Iowa Caucuses 2012: Christian Right 'Essentially In Control' Of GOP And Tea Party In Iowa

In August, fresh from a victory in the Iowa straw poll, Michele Bachmann was the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination. While her numbers have since cratered, a new video from Al Jazeera English released Tuesday takes a sharp look at how the Christian conservative movement fueled her run and continues to dominate the Republican primaries.

"You have states like Iowa where the religious right is essentially in control of the state GOP apparatus," said Rob Boston, of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in the video.

The latest episode of the channel's "Fault Lines" show, titled "Politics, Religion, and the Tea Party," featured this summer's Iowa State Fair, where Bachmann claimed her poll win. Switching between scenes of enthusiastic right-wing voters at the fair and interviews with experts on both sides, the video paints Iowa Republicans as religiously-dominated and vaguely sinister.

"Our Constitution was designed for religious people, it was designed by religious people, and the principles of our law and our Constitution come directly from Moses and his system of government. And that information's not taught anymore," said Rev. Cary Gordon, an influential Sioux City pastor, in the episode.

The narrator claims that Gordon, who recently endorsed former Sen. Rick Santorum for the GOP nomination, "openly admits he violates the federal law banning tax-exempt organizations like churches from getting involved in political campaigns."

Another powerful Iowa Christian leader, Tamara Scott of Concerned Women for America, put the issue in similarly stark terms to Al Jazeera: "If we're not involved as Christians then we'll be ruled by the ungodly."

The video also suggests that the combined Christian and Tea Party movement had been co-opted by major organizations like the conservative group FreedomWorks to channel anger against the government.

"There's a symbiotic and useful relationship between people who demonize the U.S. government on moral issues -- in other words, you are evil because you allow abortion or whatever it may be -- and then the people who actually benefit from it, which are the folks sitting the corner offices of Goldman Sachs, the Koch brothers, our big banks," said Frank Schaeffer, a one-time Christian conservative activist and current critic of the movement, in the video.

Watch the full episode above.

Also on HuffPost:

 

 

Comments

[Drumbeato]

01:35 AM on 12/17/2011

"The religious Right, dominates Iowa". This is exactly the reason Iowa is less & less important in deciding the Presidency with every passing year.

[sarahfigueroa207]

10:57 AM on 12/16/2011

"Our Constitution was designed for religious people, it was designed by religious people, and the principles of our law and our Constitution come directly from Moses and his system of government. And that information's not taught anymore," said Rev. Cary Gordon, an influential Sioux City pastor, in the episode

This Christian Revisionist beleif is such a lie! They are trying to rewrite history in order to create a national religion. The Founding Fathers were Free Masons, men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. They were Diest, Free Thinkers who relied on their reason and logic not their faith. There is absolutely no mention of Christ, Christianity, the Bible, or Divine in the US Constitution. Actualy the only mention of religions is in exclusionary terms, as in ...
"no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section 3)

[l78lancer]

04:05 PM on 12/15/2011

Not all of the constitution's writers were Christians. Some like John Adams, were agnostics. Others were Quakers. The blind spot of the religious right is that they claim the Constitution all their own, refusing to recognize that the founding fathers actually recognized that there were people who worshipped differently, or not at all, who were both writers of the Constitution and citizens of this country.

The claim that the Constitution is a Christian document is patently false.

[l78lancer]

04:01 PM on 12/15/2011

""Our Constitution was designed for religious people, it was designed by religious people, and the principles of our law and our Constitution come directly from Moses and his system of government. And that information's not taught anymore," said Rev. Cary Gordon, an influential Sioux City pastor, in the episode."
-------------------------------------------------->

Eves as a Christian these remarks go way too far. What in the Constitution says it was designed for regious people? What makes it a direct decendant of Moses? (By the way, Moses didn't write any laws according to the scriptures.)

If anything the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were written, in part, because of religious zealots who persecuted individuals who worshiped differently. Otherwise religious tenets would have been written directly into these documents, and the US would have been a theocracy from the start.

[alterego55]

03:27 PM on 12/15/2011

The Tea Party always was the Christian right. Its a reincarnation of Jerry Falwell's (may he rest in agony) moral majority, who were neither moral nor a majority.

[slickbottom]

02:11 PM on 12/15/2011

"If we're not involved as Christians then we'll be ruled by the ungodly."

That's funny. I always looked at these christian kooks as being the ungodly. There is nothing christian about them. They are some sort of backwards rural fanatics with a made up religion and made up morality. They are an abomination.

[klincklanc]

05:35 AM on 12/15/2011

It would be nice if California decided it would become the first primary state. The entire tone of the debate would be much better. Its tiresome getting led around by the nose by a bunch of backward Iowa "christians."

[SQUARE POINT]

04:52 PM on 12/14/2011

I think lots of people are missing the point. It's not about your opinion of whether or not the Christian right has control of this or that or is true to the teachings of Christ.

It is about the fact that our country is in deep, deep, deep trouble.

President Obama and the Dems have proven to be unmotivated to change our trouble.

The pendulum is swinging to someone not Obama.

It is further obvious that government has become a problem and not a solution.

Obama barely won the presidency capturing roughly 51% of the vote WITH all the starry-eyed hype.

The hype is gone, the bloom is off the rose, and Obama is responsible for his own un-doing.

The important question is :

How MUCH better can we do than what we have?
"We The People" want better.

[Opposition Research]

02:06 PM on 12/14/2011

FTH: "Iowa Caucuses 2012: Christian Right 'Essentially In Control' Of GOP And Tea Party In Iowa"

That's been true for 18 years, and that's true of 80% of the United States.

I have one small correction, though. Please do not refer to them as the "Christian Right."

2 Timothy 3:1-9, James 1:19, Matthew 23, and Galatians 5:22-23 calmly explain why.

[slickbottom]

02:03 PM on 12/15/2011

I live in New Jersey and it's not true in my state. I really don't see any of those evangelical creatures in my day to day life. They really would not have much of an influence in a Progressive state like New Jersey. Evangelicals are more a phenomenon found is rural right wing areas where the people are less educated.

[Opposition Research]

02:42 PM on 12/15/2011

I'm aware that the Northeast is different. That's why I said 80% of the United States.

[Kiffanik]

01:21 PM on 12/14/2011

"our Constitution come directly from Moses and his system of government. And that information's not taught anymore," said Rev. Cary Gordon, an influential Sioux City pastor, in the episode."

I'm pretty familiar with the Bible and the Constitution. This is not a true statement.

[schnauzergirl]

12:40 PM on 12/14/2011

"Our Constitution was designed for religious people, it was designed by religious people, and the principles of our law and our Constitution come directly from Moses and his system of government. And that information's not taught anymore," said Rev. Cary Gordon, an influential Sioux City pastor,


Its never been taught in our schools (at least not the public ones) largely due to the fact that its not true.

[Gonzo333]

12:11 PM on 12/14/2011

Scary!

[everysome]

11:45 AM on 12/14/2011

so did god command all those christains to come here and murder,rape and generally pillage the inhabitants of the previous 10,000 years? to turn it into the home of the fleeced and the land of the slave?

boy they really need to start teaching history and civics in school again to push back against this pseudo-christian pseudo history of this country.

[theaverment]

12:32 PM on 12/14/2011

According to them God did..... they called it manifest destiny. Religion, in this case Christianity, was also the rationalization for slavery, amongst other things.

[slickbottom]

02:16 PM on 12/15/2011

It would not do any good. These evangelical kooks where born ignorant and stay that way for their entire lives. It's the way rural America has been forever. These hicks are very superstitious with a primitive belief structure based on fear and bigotry. They cannot be educated.

[theaverment]

11:45 AM on 12/14/2011

When the so called evangelical "Moral Majority" really introduced themselves into the political king maker arena during the 70s' and 80s' thanks to the likes of jerry falwell and pat robertson, they were left at the alter time and time again by those whom they helped get elected to public office. They were used to get elected and once in office their ideology did not pan out into legislation.

Now that they are behind the tea party, they will not take anyone into their tent that does not spew their dogma to the nth degree, and this is why the GOP field looks the way it does today. To believe that they have every American's interest at heart is dangerous and foolish. Look at what the 2010 midterms brought us.

[SQUARE POINT]

05:18 PM on 12/14/2011

Falwell's Moral Majority didn't become material force until former President Reagan's election in 1980. The general opinion is that former Pres. Reagan was a great President.

The Moral Majority had no steam with former Pres. HW Bush. HWB lost support to Perot. When Perot withdrew from the race, people embraced Clinton. The enigma of organized Christianity is not a king maker as proven by Clinton and Obama's elections.

Encumbent Presidents lose elections due to implementation of agendas that offend the critical voting base. LBJ lost to Nixon. Ford lost to Carter. Carter lost to Reagan. HW Bush lost to Clinton.

President Obama walks in their footsteps. History will repeat itself.

[theaverment]

07:53 AM on 12/15/2011

Your name says square, but your post is obtuse. Not only did you disagree, and then reiterate what I initially posted, but then you went on to prove my point.

[theaverment]

11:38 AM on 12/14/2011

The bipolarity of the evangelical, i.e. quoting the passive, loving, message in the new testament when it suits them and quoting the jealous vengeful message of the old testament when it is in their benefit, is most prevalent in the tea parties nonsensical message and actions today.

I have had countless conversations with many self described tea party ideologists, and when I bring attention to their callousness amongst their fellow man, they defend themselves with their proclamation of, "I am a Christian", and then it all makes sense.