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The Bully Pulpit Christian Reconstruction - The "Who" By Nicole Nichols

We have all become very familiar with the phrase, "You are either with us or you are against us." Those words uttered by President George W. Bush shortly after the September 11th attacks have been imprinted upon the minds of Americans regardless of which side of the political fence one sits on. Researching the Religious Right gives those same words an even more potent meaning.

Hate comes in many forms and sometimes it is cloaked in the proverbial sheep's clothing. For many Americans, a religious upbringing for children is considered a necessity in the process of character and values building. And for some Americans, the Christian way is the only way - for everyone.

Investigating and writing about the Religious Right necessitates a lot of ink since the information is voluminous, a huge bottle of antacid since the information is truly bilious, and a set of pretty hefty brass balls since the players are the heavy-hitting kind. Trudging through the quagmire of scriptural bastardizations and bodacious prognostications, one is struck by the similarities between the racist right and the religious right. Well, of course, the two do overlap. However, I feel that I must issue the following caveat before getting to the heart of this matter: This is in no way to be construed as a condemnation of either the Christian faith or the Republican Party. As with the racist right, the liberal left, and all points in between there are those who provide a constant embarrassment to the good people furthering their causes and their beliefs - it just so happens that the Religious Right and their agenda provides enough embarrassment to the conservatives to make them want to vomit - hourly.

I am starting this expose with Paul Weyrich for no particular reason since there are numerous launching points to be chosen. He is not any more important than some of the others nor is he more charismatic - he just seemed to pop up frequently and ooze into the many facets surrounding this issue with regularity. It should also be kept in mind that most of the people and organizations that you will be reading about overlap and intertwine with each other. Therefore, it is recommended that you follow the links to get a true picture of how closely the players are tied. Rather than attempt to preface the current happenings with a long and drawn out history, I will intersperse some of the required background and leave it to the reader to do the research on his/her own.

If we are truly judged by the company that we keep - and we are - then judging the Religious Right just got easier. In the early 1970's, Paul Weyrich, a relatively young man with an Associates Degree from the University of Wisconsin, forged a friendship with some pretty well-healed individuals - the Coors family (Yes, as in beer). Suffice it to say, that the Coors Company's hiring practices and racial discrimination within the work place is well documented as well as its' financial support for racist foundations such as the Patriotic American Youth Group among whose participants were members of the Citizen's Council and the Ku Klux Klan. According to Political Amazon and other sources, William Coors was "explicitly racist" making the following statements in a 1984 speech to a business group in Denver:

"...that if they thought it was 'unfair' that their 'ancestors were dragged here in chains against their will...I would urge those of you who feel that way to go back to where your ancestors come from, and you will find out that probably the greatest favor that anybody ever did you [sic] was to drag your ancestors over here in chains, and I mean it."

"...the government of these nations that have gotten the right of self-determination, that's where the operation of the government, the operation of the business, has switched primarily from white to Black--it's not that the dedication among the Blacks is any less. As a matter of fact, it is greater. There's tremendous motivation there, because they perceive themselves as being free people to succeed. They lack the intellectual capacity to succeed, and it is just taking them down the tubes. You take a country like Rhodesia, where the economy was absolutely booming under, you might say, white management. Now, Black management is in Zimbabwe, and the economy is a disaster, in spite of the fact that there is probably ten times the motivation on the part of the citizens of that country to make it succeed. Lack of intellectual capacity--that has got to be there.' " (Bellant, The Coors Connection)"

The Coors family put up the bucks for Weyrich to start both the "Heritage Foundation" and the "Free Congress Foundation." Both are listed as "conservative think-tanks." Both placed Weyrich in an arguably enviable position for one who wishes to rub elbows with the "haves" and "have mores," as Dubyah is so fond of saying. The initial plan was laid by Weyrich and Richard Viguerie (who pioneered the direct-mail-campaign method of accessing millions of Americans who otherwise would not be exposed to the more extremist brand of conservative propanda) (Political Amazon). The Free Congress Foundation had the American Independent Party in its' sights - this was George Wallace's party back when he was running for President. Considering the roots of the party, it is no stretch to reason that the membership was that of the disgruntled white southern racist, the neo-Nazi faction, and the John Birch Society.

The plan to overtake the party and run Viguerie for President failed when the party nominated a rabid white supremacist, Lester Maddox as their Presidential Candidate. Both the Free Congress Foundation and Heritage Front continued to flourish, however, becoming a force in the halls of Congress as they battled against integration and Affirmative Action. Political Amazon tells us, "Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation and Heritage Foundation have fought affirmative action every step of the way. They have worked to limit voting rights enforcement, to limit enforcement of civil rights law, lessen the redress for victims of racist actions, and further the negative myth of the greedy black welfare grabber."

Weyrich has also associated himself with a well known racist in Roger Pearson, and hence with the "Pioneer Fund," a racist group that we will discuss in detail. Today, Weyrich sits in membership on many of the religious and extreme right's groups keeping company with some of the wealthiest, most powerful, and most dangerous people in America. Not the least of these organizations is the highly secretive Council on National Policy, an organization of predominantly Christian whites that plans the strategy of the Religious Right in America. Membership in this group has placed Weyrich in close contact with the following people among countless others:

Howard Ahmanson, Jr. - heir to the Home Savings and Loan fortune; Christian Reconstructionist who studied under R.J. Rushdoony, the father of the Reconstructionist Movement; Quote: "My goal is the total integration of biblical law into our lives;" he manages his philanthropy through the Fieldstead Institute - a private corporation; has been a major donor to the Free Congress Foundation; has contributed over a million dollars to the Chalcedon Foundation - a Christian Reconstructionist Organization;

Tim LaHaye - Christian Reconstructionist; Founder of the Council for National Policy; founded the largest protestant high school and Christian school systems in the country; Executive Board Member of the Moral Majority; member of the Religious Roundtable Council; member of the Coalition on Revival (COR); a paid Chairman with Sun Myung Moon's Coalition for Religious Freedom.

Edwin Meese III - Attorney General for Ronald Reagan; member of the Hoover Institute; endorsed Joseph Coors and others from the Heritage Foundation; promised the Heritage Foundation that the Reagan Administration would cooperate fully with their efforts; joined the staff of the Heritage Foundation after leaving the government.

Grover Norquist - lobbyist and anti-tax man; talked George H. W. Bush into using his famous "Read my lips. No new Taxes," promise; at one time had a lot of influence over GOP fiscal policy; close to Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and Karl Rove, a one-time dirty trickster on behalf of Richard Nixon, helped elect Bush, Sr. and did "damage control" in Florida in the Bush, Jr. election, recently accused of leaking the identity of a CIA operative to the press. Norquist wanted to replace Alexander Hamilton's picture with that of Ronald Reagan on the $10 bill.

Gary North - Prolific Reconstructionist writer; son-in-law of R.J. Rushdoony; signer of the COR Manifesto; sits on steering committee for COR; proliferates the Christian Reconstruction doctrine; Quote: "This is God's world, not Satan's. Christians are the lawful heirs, not non-Christians."

It is through this kind of networking that Paul Weyrich saw the possibilities and took the plunge into Christian politics. Weyrich and friends are all committed to returning this nation to Christ and the Church. To many this doesn't sound like a bad thing but the old saying "Be careful what you ask for," definitely applies here. By returning the country to Christ and the Church, this group means "exclusively." All other religions would be considered invalid and those who refused to adhere to the fundamentalist tenets of Christianity would be considered the enemy. Government would become Theocratic and we would all live under the rule of the strictly interpreted Bible. In other words, you are either with them or against them. Sound far-fetched? We thought so too…until we realized that Christian Reconstruction is just around the corner - literally.

CONTINUED