The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party

In this section:

A Christian Inauguration
Religion in the White House
Punishing Critics, Silencing Opponents
Disregard for Democracy
Influence of Religious Right on Bush Administration Policies
    Tax Cuts
    The Environment
     Reproductive Rights and the War Against Women
    Gun Control
    Foreign and Military Policy
         Nuclear Weapons
        North Korea
        Anti-Internationalism
Anti-Science
Influence of Religious Right on Bush Administration Appointments

Related Pages: Faith Base Initiative, the Environment, Women,
Middle East and Biblical Prophecy

To read about the Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign, click here.

BUSH'S MOST RADICAL PLAN YET, Rolling Stone, April 21, 2005

The Bush Economy, New York Times, June 7, 2005

A Christian Inauguration

Way Too Much God, Wall Street Journal, Editorial Page, January 21, 2005

Conservative Christians Embrace Inauguration, New York Times, January 21, 2005

From Americans United for Separation of Church and State, January 21, 2005

Religion in the White House

A Country Ruled by Faith, The New York Review of Books, November 16, 2006

From Evangelical ministerJim Wallis: Bush budget lacks moral vision, February 15, 2005

From a New York Times Op-Ed, October 28, 2004 about Bush's daily Word:

Every morning President Bush reads a devotional from "My Utmost for His Highest," a collection of homilies by a Protestant minister named Oswald Chambers, who lived a century ago. As Mr. Bush explained in an interview broadcast on Tuesday on Fox News, reading Chambers is a way for him "on a daily basis to be in the Word."

In the new book by journalist Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack, based on taped conversations with the President, Bush describes himself as a "messenger" of God who is doing "the Lord's will." From Los Angeles Times reporter Robert Scheer:

So, it was a holy war, a new crusade. No wonder George W. Bush could lie to Congress and the American public with such impunity while keeping the key members of his Cabinet in the dark. He was serving a higher power, according to Bob Woodward, who interviewed the president for a new book on the months leading up to the Iraq invasion.

From BuzzFlash, an interview with Mark Crispin Miller, July 23, 2004:

What we're confronting now, in other words, is something wilder, something much harder to deal with, than mere political corruption ...

This may sound odd, but I wish that Bush and Cheney were all about the bottom line, and nothing else.

What's most significant here, and yet gets almost zero coverage in our media, is the fact that Bush is very closely tied to the Christian Reconstructionist movement. The links between this White House and that movement are many and tight.  Marvin Olasky -- a former Maoist who is now a Reconstructionist -- coined the phrase "compassionate conservatism," and was hired by the Bush campaign in 2000 to serve as their top consultant on welfare.  Olasky's entire career has been financed by Howard Ahmanson, the California multimillionaire who has said publicly that his life's goal is "to integrate Biblical law into all our lives." Ahmanson funded the far-right seizure of the California legislature back in '94, and is also the main force behind the schism in the Episcopalian church. Also, he appears to be the most important advocate of the so-called "intelligent design" movement, which is creationism. Ahmanson backed Bush in 2000 -- with exactly how much money we don't know -- and is supporting him again.

The Christian Taliban
March 28, 2004, By Stephen Pizzo, AlterNet

During the Taliban rule of Afghanistan the world got a good look at what happens when religious zealots gain control of a government. Television images of women being beaten forced to wear burkas and banned from schools and the workplace helped build strong public support for the President's decision to invade Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11.

But even as President George W. Bush denounced the brutal Islamic fundamentalist regime in Kabul, he was quietly laying the foundations for his own fundamentalist regime at home. For the first time far right Christian fundamentalists had one of their own in the White House and the opportunity to begin rolling back decades of health and family planning programs they saw as un-Christian, if not downright sinful.

Since 2001 dozens of far-right Christian fundamentalists have been quietly installed in key positions within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Drug Administration and on commissions and advisory committees where they have made serious progress. Three years later this administration has established one of the most rigid sexual health agendas in the Western world.

Ralph Reed notes that the religious conservative movement "no longer plays the institutional role it once did," in part because it succeeded in electing Bush and other friendly leaders. "You're no longer throwing rocks at the building; you're in the building." The Washington Post Religious Right Finds Its Center in Oval Office , December 24, 2001

The President's Stem Cell Theology, New York Times, May 26, 2005

Bush's war comes home, Guardian UK, May 26, 2005

Conservative writer and commentator Kevin Philips' book, American Dynasty, refers to Bush as the "Leader of the Religious Right."  From Chapter 7, "The American Presidency and the Rise of the Religious Right:"

Although George W. Bush never held a candid interview or press conference to discuss the views of the clerics from whom he sought advice, several men ...  began to draw attention. Bush had picked Jack Hayford, a California Charismatic, to give the benediction at the Fifty-fourth Inaugural Prayer Service at the National Cathedral. Involved in the founding of the Promise Keepers men's revival group, Hayford was a supporter of Christian Reconstruction or Dominionism.

Anthony T. Evans of Dallas, who likewise preached a workdview based on the Bible, was a speaker at the pre-inaugural Washington Prayer Luncheon in January, 2001 ...

What Hayford and Evans had in common, other preachers said, was a shared adherence to 'Kingdom Now' or Dominionist theology. Loosely put, it called for seizure of eathly power by 'the people of God' as the only way by which the world could be rescued. Prayer and evangelism were not enough: a Christian-led social reformation was necessary because Christ would not return to earth until a revised Church has set the scene. A president convinced that God was speaking to him ... might through Dominionism start to view himself as an agent called by the Almighty to restore the earth to Godly control.

There are many different theories about the President's religious beliefs. From The Village Voice, The Divine Calm of George W. Bush, May 3, 2004:

... the University of Chicago's Bruce Lincoln says ... It's expansionist-it's religious imperialism, if you will. And I think that remains his primary orientation." What's more, Lincoln adds, his primary orientation also holds that "the U.S. is the new Israel as God's most favored nation, and those responsible for the state of America in the world also enjoy special favor. . . .

From Juan Stam, a Costa Rican pastor and theologian who taught at the Latin American Biblical Seminary and the National University of Costa Rica:

It is remarkable how closely Bush's discourse coincides with that of the false prophets of the Old Testament. While the true prophets proclaimed the sovereignty of Yahweh, the God of justice and love who judges nations and persons, the false prophets served Baal, who could be manipulated by the powerful.

Charles Dharapak, photographer for the AP, insists on "deifying" Bush in his photos. The photograph on the left captures the President speaking under a halo at the dedication of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship's Youth Education Center in Dallas, Texas, 10/29/03.

From the Observer, November 2, 2003: "President George W. Bush stood before a cheering crowd at a Dallas Christian youth center last week, and told them about being 'born again' as a Christian. Behind Bush were two banners. 'King of Kings', proclaimed one. 'Lord of Lords', said the other. The symbolism of how fervent Christianity has become deeply entwined with the most powerful man on the planet could not have been stronger." The photograph on the right shows Bush speaking on columbus Day, 10/13/03. For more Bush halos, click here.

Bush 'God Talk' Rumors About Iraq War Spark Controversy And Debate, Church And State, November, 2005

Few US Presidents have been as openly religious as Bush. The Faith of George W. Bush, by Christian author Stephen Mansfield has lifted the lid on how deep those Christian convictions run. It will stir up controversy at a time when the administration is keen to portray its 'war on terror' as non-religious. The book, which depicts a President who prays each day and believes he is on a direct mission from God, will give ammunition to critics who claim Bush's administration is heavily influenced by extremist Christians.

"W's Christian Nation", The American Prospect, June, 2003: " How Bush promotes religion and erodes the separation of church and state."

With the help of evangelical speechwriter Michael Gerson, Bush lards his speeches with code words directed at Christian conservatives. In this year's State of the Union address, Bush mentioned the "wonder-working power" of the American people, an allusion to an evangelical Christian song whose lyrics cite the "power, wonder-working power, in the blood of the Lamb" -- i.e., Jesus.

To see what's new and dangerous about Bush's approach to religion, you have to look beyond the president's copious prayers and exhortations, which are legally meaningless. Clinton also showed immense political sympathy for religion, but he didn't nominate a slate of right-wing judges who could give the law a decidedly majoritarian, pro-Christian bent. And Bush has gone further than that. From school-prayer guidelines issued by the Department of Education to faith-based initiatives to directives from virtually every federal agency, there's hardly a place where Bush hasn't increased both the presence and the potency of religion in American government. In the process, the Bush administration lavishly caters to the very religious-right groups that gave us the dubious Christian-nation concept ...

From BuzzFlash: 'On a Mission From God': The Religious Right and the Emerging American Theocracy
by Maureen Farrell, March 9, 2004:

About Bush's Meeting with the Council on Naitonal Policy:

Deemed by ABC News as "the most powerful conservative group you've never heard of," the Council for National Policy, which was co-founded by former Moral Majority head LaHaye, has included John Ashcroft, Ed Meese, Ralph Reed, the editor of The National Review, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Grover Norquist and Oliver North among its members.

As ABC put it, "the council has deservedly attained the reputation for conceiving and promoting the ideas of many who in fact do want to control everything in the world. . . The CNP helped Christian conservatives take control of the Republican state party apparati in Southern and Midwestern states. It helped to spread word about the infamous 'Clinton Chronicles' videotapes that linked the president to a host of crimes in Arkansas." (According to Rolling Stone, "The impeachment effort was reportedly conceived at a June 1997 meeting of the CNP in Montreal.")

Secular-minded folks are likely to be most intrigued by the fact that President Bush made his rumored "king-making" speech before CNP in 1999, fueling speculation that the council was responsible for his presidential nomination. And though the Democratic National Committee and others urged Bush's presidential campaign to release the tape of his CNP speech, the Bush camp refused. What was on that tape? Depending on who you believe, "Bush promised to appoint only anti-abortion-rights judges to the Supreme Court, or he stuck to his campaign 'strict constructionist' phrase. Or he took a tough stance against gays and lesbians, or maybe he didn't." [ABC News]

As we now know, Bush is endorsing a Constitutional amendment which could change the country forever. As one Republican lawyer told Andrew Sullivan, "[With] one amendment the religious right could wipe out access to birth control, abortion, and even non-procreative sex (as Senator Santorum so eagerly wants to do). This debate isn't only about federalism, it's about the reversal of two hundred years of liberal democracy that respects individuals." Or, as Sullivan put it, "Memo to straights: you're next." [AndrewSullivan.com]

Skipp Porteous sounded the alarm in Bush's Secret Religious Pandering, written in 2000.

As America prepares for the first, fateful election of the new millennium, here are some disturbing truths behind W's "compassionate conservatism."

Bush the Despot, Salon, May 26, 2005

George Bush: 'God Told Me to End the Tyranny in Iraq', UK Guardian, October 7, 2005

Punishing Critics, Silencing Opponents

Bush Team Imposes Thick Veil of Secrecy, Chicago Tribune, April 30, 2006

Climate Researchers Feeling Heat From White House, Washington Post, April 6, 2006

Plame Whistleblowers Targeted by Administration, Truthout, February 24, 2006

Spies, Lies and Wiretaps, New York Times, January 29, 2006

Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him, New York Times, January 29, 2006

What Is the I.R.S. Trying to Hide? New York Times, January 17, 2006

Republicans Accused of Witch-Hunt against Climate Change Scientists, UK Guardian, August 30, 2005

James Wagoner, the president of Advocates for Youth was reported in the New York Times, July 11, 2004, as saying, "Never have we experienced a climate of intimidation and censorship as we have today."

"Medicare and Iraq tell us all we need to know about the White House," says Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla. "They operate behind a series of misrepresentations, followed by coverups."

A funny thing happened to David Letterman this week. Actually, it only started out funny. And the unfunny ending fits into a disturbing pattern.

Intimidation from Karl Rove: This feature from TomPaine quotes John DiIulio, a domestic policy advisor to the White House, about Bush's political advisor, Karl Rove.

"Some staff members, senior and junior, are awed and cowed by Karl's real or perceived powers. They self-censor lots for fear of upsetting him, and, in turn, few of the president's top people routinely tell the president what they really think if they think that Karl will be brought up short in the bargain. Karl is enormously powerful, maybe the single most powerful person in the modern, post-Hoover era ever to occupy a political advisor post near the Oval Office."

Nonprofit Groups Question Motive for Federal Actions, New York Times, March 21, 2005

Outing a CIA Agent

The story about outing a CIA agent reveals how the Bush team uses intimidation and threats to silence people. Former diplomat Joe Wilson wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times on July 6, 2003. In an interview with Joe Conason of Salon, May 3, 2004, Wilson talked about how the Bush adminstration intimidates the media.

"Guantánamo" is now a metaphor for being cut off completely from access and sources. I've had any number of reporters who have talked to me about how even the most minor criticism of the administration led to phone calls to their editors from senior officials in the government. I think that's a clear pattern of intimidation.

"The Bush Administration Adopts a Worse-than-Nixonian Tactic: The Deadly Serious Crime Of Naming CIA Operatives" by John Dean White House Counsel under Richard Nixon.

From the New York Times, April 2, 2004:

Prosecutors investigating whether someone in the Bush administration improperly disclosed the identity of a C.I.A. officer have expanded their inquiry to examine whether White House officials lied to investigators or mishandled classified information related to the case, lawyers involved in the case and government officials say.

From the New York Times, April 30, 2004:

Former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV says in a new book that he believes the White House official behind the disclosure of his wife's identity as an undercover C.I.A. officer was "quite possibly" I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.

Disregard for Democracy

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Bush's presidency is its apparent disregard for normal functioning of democracy. The President refuses to provide critical information to Congress and investigative committees, he subverts the intentions of Congress, and outright lies. To read a collection of articles exposoing the President's disregard for Democracy, click here.

Influence of Religious Right on Bush Administration Policies

Tax Cuts

Tax cuts have been a signature issue of Bush's presidency, even as unemployment rises, the cost of war increases, and the government incurs heavy deficit spending. The Texas Republican Party Platform, 2002, calls for the elimination of income tax, inheritance tax, gift tax, capital gains, corporate income tax, payroll tax, and property tax along with the IRS. As the federal government becomes starved for funds, many of its functions would be taken over by churches. Bush's Faith Based Initiative combined with massive tax cuts is leading toward a transfer of the federal government to religious institutions.

The Environment

The Bush administration is waging a virtual war on the environment enabling industries to decimate forests, divert water, pollute national parks, and release CO2 and toxins into the atmosphere. His administration joined the automobile industry in a lawsuit against California challenging its authority to set emission standards tougher than those of the federal government.

Reproductive Rights and The War Against Women

Just twenty-two days after taking office, Bush re-imposed restrictions known as the "Global Gag Rule." This policy restricts foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive U.S. family planning funds from using their own, non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortion services, lobby their own governments for abortion law reform, or even provide accurate medical counseling or referrals regarding abortion.

On Feb. 2, 2001, Anthony Lewis wrote in The New York Times:

"What it means on the ground is this: A woman who has AIDS comes to a clinic somewhere in Africa or Asia. Drugs to prevent transmission of the disease to newborn infants are not available there. She desperately wants to avoid bearing the child. But the doctor or nurse cannot advise her on a safe legal abortion if the clinic wants to keep its American funds."

Bush has chosen anti-choice extremists for key positions such as Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services. His administration has named a fetus a 'human being' preparing the way to argue that abortion is 'murder'. And Bush's nominees to the federal courts are consistently anti-choice. more

Gun Control

The Religious Right opposes any form of gun control. The House of Representatives, dominated by the Religious Right, passed a bill that immunizes gun makers and sellers from liability. "No one ever believed that legislation this bad could pass," said Mike Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. President Bush indicated that if the bill passed the Senate, he would sign it. On March 2, 2004, the Senate scuttled the bill.

The ten-year ban on assault weapons expires in September, 2004. The House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, who decides what bills will and won't come up for a vote, has announced that a vote to continue the ban on assault weapons will not come up for a vote, so Tom DeLay will have decided that assault weapons will become available once again.

As a sniper terrorized Washington, D.C. legislators began talking about a national ballistics fingerprinting law for all firearms. Bush's Press Secretary, Ari Fleischer, speaking on National Public Radio, made it clear that legislation allowing ballistic experts to identify killers would not go very far. President Bush opposes ballistics finger printing, Fleischer told the press, "because it would interfere with a gun owner's privacy."

Foreign and Military Policy

Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners, an evangelical Christian magazine that advocates social justice, writes in Dangerous Religion, George W. Bush's Theology of Empire, (Sept/Oct, 2003):

"The Bush theology deserves to be examined on biblical grounds. Is it really Christian, or merely American? Does it take a global view of God's world or just assert American nationalism in the latest update of 'manifest destiny?'"

"To this aggressive extension of American power in the world, President George W. Bush adds God-and that changes the picture dramatically. It's one thing for a nation to assert its raw dominance in the world; it's quite another to suggest, as this president does, that the success of American military and foreign policy is connected to a religiously inspired " mission," and even that his presidency may be a divine appointment for a time such as this."

Quotes by President Bush in Asia Times, March 26, 2004, "The evangelical roots of US unilateralism," by Duane Oldfield:

"While the United States will constantly strive to enlist the support of the international community, we will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary, to exercise our right of self-defense by acting preemptively ..."

"Today humanity holds in its hands the opportunity to further freedom's triumph over all these foes. The United States welcomes our responsibility to lead in this great mission ."

"But our responsibility to history is clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil."

That the administration of US President George W Bush is pursuing a unilateralist foreign policy on issues ranging from the Iraq war to global warming to the International Criminal Court is obvious to observers at home and abroad. Also clear is the fact that the Bush policy, at least in its broad outlines, is very much in keeping with the preferences of the Christian Right.

Bush's road map for peace in the Middle East is not consistent with the goals of the Christian Zionist movement that favors an expanded Israel. The President, however, is conspicuously absent in pursuit of his road map. His seemingly lack of concern about the dangers of nuclear war leads one to wonder what he believes about Biblical Prophecy.

Chip Berlet, senior analyst for Political Research Associates, is quoted in The Progressive as saying,

"Bush is very much into the apocalyptic and messianic thinking of militant Christian evangelicals. He seems to buy into the worldview that there is a giant struggle between good and evil culminating in a final confrontation. People with that kind of a worldview often take risks that are inappropriate and scary because they see it as carrying out God's will."

Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty

The New York Times, August 6, 2004

... it is astonishing, and frightening, that the Bush administration is now pushing to strip the teeth from a proposed new treaty aimed at expanding the current international bans on the production of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium.

The agreement, the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, would, for the first time, ban all countries from producing highly enriched uranium or plutonium for nuclear weapons. It would cover the four countries that do not subscribe to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty: North Korea, Pakistan, India and Israel. And it would apply to the five officially recognized nuclear weapons nations, including the United States; they would be allowed to retain and use only their current inventories.

First Use of Nuclear Weapons

The Bush administration's stated willingness to use nuclear weapons first only serves to escalate the nuclear arms race by signaling to other nations that they need to increase their nuclear arsenals. It greatly increases the risk of a nuclear confrontation.

Bush Pushes Nuclear Weapons Development in US, Truthout, September 1, 2006

  In the face of increased Congressional opposition to US nuclear weapons development, the Bush administration appears to be making an end run around governmental checks and balances.

The Washington Post, July 31, 2004 reported:

In a significant shift in U.S. policy, the Bush administration announced this week that it will oppose provisions for inspections and verification as part of an international treaty that would ban production of nuclear weapons materials.

The following three articles from MoveOn.org, June 7, 2003, address the treaty with Putin, "mini nukes", and nuclear weapons designed for attacking buried caves and tunnels:

1. TREATY WITH PUTIN

Steven Chapman of the Chicago Tribune:

"The greatest nuclear peril posed by the Russians is not that they will launch a missile attack. It's that some of their bombs or nuclear material might find their way into the hands of terrorists. Moving these weapons from silos, where they are extremely secure, to warehouses, where they may not be, would be a gift to Al Qaeda and every other outlaw group that lusts after Russia's "loose nukes." (1/13/02)

2. MINI NUKES

The Bush administration has lobbied for the repeal of a 10-year ban on research and development of "low-yield" nuclear weapons. Senator Diane Feinstein, (D-CA) wrote in a statement (4/29/03) "The political effects of U.S. pursuit of new nuclear weapons could well be to legitimize nuclear weapons."

3. NUCLEAR WEAPONS GO UNDERGROUND

From Popular Science magazine::

"[T]he Pentagon has begun to consider the previously unthinkable: developing specially designed nuclear weapons for attacking buried caves and tunnels.... Such a move would represent the most significant rewriting of U.S. nuclear strategy in decades, because its intended purpose violates the two cornerstones of current policy: to use nuclear weapons only as a last resort and never to use them against non-nuclear nations.."

Iran's Best Friend, New York Times, March 5, 2006:

Fast-forward to Thursday's nuclear deal with India, in which President Bush agreed to share civilian nuclear technology with India despite its nuclear weapons programs and its refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

This would be a bad idea at any time, rewarding India for flouting the basic international understanding that has successfully discouraged other countries from South Korea to Saudi Arabia from embarking on their own efforts to build nuclear weapons. But it also undermines attempts to rein in Iran, whose nuclear program is progressing fast and unnerving both its neighbors and the West.

Missing Nuclear Leadership, New York Times, May 8, 2005

Green Light for Bomb Builders, New York Times, July 22, 2005

Pentagon Drafts Permeative Nuke Policy, Reuters, September 8, 2005

US and Russia to Enter Civilian Nuclear Pact , Washington Post, July 8, 2006

North Korea

Calling the infamous leader of North Korea a "pygmy" is playing nuclear chicken with an irrational leader. Former President Jimmy Carter cites the many ways President Bush is moving North Korea toward nuclear war:

"North Korea feels increasingly threatened by being branded an "axis of evil" member; deployment of anti-ballistic missiles in Alaska; Washington voices expressing military threats; interception of North Korean ships; ad hominem attacks on President Kim Jong II; condemnation of previous efforts by President Clinton and South Korean leaders to resolve issues peacefully, and U.S. refusal to negotiate directly with North Korea." (Ithaca Journal, 9/5/03)

Anti-Internationalism

The World According to Bolton, New York Times, March 9, 2005:

President Bush nominated John Bolton, an outspoken critic of multinational institutions and a former Jesse Helms protégé, to be the representative to the United Nations.

U.N. Adopts Modest Goals on Reforms and Poverty, New York Times, September 14, 2005:

He [Kofi Annan] complained pointedly, however, about the elimination in the final version of language covering nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, labeling the exclusion a "disgrace" at a time when the world feared a spread of unconventional weapons.

U.S. Wants Changes In U.N. Agreement, Washington Post, August 25, 2005:

Less than a month before world leaders arrive in New York for a world summit on poverty and U.N. reform, the Bush administration has thrown the proceedings in turmoil with a call for drastic renegotiation of a draft agreement to be signed by presidents and prime ministers attending the event.

The United States has only recently introduced more than 750 amendments that would eliminate new pledges of foreign aid to impoverished nations, scrap provisions that call for action to halt climate change and urge nuclear powers to make greater progress in dismantling their nuclear arms.

US blocks U.N. briefing on atrocities in Sudan, Reuters, October 10, 2005

Gutting the World Summit: Bush Betrays Poor Women Again, CommonDreams, September 10, 2005

A Declaration Of War, Institute for Policy Studies, August 31, 2005

Bolton Pushes U.N. on Change as U.S. Objects to Draft Plan, The New York Times, August 26, 2005

Reaction of Senator Patrick Leahy to UN Ambassador John Bolton's Bid to Strike "Respect for Nature" from Draft UN Statement of Principles, Truthout, August 26, 2005

The Texas Republican Party Platform calls for rescinding United States membership in the United Nations and removing the United Nations from US soil. Pat Robertson, in his book, The Millennium, depicts the United Nations as a Satanic plot to take control of the world.

The country is paying dearly for Bush's anti-internationalism in Iraq both in human lives and in expense. Bush has consistently refused to cooperate with efforts of other countries to sign international treaties. He won't support the Kyoto treaty to halt global warming, and his administration is undermining what has been the most successful environmental treaty: the Montreal Protocol. "Christian Soldiers on the March," in The Nation reports on Bush's anti-internationalism.

Anti-Science

Surgeon General Sees 4-Year Term as Compromised, New York Times, July 11, 2007

The administration, Dr. Carmona said, would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells , emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues.

Religion Running Roughshod Over Cancer Science, Truthdig, June 11, 2006

When Politics Defeats Science, Washington Post, March 1, 2006 -- The former FDA official asks: When did adult access to contraception become so controversial?

Political Appointees Pollute Waters at Ocean Agency, PEER, June 28, 2005

U.S. Pressure Weakens G-8 Climate Plan, Washington Post, June 17, 2005

New EPA Mercury Rule Omits Conflicting Data, Washington Post, March 22, 2005

Scientists feel stifled by Bush administration, CNN.Com, February 21, 2005

Ideology and AIDS, New York Times, February 26, 2005

From the Union of Concerned Scientists, (UCS) July 8, 2004:

Today, the Union of Concerned Scientists released new evidence that the Bush Administration continues to suppress and distort scientific knowledge and undermine scientific advisory panels.

The Washington Post, July 9, 2004 comments on the UCS report:

More than 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel laureates, have joined a call for "restoration of scientific integrity in federal policymaking," charging that the Bush administration is packing scientific advisory panels with ideologues and imposing controls on collaboration with foreign researchers, a scientists' group said yesterday.

Ihe New York Times, July 9, 2004 comments on the UCS report:

In a report released yesterday, a scientific advocacy group cited more instances of what it called the Bush administration's manipulation of science to fit its policy goals, including the questioning of nominees to scientific advisory panels about whether they had voted for President Bush.

Junking Science, a New York Times editorial, September 14:

The Bush administration has from time to time found it convenient to distort science to serve political ends. The result is a purposeful confusion of scientific protocols in which "sound science" becomes whatever the administration says it is. In the short run, this is a tactic to override basic environmental protections in favor of industry. In the long run, it undermines the authority of science itself.

James Wagoner, the president of Advocates for Youth was quoted in the New York Times, July 11, 2004 as saying about sex education, "For 20 years, it was about health and science, and now we have a political ideological approach."

The Bush administration is proposing that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have final authority on

"scientific and technical evaluations - known as peer reviews - of all major government rules, plans, proposed regulations and pronouncements." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1/11/04).

This enormous policy shift would also put the OMB in charge of how much information the public should be given regarding the "release of emergency declarations from the federal agencies responsible for public health, safety, and the environment."

The following article, "George W. Bush's War on Nature" warns of the danger of trusting ideology over science. "Republicans are pushing the most radical assault on the environment in modern times. But history warns of catastrophe for leaders who trust ideology over science." more

Physcian Felicia Stewart, co-director of the Center for Reproductive Health Research & Policy at the University of California, San Francisco, claims, the Food and Drug Administration's decision to refuse to make Plan B emergency contraceptive pills available over the counter manifests:

a pattern of disregard for science from the current administration. There is unprecedented support for over-the-counter access to emergency contraception among the medical community and the public. The medical evidence overwhelmingly shows Plan B is safe, effective and appropriate for OTC use by women of all ages.

Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to Global Warming, New York Times, June 8, 2005:

A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents.

Republicans Accused of Witch-Hunt against Climate Change Scientists, UK Guardian, August 30, 2005

Science Ignored, Again, New York Times, October 14, 2006

Influence of Religious Right on Bush Administration Appointments

Scandal puts spotlight on Christian law school: Grads influential in Justice Dept., Boston Globe, April 8, 2007 -- Monica Goodling, who is at the center of the storm over the firing
of US attorneys. Goodling, is a graduate of Pat Robertson's Regents University.

Bush Choice for Family-Planning Post Criticized, Washington Post, November 17, 2006

The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as "demeaning to women."

Bush Nominates Anti-Regulatory Zealot to Head "Super-Powerful" Public Safety Office ThinkProgress.org, July 6, 2006

New Bush policy adviser said he'd support jail for doctors who performed abortions, The Raw Story, June 16, 2006

A Disastrous Appointment, Salon, January 6, 2005

Political Screening for All Park Service Managers, PEER, October 13, 2005

Bush Cronyism Weakens Government Agencies, Bloomberg, September 30, 2005

Lobbying From Within, New York Times, June 17, 2005

Attorney General John Ashcroft was the first highly visible Bush nomination. Ashcroft, member of the Federalist Society and former member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, changed a custom followed by every President of the past fifty years, Republican and Democrat, when he stopped using the American Bar Association to review judicial nominations. Ashcroft's extreme religious beliefs and attacks on civil liberties are well known.

Morton Blackwell, a leader of the Religious Right, told U.S News and World Report that in the fall of 1999, a group of conservative leaders met with then-candidate Bush seeking a promise that if elected, he would appoint movement conservatives to his cabinet. Blackwell said, "He is keeping that promise" and "John Ashcroft is an example of that."

The most far-reaching impact will come from Bush's judicial nominations to the federal benches who will be serving lifetime appointments. He appointed two very controversial federal judges without Congressional approval, during Senate recess.

Bush has nominated W. David Hager to the powerful Food and Drug Administration's panel on women's health policy. Hager believes women should turn to the Bible and Christ for healing and joined a Christian Medical Associate's drive calling on the FDA to reverse its approval of RU-486, the 'abortion pill.'

President Bush is allegedly considering J. Robert Brame III, board member of Reconstructionist group, American Vision, as a member of the National Labor Relations Board.

General William Boykin, appointed to a senior Defense Department post, has repeatedly explained that America's enemy was "a spiritual enemy ... called Satan." The enemy will only be defeated, according to General Boykin, "if we come against them in the name of Jesus."

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld just shrugs at Boykin's remarks. "We're a free people," Rumsfeld points out. Yes, we enjoy freedom of speech, but such inflammatory statements from the deputy undersecretary for intelligence -- a man in the highest uniform -- only serves to ignite the muslim world against us.

A Muslim rights group called for Boykin to be reassigned from his job, which includes evaluating and providing resources for the intelligence needs of military commanders. Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said,

"Putting a man with such extremist views in a critical policy-making position sends entirely the wrong message to a Muslim world that is already skeptical about America's motives and intentions,"

Bush's hawks moving up -- or out? Boston Globe, March 23, 2005

Destroying the National Parks, New York Times, August 29, 2005: article about Bush's appointee, John Hoffman, to rewrite National Park guidelines.

Bush's Newest Crusader, TomPaine, December 1, 2005

Paul Bonicelli [has been appointed] to be deputy director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is in charge of all programs to promote democracy and good governance overseas.

Bonicelli is dean of academic affairs at tiny  Patrick Henry College  in rural Virginia. The fundamentalist institution's motto is "For Christ and Liberty." It requires that all of its 300 students sign a 10-part "statement of faith" declaring, among other things, that they believe "Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, is God come in the flesh;" that "Jesus Christ literally rose bodily from the dead"; and that hell is a place where "all who die outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious torment for eternity."

Bush Nomination for Mine Overseer Decried, The NewStandard, July 25, 2006 -- see my post, A Culture of Life or Death? on Talk To Action, July 19, 2006