich (head of the influential Free Congress Foundation and a longtime movement strategist); and a clutch of anti-Romney activists from his home state of Massachusetts, who feel he is a flip flopper who betrayed them on abortion and marriage equality. (They are also mostly disappointed supporters of Mike Huckabee.) They have signed a newspaper ad (PDF) which organizers claim is scheduled to run in cities where McCain is scheduled to campaign, beginning in Prescott, Arizona.  

NBC News had a segment last night on the secretive, elite influence network, "The Family," featuring an interview with Jeff Sharlet, whose book by that title, will be published next month.

The segment also featured dramatic video of the elite fundamentalist "Family" leader Doug Coe preaching about the "covenant" that he says made Hitler among others, powerful -- commanding loyalty among his followers. The program transcript states:

One of the more remarkable dimensions of the sprawling, diverse, and powerful political movement we generically call the Religious Right, is the empire of Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church.  It is also one of its least well understood.

To read the purveyors of the 'Religious Right is dead, dying or irrelevant' narrative, one would think that the movement was limited to white evangelical Christians. Suffice to say that as central as that demographic has been, they are not now, nor have they ever been the only element of the Religious Right -- one of the most significant political movements in American history.  The movement, whatever its ups and downs, has built not only on demographgics, but via a formidable array of media, academic, and political institutions, and the grooming of a generation of leaders and activists who will continue to contest for power long after the founding generation of Religious Right leaders passes from the scene, and even as some organizations of the Religious Right go with them.

For those tempted by the sketchily-supported Religious Right is dead, dying or irrelevant narrative: consider the Moon organization before you buy.

There have been  a lot of rumblings on the right, particularly the religious right about Sen. John McCain that do not bode well for his ability to unify the GOP. McCain once rightly called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson "agents of intolerance." He meant it, and he has always been independent of the religious right on many things -- but he has also been seeking to patch things up as he prepared for his presidential campaign. His efforts have met with some success. But not enough.

Right wing talk show host Bill Cunningham and the ever-notorious Ann Coulter would rather vote for Hillary Clinton. Richard Viguerie is encouraging conservatives to sit this one out and regroup. And Alan Keyes is leaving the GOP altogether and will seek the nomination of the theocratic Constitution Party. (He will reportedly announce his intentions on April 15th, (tax day) in Pennsylvania.)

Back in February, there was a fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Asheville, North Carolina.  Investigators said that there was no sign of arson, but the violent, anti-abortion driven Army of God was celebrating anyway.

Army of God spkesman Rev. Don Spitz also wrote that the "Fire at Planned Parenthood abortion mill is deemed not arson, but not everyone is sure."  He then posted a video on God Tube (not to be confused with You Tube) where he also raises the question as to whether the cause was other than arson; and wondered whether Planned Parenthood itself might have been responsible.

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.

Yes indeed, the religious right, and other precincts of the right are in an uneasy mix of transition and disarray. But far from being dead, declining, or irrelevant, the far right of the conservative movement may very well determine the outcome of the 2008 presidential election.

Taken as a whole, the movement is in a period of transition after the myriad disasters of the Bush administration, and the passing of the founding generation of leaders of the religious right (notably the deaths of Jerry Falwell and D. James Kennedy.)  The movement is certainly down, but far from out (wishful thinking of some, not withstanding) This year, that may work to the advantage of Democrats, particularly in the presidential race.