The Evangelical Connection: Abramoff & The Hidden Ties To The Christian Right

As a follow-up to previous posts connecting some of the foremost members of the Christian Right to the actions and lobbying efforts of Jack Abramoff, this article from The Nation outlines those connections in more detail. However, what struck me is that these folks didn't even know that they might be in the process of supporting Abramoff.

Before following that thought, I have to take a side trip. The other day I was in a meeting discussing some of the current events surrounding an election campaign. The discussion turned to dealing with some of the ultra-conservative Christians in our neck of the woods. We talked about how so many of these folks embraced candidates based on one or two issues that were not the most important issues of the day. As the discussion ensued it was mentioned that most of those folks do not even bother to investigate the stances of the candidates themselves. They merely accept the say of somone who claims to have a direct link to the will of God. As one participant in the meeting--a wisened woman in her mid 70s--said, "It seems like they disconnect their own intellect. God wants the faithful but faith is not supposed to be completely disconnected from using the brain God gave us." This is where the members of the Christian Right involved in the Abramoff scandal seems to have gone astray... they were so entrenched in a religiously-based ideology that they could not see that they were being mobilized to aid a scandal... But Ralph Reed, James Dobson and others SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER... They have advanced educations, are heads of organizations of significant size and revenues, and hold office as teachers of God's words. The Bible warns of false leaders and tells us that teachers shall bear a greater burden in the eyes of God:

"Be not many [of you] teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment." James 3:1

Abramoff's Evangelical Soldiers by MAX BLUMENTHAL (Reprinted from The Nation, February 20, 2006)

Gambling might not rank as high as homosexuality or abortion on the list of social evils monitored by Focus on the Family found er James Dobson, but its growth has provided many occasions for his jeremiads. The indictment of Indian casino lobbyist and influential GOP activist Jack Abramoff was one such occasion. In a January 6 press release issued three days after Abramoff's indictment, Dobson declared, "If the nation's politicians don't fix this national disaster, then the oceans of gambling money with which Jack Abramoff tried to buy influence on Capitol Hill will only be the beginning of the corruption we'll see." He concluded with a denunciation of vice: "Gambling--all types of gambling--is driven by greed and subsists on greed."

What Dobson neglected to mention--and has yet to discuss publicly--is his own pivotal role in one of Abramoff's schemes. In 2002 Dobson joined a coterie of Christian-right activists, including Tony Perkins, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, to spearhead Abramoff's campaigns against the establishment of several Louisiana casinos that infringed on the turf of Abramoff's tribal clients. Dobson and his allies recorded messages for phone banking, lobbied high-level Bush Administration officials and took to the airwaves. Whether they knew it or not, these Christian soldiers' crusade to protect families in the "Sportsmen's Paradise" from the side effects of chronic slot-pulling and dice-rolling was funded by the gambling industry and planned by the lobbyist known even to his friends as "Casino Jack."

The only Christian-right activist confirmed to be completely aware of Abramoff's rip-off was Ralph Reed. He and Abramoff have a long and storied history together. When Abramoff chaired the College Republican National Committee in the early 1980s, Reed served as the organization's executive director. They reunited in 1989, when Abramoff helped Reed organize the remains of Pat Robertson's failed 1988 presidential bid into the Christian Coalition. In 1997, with the Christian Coalition under IRS investigation and Reed facing accusations of cronyism from the group's chief financial officer, he left to start his own consulting firm, Century Strategies. Reed contacted Abramoff right away. "I need to start humping in corporate accounts," Reed told him in 1998. "I'm counting on you to help me with some contacts."

The rest of the article is a thought-provoking read... at least it would be for those caught up in disconnecting their intellect from their faith.