From Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/idea-christian-right-retreat-almost-dangerous-christian-right
The Christian Right is seizing control of state legislatures and governors’ mansions while we laugh at Ted Cruz.
By CJ Werleman
January 8, 2014
In the aftermath of the government shutdown, and the ongoing Republican Party internal civil war that followed, progressive media outlets have embraced the notion that the Christian Right is finally facing its demise. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The autopsy of the 2012 election produced a swarm of op-ed obituaries that either celebrated or foretold the political end times for the Christian Right. Jonathan Merritt, a columnist for the Atlantic, observed that the GOP’s electoral hammering in 2012 marked the end of evangelical dominance in U.S. politics. More recently, Steven Conn, a contributor for the Huffington Post, predicts the rise of Pope Francis will dissolve the glue holding the Christian Right together.
While these observations make for sound logic when examining national politics, they completely overlook the Christian Right’s state-by-state strategy.
The Christian Right is flying mostly under the radar because the media tend to be attracted to bright, shiny things that grab attention at the national level. The nation’s theocrats, however, are waging a battle for America’s soul at the local and state level, and these battles generally do not make their way onto CNN or the front page of the New York Times.
But don’t be fooled, the Christian Right has not only seized control of the Republican Party, but is also seizing control of state legislatures and governors’ mansions while we laugh at Ted Cruz.
Poll after poll shows America is becoming increasingly liberal on most issues, from gun control and same-sex-marriage, to pot legalization and reproductive rights, but our state legislatures are being governed further to the right, and it’s happening while nobody notices. A new report from the Guttmacher Institute shows that over the past three years, state legislatures have enacted a staggering 205 restrictions on reproductive rights. That number is especially mind-blowing when you consider that the number of anti-abortion bills enacted during the entire previous decade was a total of 189. In fact, in the first three months of 2013 alone, Republicans put forward 694 provisions related to reproductive health.
Continue reading at: http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/idea-christian-right-retreat-almost-dangerous-christian-right
