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10 August, 2004
10 August 2004A month after the news broke of the Bush-Cheney campaign's 22-point plan to reach conservative churches, causing angry denunciations from Christians left and right, the story has settled comfortably into the culture war narrative. David Kirkpatrick at The New York Times finds the scare in an evangelical Missouri church and its congregants -- happy recruits who see the re-election effort as a spiritual battle. The Washington Times's Amy Fagan speaks to Jay Sekulow, of the conservative American Center for Law and Justice, about the "'left-wing thugs'" who are using tax-exemption laws to selectively target the right. Before the story is entirely swallowed by the right-left meta-narrative, it's well-worth remembering why the plan was contested in the first place. Melissa Rogers, former director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and visiting professor of religion and public policy at Wake Forest University Divinity School, delivers a timely reminder in The Star-Telegram: "There are some legitimate ways for political campaigns to try to reach religious people. Soliciting directories isn't one of them."
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