For those looking for another in a long series of scathing criticisms against the Christian Right, then you've come to the wrong book. Gilgoff takes the high road of true journalism in this book by withholding comments and primarily offering an account of rise of the Christian Right beginning with the Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority to the present.
His special emphasis is "the story of Dobson's and Focus on the Family's place in that history, as the leading Christian Right figure and organization of the past decade" (xv). Though "much of the mainstream news media still treat Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as the evangelical movement's political spokesmen" their respective political organizations - Moral Majority and Christian Coalition - tanked long ago. It is currently Dobson's organization that has the most influence. But this goes unrecognized by the media because Dobson largely keeps to himself, preferring to work under the radar of the media.
Dobson's background as a trusted family adviser paradoxically gives him political clout because he appears to be disinterested in political power but solely concerned about the welfare of the family. In an interview, Dobson said, "I have no political ambitions, and that puts me in a different category than somebody who does" (8). Dobson intentionally portrays himself as "a reluctant warrior" (8) who ventures into politics only out of necessity.
Though the Republican Party benefits from Dobson's support, they rarely come through on his expectations. The reason is that Party includes more than social conservatives. It also must appeal to its libertarian and pro-business wings which fear the prospect of government regulation of morality. It doesn't help that Dobson has unrealistic expectations concerning how the legislative process works. What he tends to do is unleash an occasional torrent of phone calls to Congress and threaten to remove his large voting bloc if he doesn't get his way. He and his evangelical followers tend to attribute lack of total victory with lack of courage.
Unfortunately, the Christian Right suffers from the same disease as big-government liberals: they both see Washington as the solution to social problems. But, as Paul Weyrich has realized, "Politics follows culture, not the reverse" (136). Too often, we rely on politics to change our culture, when we should focus on transforming our culture.
Gilgoff ends the book with an account of how the Democrats are attempting to include more talk of religion and morality in their public discourse. They realize they must shed their secular image if they are going to appeal to a broader group of people. But this may be hard to do when secular Americans (those who go to church infrequently or never) comprise a large percentage of the Democrats' voting bloc.
In his Epilogue, Gilgoff records the promising direction of the New Right - a Right that is not exclusively focused on abortion and gay marriage and the removal of religion from the public square, but also takes seriously other important issues such as environmental concerns (Creation Care), human rights legislation, reducing rape in U.S. prisons, and combating HIV/AIDS in Africa. These are issues that Dobson and others believe detract from the most urgent issues of abortion and gay marriage, but a truly conservative movement must embrace a larger set of issues than these. One advantage of this branching out is that more common ground is found with those across the aisle.
Though the New Right continues to branch out, the media continues to focus on the hot-button issues. Recent efforts that involved conservative evangelical groups - The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, 2000's Trafficking Victims Protection Act, 2002's Sudan Peace Act, 2003's Prison Rape Elimination Act, and 2004's North Korea Human Rights Act - receive little attention from the news media.
This is a far cry from previous incarnations of the Christian Right - including Dobson's - that focused exclusively on a narrow range of issues and could not abide working with perceived enemies on the left. Gilgoff concludes by considering whether we are entering a new era: "Will the movement continue to break with its history to make headway on humanitarian causes, or will Christian Right leaders swing attention back to the culture war?" (282). The jury is still out.
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