Point of correction: the inception was in Vermont, not Massachusetts as I incorrectly stated in my last post. I stand by the rest of my post, though, that is, for accuracy.

Based on the many posts in this thread, and all hair-splitting aside, it is apparent that the so-called Religious Right exercises a great amount of influence on the Republican party and the incumbent President in particular.

It is the Religious Right that seeks to define marriage, a cultural institution, through a Constitutional amendment. To that group, the sanctity of marriage means the exclusion of same-sex couples. Never mind that opposite-sex couples have violated the "sanctity" of this institution for untold centuries now, which begs the question, should we ban adultery by Constitutional amendment as well?

This religious conservative group is dedicated to making America's citizens live the way they think we should. Those of us on the religious liberal side, by and large, do not feel that it is the business of government to tell its citizens how to live down to the most intimate details of our lives.

I would just like to ask a few questions to those who believe the religious right does not, for the most part, call the shots in the Republican party. Other than social conservatives(i.e.-christian coalition, evangelical GOPers, etc) what other group has equal or more power in the party and who gets their candidates nominated over social conservatives? When was the last time a liberal republican senator of the Rockefeller strand ever beat out a Dan Quayle or someone like that for a senate seat? Wasn't this effort to unseat Arlen Spector in the GOP primary proof that unless you are a religious right GOPer, that you are endangered species in your own party? (Liberalus-Republicanus) Anyone care to address this?

Some perspective on "the Religious Right"





Okay, I'll use your test: Which candidates were theoretically the "Religious Right's" candidate for the 2000 GOP Presidential nomination? George Bush, Alan Keyes, or Gary Bauer?

Hint: It ain't GWB.

Who did the GOP bigwigs line up behind in the bid to unseat Spector? Hmmmm, Bush, even Santorum, supported Spector against the more conservative challenger. So, there you go, this election season you have the "last time a Rockefeller Republican beat out a QuayleClone."

What of Schwarzenegger, who beat out Tom McClintock, a much more conservative Republican?

Or the preceding gubernatorial election where a "liberal Republican" beat out McClintock for the nomination?

Did the GOP Establishment throw its support behind Judge Moore?

I just checked both the Massachusetts and Washington state GOP platforms. Massachusetts' platform doesn't even mention God at all, much less Christianity, while this is all the WA platform says:


Massachusetts GOP Platform


For Washington, we have this:


and this:


Washington GOP Platform

Doesn't look like the Religious Right has control, does it? Now, you could go through the remaining 47 state's platforms, and in some you'll find religious references, in others, you won't.

Oh, one more thing: there are social conservatives who are not Christian.

Not a good example, Schwarzenegger won not because the state of California wanted a Republican, but because people were fed up with Gray Davis and he had the most name recognition of all the contenders and had business experience.

I can see your point here, perhaps it's an even split in the party more so than I previously thought. that, or we could consider the fact that Bush had to pander to the religious right in order to receive their support. He had name recognition, big donors, and the right just had to know he was with them. He didn't go trotting out on the stage at Bob Jones University because it was the natural thing to do, he did so because it was the political thing to do. Could that not be the reason why someone like Steve Forbes and Liddy Dole couldn't win? They couldn't pander or do it convincingly to the religious right?