TRUTH SQUAD.

Americans United's Work With Churches And News Media Riles Robertson And Religious Right

TV preacher Pat Robertson is proud of his role as a political strategist and power broker. So when the Christian Coalition's founder and president saw this year's race for the White House was too close to call, he selected key battleground states that could influence the outcome of the election and went on tour.

Labeling his events "God and Country" rallies, Robertson unveiled the Christian Coalition's voter guides in three separate states: Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri. Not coincidentally, each of those states was targeted and heavily sought after by Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore because of the collective 55 electoral votes at stake.

What Robertson expected to do was rally his supporters, distribute some pro-Bush campaign literature disguised as voter guides and maybe sway a few voters along the way. What he didn't expect was Americans United for Separation of Church and State to hound him at every stop.

Much to Robertson's chagrin, every event on the "God and Country" tour generated press attention, but also questions from the news media sparked by AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn's charges concerning the partisan nature of the Christian Coalition's work. In fact, by the time Robertson reached Missouri, the final stop on his trek, reporters were asking him about allegations brought to the media's attention by Americans United.

Clearly frustrated, Robertson said the Coalition's "critics" were being "disingenuous." He added, "That's a nice way of saying they're lying."

However, as AU's Lynn responded, "To be even nicer, Pat Robertson is grossly, completely and deliberately missrepresenting the truth."

One could hardly blame Robertson for being aggravated. Since the founding of the Christian Coalition in 1989, Americans United has been a thorn in the side of the Religious Right's leading group, shining a spotlight on its agenda, exposing deceptive claims from the group about its membership, pointing to blatant examples of partisanship and causing difficulties for the Coalition with the Internal Revenue Service.

But Robertson's discontent escalated to new heights this year because AU's efforts hit the Coalition where it hurt: with the churches the TV preacher is trying to forge into a political machine.

While the Christian Coalition has been distributing voter guides in elections since 1990, Robertson saw the 2000 election as a unique opportunity. By distributing the guides and mobilizing evangelicals for Bush and the Republicans, the Coalition could go a long way in regaining its footing. By helping elect candidates who he believed would follow through on a Religious Right agenda, Robertson was making it easier for the group to solidify its place as a major force in American politics. And AU's Lynn was messing it all up.

In the fall of 1999, Robertson announced that the 2000 elections would see the Christian Coalition prepare and distribute more voter guides than ever. As part of an election-year effort titled, "Victory 21," Robertson announced the Coalition would prepare 70 million voter guides and hire new operatives in key electoral states, including Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Keeping with the tactics the Coalition has always used, Robertson also confirmed that houses of worship would be the primary method of distribution for his campaign materials. It is this use of churches for partisan ends that troubles Americans United and motivated the group to take action.

In 1998, AU prepared information for religious leaders about churches, politics and potential legal difficulties surrounding church distribution of partisan literature. At the time, AU asked supporters nationwide to share the information with religious leaders in their communities. Reports from local Christian Coalition activists confirm that AU's efforts were successful in persuading many religious leaders to avoid Robertson's project. (See "Hitting the Wall, November 2000 Church & State.)

This year, however, AU's Lynn chose to be far more ambitious.

"We mailed letters to approximately 285,000 houses of worship -- nearly 90 percent of the nation's total," Lynn said. "I am confident that every church targeted by the Coalition received our correspondence."

Lynn's letters alerted churches to the partisan character of the Coalition voter guides and steered them to accurate information about the law governing tax-exempt groups and political activity.

Since Robertson's organization first began preparing the materials, it has consistently shown a clear bias in support of Republican candidates who share the group's ideology. This year's Christian Coalition voter guides are no different. In the presidential race, for example, the positions of Bush and Gore are shown on issues such as "Emphasizing Free Enterprise Solutions to Social Problems" and "Control of Public Education by Powerful Unions."

In another example, the Coalition's voter guide in the race for Alabama's Supreme Court Chief Justice highlighted Roy Moore, infamous for posting the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, as agreeing that the "unborn child is a fellow human being." In Nebraska, the guides were so clearly unfair that the Christian Coalition's state affiliate asked churches not to hand the literature out.

To the surprise of many, Robertson, an ardent Bush backer, boasted on the Nov. 6 episode of his "700 Club" program that he personally intervened to make sure the voter guides achieved their goal.

"Well, I have a little pride of authorship in the presidential one," Robertson said, "because I made sure that I did a redraft on that myself. There's 14 issues on the voter guide that cover the full spectrum from national defense to the BTU tax to gun policy. You name it; it's all in there. People can make an intelligent decision on who to vote for."

Recent comments from Coalition leaders suggest that the guides do far more than leave it up to people on "who to vote for," and actually encourage evangelical voters to support specific candidates. In fact, Christian Coalition leaders have effectively admitted that the voter guides are partisan.

In an interview that aired on CNN during the primary season, before Bush had won the GOP nomination, Robertson told Wolf Blitzer that if U.S. Sen. John McCain won the Republican nomination, the group "would not put out 75 million voter guides, would not urge its membership to vote for anybody in the general election.... You know, we're not under the obligation to put out any literature for anybody."

Observed AU's Lynn, "Robertson has admitted that his voter guides are put out on behalf of certain candidates. Thus, they can't be lawfully distributed by churches."

After taking that message to 285,000 houses of worship, Lynn appears to have touched a nerve. Robertson desperately tried to undo the damage, sending letters of his own to his supporters on behalf of the voter guides. He also got assistance in attacking AU from a variety of Religious Right allies.

TV preacher Jerry Falwell sent letters to his supporters saying that pastors shouldn't be "terrorized into silence" by Americans United. The Rev. Donald Wildmon's American Family Association accused AU of trying to "confuse" pastors. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Roman Catholic-oriented legal group, said AU was giving religious leaders bad advice and offered to defend any church punished by the IRS for violating federal tax law. The Rev. D. James Kennedy's Center for Reclaiming America, James Dobson's Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council defended church use of voter guides as well. Even radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger went after Americans United on this issue on her nationally syndicated radio talk show.

"I have to admit, I was a little surprised to see so many leaders of the Religious Right launch into so many unfair and untrue attacks against Americans United and me personally," Lynn said. "But if they're coming after us with such a vengeance, we must be doing something right."

Despite the furious response from the Religious Right furious response, there are many indications that AU's letter to religious leaders had its desired effect. Members of AU's staff and local activists nationwide reported many instances of voter guides getting dropped at area churches but then being discarded by pastors.

"I believe AU's election-year project has gone a long way in letting people know the truth about churches and politics," concluded Lynn. "Just as importantly, these efforts have thrown a monkey wrench into Pat Robertson's political machine. The Religious Right may not like it, but Americans United isn't going to let up."