GOP Conference Debates Influence of Religious Right

Republicans should be wary of the religious right’s influence on their party because its extreme positions could drive voters away, the California Republican League was told Saturday at UC Irvine.

But representatives of the religious right wing replied that they are not intimidated by such talk, and that their movement is being unfairly blamed for the Republicans’ inability to win a majority in Congress.

“We’ve been a minority party since 1954. To blame the minority on us is to further polarize” the party, the Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman of the archconservative Traditional Values Coalition of Anaheim, said during a panel discussion on “The Religious Right and the Republican Party.”

“It’s a way to try and push us out,” Sheldon said. “It’s going to make us come back harder.”

The California Republican League, a group of moderate party activists, is holding its sixth biennial conference this weekend at the university, with panel discussions on topics such as abortion, immigration reform and reapportionment of electoral districts.

Mike Hudson, a lawyer for the liberal group People for the American Way, discussed the agenda of religious conservatives in the areas of reproductive rights and public education. The religious right opposes abortion and seeks to influence education through, for example, disputing the theory of evolution and advocating the banning of some books in school libraries.

“The political agenda of the religious right is extreme and out of step with American values,” Hudson said.

Former U.S. Rep. Pete McCloskey, a California Republican, complained that religious conservatives are intolerant. “They would like to purge the party of people who don’t agree with them on religious issues,” McCloskey said. “I think that would be a tragic mistake.”

David Llewellyn, a lawyer for the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue and the conservative Eagle Forum, criticized Republicans who want to remove religious morals from the party. Religion is deeply rooted in America, he said, including the mention of God in the Pledge of Allegiance and oaths of public office.

“You don’t have to roll over and play dead because you have a religious basis for your beliefs,” Llewellyn said.

In fact, Sheldon said, the Republican Party sometimes overlooks that the religious conservative movement has been responsible for registering thousands of voters and had an active role in campaigning for George Bush.

He urged the GOP to seek a new base among conservatives in both parties.

“We represent a large segment of the community,” Sheldon said. “We are a factor to be reckoned with.”

McCloskey conceded that religious conservatives have been effective as political organizers and lobbyists. “We need to fight hard with the weapons they use,” McCloskey said, to steer the platform in a more moderate direction.