Considering purchasing the Virginian-Pilot daily newspaper

Pat Robertson, the fabulously wealthy and fabulously strange televangelist owner of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), is looking to expand his media operations.

According to the Associated Press, Robertson is giving serious thought to making an offer for the Virginian-Pilot, a daily newspaper that "he has criticized for its coverage of him," AP reported.

The Pilot, which has broken a number of stories about Robertson's enterprises, particularly some of the shenanigans involving Robertson's Operation Blessing, is the flagship newspaper of the Norfolk, Virginia-based Landmark Communications.  

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein's International Fellowship of Christians and Jews declared funding partner of the Jewish Agency for Israel

After raising more than two hundred million dollars for various projects in Israel, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and his organization, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), which he founded and is president of, has hit pay-dirt.

In late December, the Jewish Agency for Israel, which helped found the State of Israel, announced that the IFCJ "will be declared a funding partner of the Jewish Agency... [and] Eckstein will ... receive new voting powers that will include spots on the committees that oversee the agency's budget and that meet with the prime minister and his Cabinet," the Jewish Daily Forward reported.

The announcement indicates a major shift in agency policy. Nearly 10 years ago, the head of the Jewish Agency "refused to be photographed taking a check" from Eckstein. "Now, it has publicly, and apparently proudly, acknowledged that the IFCJ would be donating 45 million dollars to the agency over the next three years, almost all of it raised from evangelical Christians in North America," according to The Forward.

"For the first time, Christians, who are mainly my constituency, will have a seat at the table," Eckstein told the Forward.

Governor Huckabee represents a new version of Christian activism.  Earlier visions of how Baptists might impact the world centered on reaching people for the church or aiding the needy. As Jery Falwell stated in the PBS documentary on the religious right, this idea was "obviously flawed".

Far right dubs Huckabee the `Big Government' candidate

Owing to his convincing victory in the Iowa Republican Party caucuses, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has become "viable." Over the next few weeks expect the mainstream media to both welcome the folksy/friendly Huckabee with open arms, and slice and dice his record and past statements.

Huckabee's victory was largely attributed to the support he garnered from a brigade of conservative evangelical Christians. According to The Nation's John Nichols, "A CNN survey of Republican caucusgoers Thursday found that six in 10 identified themselves as 'born-again' Christians. Huckabee won the support of 46 percent of them, while just 19 percent backed [former Massachusetts governor Mitt] Romney."

To his credit, Huckabee was successful despite suffering from a shortage of resources; Romney, who finished a disappointing second, outspent Huckabee by a 15-1 margin.

In their post-Iowa wrap-ups, mainstream media pundits recognized both Huckabee's popularity amongst conservative evangelicals, and his populist appeal.

Now it's Huckabee's turn in the spotlight. If you think the hubbub regarding his recent comment about Pakistanis being a threat to America's border security and his blatant use of a well-lit cross in his pre-Christmas campaign television advertisement, or his past comments about quarantining AIDS sufferers, was grist for the mill, imagine what might be coming down the pike.  

As he moves on from Iowa, will Huckabee be able to blend a toned-down social conservatism with a populism-lite?  

Conservative Christian evangelicals see blogging as `a unique opportunity for the spread of the Gospel' and a way to `impact [the] culture for Christ'  

When Al Mohler, the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and nationally syndicated talk radio host, addressed the relatively small but enthusiastic audience at GodblogCon 2007 in Las Vegas in early December he pointed out that "the new media" was "a missiological opportunity to which we are obligated."

Mohler emphasized the importance of taking "the new media seriously, not making it a bulletin board for isolated, disconnected, reckless ideas, snarky comments and anonymous diatribes, but rather, a place where seriously-minded Christians do the seriously-minded Christian thing and make serious Christian arguments in a serious Christian way with love and with charity, with boldness and with courage.

"Should Christians go into the wild, wild, west? Yes," said Mohler. "But we need to go in understanding that there is no sheriff. But that doesn't mean that we do not have a higher accountability, certainly we do.

"Don't write anything that you wouldn't want your parents, children, pastor or lost neighbor to read. That would certainly change a lot of what many of us are tempted to do. Use language that you can live with over time in terms of accountability. Don't make hit and run attacks and write for more than today. Let your horizon be more than a 24-hour period or the week. Write knowing that someone somewhere is going to find your blog on some future day, and don't be embarrassed. Think before you post. If at all possible, have other eyes that look."

Christian men need to embrace their 'table-tipping' side, says Christian comedian and 'GodMen' founder Stine

Christian music brings in big-time money; the release, and subsequent box office successes of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ," and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," has made Hollywood sit up and take notice. There are Christian dating services, Christian investment companies, Christian real estate brokers, a Christian MySpace, Christian comic strips, Christian bloggers and even Christian comedians.

And, there are many Christian men's groups.

How about a Christian men's group headed by a conservative Christian comedian?

He's a raunchy, raw Republican devoted to stamping out "political correctness," and he's got the chutzpah to claim on his website that he's "America's favorite conservative comedian" (quiet as it might be kept, there are a number of other conservative comedians out there). In 2004, he performed for "R: the Party," an event hosted by Jenna and Barbara Bush during the Republican National Convention in New York City.

Brad Stine is a Christian comedian who heads up "GodMen," a ministry that encourages men to let their manhood hang out.

     Houston area Medical Doctor Stephen Hotze has a storied past.  He was sued by Harris County GOP leaders when he organized a campaign to take over the local Republican Party ousting mainline people.  He was a huge player in area politics until he was accused of a DWI and slipped out of the public eye.
     Stephen is a close ally to Rick Scarborough and worked with Rick earlier promoting the Viet War as a splendid idea. Hotze has written of his disgust that the Supreme Court has limited worship in public schools and he wanted to eliminate the welfare system, Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve.
     Hotze was listed as a member of the National Coordinating Council, a Religous Right group staffed with Reconstruction types like Joseph Morecraft  and militia architect Larry Pratt.  
     Theocracy advocate Gary DeMar dedicated his book CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTION to Hotze.  In the book DeMar claims the country is officially a Christian nation.  DeMar also did not like what he calls "mob rule democracy".  Religious Right leaders have historically sought to remind readers the nation is not a democracy but a republic. DeMar also wrote in the book about Jesus and His dominion expectations.  "He has not as yet put His enemies under His feet."  Dominion Press published the book.
     According to author Robert Novak writing in the Houston Chronicle, Hotze hosted a rally for Mike Huckabee in Houston; Rick Scarborough was also there on board.  The former governor of Arkansas seems familiar with hard right elements.

Rumblings in the traditional press about a religious right 'crackup,' may be more wishful thinking than dead-on analysis

Over the past two-plus decades it has become fashionable for the traditional press to periodically pen the Religious Right's obituary. Or, if not an outright death notice, articles will appear that detail real, or perceived, rifts within the Religious Right -- Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy Giuliani for example -- plus periodic contentiousness between the Religious Right and other elements of the Republican Party. The traditional media often conclude that the Religious Right's days are numbered.

As crunch time approaches for the GOP's presidential candidates, the jury is still out on which candidate the majority of so-called values voters will support. Some political observers have argued that since the leadership of the Religious Right had been at first reticent about supporting any of the candidates and more recently have been all over the map with their endorsements, the conservative evangelical vote will be divided and diluted, which could lead to a large number of disillusioned stay-at-homes come November of next year.

In a recent interview with The Denver Post's PoliticsWest, Tom Minnery, the senior vice president of government and public policy for Focus on the Family and Focus on the Family Action, the organization's political arm, disputed this notion and maintained that it was ridiculous to be talking about any kind of so-called crackup within the Religious Right.

     The late James Kennedy, a leading promoter of the Theocratic state in America, quoted Francis Schaeffer Sept. 4, 2004 on TBN.  Schaeffer wanted Christians to go get involved in society so "our culture would not go to hell".  Kennedy praised Calvin and wanted to return the nation to Calvin's Geneva claiming that in 1850 all newspapers in the U.S. were run by Christians.  Kennedy failed to mention Calvin used the state to execute dissenters.
     

The website of the Avataq Cultural Institute in Canada has a short article by archaeologist Daniel Gendron on the Qajartalik Petroglyphs, ancient engravings which were last year erroneously reported to have been vandalised by local Christians offended by their pagan origins:

Huckabee's refusal to make a statement about the Mormons seems to draw little wrath from the Religious Right since he holds to their political dogma.  It has not been true for Democrats and others who took similar views towards Mormons.

Dark Horse's Rise Tied to Backing of Religious Right

Although several of the leading Republican Party presidential candidates have won endorsements from Religious Right leaders and organizations, no one has brought more Christian conservative leaders into their camp than former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

"Mike Huckabee has worked hard to get the Religious Right's backing and it seems to be paying off," the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told me.  

Huckabee's campaign advertisements open with the words "Christian Leader" in large white capitals. "Faith doesn't just influence me. It really defines me. I don't have to wake up every day wondering, what do I need to believe?" he says in the ad.

Now that he's at, or near the top, of the pack, his record is being closely examined by the media. So far, it's not a pretty picture.