Speaking of . . . .

It seems the Dobson Gang has not been silent:

The public dispute began with the release of a letter signed by several men who helped transform the religious right into a political force, including Dobson, Don Wildmon of the American Family Assn. and Paul Weyrich of American Values.

The signatories — most of them activists, not theologians — expressed dismay that an evangelical emphasis on global warming was "contributing to growing confusion about the very term 'evangelical.' "

In religious terms, an evangelical is a Christian who has been born again, seeks a personal relationship with Christ, and considers the Bible the word of God, to be faithfully obeyed.

But Dobson and his fellow letter-writers suggested that evangelical should also signify "conservative views on politics, economics and biblical morality."

Note the last sentence. There's the give away -- Dobson is running the evangelical movement as a power base for his own political agenda.

The letter accused Cizik of "dividing and demoralizing" Christians by pushing this agenda and called on his employer, the National Assn. of Evangelicals, to silence him or to demand his resignation.

This is the Dobson Gang's idea of "liberty."

Digby, as always, has some cogent comments:

In fact, it seems to me that the right's campaign to conflate evangelicalism with conservatism has been wildly successful. (They are really good at this --- think what they've done to the word liberal.) But Kilgore's point is correct. This new direction is challenging to the religious right leadership as Republican power brokers, which I believe is what Dobson et al really are.

Duh.

I will believe this when I see it, however. I believe that I have a right to be extremely skeptical of this group's commitment to some of these issues. After all, I am a big believer and supporter of most of that agenda and yet I have been used as an example of Satan's handiwork for decades now. I find it a little hard to believe that most of these people will ally themselves with godless liberals like me no matter what the cause. And ally with liberals they will have to do because there is no way in hell that they will get the Republicans to sign on to human rights, social justice and environmentalism. It's unthinkable, not to mention economic heresy. The big money boys may put up with the social conservatives, but their only religion is profits and nothing will interfere with their worship.

He's right, and it's a sad thing to have to say, but the evangelical leadership has proven itself again and again to be a group of mendacious hucksters. Let's see what they actually do.