Christian Coalition
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- This article is about the organization presently operating in the United States. For the short-lived New Zealand political party of the same name, see Christian Coalition (New Zealand). For the organization formerly known as the Australian Christian Coalition, see Australian Christian Lobby
The Christian Coalition of America is a US Christian political advocacy group, which includes Christian fundamentalists, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Roman Catholics and members of mainline Protestant churches. It says that it has 1,200,000 members, but the organization People For the American Way say other data suggest it is 300,000-400,000.<ref>"People For the American Way - Christian Coalition of America", People for the American Way, Updated April 2004; URL accessed April 23, 2006.</ref> The Christian Coalition was founded by Rev. Pat Robertson, who served as the organization's president for some time. The current president is Roberta Combs (through 2006). Joel Hunter was supposed to assume the presidency of the organization as of January 1, 2007<ref>"Christian Coalition signals change of guard in selection of its president"</ref>, but he then declined to take the job, citing differences of philosophy and vision.[1] [2]
Its aims are consistent with those of the Christian right. On its website it states that it is:
- (An) active conservative grassroots political organization in America. The Christian Coalition of America offers people of faith the vehicle to be actively involved in shaping their government - from the County Courthouse to the halls of Congress.<ref>"Christian Coalition of America"; URL accessed April 23, 2006.</ref>
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[edit] Brief history
Following a well-funded but failed bid for the U.S. presidency in 1988, Pat Robertson used the remains of his campaign machinery to jump-start the creation of a voter mobilization effort dubbed the Christian Coalition. Ralph Reed, took control of day-to-day operations of the Coalition in 1989.
After its founding in 1988, it was granted a grace period to operate as a tax-exempt status before the IRS made its final determination. In 1992, they began producing non-partisan voter guides which they distributed to conservative Christian churches. Under the leadership of Reed and Robertson, the Coalition quickly became the loudest voice in the conservative Christian movement, its influence culminating with an effort to support the election of a conservative Christian to the presidency in 1996.
Following Bill Clinton’s re-election and Reed’s departure in 1997, the organization has made only limited progress and has declined in influence. In 1998, Americans United urged the IRS to review the Coalition’s partisan political activities over the decade its tax-exempt status was pending. The following year, the IRS revoked The Coalition’s provisional tax-exemption. Churches that once embraced the Christian Coalition have disassociated themselves for fear of losing their own tax-exempt status. After its tax-exempt status was denied, CCA was able to turn all of its attention to politics. In 2000 the coalition moved from its long-standing base of operations in the Chesapeake Bay area to an office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
In both the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections, voter mobilization efforts of conservative Christians tended to be focused internally within the machinery of the Republican Party, as opposed to lobby groups and voter mobilization organizations such as the Christian Coalition. In a related example of this more "in-house" approach to mobilizing votes from the conservative Christian community, Reed served as Southeast Regional chairman for the Bush-Cheney campaign during the 2004 Presidential election.
In the 2000 Presidential election, the organization distributed over 70 million voter guides in churches all across America, including over 5 million in Spanish (approximately 2 million of which were distributed in Florida alone). In 2004, the group distributed approximately 30 million voter guides, but this time in targeted states and congressional districts, choosing instead to focus its efforts on areas that were more politically competitive.
After Robertson stepped down as the group's president in 2000, Roberta Combs took over the Coalition. Members of her family are now high-ranking officials in the group. However, since Robertson and Reed left the group, the Coalition's influence has greatly declined under Combs, and the once prosperous group now owes more than $2 million in debt. It is now under siege by lawsuits from creditors and is also struggling to hold on to state chapters since March 2006, when the Coalition's influential Iowa chapter broke from the group and formed the Iowa Christian Alliance. Once, the Christian Coalition organized a dozen lobbyists in Washington, but now the only remnant of the Coalition within a mile of the Capitol is a single employee who works from his home.
In 2005, the Coalition concluded a settlement agreement with the Internal Revenue Service, ending its long-running battle with that agency regarding its tax exempt status. As a result, the IRS has now recognized the Coalition's tax exempt status, the first time in the Agency's history that it has granted a letter of exemption to a group that stated in its application that it would distribute voter guides directly in churches.
In 2006, the Christian Coalition joined with Moveon.org to support Network Neutrality.[3]
TheocracyWatch says "the Christian Coalition was founded in 1989 by television preacher Pat Robertson to take over the Republican[sic] Party from the bottom up" and "Congressional scorecards from organizations such as the Christian Coalition, Family Research Council, and Eagle Forum.<ref>"Dominionist Influence in The U.S. Congress", TheocracyWatch, Last updated: December 2005; URL accessed April 23, 2006.</ref> In their report Funding the Culture Wars<ref> Funding the Culture Wars: Philanthropy, Church and State By John Russell January 2005</ref> the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy<ref> the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy</ref> lists the Christian Coalition as one of the leading organizations funding the activities of the Christian right. Along with the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition is identified as an dominionist organization by TheocracyWatch<ref> The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party [4]TheocracyWatch, Last updated: March 2006; URL accessed April 29, 2006.</ref><ref>Taking Over the Republican PartyTheocracyWatch, Last updated: February 2005; URL accessed April 29, 2006.</ref>, which points to the Congressional scorecard of the Christian Coalition to illustrate the success and the strength of dominionists in Congress.<ref>"Dominionist Influence in The U.S. Congress", TheocracyWatch, Last updated: December 2005; URL accessed April 23, 2006.</ref>
AFL-CIO representatives have written that the Christian Coalition, along with much of the Christian right, is against organized labor.<ref>Politics in America: The Right Wing Attack on the American Labor Movement URL accessed April 29, 2006.</ref>
In August 2006, the Christian Coalition of Alabama split from the national group. [5] It later renamed itself Christian Action Alabama.
In November 2006, The president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America has resigned his post Monday, citing a difference in philosophy over which issues the conservative Christian organization should embrace.
Rev. Joel C. Hunter, currently the senior pastor of the Northland Church in Longwood, Florida, was to assume the presidency in January. But Hunter said CCA leaders resisted his calls to expand their issue base "...saying the organization wouldn't let him expand its agenda beyond opposing abortion and same-sex marriage."[6]
Hunter also said he wanted to focus on rebuilding the CCA's once powerful grassroots network -- an appeal he says board members rejected.
"After initial willingness to consider these changes, the board of the CCA decided, 'that is fine, but that is not who we are,'" Hunter said.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and references
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