Bumpy Lane: Religious Right Operative Seeks To Build (Another) Church-Based Political Machine

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Bumpy Lane: Religious Right Operative Seeks To Build (Another) Church-Based Political Machine
Mar 19, 2015 by Rob Boston in Wall of Separation

David Lane is the latest in a long line of Religious Right operatives seeking to forge right-wing evangelicals into a well-oiled political machine.

Here’s what the country doesn’t need right now: another zealot aiming to mobilize right-wing pastors to become a force in electoral politics.

Yet that’s what the country is getting.

Meet David Lane. According to a recent New York Times story, Lane is the latest in a long line of Religious Right operatives seeking to forge right-wing evangelicals into a well-oiled political machine.

We’ve been down this road before. Think Jerry Falwell. Think Ralph Reed. Think Tony Perkins. Think David Barton.

What’s different this time? Here’s how The Times put it: “Unlike political operatives such as Ralph Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition who helped elect George W. Bush before becoming ensnared in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, Mr. Lane does not have an extensive organization. What Mr. Lane, a former public relations man, does have going for him is a decentralized landscape in which a determined believer with an extensive network of ground-level evangelical leaders and a limitless capacity for talking on the phone can exert influence on Republican presidential candidates eager to reach evangelical voters.”

Lane may not have an extensive organization behind him, but he’s not exactly the Lone Ranger. As The Times story notes, he is bankrolled by unnamed high donors and receives logistical support from the American Family Association (AFA).

Lane claims to have a list of 100,000 supportive pastors, and 1,000 of them are supposedly interested in running for office.

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https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/bumpy-lane-religious-right-operative-seeks-to-build-another-church-based