Religious Progressives, Outpaced by Conservatives, See Hope in Judicial Fight

c. 2005 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Six months after the November elections left them defeated and demoralized, progressive religious groups by most measures continue to be outpaced and drowned out by well-organized conservative groups. Yet progressive leaders say the fight over judicial nominations has shown they are making measured progress in moderating the influence […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Six months after the November elections left them defeated and demoralized, progressive religious groups by most measures continue to be outpaced and drowned out by well-organized conservative groups.

Yet progressive leaders say the fight over judicial nominations has shown they are making measured progress in moderating the influence of conservative heavyweights with close ties to Republicans.


Leaders of the “religious left” say they are slowly but steadily resurrecting a moribund movement. There is a coordination unseen since the heyday of the Vietnam era, they say, and plans are taking shape to match conservatives in media, mobility and _ most important _ money.

“Victory is not moving the nation to the left,” said the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches and former Democratic congressman. “It’s moving the nation back to the middle.”

In many ways, progressives face a two-pronged struggle: solidifying as a potent counterpoint to the religious right, while also emerging as a cohesive political and religious force in their own right.

The Senate compromise reached Monday (May 23), allowing some votes on President Bush’s judicial nominees while preserving the Democrats’ ability to block others, would not have happened without unified progressive pressure against the conservatives’ wish list of nominees, activists say.

Indeed, when conservatives launched their fight in mid-April, progressives successfully pushed Bush and his conservative allies to drop the rhetoric that the fight was really a battle over “people of faith.”

Still, the dominant “religious” voices in the judicial fight were those of James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and broadcaster Pat Robertson, who implied that liberal judges were a bigger threat than “a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings.”

While progressives have made some progress, they nonetheless face sizable challenges in matching the media savvy, organization and coast-to-coast networks that have been nurtured by conservatives over the last three decades. Consider a few examples:


_ As a showdown loomed Monday, the liberal-leaning Interfaith Alliance sent an action alert e-mail to 40,000 subscribers. Barely an hour later, Focus on the Family responded with what one official called an “all hands on deck” e-mail to flood the Capitol switchboard. It reached more than 1 million.

_ When the judicial fight was taking shape last month, the Family Research Council sponsored a $60,000 “Justice Sunday” simulcast that reached 61 million households. The progressives’ response was a $300 conference call that included 40 reporters.

_ Starting this week, pastors will be able to broadcast a 90-second video update each week from the Family Research Council’s Perkins. Edgar rates his agency’s ability to get on “mainstream TV” as a D-. He is hoping to launch a “radio component” and place more progressive leaders on television.

“They’ve got a really long way to go to match the influence, the ability to do outreach, that the religious conservative groups currently have,” said Mark Rozell, an expert on religion and politics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

Some of that, however, may be changing.

At the same time Perkins was hosting the Justice Sunday event from a Louisville, Ky., megachurch, progressive leaders hosted a fundraiser in Phoenix that included six billionaires who are nervous about a conservative-led “theocracy.” Organizers declined to say how much was raised.

Each Thursday at 4 p.m., progressive religious leaders gather on a conference call hosted by the Center for American Progress and former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta to plot strategy and message.


Technology has been a big challenge, but Faithfulamerica.org, a year-old Web site launched a year ago by Edgar’s office, sent 44,000 faxes to Capitol Hill when the judicial fight began. “Last May, we would have had the capacity to send less than 1,000,” Edgar said. The ultimate goal is 5 million subscribers, he said.

Edgar said liberal opposition that crystalized around the Iraq war and tried to redefine “moral values” to include issues like poverty, the environment and health care last year will be a potent force in the 2006 midterm elections.

The goal, he said, is to reach America’s “middle-church, middle-mosque and middle-synagogue” with a message that transcends “fear, fundamentalism and Fox News.”

“For some reason in the last six months, that sleeping beauty has been kissed,” Edgar said. “And she’s awake.”

For his part, Perkins is skeptical of progressives’ ability to be a potent force in either religion or politics. He said the key to conservatives’ ability to mobilize their troops is a common faith that yields a “common perspective,” as well as conservatives’ frequent church attendance that provides a natural spot to organize.

The left, he said, has no common faith and is really a piecemeal assembly of activist groups motivated by a range of divergent interests. “I don’t see that there is a comparable religious left,” he said.


Rozell, to some extent, agreed. He said there is certainly momentum within the progressive community, but it is often held back by a strain of liberal DNA that is reluctant to force anything on anyone.

“The religious conservatives have no such embarrassment because they have a religious belief system that says it’s the right one,” he said.

Progressive activists concede that progress has been slow, but argue that is part of the strategy. In order to preserve the purity of their religious message, liberals want to be careful not to link it too closely to politics.

What’s more, after 30 years in the political wilderness, leaders said they want to avoid the overreach _ some call it hubris _ of conservatives that many find off-putting.

“That will take time, and it should take time,” said Mike McCurry, a former Clinton press secretary who has urged Democrats to reach out to progressive faith groups. “To rush in and make it a political response is not what this should be about.”

Editors: Check the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for file photos of Edgar, Perkins and McCurry to accompany this story. Search by name.


MO/PH END ECKSTROM

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!