DeLay's troubles expose rift among evangelicals
In explaining his decision to leave Congress this week, Tom DeLay has said the moment that "pretty much clinched it for me" was during a speech he gave in Washington last month at an event billed as "The War on Christians Conference." DeLay received so many standing ovations that he realized he could continue his political career outside Congress, inside the conservative Christian movement.
But despite the warm reception, conference organizer Rick Scarborough, a former Baptist preacher, says his decision to invite DeLay triggered plenty of complaints from evangelical Christians disillusioned by the former House majority leader's alleged misdeeds.
"I received an enormous amount of negative communication," Scarborough says. "But I happen to believe in the old-fashioned adage 'innocent until proven guilty.'"
The Texas-based Scarborough is hardly alone.
Evangelical leaders have been among DeLay's most outspoken defenders since ethics allegations started swirling around him a year and a half ago. A Washington dinner last year organized as a show of support for DeLay in tough times featured Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and a videotaped message from Focus on the Family founder James Dobson.
Support from leaders continued after the DeLay resignation bombshell.
"We're saddened by your announcement," Pat Robertson told DeLay during an interview on The 700 Club this week. " ... You've been a stalwart for conservative causes."
But some in the evangelical community are starting to worry that the Christian right's credibility on moral issues is being undercut by the movement's close association with scandal-dogged figures like DeLay, a hero to many Christian conservatives for pushing antiabortion rights legislation and for spearheading last year's House intervention in the Terri Schiavo case.
"We can't blast Bill Clinton on one hand and cast a blind eye to Republican friends who are guilty of the same kind of misconduct," says Ken Connor, an evangelical activist and past president of the Family Research Council.
"We saw Christian conservatives embrace Mr. DeLay without regard to the merits of the issue," Connor continues. "When you offer a ringing affirmation of someone in the face of very serious allegations, you're presumed to be affirming the conduct as well."
DeLay isn't the only high-profile political figure allied with the Christian right who is now facing charges of unethical behavior. Among the others:
Former Christian Coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed, currently running for lieutenant governor in Georgia, had been hired by disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff to organize Christian opposition to casinos that threatened to compete with those operated by Abramoff's gaming clients. Reed is attracting criticism on the campaign trail for declining to disclose the full extent of his Abramoff connections.
Claude Allen, a chief White House domestic policy adviser who has been praised by Focus on the Family as "a tireless champion of the family and traditional values," resigned earlier this year and has been charged with conning Washington-area stores out of more than $5,000 worth of refunds for merchandise he didn't buy.
Allegations against Reed and Allen have attracted little outcry from Christian-right leaders, who emphasize that neither has been found guilty of illegal behavior.
advertisement
