Christian Coalition

The Christian Coalition rose from the ashes of Pat Robertson's failed 1988 presidential run. It claims to be a "nonpartisan political advocacy group", but in reality, it is a christian-right, white-dominated pressure group within the Republican party. Its mission: to drive the GOP as far to the right as possible, and thus pave the way for a christian-right takeover of all political power in the United States. The Christian Coalition was the driving force behind the "Religious Freedom Amendment" which, if passed, would effectively remove the separation of Church and State from the US constitution.

The primary political weapon of the Christian Coalition is the distribution of heavily biased voter guides to churches. This thinly-veiled partisan advocacy is generally believed to have decided many close electoral races in favour of extreme right Republicans, such as the reelection of Senator Jesse Helms in 1990. It played a pivotal role in the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress.

The Christian Coalition owes its success largely to the 'stealth' tactics of its 1989-1997 executive director Ralph Reed. Reed succeeded splendidly in disguising the ugly face of the Christian Coalition, selling an image of tolerance and moderation to the media and the general public. In reality, though, the Christian Coalition was never mainstream, or about as mainstream as a bunch of right-wing "christian" hatemongers, white racists, supporters of neo-Nazi David Duke and radical pro-lifers can get.

In a nutshell, it was Reed's strategy to grab political power by deceiving the public about the true nature of the Christian Coalition's agenda and that of its candidates.

"I want to be invisible. I do guerrilla warfare. I paint my face and travel at night. You don't know its over until you're in a body bag. You don't know until election night."

Ralph Reed, speaking to the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 11/9/91

The Christian Coalition had enjoyed provisional 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status for a decade, even though it had been sued by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 1990, 1992 and 1994 for actively supporting Republican candidates and failing to report its expenditures. In 1999, the IRS finally revoked that tax-exempt status, recognizing the partisan nature of the group. This long-overdue move forced Pat Robertson to remake his organization into a business. It is now called Christian Coalition International, and free to officially endorse candidates and make campaign contributions. But as such, it is subject to the regulations of the FEC, and is thus finally required to play by the rules like everyone else.

But Pat Robertson does not give up easily. He has renamed the (tax-exempt) Christian Coalition of Texas to "Christian Coalition of America", effectively circumventing the IRS ruling. This way, Robertson can continue to "guide" voters, and at the same time expand CC activities into areas that were previously off-limits.

Let the following episode serve as an illustration of how much the Christian Coalition has corrupted the Republican party: on June 17, 1999, Robertson met with the Republican Senate leadership (to discuss ways to "re-engergize" grassroots voters, according to the press). Just two weeks later, Senators Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) sent a letter to Janet Reno asking for a criminal investigation of Americans United, the watchdog group that provided key evidence of the Christian Coalition's illegal activities to the IRS. In other words: Republican Senators demand a legal crackdown on the critics of the tv-preacher who bought them their seats in the Senate.   AU's response

December 5, 2001 update: Pat Robertson has stepped down as chairmain of the Christian Coalition of America and was replaced by former executive vice president Roberta Combs. Pat remains as president emeritus. In the press release announcing this change, Combs pledged that the Christian Coalition would continue to distribute "non partisan" voter guides and score cards, specifically in the 2002 election.

Reed explained that in their model voter ID program, volunteers would telephone into pre-selected precincts and say "I'm taking an informal survey" for the Christian Coalition. Then, four quick questions: "Did you vote for Dukakis or Bush? Are you a Republican or a Democrat?" "If they answered 'Dukakis, Democrat.' That was the end of the survey," laughed Reed. "We didn't even write them down. We don't want to communicate with them. We don't even want them to know there's an election going on. [audience laughter] I'm serious. We don't want them to know."

The third question, if they got that far, was, "Do you favor restrictions on abortion?" And finally, "What is the most important issue facing Virginia Beach?" Then a computer file on each voter was created — with survey answers coded according to "43 issue burdens." The ID'd voters would then receive a letter from the Coalition's (Republican) candidate — computer generated, laser printed and tailored to one's "issue burden," i.e., crime, education, abortion, gun control, etc. If the voter happened to be pro-choice, the letter wouldn't mention abortion. "I'll take the votes of the pro-abortion Republicans" to get anti-abortion Republicans into office, Reed admitted. In fact, Reed said only 28% of his targeted voters were "pro-life."

from the Freedom Writer January 1992 article Inside the Christian Coalition