The Christian Right's long game against Obama on contraception

Frank Schaeffer, a former prince of the Christian Right, puts the Hobby Lobby decision in the context of the Christian Right's long game in Hobby Lobby Verdict is a Victory For Ultra-Right Roman Catholic Co-Conspirators With Chuck Colson’s Ghost 07/01/2014:

Alarmed by the Supreme Court pandering to the extreme religious right in the Hobby Lobby case, the new pope might ask "Who is responsible for this?" The answer is: Many people. However two people are the real instigators: the late evangelical far right activist, Charles Colson, and Roman Catholic far right ideologue and anti-gay activist, Princeton Professor Robert George. Their tool has been Justice Antonin Scalia and the other Roman Catholic members of the Court. ...

George, who once was an adviser to John McCain, has worked hard to destroy the Obama presidency. Colson’s and George’s "Manhattan Declaration" was the trap they set for the administration that finally paid off when they talked a number of bishops into branding Obama as anti-religious because he wanted women to have access to contraception, even if they worked for Roman Catholic or evangelical-controlled institutions.

In 2009, Colson was a principal writer with George of the Manhattan Declaration, which called on far right evangelicals, Mormons and Catholics to defeat President Obama in 2012, albeit without mentioning Obama by name under the "non-political" guise of the "sanctity of human life," issues and "traditional marriage" and "religious freedom." These calls for a "return to biblical law" (or the Catholic version so-called "Natural Law") have long since been the bishops' and evangelical right’s code words for gay and women bashing.

Given that it was five Catholic male Justices that voted for Alito's radical Hobby Lobby decision, its definitely worth paying attention to the rising profile of Catholic fundamentalism within the Christian Right and the Republican Party. The fight against contraception as such has become more prominent in significant part because of the priority Catholic fundis give to it.

Schaeffer also notes, "Most Roman Catholics would not sign on to such weird extremism. But "most Roman Catholics" are not in charge of their Church’s image today. George and Scalia are."

Chauncey DeVega comments on a TV appearance by Schaeffer in Did You See Frank Schaeffer's Amazing Truth-Telling Without Giving a Damn Moment on Today's Edition of 'Politics Nation'? WARN 07/02/2014.

Tags: christian right, hobby lobby, radical right, republican party