Influential conservative distances self from the far right

[paineinthearse]

Second in a series of three. The first, "BG/MacQuarrie: Dobson spiritual empire wields political clout" was posted in LBN, but moved to "editorials and articles" at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x163134

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/10/10/baptist_lobbyist_walks_a_fine_line/


Richard Land (center) of the Southern Baptist Convention often appears on talk shows. In June, he spoke with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews (left) in Nashville.
(Bill Peoples for the Boston Globe)

Baptist lobbyist walks a fine line
Influential conservative distances self from the far right
By Nina J. Easton, Globe Staff | October 10, 2005

Second of three parts on key evangelical leaders

NASHVILLE -- In the early 1970s, Richard Land, the Southern Baptist son of a Houston welder, took up his calling as the pastor of a storefront church in the heart of New Orleans' French Quarter. ''We had a gay bar next door, and a drag queen costume shop across the street," he recalls. He had just graduated from Princeton, where '60s liberalism and student pot smoking provided one level of culture shock for a young man weaned on daily Bible studies and his parents' evangelical confidence in the word of God. Bourbon Street, on the other hand, was like another universe.

Land and his classmates at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary were required to double as street preachers, ministering to alcoholics, addicts, hustlers, gamblers, runaways, and other assorted lost souls. His contact with a large gay community at the height of the counterculture era would shape a lifelong interest in combating what Land calls ''the homosexual lifestyle," a mission that he combines with an equally intense determination to denounce the hate-mongers within the Christian right. ''Jesus would never use a derogatory term to refer to a human being," says Land.

For 18 years, Land has walked this fine line as the Southern Baptist Convention's influential point-man in Washington, where he uses his close ties to the White House and congressional leadership to promote a deeply conservative social agenda on behalf of the nation's largest non-Catholic denomination. But he carefully distances himself from the far right, whether he's arguing that Christians should minister to gays and lesbians rather than condemn them or openly criticizing fellow evangelicals who refuse to follow court orders from ''liberal activist" judges.

And at a time when the political right is fracturing over Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers, Land is emerging as an avid Bush loyalist. Land, 58, has personally known the president since they both lived in Texas in the 1980s, and still meets with him three to four times a year. Unlike others on the right, Land didn't require convincing when Bush nominated John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice -- despite an unclear record on abortion and other social issues -- and now stands apart from critics of the Miers's nomination. Yesterday, Land appeared on NBC's ''Meet the Press" to defend Miers, predicting she will disagree with Roberts ''only one percent of the time."

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Tomorrow: A purpose driven life

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. 13 months to go and the lifeboats are being lowered

So sweet!

[AX10]

2. We must get Congress back next year my freind.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. Absolutely!