Focus on the Fundies: no broad agenda, Chr. Coalition insists

For the second time in a year, the Christian Coalition has fired an incoming president before he took office. The erstwhile leader, a Rev. Joel Hunter of Florida, wanted to expand the lobbying group's agenda to include AIDS and global warming, but the board said no dice.

The action came after four state chapters broke away from the group in reaction to Hunter's positions.

In recent years -- and especially since the 2006 midterm elections -- some conservative Christian leaders have tried to moderate the their reputation for being only about abortion and gays, suggesting, for example, that Christian notions of "stewardship" justify caring for the environment. But not everyone welcomes the oppurtunity to enlarge the "tent" of religious fundamentalism, resulting in fractiousness.

The funny part about this is when center-right evangelicals use a term like "compassionate conservatism." As recounted by author David Kuo, the former staffer in the White House's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, many conservative Christians supported Bush when he took this line -- but it turned out to be mere lip service. It's just a catchphrase invented by Karl Rove to snare religious right-wing voters; there is no commitment behind it. So to see well-meaning Christians still using the phrase, as if it actually means something, is pathetically sad.