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NJ_cover_07.12_JM.indd 1 7/9/14 4:01 PM 20 July 12, 2014 National Journal The Culture Warrior inWinter Richard Land’s fall and the end of the old Religious Right.

By TIFFANY STANLEY PhotographbyRichardA.Bloom

NTHESPRINGOF2012, Richard Land went on the radio and uttered a series of sentiments he would come to regret. It was March 31, a month after the shoot- ing death of , and Land—for decades one of the preeminent leaders of theI Religious Right—was holding forth on his weekly, three-hour radio show, Richard Land Live! The Martin discussion started when a caller asked about racial profiling. Land did not mince words in response: He accused African-American leaders of using the killing of Martin to “gin up the black vote” in an election year. He derided Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Louis Farrakhan as “race hustlers.” He argued that President Obama had

National Journal July 12, 2014 21 “poured gasoline on the racialist fires” by sympathizing with the Land’s ebullience disappeared. “He cer- Martin family. And he posited that George Zimmerman was be- tainlybelievestheBibleandisinterestedin these issues. He’s doing his thing, I’m doing ing prematurely convicted in the media. “Instead of letting the mine.” There was an awkward pause. It was legal process take its independent course,” Land said, “race- the last question Land took before bidding mongers are anointing themselves judge, jury, and executioners.” the students farewell. Later, Land told me he has no qualms about Moore’s leadership of the ERLC. “I Land, who was 65 at the time, has a nat- Richard Land Live! Eight weeks later, he don’t have much contact with the commis- ural radio voice, a deep baritone with a announced he would retire. sion. And I don’t need to,” he said, adding, smooth Texan drawl, and he is a skilled Today, Land is a long way from Washing- “I’ve moved on.” polemicist. But he wasn’t mainly known as a ton—416 miles to be exact. He says he had If Land has moved on from his role as a radio host. As the longtime head of the Eth- 10 job offers after he went public with his leader of the Religious Right, the reverse ics & Religious Liberty Commission of the retirement plans, but none were in South- is also true: The Religious Right is in the Southern Baptist Convention—the larg- ern Baptist life. Eventually, he started a new process of moving on from him. The move- est Protestant denomination in the United job as president of the nondenominational ment is, by all accounts, entering a new era, States, with a membership of nearly 16 mil- Southern Evangelical Seminary, located as Land’s generation and the one before his lion—he was one of the Religious Right’s top in a suburban enclave outside Charlotte, gradually depart the public stage. Jerry Fal- spokesmen in Washington. “In that position, . Only 22 years old, SES is a well hasbeen dead for sevenyears. Pat Rob- hewasthelastoftheclassicMoralMajority- tiny institution, with an undergraduate and ertson is 84, and the Christian Coalition he Christian Coalition- culture graduatepopulationofjust350students—a founded has all but buckled under mount- warriors,” says Mark Silk, a professor of reli- majority of them online only—and a recent ing debt. James Dobson resigned from his gion in public life at Trinity College. In 2005, graduating class of 43. Focus on the Family organization in 2009, Timemagazine had named Land one of the In early May, I spent a day with Land at partly over differences with his younger most influential evangelicals in America the seminary. He was vague on the details successor. For years, Land and these other and dubbed him “God’s lobbyist.” For years, of his typical schedule at SES, preferring to men helped to set the tone for what kind of he had been a frequent source for journalists wax poetic about the busy years he spent in movement the Religious Right would be. and a regular on the talk-show circuit. Dur- his former position. But he was also quick And now, in his dramatic departure, it is ing the administration of George W.Bush, he to note that he doesn’t miss the travel, the possible to see the seeds of the very differ- was known to have the White House’s ear; in hectic agenda, or “having to give instan- ent movement it is about to become. 2001, Bush appointed him to the U.S. Com- taneous answers—to very complex ques- mission on International Religious Free- tions, without any warning—to the media.” dom, where he ended up serving five terms. Plus, he added, “I don’t miss having 44,500 and is animposing figure: a In short, Land was a political power- bosses”—a reference to the approximate tall man with a booming voice. house—which was one of the reasons his number of Southern Baptist churches oper- A sixth-generation Texan, he Trayvon Martin comments were soon draw- ating during his tenure. grew up in Houston, the son ing plenty of scrutiny. Calling the remarks On the second floor of the school’s sole of a welder. His household “damaging, alienating, and offensive,” one building—a large, brick structure in a field Lwas “bicultural,” as he tells it: His father prominent black Southern Baptist minis- of manicured grass—we interrupted a class was a Yellow Dog Democrat; his mother ter asked the SBC to fire Land—and others of a dozen students. Many of them were was a Boston-born Republican. The South- followedsuit.Then,twoweeksaftertheini- working ministers who travel to campus ern Baptist Church was the center of fam- tial broadcast, a Ph.D. student at Baylor Uni- from out of state for short stays to complete ily life—services twice on Sundays, once on versity blogged that Land had lifted nearly courses toward a doctor of ministry degree. Wednesdays, and church camp in the sum- half his words on the Martin case from a Most of them had never met Land. He went mers. By age 16, he felt God was leading him conservative columnist at TheWashington around the room, asking their names and to the ministry. Times, and had done so without attribution. inquiring about their backgrounds. Mean- Land’s parents intended for him to be the He had done the same in at least two other while, he regaled them with his own stories, first in the family to go to college. He had his segments of his show. Land, the head of an which were often funny, and had the kind of eye on the University of Texas when a high ethicsorganization,was labeled a plagiarist. well-worn punch lines that frequent speak- school guidance counselor, prompted by For a time, Land remained defiant. “True ers and preachers employ. Land’s SAT scores, encouraged him to chan- racial reconciliation means that you do not The only time Land froze up, losing his nel his ambition north. She loaned him the bow to the false god of political correctness,” cheerful demeanor, was when someone money for his application fee to Princeton, he said. He issued a halfearted apology to mentioned the man who now holds his old where he was accepted on scholarship. anyone who might have misunderstood him job as head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty The late ’60s was a time of left-wing cam- and been ofended. But the furor continued. Commission. “How’s Russell Moore doing?” pus tumult, at Princeton and elsewhere. Land sat down for a nearly five-hour meet- a student asked. “They were so liberal, they thought it was ing with black Southern Baptist leaders and, “I guess he’s doing fine,” Land said. “Far as sort of exotic to have an evangelical in class,” within a week, published a second, five- I know.” Land recalls. But unlike many Ivy Leagu- part apology. That June, the denomination “He seemed like a good choice as a replace- ers from modest backgrounds—who find publicly reprimanded him and canceled ment, I thought,” the student said. themselves catapulted into a new stratum

22 July 12, 2014 National Journal

712LAYOUT-feat-stanley.indd 22 7/10/14 9:11 AM and may be tempted to forsake parts of their dissent. “There were a lot of us who were Baptist,aswellasRobertson,whohadbeen upbringing—Land did not abandon his reli- very upset about what was taught in sem- ordained in the denomination. gious views at Princeton. If anything, the inary,” he says. “And we were determined In Dallas, Land got involved in Republi- experience seems to have ignited his reli- when we had an opportunity to do some- can Party politics. In 1987, he took a leave gious fervor in opposition. And, closer to thing about it, we would.” from academia to work for Texas GOP Gov. home, he found a booster. A prominent After seminary, Land enrolled in a doc- Bill Clements as an adviser on church-state lawyer, former state legislator, and future toral program in theology at Oxford, an issues and on antiabortion and antidrug judge, Paul Pressler—a Princeton alum and environment he found more accept- legislation. He met a political operative a conservative Southern Baptist—invited ing. “They thought, ‘How tolerant of us, we named Karl Rove who was stumping for Land to lunch, in essence ofering his men- have both an American and an evangeli- Republicans while Land was stumping for torship. Pressler ran a Bible study program cal,’ ” he remembers. He spent much of his antiabortion candidates, meaning they in his home for Christian students bound time there in an unheated library wear- were usually campaigning for the same for East Coast colleges. In between his ing gloves and an overcoat, while reading people. Through Rove, he was introduced to years at Princeton, Land spent summers 26 volumes of handwritten, 17th-century George W. Bush, who met with Land while under Pressler’s tutelage, teaching in his debates over church-state separation. he was shoring up support for his father’s Bible study. When he finished in 1975, Patterson ofered presidential campaign. After graduating from Princeton in 1969, him a job in Dallas teaching at Criswell By 1988, the right-wing takeover of the Land moved on to New Orleans Baptist College, a fundamentalist institution SBC was well underway, and Land was cho- sen to lead the Christian Life Commission, which later became the Ethics & Religious “Alito and Roberts are the gifs Liberty Commission. Land and his family that keep on giving, and we settled near Nashville, Tennessee, where the Southern Baptist Convention’s head- would have gotten neither of quartersarelocated,andhecommutedback and forth to Washington. “He was really the those without our involvement.” first of the conservative executives to take a position. He was the first one chosen to be an agency head,” says Patterson, who now Theological Seminary, an SBC school that that had been founded five years earlier. serves as president of Southwestern Baptist leaned more conservative than most of By then, a Southern Baptist holy war was Theological Seminary. the denomination’s seminaries at the time. in progress, with Land’s friends Patterson The Christian Life Commission had been, Pressler encouraged him to reach out to a and Pressler at the center of aninternal con- until that point, a bastion of lefty, social- young doctoral student named Paige Patter- servative rebellion. In 1979, the same year justice-mindedevangelicals.“Iwenttothe son, a kindred conservative crusader, who Jerry Falwell founded his Moral Majority, apple of their eye,” Land says. “The Chris- became one of Land’s closest friends. He fundamentalist Southern Baptists staged a tian Life Commission is where they used also met hisfuturewifeof43years, Rebekah, coup at the church’s annual meeting, elect- to go every year and congratulate them- who was a student in the seminary’s coun- ing the first in an unbroken line of conser- selves on how progressive they were.” One seling program. When they married, Patter- vative SBC presidents. “I was at the ground moderate Southern Baptist reportedly told son and Pressler were in the wedding. floor of the conservative resurgence,” Land him, “It’s like you eloped with our favorite Far from being the Christian sanctuary likes to say. Within a generation, the South- daughter.” Land’s response: “It’s more like one might expect, seminary proved to be ern Baptist leadership had gone from I got your favorite daughter pregnant out challenging for Land. “I got a reputation for being loosely for abortion rights to being of wedlock.” being a troublemaker,” he recalls. Modern staunchly antiabortion. Seminary profes- Land is fond of marriage metaphors biblical criticism had made its way to many sors, along with other church staff mem- when it comes to politics. He famously told schools, even traditionally conservative bers, were fired or resigned when they did in 1998 that social con- ones. Professors were now teaching that not adhere to the new conservative doctrine. servatives wanted commitment from the there were disputes over biblical author- Southern Baptist women were stripped of GOP: “No more engagement. We want a ship; that Moses or Paul or Peter might not their right to pastor churches, though they wedding ring, we want a ceremony, we want have written all the books that tradition hadbeen ordained in limitednumberssince a consummation of the marriage.” Dur- said they did; that the creation story was 1964. The leadership issued statements cod- ing the 2012 campaign, he attempted to more myth than science. And some theo- ifyinganumberof beliefs:thatwivesshould sway evangelicals from Mitt Romney to logical liberals were dismissing teachings submit to their husbands, that homosexual- Rick Santorum. “Before we marry the guy they deemed anachronistic, such as wom- ity and abortion are wrong, that the Bible is next door”—Romney—“don’t you think we en’ssubmission.Or they werepointingout without error. ought to have a fling with a tall, dark stranger that Jesus didn’t talk about homosexuality, The conservative takeover of the South- and see if he can support us in the manner so how important could it be? ern Baptist Convention paralleled the to which we’d like to be accustomed?” Land These developments were anathema to rise of the Religious Right, and, often, the asked on NPR.“And ifhe can’t, we can always Land and his friends. When they weren’t churchactivistsandpoliticalactivistswere marry the steady beau who lives next door.” raising their concerns in class, they would one in the same. Many worked alongside With a lobbying career that spanned gather in the cafeteria to talk over their Falwell,anindependent-turned-Southern four presidential administrations, Land

National Journal July 12, 2014 23

712LAYOUT-feat-stanley.indd 23 7/10/14 9:11 AM cultivated a spectrum of relationships with he cultivated a coziness with the GOP—“he the White House, from the cordial but luke- liked being in the thick of party politics,” warm (George H.W. Bush) to the sometimes Silk says—that arguably had drawbacks for hostile (Bill Clinton and Barack Obama). Southern Baptism as a whole. Without question, though, the zenith of Land does not regret his political work, his power came during the George W. Bush seeing it as a spiritual necessity, born of administration. “I love the guy!” Land says. his eforts to abolish abortion. “Pietism, or In his ofce, he gets up from the conference withdrawal from the culture, has always table, goes searching for his cell phone, and been a big temptation for American evan- pulls up a photo of W. and members of the gelicals,” he says. “It took a lot to con- Land family—his wife, two daughters, and vince them to jettison that pietism and son-in-law—at the Bush Library, which get involved, number one. It took a lot for they visited while they were in Dallas for mostof them to do so primarilythroughthe a wedding. Republican Party, because most of them Land proved a valuable presidential ally. were not raised Republican.” When Bush called for preemptive action By his account, the alignment of religious against Saddam Hussein in Iraq, he was one conservatives and the GOP happened when ofthe few religious leaders to provide cover, Republicans more readily took on the anti- writing a letter supporting the president’s abortion mantle: “What I’ve always said is … plan with his version of just-war theory. In we’re going to be values voters, we’re going 2003, after Bush signed the Partial-Birth to vote our values and our beliefs and our Abortion Ban Act into law, Land joined Fal- convictions, and if that makes abortion a well and other ministers in the Oval Ofce, partisan issue, then shame on the Demo- where they prayed with the president. In crats.” He pushed for a commitment from 2004, Land launched the “I Vote Values” the GOP so evangelicals would not just be campaign, a mammoth get-out-the-vote another voting bloc but a constituency operation, which distributed half a mil- whose concerns were a priority. “One of my lion voter guides to churches and included goals was to make certain that evangelicals a cross-country tour in an 18-wheeler. weren’t used by the GOP in the way blacks According to exit polls, Bush won voters were used by the Democratic Party,” he says. who said their top concern was “moral val- And it’s undeniable that the alliance with ues” by 80 percent to 18 percent. George W. Bush carried benefits for evan- Land was somewhat less polemical than gelicals.Look nofurtherthantheSupreme Falwell and Robertson—and his arguments Court, Land points out. “Alito and Rob- were often more sophisticated. “He was erts are the gifts that keep on giving, and unusual because he often had very subtle we would have gotten neither one of those views on issues,” says John Green, a Uni- without our involvement,” he says. Land versity of Akron professor of political sci- predicts that, if he lives out a natural lifes- ence.“Ialwaysfoundhimtobeveryerudite.” pan, he will see Roe v. Wade “thrown onto Moreover, he was not always a hard-liner the ash heap of history.” on policy. On church-state separation, for instance, Land argued for the government to allow religious expression without spon- n 1995, Land was the architect soring it. And in recent years, he was a vocal behind the Southern Baptist Con- advocate of comprehensive immigration vention’s public apology for its rac- reform. “At his best,” says Silk, “even though ist past, which had included support there are certainly people who regarded for slavery and segregation. He him as the prince of darkness, I think he Iconsiders the apology a central part of his could be a fairly adroit politician in his own legacy at the organization. This is what pastorfromPhiladelphia,toldme,“WhenI rambunctious way.” galls him most about the uproar over his looked at the total history of Dr. Land, the H ALSRE ORA/EIS GOLDEN JOURNAL/MELISSA STREET WALL THE Yet Land’s aggressive political style had Trayvon Martin comments. He was sur- totalhistoryofwho heactuallytalkedtoand detractors. He accumulated what Robert prised at how many people took him for a who he was actually with, setting aside his ParhamoftheBaptistCenterforEthics,an racist. “I would have thought that my entire unfortunate comments … he was a great asset. SBC breakaway group, calls “a well-doc- record, my entire adult life’s record …,” he Nobody can deny that.” (When the news first umented library of inflammatory com- says, trailing of. broke, however, King says he thought, “Some ments.” Among Land’s many barbs were a His legacy did help him save face with people should think about what they’re say- 2008 statement likening Hillary Clinton some black SBC leaders after he was repri- ing before they say it.”) to a witch and a 2009 speech comparing manded. The Rev. , the first black To hear Land talk about it now, he is still the Democrats’ support of the Affordable SBC president, defended Land in interviews. not convinced he was in the wrong. He rec- Care Act to the work of the Nazis. Indeed, The Rev. Brian King, a black Southern Baptist ognizes that black men face discrimination,

24 July 12, 2014 National Journal but he claims that crime statistics jus- understand that he shouldn’t take it per- organization was a mere six weeks away tify racial profiling and argues the point sonally,” Land says. from electing Luter as president. The his- unapologetically: “African-Americans are The plagiarism? He had a stack of articles toric change in leadership was seen as a more likely to commit violent crime.” He in frontofhim, which usually wouldbe cited greatstepforward.Landdidn’twanttotake also believes that George Zimmerman online. “I try to give credit on the air, but awayfromthat byprolonging thescandal.“I killed in self-defense: “I think that, at the sometimes you run out of time.” He admits had a lot of people say, ‘You ought to defend point that the shooting took place, if Zim- he should have been more careful. yourself,’ ” he recalls. “I said, ‘No, I’m not merman hadn’t been armed, he probably Scandals are common within evangel- going to do it.’ ” would have died.” In his telling, Land was icalism, but Land’s controversy revolved Land’s successor as head of the Ethics simply trying to explain to a black caller around race, perhaps the most compli- & Religious Liberty Commission was two why racial profiling happens. “I was actu- cated issue for the SBC, given its history. andahalfdecadeshisjunior.RussellMoore, ally trying to help an African-American When news of his comments broke, the now 42, seemed an easy choice: an afable

National Journal July 12, 2014 25 academic dean withalargesocial-mediafol- is their highest calling, then you don’t make directive on abortion, but unlike many of lowing and pop-culture savvy. He has boyish converts by calling people names.” his Religious Right forbearers, he doesn’t looks—a slight build, thick, dark hair, and a When asked if he is a culture warrior, believethatreligion provides a specificpol- passing resemblance to the late disc jockey Moore vacillates: “It depends on what icy framework for every issue. “Political Casey Kasem. “I think people like Russell someone means by culture warrior. For action can never be the ultimate answer to better than they like Richard,” says David some people, when they say culture war- our problems,” he says. Key, who directs Baptist studies at Emory’s rior, they mean someone who believes in These alternate priorities may stem in Candler School of Theology. “Just on per- warringforculture,advocatingandwork- part from a simple statistic: The Southern sonality, Richard was much more, in some ing to influence the culture. If that’s what Baptist Convention is bleeding American ways, arrogant and much more strident someone means by culture warrior, then, members, down 900,000 from a high of 16.6 than what Russell has been so far.” yes, I would be. What others mean when million in 2005. A generation of politicking Moore—like a lot of younger evangeli- they say culture warrior is an angry, gloomy in the name of Jesus, getting close to power cals—has shown himself to be wary of the presence who simply wants to scream at instead of being a prophetic voice outside Religious Right’s traditional discourse. Last the culture. If that’s what someone means the gates, has not made the church a more year, in an essay for the conservative journal by culture warrior, then, no.” stable institution. First Things, he wondered “where Evangel- Moore is fond of saying that Christian- icalismwillgoaftertakingleaveoftheReli- ity should be “freakish” or “strange” and gious Right.” “A younger generation rightly shouldn’t fit so neatly into the culture at n June, the Southern Baptist Con- rejects the triumphalism and hucksterism large. His arguments sound reminiscent of vention gathered for its annual of some aspects of the old American civil- early-20th-century fundamentalists’ with- meeting in Baltimore, with more religion political activism,” he explained. He drawal from public life, after their cultural than 5,000 members descending alsopredicted that as America becomes less setback following the Scopes Monkey Trial. on the city’s convention center. On religious,Christianswillhavetosurrender Yet Moore is also careful with his words Ithe second and final day of the conference, or engage. “The engagement,” Moore wrote, and quick to say he’s not advocating that Moore ascended the main stage, which was “will not be at the level of voters’ guides or evangelicals reject politics entirely. Last in a hall as high and wide as an airplane han- consumer boycotts—and thank God.” Mean- fall, a month after his inauguration, The gar. Flanked by giant video screens, he deliv- while, in his first annual-meeting address as Wall Street Journal ran a long profile of ered a rousing speech, reporting on how his the newly elected president of the ERLC—in Moore with a headline that said he was agency had represented Southern Baptists aspeechgivenjust after aretirement video preaching a pullback from politics and the in the public square during his first year tribute to Land—Moore made a point of say- culture wars. Ever since, in his writing and as president of the Ethics & Religious Lib- ingthechurchshouldn’tbecome“apolitical remarks, Moore has been countering that erty Commission. He reminded his flock action committee.” depiction. At times, he seems to be walking that what matters most is not politics. “The In a recent phone interview, Moore a tightrope on the topic of political engage- primary vehicle for hope isn’t found on Air told me he feels a continuity with Land, ment versus withdrawal. Force One regardless of who is riding in Air but he also said, “We’re in a diferent time “He doesn’t have the street cred with the Force One,” he said. “The vehicle of hope than we were in 1988,” the year Land took main founders of the Christian Right, and so is not found in the United States Capitol, office. “I think American culture has changed, church life has changed, tech- nology has changed.” To be sure, Moore “Pietism, or withdrawal from doesn’t diverge wildly from his predeces- the culture, has always been a sor on the issues. He is strongly antiabor- tion and against same-sex marriage. But big temptation for American he speaks in softer tones. He has criticized Christian talk radio, the medium that Land evangelicals.” favors, saying it makes people hate Chris- tianity. He contends that evangelicals will continue to speakout onculture-warissues, he still has to prove himself without alien- regardless of who is holding the gavel in the but also says, “This doesn’t mean that we’re ating a younger generation that has been United States Capitol. The vehicle of hope is outraged or angry or hostile toward anyone.” turned of by the excesses of the Christian found in lines and lines of children in Vaca- Activism willsound diferent than the harsh Right,” Parham says. But, for now, Moore tion Bible School.” rhetoric of past preachers. “We recognize doesn’t appear all that interested in court- His message was not without political and know that the people who disagree with ing other Religious Right leaders. “I don’t import, though. Behind Moore onstage us aren’t, biblically speaking, our ultimate have that relationship with Russell that sat the Green family, owners of the Hobby enemies,” he told me. “The people who dis- I had with Richard,” says Tony Perkins of Lobby craft chain. At the time, the Greens agree with us are made in the image of God.” the Family Research Council. “I don’t know were awaiting the Supreme Court’s deci- Green saysthat Moore’s approach is typi- Russell that well. I think he’s still trying to sion on their refusal to cover all contracep- cal of a new wave of younger Christian con- find his way.” tion for their employees, as mandated by the servatives. “They might oppose same-sex Moore may not be calling for evangelicals Afordable Care Act. Less than three weeks marriage, but they are unlikely to engage in to disengage politically, but he certainly has later, the Court would rule in their favor. antigay rhetoric,” he explains. “If conversion a diferent focus. He sees a clear Christian The Hobby Lobby case is in many ways

26 July 12, 2014 National Journal

712LAYOUT-feat-stanley.indd 26 7/10/14 9:11 AM a model for the new strategy being pur- Moreover, on gay marriage, Land, like impression that young evangelicals were sued by the Religious Right. It represents a other religious conservatives, now sounds tempted to totally divorce themselves from way to engage in politics that is less aggres- reconciled to the more limited goal of pro- politics, turned of by what they perceived sive than the tactics of the previous genera- tecting the rights of believers, rather than as the negative tone of the movement. Now, tion of believers. Back then, the key phrase continuing to pursue outright victory. “I she says, the students she works with are was “family values”; now, it is “religious think we have lost politically. It’s going to be seeking some sort of intermediate ground: liberty.” You see it everywhere—from con- a political fact,” he says. “But I think many of “I was in school from 2006 to 2010. I think traception court cases to legislation to think- the people who don’t think it’s a big deal are my generation wanted to retreat from pol- tank conferences. getting ready to find out just how big a deal itics altogether, with people thinking they This shift in rhetoric has moved the Reli- it is, and there’s going to be a huge backlash.” knew what we wereagainst insteadof what gious Right from ofense to defense in the Helistsrecentexamplesofprivatecitizens we were for. Students now want to do a culture wars, asBuzzfeed’s McKay Coppins being vilified for their opposition to gay good job of holding to their beliefs while put it last year. The main aim, it seems, is marriage—“the Colorado baker, the New also being kind and gracious to those who not to oppose contraception or gay mar- Mexico wedding photographer, the CEO don’t agree with them—how do I resolve riage but to be left alone: to extract a prom- of Mozilla”—and says, “The goal of the gay- those two? Our students are trying to pur- ise that religious conservatives will not rights activists is to marginalize and ostra- sue that.” have to photograph a gay wedding or pay cize anyone who doesn’t not only accept but When I caught up with Land during the for someone else’s birth control. It is a ver- afrm their lifestyle, for whatever reasons, Baltimore conference, we talked about sion of the Religious Right that even the religious or otherwise, as the social and these generational differences. He has libertarian wing of the Republican Party— moral equivalent of the KKK.” many millennials as seminary students, but a historical rival for influence within the In addition, Land was hardly persona non he remains uncertain about the aims of the GOP—can get behind. grata at the Southern Baptist gathering in younger generation. He knows that young “We’re not unrealistic,” says Perkins of Baltimore. At one point during the annual conservative Christiansare notastough on the Family Research Council. “Our focus is meeting, Moore saw Land and snapped a the issues as he was, and that they are more more keeping the barbarians at bay, really.” photo, uploading it to Instagram and Twit- tolerant on same-sex marriage. (Forty- His organization has started working more ter, with the caption: “Ran into my prede- three percent of young white evangelicals at the state level on freedom-of-expression cessor Richard Land today at our ERLC support marriage equality, according to the laws. “We kind of saw that coming about booth.” When Land retired, the ERLC trust- Public Religion Research Institute.) Land three years ago and began shifting a lot of ees gave him the honorary title of “president thinks they are naive. “I get the impression our emphasis on religious liberty.” emeritus,” and they still hand out an annual that a lot of kids in the millennial genera- Hobby Lobby’s owners happen to be service award in his name. Moore even tion, both inside and outside the Southern Southern Baptists and, on the stage in Bal- name-checked Land in his presentation Baptist Convention, were born on third timore, Moore presented them with the at the conference, when he argued in favor base and they think they hit a triple,” he ERLC’s annual religious liberty award. of comprehensive immigration reform said, adding later, “It only worries me in “This is for reminding us that religious free- and noted that his predecessor had done the sense that I think they underestimate dom is a gift from God, our birthright, and the same. the intentions and the intent of their oppo- not a grant from the state,” he said. In the Butit’salsoclearthatthetoneoftheReli- nents, and they do have opponents. They span of a half-hour, Moore wielded the gious Right has shifted since Land’s hey- are not merely disagreements. There will phrases “religious liberty” and “religious day. When I spoke to several millennials be winners and losers, and there are conse- freedom” at least 16 times. His cadence who are Southern Baptists, it was appar- quences to losing.” grew faster as he pressed on, punctuated by ent they were struggling to come up with Although he didn’t intend it this way, standing ovations. When the time for ques- a middle path between the militant rheto- Land’s new job may have come at a perfect tions arrived, the Rev. John Killian, from ric of the past and total political disengage- time. The clout of the Religious Right has Maytown Baptist Church in Alabama, stood ment. “The church, by definition, is political, been on the wane in Washington; at least at one of the microphones scattered about since its primary declaration is that the cru- for the moment, the White House is not a the room and declared, “I want to thank you cified and risen Jesus of Nazareth is Lord,” receptive place for the agenda of conserva- for oneofthemoststirringpresentationsof Trevin Wax, who is 33 and works at LifeWay, tive Christian lobbyists. Training anew gen- religious liberty I have ever heard.” the publishing arm of the SBC, wrote in an eration—and perhaps seeking to make them email. “However, a church’s political activ- as aggressive as he once was—may be a bet- ity can become problematic when it falls ter way for Land to influence the future of he differences between prey to partisanship and is co-opted by the the movement he helped to build. “What Moore and Land are real, various agendas of different political par- we’re now seeing is a transition from com- yet it’s also important not ties. Partisanship robs the church of its pro- bat-troop leadership to occupation-troop to overstate them. The con- phetic voice.” leadership,” Land says of the generational cept of “religious liberty” as Ashley Brusenhan—age 26 and the col- shift from ofense to defense. But he warns, Tan organizing principle for the Evangelical legegirlsdirectoratCentralBaptistChurch, “Peacetime armies aren’t as disciplined, vig- Right may have become muchmore central an SBC mega-church in College Station, ilant, or well trained as armies that have recently, but it isn’t new. The phrase, after Texas—told me that Moore is “bold with been in combat.” all, was embedded in the name of the com- truth but does it in a very kind way.” She mission that Land led. also said that, a few years ago, she had the Tifany Stanley is a writer living in Washington.

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