How Paul Weyrich Founded the Christian Right

To hide the Vatican source of "The Moral Majority," Catholics Weyrich and Richard Viguerie (sp?) let Falwell be its president. Falwell then swiped Protestant Evangelical assets and let them be used to advance civil enforcement of the Code of Canon Law. It bans abortion, suicide, and attempted self-destruction. All of those put an end to tithing. Catholic Phyllis Schlafly called herself "The Sweetheart of the Moral Majority." I have a copy of her 1980's "Eagle Forum Insider Newsletter." She said "If the ERA becomes law, tax exemption will be removed from churches that don't ordain women." She's personally to blame for making women take lower pay than men for doing the same work. Falwell, by aiding the pope, betrayed Protestants with his interfaith "ecumenism." How did it happen that five Supreme Court justices are papal subjects? Power of appointment. Catholic Jeb Bush, Florida governor, helped cheat Bush into the presidency, with power of appointment.

auradawnveirs of CA 4:32PM August 11, 2009

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, " we pray for those who love us and those who hate us," and we are not praying for them to see things our way, but to have lives that are healthy, full of love for others, and charitable & beneficial to the community at large. We don't have to agree to make the individual effort to be charitable to those among us.

This concept is dying in our nation: that we can disagree without hating one another. It does not bode well for the free exchange of ideas, or the future of our nation.

It is laudable that Paul Weyrich saw the changes in our nation as destructive at such an early age, and devoted his life to salvaging the wreckage of the very ethics and morality that have enabled this nation to confront issues like slavery, segregation, job discrimination, and equal education.

Consider, is the world, or our nation, or our state a better place than it was when we were adolescents? In some ways it definitely is -- the advances cited above. But in many other ways it is not -- our national culture is less stable. The urban areas of the country have become cesspools of graft, bribery, drug trafficking and the attendant crime -- with technological advantage. Our national resolve to challenge evil in the world has become muddied by watering down the righteous national self-interest that sustains nations. We have idolized other nations for their progressiveness, but we have not studied and examined their failures -- many of which are the same action.

If we are to stabilize our nation, by what measure of ethical and moral value are we to aspire? If you discard the moral and ethical ideals that have earned historical veracity, in spite of being under utilized and largely ignored, to what do we as a culture aspire? And, to leave a better world to those who follow us, what measures of virtue do we reward, cultivate and aspire? And what evil do we expunge from our society?

You may vilify Paul Weyrich, but he had something many lack -- a conviction for a set of values that required discipline, accountability, charity, and altruism. He dedicated his life to sustaining those values within our culture -- a culture where those values were once held in esteem, and empowered our people to achieve more than any other nation in history in a shorter period of time. This is not to imagine that our nation, or individuals have not been moral and ethical failures at times, but we aspired to be better -- and were ashamed if we were not.

Paul Weyrich had a point, and a valuable one, that without the Christian ideal to aspire to as individuals and a nation, we would tolerate destructive patterns of behavior -- and we have. More than that, we have embraced destructive patterns of behavior that erode social stability. There is no consequence, no social pressure to be honest, incorrupt, accountable, responsible or charitable toward our selves, our families, co-workers or strangers.

Margaret Mueller of CA 3:49PM December 19, 2008

The man was heroic, supportive, aggressive, assertive, and brilliant strategist and tactician. He never feared speaking truth to power. He had a hand in creating not only Heritage and Free Congress and Moral Majority, but in building the careers of literally hundreds of younger conservatives who through the years have now grown to positions of high authority all across the country. I was honored and blessed to be among those whose career he helped. So much of what my distinguished friends on the Left have been struggling to copy with the development of several new organizations and the use of similar strategies are things that Paul created, often far behind the scenes. His regular meetings with top organization leaders drew the powerful and mighty. Senators, White House senior staff, House leadership and more, all had their reasons to come to Second Street to meet with Paul Weyrich. Often, it was to ask for his help, whether it was to get legislation passed, to garner support for a new strategy, or to gain approval for a potential candidate. In person, he was an amazing man, intimidating, smart. And so he asked me to co-chair one of the coalition groups he led back in the 80s, I was honored and eager to be able to learn more from such a powerful person who spent so many hours teaching hundreds of leaders of outside organizations, Hill staff and leaders inside the Reagan Administration. And on those occasions when the Reagan White House failed to live up to Weyrich's expectations, Paul was not afraid to let them know of his displeasure, respectfully brushing past what he considered weak excuses to continually press for adherence to conservative principles, even to the President himself who must have recognized that he was speaking with another great conservative like himself.

Without him, Washington would be much less open to hearing the voices of Main Streets all across the country. Without him, America would not be as free and as safe as we are today. Paul the man will be missed, loved as he was by his beautiful family and his many, many friends, but Paul the leader, strategist, and mentor of many will live on in the hundreds of us who still fight the good fight every day. He taught each of us what it took to succeed. I felt challenged to rise to the expectations that Paul had for me and all of us. And I am better for it, for having known Paul and having been privileged to be able to learn from him. Thank you, Paul. Rest in peace.

K.B.Morison of VA 12:42AM December 19, 2008

What a disgusting bunch of liberal trolls. The man just died, show some respect. I could care less about your political views. Our nation voted in the Bush administration, it had absolutely nothing to do with religion. By the way, you atheists are the minority in this country, so get used to it. Your comments reflect your lack of morality.

Beau of WA 6:30PM December 18, 2008