( writes Guess ) Media Matters, a media research organization, has crunched the numbers and what they've found isn't heartening: Mainline, mainstream denominations -- even though they account for more than one-quarter of church-going Americans -- are rarely, if ever, visible on national news programs.

"Despite the fact that mainline churches are at the heart of the American landscape," says the Rev. Robert Chase, the UCC's communication director, "they continue to be silenced, or perhaps just ignored, when it comes to media conversations about religion in America."

"At the beginning of the 'Meet the Press' show, host Tim Russert asked the panelists, 'Were people more religious at the founding of our country and were we more divided on moral issues back then than we are now?'" Chase recalls. "Ironically, there was no one present to represent those historic, mainline Protestant traditions that have been so prominently at the center of American life since its earliest days."....

Unfortunately, the lack of "mainline" coverage has become routine.

Last December, when 115 mainline religious leaders were arrested in Washington, D.C., during a last-ditch effort to draw attention to federal budget cuts affecting millions of low-income Americans, the major news networks didn't cover the story.

In February, during the World Council of Churches' 9th international assembly in Brazil, many prominent mainline leaders, including UCC General Minister and President John H. Thomas, issued a strongly worded apology to Christians around the world for not doing more to prevent the U.S. war in Iraq. In March, mainline clergy gathered in Washington, D.C., to demand an end to government curtailment of church-oriented travel to Cuba. And, in April, Church World Service, a broadly ecumenical relief organization, called on the U.S. Senate to adopt a "compassionate" immigration reform policy. In each instance, the major news organizations ignored the stories altogether.

However, in March, when Falwell chided a Minnesota city for allegedly evicting the Easter Bunny from a public venue, Associated Press covered it. And, about the same time, when Pat Robertson referred to Muslims as "satanic," Newsweek ran a story. And, in New Orleans, despite the millions of relief dollars raised by mainline denominations and the thousands of deployed volunteers now working there, it was Franklin Graham who landed an appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live" to talk about his ministry there, along with Campus Crusades for Christ, which was profiled by CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Guess's story moves from discussion of the mainstream media's exclusion of mainstream religious voices and on to a treatment of the role of the Institute on Religion and Democracy that shares much in common with the narrative and reporting which has appeared on Talk To Action, which kicked off on in earnest here with Andrew J. Weaver's  Jan. 5, 2006 piece entitled Being 60 Minutes Means You Never Have to Say You are Sorry - Except Once, that launched the Talk To Action site section, with close to 50 entries now, dedicated to the targeting of mainstream faith in America that I have dubbed "The Shadow War" .

An odd air of a "parallel reality" pervades Amplifying the Mainline. Guess mentions two upcoming book slated for release in 2006, one by Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, and one by Randall Balmer :

Randall Balmer, an evangelical Christian and professor of American religious history at Columbia University, is writing about IRD in his newest book -- which he describes as "an evangelical's lament" -- called "Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Destroys America" (Basic Books, 2006).

But reference to existing sources of information on the IRD coordinated attacks, and efforts external to the instutitional structures, are noticeably absent. Recently, allies external to the mainline denomination institutional structures have worked to publicize the plight of the mainline denominations. Especially significant -  for the media blacklisting "Amplifying the Mainstream" cites - has been the push on the internet by websites and boggers working to raise awareness of the IRD attacks :  Talk To Action, Street Prophets, Chuck Currie, Father Jake Stops he World, and The Daily Kos ( and others ) have played a notable role.

In general, "Amplifying The Mainstream" provides a competent summary of the background history to the IRD-coordinated attacks on the denominations but sees to shy away from delving into details on what those attacks might entail or from steering readers towards sources of information.  Moreover, the piece makes no mention of recent writing on recent significant developments in the rising salience of the "Shadow War" story : in reading "Amplifying The Mainstream" one would not get the slightest clue of the significant role played by this forum, Talk To Action, in promoting the "Shadow War" - both for the forum's general mission, to maintain an unrelenting focus on the Christian right, and in particular for the roles played by Talk To Action members in "The Shadow War" - for their research, scholarship, activism and leadership.

For example, Talk To Action founder Frederick Clarkson's recent The Battle for the Mainline Churches, published in the Spring 2006 edition of Public Eye provides a more commanding overview of the subject, with coverage of the rise of the IRD - and its funding sources and leadership - and notes recent key battles within various denominations as well as the deeper background ties to Christian reconstructionism :

art of the backdrop of all of this is Howard Ahmanson's broader involvement with the religious Right, which began when he became a disciple of the leading theocratic theologian of the 20th century, R.J. Rushdoony, founder of the Chalcedon Foundation in Vallecito, CA. Rushdoony was the seminal thinker of the Christian Reconstructionist movement that seeks to eventually create a theocracy based on "Biblical Law" in the United States, and around the world.13 Ahmanson reportedly contributed $1 million during his many years of service on the Chalcedon board. In 1985, he told the Orange County Register, "My goal is the total integration of biblical law into our lives."

Since then, he has distanced himself from some of Rushdoony's ideas. For example, he told Max Blumenthal in an email interview that he disagreed with Rushdoony that homosexuals should be executed. But how far Rushdoony's disciple fell from the Reconstructionist tree is hard to measure. The Ahmansons were at Rushdoony's bedside when he died. When Blumenthal asked Roberta Ahmanson, who serves as her husband's spokesperson, if they still seek to implement biblical law, she replied: "I'm not suggesting we have an amendment to the Constitution that says we now follow all 613 of the case laws of the Old Testament ... But if by biblical law you mean the last seven of the 10 Commandments, you know, yeah."

Whatever Howard Ahmanson's personal differences with Rushdoony on aspects of Biblical Law, he has put his money where his mouth once was. He finances attacks on the mainline Protestant churches that support religious pluralism and separation of church and state and are major obstacles to the theocrats' long range vision, as well as to the short term goals of Christian Rightists in the Republican Party.

"Amplifying the Mainstream" focuses heavily on the difficulty mainstream denominations have had in recent years in bringing their message to the American public, and on efforts to raise public awareness about active media exclusion of mainline denominational voices. But a key component of that message concerns the fact that the denominations have been under attack, and to deliver the message effectively takes documentation of the sort provided in the Episcopalian Church's recent tracing of money trails ( not mentioned in "Amplifying") by which the various "renewal groups" seeking to undermine, take over, and break up individual churches and whole denominations are funded :

As Frederick Clarkson writes in Episcopal Newspaper Exposes Rightwing Agencies:

The Washington Window, the newspaper of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington has joined a growing number of publications inside and outside mainline Christianity that have published exposes of the efforts of rightist agencies to destabilize the historic mainline Protestant churches in the U.S.

The two-part series by former Washington Post and New York Times reporter James Naughton examines, according to a press release, the network of conservative groups, "their donors and the strategy that has allowed them to destabilize the Episcopal Church.... The groups represent a small minority of church members, but relationships with wealthy American donors and powerful African bishops have made them key players in the fight for the future of the Anglican Communion "to warn deputies that they must repent of their liberal attitudes on homosexuality or face a possible schism."

The expose, which demonstrates the unambiguous motives of rightwing activists to foment a permanent schism in the Episcopal Church in the U.S. and in the world Anglican Communion, comes in the run-up to the American church's triennial meeting in Columbus, Ohio in June.

Indeed, as I have recently written, in Summer '06 Battles Could Tear Apart Liberal Churches, at least two of the mainline denominations, the Episcopalian and Presbyterian Churches, are at risk of schism in summer 2006, and the Methodist Church - the earliest and most heavily targeted, by far, of the mainline denominations, has long been at risk of schism. Such schisms ave the potential to transform the face of American politics, and so the lack of mention in "Amplifying The Mainstream" is unfortunate : the "Shadow War" is not abstract but has immediate and crucial political relevance.
Further, damning evidence - from internal documentation now publicly available but rarely provided to the general public except on web forums (  see: Father Jake Stops The World, the musings of an eclectic and sometimes eccentric Episcopal priest, "AAC: The Network's Covert Operatives" )

The very narrative frame of "Amplifying the Media" would benefit, also, from a more thorough crediting of those who have done pioneering research on "The Shadow War". Guess leads into the issue of the role of the IRD in coordinating attacks on the mainline denominations with:

While some suggest the pervasive public silence is linked to decades of mainline decline, others suggest a more-sinister plot.

The Rev. Peter Laarman, former pastor of Judson Memorial Church (UCC/American Baptist) in New York and now director of the national Progressive Religious Partnership, believes the silencing is the direct result of a coordinated, decades-old strategy by so-called "neo-con" organizations, most notably the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD), to disrupt mainline churches, discredit their national agencies and "decapitate" mainline leaders.

However, the use of the term "sinister plot" will - to some - undermine the credibility of the now thoroughly documented role of the IRD. This is not a question of opinion or hearsay but of established facts.

One of the earliest researchers who, in Frederick Clarkson's words, "did nearly all of the spade work on IRD for many years" was Leon Howell, author of the groundbreaking "United Methodism@Risk, the book which spurred Talk To Action contributor, Methodist Minister, and criminal forensic psychologist Andrew Weaver into action. Weaver has been a notable leader in researching and rasing raising the salience of "The Shadow War". It was, presumeably, for that reason that Weaver was invited to speak about attacks on the denominations at Rabbi Michael Lerner's "Spiritual Progressives" conference May 17-20, 2006,  Spiritual Activism Conference ( see  footnote ) . Weaver has been one of the few working to wake up and rouse the mainline denominations into action against the IRD coordinated assault, and has led groundreaking research into the activities of the IRD which has appeared in Hardball on Holy Ground, by Stephen Swecker ( with articles by a number of contributors including Weaver ) and by Media Matters. Weaver also has recently appeared on a groundbreaking "State of Belief" radio show on "The Shadow War" ( trancript of show ) in a cross-denominational discussion which featured three key leaders in the fight against church takeovers, Talk To Action contributors John Dorhauer, Bruce Prescott, and Andrew Weaver.

The role of Talk To Action - and its members - has at the very least been significant in broadcasting the "Shadow War" to a wider public and - indeed - to the denominations themselves, and the site has showcased perspectives from front-line struggles.  The Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer's series on Talk To Action provides an unprecedented perspective given that Dorhauer is one of the few within any denomination actively charged with working against church takeovers. Talk To Action contributor Dr. Bruce Prescott has long fought takeover efforts by the Southern Baptist Convention and now heads Oklahoma Mainstream Baptist, an organization explicitly devoted to fighting takeover attempts against Baptist Churches to  So, what might account for the solipsistic viewpoint of "Amplifying the Mainstream" ?

Well, in general, many are still learning about "The Shadow War", and it is likely that the writers of this otherwise quite decent treatment simply were unaware of other efforts to publicize the story. Beyond that, though, there is an overarching, and pervasive, cultural phenomenon on the left, among American liberals, embedded in the culture of the mainline denominations and across the whole range of liberal and left political organizations and efforts: A notable lack of cooperation.

The problem can really be summed up by a simple anecdote: as I came to know, in turn, Andrew Weaver, John Dorhauer, and Bruce Prescott, and asked each of the in turn if they had ever thought to talk to their rough counterparts in each of the denominations : essentially, to share experiences, to "talk shop". No, each replied, they had not. But, they were quite enthsiastic about the prospect of doing so and so the "State of Belief" show came to be. It would not have occured, though, without the mediation of Talk To Action, and such coordination can - almost by definition - not come from within any denomination but must be done by external agents. An underlying  cultural ethic most certainly exists  - across denominational and other lines of demarcation - that shared values and goals demand cooperation and that, in the end, the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. But, that ethic must be gently prodded towards active engagement.

There is no rough secular or ecumenical institutional counterpart to the IRD - one which employs ethical methods rather than IRD-style tactics and seeks to protect institutions of faith rather than to disrupt them, and which works for the benefit of the denominations. Perhaps it is too much to ask. But, the job of fostering communication and coordination among America's mainstream and liberal institutions of faith is one sorely needed.  

Footnote : Many attempts at interfaith coordination against the Christian right are forming. Rabbi Michael Lerner, leader of the new "Network of Spiritual Progressives", demonstrates some  pitfalls of those who have recently jumped up to claim the mantle of leadership to "fight the religious right" or "fight theocracy". As of March 2006, when Lerner appeared on Interfaith Alliance head C. Welton Gaddy's new Air American "State of Belief" radio show, Lerner was still employing language demonizing "secularism" - which has historically been one of  the core tactics employed by the IRD and the Christian right in general indeed, the vilification of secularism can be traced right back to attacks on the original Enlightenment. Lerner believes , and I agree with him on this, that many leaders on the religious and Christian right oppose the spirit of the Enlightenment, and the disconnect between that belief and the use of rhetoric bashing secularism can be jarring. In January 2006, Lerner wrote - in "Hostile Takeover - Theocracy in America" ( note - article has apparently been deleted from the Tikkun website but a substantial excerpt can be found at the Christian Alliance For Progress )   :

"Although I totally support separation of state from the imposition of any particular religious tradition or belief in God, I also know that liberals have not only separated separated church from state but also separated spiritual wisdom, caring, and love from state."

Indeed, in Lerner's new book, "The Left Hand of God", mention of the "Shadow War" is notably absent and Lerner, indeed, seem to place blame for internal discord within the mainline denomination on the denominations themselves. But - since the May 2006 "Spiritual Activism" conference, and Andrew Weaver's appearance at the conference - Rabbi Lerner is presumeably now more aware of "The Shadow War".