THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 7, 1995 TAG: 9509070056
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
THE YOUNG, almost angelic-looking Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition based in Chesapeake, makes this announcement in a speech that is shown in snippets on CBS tonight at 9:
``The battle has just begun.''
What battle is that, you ask?
The battle - some are calling it a full-blown war - is for the soul of America. Reed's crusade takes place on the field of politics.
Dan Rather tonight on ``CBS Reports: Faith & Politics: The Christian Right'' tells you about how deeply the Christian Coalition intends to involve itself in the 1996 elections.
When the Christian Coalition is involved, Virginia Beach televangelist Pat Robertson is involved. CBS says the Christian Coalition, which Robertson organized, is powerful and well-organized with 1.6 million members.
Those followers, CBS asserts, have helped Christian conservatives control the Republican Party in 18 states, helped get about 30 congressmen elected.
And the coalition's impact reaches far beyond the elections for the presidency and Congress, CBS points out. The push to return America to the basics of the Bible has also become an issue in campaigns for statehouses and even local school boards.
A ``war'' on that level - deciding what children should be learning in their classrooms - unfolds before the CBS cameras in Merrimack, N.H. Ever heard of Citizens for Excellence in Education? It helps Christian conservatives get elected to school boards.
Christian Coalition spokesman Mike Russell in Chesapeake said Reed declined to be interviewed for ``CBS Reports.''
After previewing the tape, Russell criticized CBS. He said the network did ``lackluster reporting in what appears to be a thrown-together piece in which CBS re-enforces stereotypes from the 1970s without showing the coalition to be maturing, dynamic and moving forward, with women playing a prominent role.''
In other words, Russell didn't like it.
CBS brings on camera a Bible-thumping Southern minister, the Rev. Larry Vance of Hardin County in Kentucky, who wishes that America were free from the ``radical left.'' Vance said he was reluctant to get involved in politics but has done so out of ``pure fear'' that liberals will corrupt the country's morals and take down the republic with them.
Let's put America back on track, Vance says.
Doing the Vance story is fine, said Russell, but where are the images of the young, upscale, politically savvy members of the Christian Coalition who come together on the Internet?
Yes, the Christian Coalition has arrived on the worldwide web at http://www.cc.org.
God is everywhere. God is in cyberspace.
While it may be true, as Russell has said, that CBS has turned up ``nothing surprising'' in this report and that it is not inspired journalism, ``Faith & Politics: The Christian Right'' is worth watching. It's a primer on the marriage of the pulpit and politics.
Perhaps you never knew all of this was happening, that - in the words of a liberal appearing on the CBS special - the Christian right wants it ``their way or no way'' when it comes to the country's morals and values.
Rather, speaking from a Baptist church in Austin, Texas, gets you up to speed on Robertson's army on the move. And that movement starts here in Chesapeake. by CNB