Christian Coalition on shaky ground

This article is from last Monday, but somehow I kept forgetting to write about it. It was a pretty big week for news, after all.

The once-mighty Christian Coalition, founded 17 years ago by the Rev. Pat Robertson as the political fundraising and lobbying engine of the Christian right, is more than $2 million in debt, beset by creditors' lawsuits and struggling to hold on to some of its state chapters.

In March, one of its most effective chapters, the Christian Coalition of Iowa, cut ties with the national organization and reincorporated itself as the Iowa Christian Alliance, saying it "found it impossible to continue to carry a name that in any way associated us with this national organization."

"The credibility is just not there like it once was," said Stephen L. Scheffler, president of the Iowa affiliate since 2000. "The budget has shrunk from $26 million to $1 million. There's a trail of debt. . . . We believe, our board believes, any Christian organization has an obligation to pay its debts in a timely fashion."

Hopefully this is more evidence that the reactionary fundamentalists realize that their influence is on the wane. That would certainly explain the recent wave of state legislation attacking science and reproductive rights. Not that they'll ever stop pushing creationism, etc., but maybe the fall of corrupt GOP neo-fascists will also deal a major blow to the End Times crowd.

UPDATE: The fundamentalist push continues, and they're really leaning on Congressional Republicans to start pushing their agenda. And they've finally realized that the GOP has just been making empty promises when it comes to religion-based laws:

"It seems like for only six months, every two years — right around election time — that we're even noticed," said Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council.

"Some of these better pass," he added. "You notice when it's just lip service being paid."

The upside is that is that everyone except reactionary fundamentalists hates their ideas (Terri Schiavo, anyone?). And if the GOP has to spend the summer tossing more bones to religious whackos, the more they'll suffer at the polls. My guess is that the double whammy of anti-immigrant and anti-gay stances by the Republicans isn't going to pay off again. Too many non-kooks are now fully aware of what's going on. Still, I stand by my prediction that it's going to be an election season that plumbs new depths of dirty campaigning and right-wing mudslinging.