The Southern Baptist proving ground.

In 1988, a politically influential and somewhat eccentric televangelist announced his bid for the Republican nomination for president of the United States. After scaring the anointed heir to the nomination with strong showings in Iowa, this televangelist failed in his bid and ended his campaign. All that remained was the political action commitee he created.

Fast forward to 1996: Pat Robertson and the Christian Coalition were dominant players and scriptwriters for the party platform at this year's Republican National Convention. They helped write one of the most conservative platforms in Republican history on social issues, especially in regard to abortion, school prayer, and taxpayer supported vouchers for private and religious schools. They contributed to forcing the party nominee, Robert Dole, to abandon his efforts toward a call for tolerance on the abortion issue and to use the anti-abortion plank as the litmus test in choosing his running mate.

After expunging several moderates from key leadership positions in several state Republican conventions beginning in 1994, as well as contributing to the landslide victory of Republicans in the November 1994 elections, the Christian Coalition has emerged in 1996 as the dominant and most influential lobbying group in the Republican Party--and arguably the most influential in American politics today. Many observers and interpreters of American political life, particularly within academia, reacted with astonishment and bewilderment at the perceived swiftness of the religious right's influence over the Republican Party in tandem with the vigorous strength that religion seems to exhibit in American society during the late twentieth century.

How has the Christian Coalition managed to achieve such swift development of tactics to control several of the major state conventions within such a short time? How were they able to accomplish such results as vaulting Oliver North into contention for a Senate seat in Virginia? How and where were these tactics developed, refined, and tested successfully?

The Christian Coalition rose rapidly to such prominence by first developing, refining, and testing certain tactics on a little noticed proving ground: the Southern Baptist Convention, which coalition leaders recognized as possessing enormous influence over the electoral situation.

In 1979, Paul Pressler and Paige Patterson announced the beginning of a concerted effort to confront supposed liberalism within the SBC by electing to lead it presidents who would, in turn, elect trustees to rid the organization of supposed liberals. At the 1979 SBC national convention in Houston, Texas, sky boxes were used by Pressler and his colleagues to coordinate "captains" on the floor--people designated by special caps or name tags worn--who would, in turn, relay directions to messengers on how to vote on certain issues such as the election of the president. Compare this tactic with those discussed in the article written about Oliver North's communication with his delegates at the 1994 Virginia Republican state convention. A reporter noted that the captains working for North were wearing special caps so that delegates on the floor could easily spot them for guidance on certain issues.

Another tactic developed and refined in the SBC was holding preconference caucus meetings in order to organize and indoctrinate messengers on how to vote at forthcoming conventions. Again the possible comparison with tactics used by the Christian Coalition leading up to the Virginia convention in 1994: numerous reports circulated in newspapers about how members of certain churches showed up at Republican precincts with strategy already planned and certain delegate slates already agreed upon. The Christian Coalition did not by some magical trickery swiftly inundate Republican meetings in the last few years; it has been quietly working its strategy on a proving ground for the past decade and a half, largely unnoticed by most of us.

The strength exhibited by the Christian Coalition at several state Republican conventions and the consolidation of its power at the 1996 national convention underscores the prominence of conservative religion as a social force today. The strength of this force astonishes even many academics, as judged by their scramble to buy copies of books authored by Steven Carter and Cornell West, which discuss and philosophize on this phenomenon. It s imperative that we all acknowledge the reality of religion as a private and social force in the lives of millions of Americans--and, insofar as it impacts governmental policy, in the lives of us all.

The religious right (composed of the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, the Traditional Values Coalition, and others) represents a substantial portion --but not a majority--of religious individuals in the United States. Like any other cultural influence, religion has both positive and negative aspects. It is not evil in and of itself; however, like anything perpetually abused, religion will manifest sinister complexities. As such, it cannot be dismissed through caricature or ignorance.

Steve Watkins is an instructor in English in the Dallas Community College District and is working on his Ph.D. in human) ties at the University of Texas at Arlington in the field of rhetoric and philosophy.