The Patriot Pastors’ Electoral War Against
the ‘Hordes of Hell’
Burgeoning ‘Restoration’ Projects Hope to
Elect Ohio Governor in 2006, Spread Model Nationwide
The new report by People For the
American Way Foundation, the NAACP, and the African American Ministers
Leadership Council documents how a new generation of Religious Right
leaders is turning conservative churches into political machines for
far-right Republican candidates with rhetoric that might make Pat
Robertson blush.
Christians may hold the most powerful political
offices in the country, but to these pastors, Christians are on the
verge of being thrown into jail for professing their faith. Political
opponents aren’t just wrong, they are the “hordes of
hell” and the “forces of darkness.”
Notably,
high-level Republican officials aren’t trying to distance
themselves from such rhetoric. Far from it. They’re embracing the
self-proclaimed “Christocrats” and counting on a new wave of
aggressive politics-from-the-pulpit to win elections.
In Texas, a group
is giving the governor organized support from pastors motivated to help
his re-election campaign. In Pennsylvania, a nascent group seeks to do
the same for their embattled senator.
And in Ohio, the candidate
anointed by the “Patriot Pastors” – Secretary of State
Ken Blackwell – is the Republican gubernatorial nominee.
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