Some amusing commentary on the influence of the "religious right" on the Republican party, which should be taken seriously to some degree by the leadership in the party:
"At the convention, I am going to be confronted with something far more significant, my deepest fear about Republicans - that they are really and truly square. As a card-carrying member of the Generation of 68, I have an allergy to square that makes me break out in hives and lose my lunch in dark alleyways. I'm cool. Don't ever forget it. And that lineup of entertainment these Red Staters are advertising, I wouldn't wish it on...," wrote Roger Simon, a long-time Democrat supporting Bush.
Rob Long at Slate writes, "It won't all be Christian rock, of course. According to the most recent RNC press release, conventioneers will be treated to country music acts such as Brooks & Dunn, Lee Ann Womack, Darryl Worley, and Donnie McClurkin. They'll be joining Michael W. Smith, Daniel Rodriguez, Daize Shayne, Sara Evans, and Dana Glover on the podium. Sounds exciting, no?
I'm aware that I'm going to sound like one of those liberal Democrat media snobs—which is unfair, because I'm a conservative Republican media snob—but who are these people?" (full article)
Cox & Forkum has a more serious view on this topic.
I'm a Christian and listen to Christian music, but I don't think the Republican convention should have been dominated by Michael W. Smith, Jaci Velasquez, and other leading Christian artists. And the alternative lineup should not have been Brooks & Dunn, Lee Ann Womack, and other country music stars. Couldn't they have gotten at least one mainstream, hip artist? Someone that the Christian Right would not have scorned? Someone like a Craig David or a professed Christian like Beyonce Knowles? Of course cutting out the booty-shaking. They should have gotten a balanced lineup that wouldn't turn-off the younger generation or the urban dwellers. Why let MTV capitalize on this generation and allow "them" to bash our party during their music awards?
More importantly, the leadership (fuzzy, vague term) within the Republican Party has to walk a delicate balance not to alienate the social liberals the party has recently attracted through its stronger actions against terrorism, the growing number of racial minorities in the party, and other secular groups. I'm a conservative Christian and I don't want "them" to dominate the party. Religious causes should not dictate the party platform because it would not only be bad for Republicans but bad for Christians. C.S. Lewis in "The Screwtape Letters" warned not to be a "Christian with a cause" but simply a Christian. While Satan in the book wanted Christians to be deceived:
"Then let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part. Then quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the "cause," in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favour of the British war-effort or of Pacifism... Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing."
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