Religious Right Watch: Evangelicals push for more palaver about abortion, gay marriage

As the electorate focuses on economic downturn, high energy prices and war, evangelicals are promising to turn the election rhetoric to abortion and gay marriage. While McCain and Obama are both journeying to Rick Warren’s California megachurch on Saturday, thousands of evangelicals are heading to Washington, D.C., for "The Call." The purpose, said organizer Lou Engle, is to “drive the issue of abortion like a wedge into the soul of the nation.”

The group has put together a lovely video touting "50 million babies murdered," claiming that the 9/11 attacks have biblical roots and, if you watch closely, dropping a plug for Minneapolis. Mike Huckabee will  be featured prominently at the event.

Engel and other religious right leader are calling on McCain to be more zealous in espousing social  conservative talking points — specifically, by calling for a constitutional amendment to block gay marriage and denouncing his own past support for stem cell research. “I don’t trust John McCain,” said Engle.

Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi profiles McCain’s religion and his relationship to the religious right. McCain recently started regularly attending church, or at least that’s the impression his campaign gave reporters. According to Taibbi, "Yeah, they started telling us he was going to church about a month ago," one McCain-beat reporter chuckled to me on the Straight Talk Express. "Like, Oh, by the way, he’s going to church again. At this address, if you want to check. . . ."

Some nuggets from the story: McCain is not born again. He has not been baptized in his Baptist church. Baptism being a central tenet of evangelical faith, the revelation could spell trouble in some fundamentalists eyes.

But, the McCain campaign is nonetheless working hard to curry favor among the evangelical set. McCain is courting former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed, who will be headlining a fundraiser for the presumptive Republican nominee. (Reed also serves to remind voters of the Republicans’ involvement in the Jack Abramoff scandal — Reed took Abramoff’s scandal tainted money to do PR work.)  

The Rev. Jerry Falwell may have passed on, but his spirit is still alive in McCain’s mind. He keeps an autographed copy of Falwell’s picture in his office. In fact, it’s the only politically oriented picture in his office. The signature from Falwell reads, "You are a great American, a national treasure and I am glad to say my good friend." Apparently, attitudes change: during the 2000 presidential campaign, McCain called Falwell an "agent of intolerance."