Refocusing the Religious Right

In today's New York Times, Frank Rich takes a look at the declining political influence of the religious right. Is this a short-term trend or a new reality? He hits a fair amount of territory, but his frame of reference is a story I don't think I've mentioned: Mary Cheney's pregnancy. As you've no doubt seen if you've been following the story, there are plenty of opportunities for hypocrisy in the reactions to this development. Rich takes a look at a few of them in "Mary Cheney's Bundle of Joy." After scrolling through a series of hurdles over which the anti-gay movement has stumbled lately, he moved to consider new developments among the religious right.

For those who are cheered by seeing the Rovian politics of wedge issues start to fade, the good news does not end with the growing evidence that gay-baiting may do candidates who traffic in it more harm than good. It's not only centrist American voters of both parties who reject divisive demagoguery but also conservative evangelicals themselves. Some of them are at last standing up to the extremists in their own camp.

No one more dramatically so, perhaps, than Rick Warren, the Orange County, Calif., megachurch leader and best-selling author of "The Purpose Driven Life." He has adopted AIDS in Africa as a signature crusade, and invited Barack Obama to join the usual suspects, including Senator Brownback, to address his World AIDS Day conference on the issue. This prompted predictable outrage from the right because of Mr. Obama's liberal politics, especially on abortion. One radio host, Kevin McCullough, demonized the Democrat for pursuing "inhumane, sick and sinister evil" as a legislator. An open letter sponsored by 18 "pro-life" groups protested the invitation, also citing Mr. Obama's "evil." But Mr. Warren didn't blink.

Among those defending the invitation was David Kuo, the former deputy director of the Bush White House's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. In a book, "Tempting Faith," as well as in interviews and on his blog, the heretical Mr. Kuo has become a tough conservative critic of the corruption of religion by politicians and religious-right leaders who are guilty of "taking Jesus and reducing him to some precinct captain, to some get-out-the-vote guy." Of those "family" groups who criticized Mr. Obama's appearance at the AIDS conference, Mr. Kuo wrote, "Are they so blind and possessed with such a narrow definition of life that they can think of life only in utero?" The answer, of course, is yes. The Christian Coalition parted ways with its new president-elect, a Florida megachurch pastor, Joel Hunter, after he announced that he would take on bigger issues like poverty and global warming.

But it is leaders like Mr. Hunter and Mr. Warren who are in ascendance. Even the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs at Mr. Haggar's former perch, the National Association of Evangelicals, has joined a number of his peers in taking up the cause of the environment, putting him at odds with the Bush administration. Such religious leaders may not have given up their opposition to abortion or gay marriage, but they have more pressing priorities. They seem to have figured out, as Mr. Kuo has said, that "politicians use Christian voters for their money and for their votes" and give them little in return except a reputation for bigotry and heartless opposition to the lifesaving potential of stem-cell research.

It does seem as though we're in a new day as far as religious influence in politics, but I'm not sure that the pendulum is swinging back just yet. But if nothing else, let's enjoy it while it lasts.

And a hat tip once again to Wealthy Frenchman for the non-embargoed access to this week's Rich column.