If Harry Emerson Fosdick were to give his famous 1922 sermon "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" today, the style might be different, but the content might be surprisingly similar. It was given at a time when the clash of a science-driven urban moderism and religion was perhaps at its height. Some of those kinds of battles continue today on everything from matters of creationism to climate science. And at time when the ever nefarious Institute on Religion and Democracy works for the demise of the mainline liberal Protestantism that Fosdick sought to defend and advance; and the progressive Protestant legacy is being actively reconsidered by scholars; progressive Christians of many kinds remain an active part of our religious and political life. Of course, there is much more going on in our politics and culture than the state of institutional churches, but the story of these churches remains a central part of our story as a nation, whether we are part of these institutions or not.

Much has changed and much has not changed since 1922, as a reading of Fosdick's historic sermon "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" will show -- and is worth considering.   Excerpts below:

Two years ago this summer, a media barrage was leveled at those of us who have been writing about dominionism over the years. The dominionist views, background, and associates of GOP presidential contenders Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) and even Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), were getting some serious media attention.  Readers of the smear articles were variously told that dominionism did not exist; or that if it did exist, its adherents were few; but that in any case, everyone should go on about their business, nothing to see here.

Rachel Tabachnick, currently a Fellow with Political Research Associates -- then, one of the main targets of the smear campaign -- got the best revenge, however, in recently publishing a major essay in The Public Eye magazine: Spiritual Warriors with an Antigay Mission: The New Apostolic Reformation.  The piece discusses, among other things, the the New Apostolic Reformation's roots in and advocacy of dominionism -- making it very hard to deny -- although I have no doubt that some will continue to try.  

Columnist Bill Berkowitz recently wrote about this important work, here. Check out an excerpt from Tabachnick's essay, below.

It would be hard to be awake in America and not sense that some deep currents are shifting somewhere beneath the surface of our our politics and religion -- things that go unmeasured by sociologists and pollsters. But but we do get glimpses of these developments in the media and in the actual political behavior of conservative pols and religious leaders. Nevertheless, it can be hard to see, even when it is right in front of us.

Trends are often like that. We don't really see them, until we do. And when we do, we are surprised that we hadn't fully realized it before.  

And that's how I have felt about the growing alliance between the leaders of the U.S. Catholic Bishops and the leaders of the protestant evangelical Christian Right.  I have written an essay, Christian Right Seeks Renewal in Deepening Catholic-Protestant Alliance, for the next issue of The Public Eye magazine about this and some of the implications.  Here are some excerpts:

It is important to have good answers to the assertions of the theocratic leaders of the Christian Right.  Is the religious liberty of members of the American armed forces under attack as claimed by among others, Tony Perkins and William Boykin of the Family Research Council?

The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance and the Rev. Barry Lynn   executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State answered in a commentary at Religion News Service.  These longtime proponents of religious liberty say no, there is no threat.
 

The seditious rumblings are getting louder on the Christian Right.  Over the past year or so, we have heard important conservative evangelical and Catholic leaders describe the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) generally, and its provisions for contraception coverage in particular, as "tyrannical."  These claims have sometimes been accompanied by warnings that civil war is possible. We have heard the same things regarding marriage equality.

One does not have to believe that a revolution could be seriously mounted (or that if it was, that it could succeed) to recognize that those talking about these things are serious, and that there are people who are influenced by these leaders.

As barriers to equality for the LGBT community continue to fall, the Family Research Council (FRC), an influential Christian Right group that has been propagating anti-gay pseudo-science for decades, is broadening its message by adopting the language of the antigovernment "Patriot" movement.

"Apparently there's been a series against me over at the Daily Kos by a left-liberal lawyer," neo-Confederate author Thomas E. Woods Jr. recently wrote in a blog post titled, "Left-Wingers Attack; I Yawn."

Before launching into his response to my series he claimed, "I no longer pay attention to left-wing attacks"  (Except, apparently, when he does).

This post is the first of three brief replies to Mr. Woods. In this initial offering I will explain why the term neo-Confederate to which he objects, suits him so well.

There's something rotten in the city of Springboro, Ohio. This community of about 17,000 in southwestern Ohio has suddenly become ground zero in a Religious Right-led culture war. What's happening there should be a cautionary tale to all of us.

In the wake of elections last year, a three-member Tea Party faction now controls the school board. They're up to no good.

Christian Right political operative David Lane based his recent call for Christian revolution largely on the work of Christian Reconstructionist author Peter Leithart. (Lane's provocative essay, published at World Net Daily in June was taken down without explanation after bloggers took notice.)  Lane opened with a quote from Leithart's book Between Babel and Beast:  

"Throughout Scripture, the only power that can overcome the seemingly invincible omnipotence of a Babel or a Beast is the power of martyrdom, the power of the witness to King Jesus to the point of loss and death."

 And speaking of America, which he equates with Babel, Leithart wrote:  

"If America is to be put in its place - put right - Christians must risk martyrdom and force Babel to the crux where it has to decide either to acknowledge Jesus an imperator and the church as God's imperium or to begin drinking holy blood."

Leithart published that just last year.  But in the wake of the recent Windsor decision of the Supreme Court that overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, he took to the blog at First Things and renewed his call for martyrs.

The mainstream press has been dutifully reporting on Brazil's recent massive anti-government demonstrations, protests that shocked the presidency of Dilma Rousseff; on the billions of dollars that have been spent on preparations to host both the 2014 World Cup and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro; and Brazil's recent resounding defeat of Spain in the FIFA Confederations Cub final. Little attention, however, has been paid to the rising presence of the U.S. Christian Right in Brazil.

Enter the Brazilian Center for Law and Justice, an offshoot of Pat Robertson's legal outfit, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). According to The Public Eye's Jandira Queiroz, the ACLJ, "following the example of the Christian Right organization's [two] offices in Eastern Europe" and one in Kenya and one in Zimbabwe, has touched down in Brazil.

The theocratic intentions of Christian Right leaders sometimes surface in unexpected ways.  Most recently David Lane, a top Christian Right political operative and longtime behind-the-scenes "power broker" called for violent dominionist revolution in an essay published (and then taken down) by World Net Daily.

Lane has, among other things, been the national finance director for The Response, the 2011 prayer rally that served as the de facto launch of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's ill-fated run for president, as well as the organizer of the Texas Restoration Project, which had boosted Perry's political career.  He has worked with and for such GOP pols as Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee and Michelle Bachmann, and most recently, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).  Lane currently leads the American Renewal Project of Don Wildmon's American Family Association which is targeting twelve states for political development towards the 2014 elections.  

Such nuts and bolts electoral work not withstanding, Lane called in his essay for Christians to "Wage war to restore a Christian America."   The depth and ferocity of Lane's vision is so remarkable that it cannot be explained away by the pundits of pooh pooh. Perhaps that is why it has gone unmentioned in the mainstream press. But Lane's words taken together; in the context of the politics of the moment as he understands it; and in set in the series of epochal historical and biblical moments he invokes -- his meaning is unambiguous.  

I've been monitoring the reaction of Religious Right groups to the Supreme Court's marriage equality rulings. It's not pleasant, but somebody has to do it.

I took special interest in the response of TV preacher Pat Robertson. As some of you may know, I've long had an interest in the ramblings of the eccentric Virginia televangelist and even wrote a book about him in 1996. (What can I say? A fellow needs a hobby.)