David Lane (activist)

Last updated
David Lane
Bornc. 1955 (age 65–66)
California
Nationality American
Occupation Political activist
Known for Christian right advocacy

David Lane (born c. 1955) is an American political activist who works to increase the political strength of religious groups on the Christian right, to promote social conservative values in the United States.

Contents

Funded largely by the American Family Association (AFA), [1] Lane has organized political briefings with appearances by fundamentalist pastors such as David Barton and politicians such as Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and Haley Barbour. In his behind-the-scenes work for right-wing politics, Lane has been described by The New York Times as "something of a stealth weapon for the right". [2]

Activism

Pastor meetings

In the 1990s Lane organized his first pastor meetings in California, where he lives, and in Texas. [1] In the 2000s, the effort was greatly expanded, with funding from the AFA. Each meeting, which is nearly free to participants, costs the AFA "many tens of thousands of dollars". [1] AFA spokesman Bryan Fischer said that, as co-sponsor of the pastor meetings, the AFA maintained an expanding email list of some 40,000–60,000 pastors across the U.S. [1]

From 2005, Lane served as the executive director of The Texas Restoration Project, a program founded by Barton and the AFA to help conservative religious leaders in Texas become more politically aware and active. [3] The Texas Restoration Project spent $1.26 million on six pastor briefing meetings in 2005 in support of Governor Rick Perry, and "Judeo-Christian values". [3] A nonprofit group, the Niemoller Foundation, using money from wealthy Texans such as businessman James R. Leininger, and money from the AFA, paid for Lane's salary and for the pastor briefings through 2007. Liberal watchdog Texas Freedom Network (TFN) called for an investigation of the Niemoller Foundation's tax-free nonprofit status in early 2008, [3] but in May 2009 the Internal Revenue Service sent a letter to the Niemoller Foundation ruling that they did not violate their tax-exempt status, and that ministers and pastors may advocate political action on behalf of moral values in their congregations without risk to their tax-exempt status, as long as they do not endorse a specific candidate or spend substantial funds on political issues. [4] Dan Quinn of the TFN said, "this ruling is disappointing because it will embolden wealthy special interests who want to funnel money into nonprofits as a backdoor way to drag churches into partisan campaigns." [4] Lane said in response, "What we're doing is the mobilization of pastors and pews to restore America to her Judeo-Christian heritage. That's our goal." [5]

In 2010 Lane coordinated politically oriented pastor meetings in Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Iowa; several of these considered "important battlegrounds in presidential politics." [1] Mark DeMoss, a former aide to Reverend Jerry Falwell, said that such mobilizing of pastors for political action is important work, with "people out there like David Lane, whose names we may not know, who are contributing to a large fabric of involvement." [1] In March 2011, Lane said of a two-day, 400-person meeting of Iowa pastors and spouses, "What we're doing with the pastor meetings is spiritual, but the end result is political. ... From my perspective, our country is going to hell because pastors won't lead from the pulpits." [1] Huckabee addressed the pastors in praise of Lane, saying he was "bringing pastors together so they go back to their pulpits and light them on fire with enthusiasm, to make America once again the greatest country on earth under God." [1]

Opposition to same-sex marriage

In the late 1990s, Lane worked against same-sex marriage in California, helping place California Proposition 22 on the ballot in 2000. In this effort, Lane worked with the California Restoration Project, founded by Edward Atsinger of Salem Communications, one of the largest Christian broadcast companies. [5] The proposition passed, restricting California marriages to being only between one man and one woman. It was soon challenged, and overturned in 2008 by the California Supreme Court. [5]

Lane worked with Houston-based Lutheran pastor Laurence White to pass opposite-sex-only marriage amendments to the state constitutions of Ohio (in 2004), Texas (in 2005), and Florida (in 2006). [6] The Texas campaign for Proposition 2 passed overwhelmingly. The Florida measure is known as Amendment 2, and Ohio's is referred to as State Issue 1.

Iowa Supreme Court justices

In November 2010, voters in Iowa removed three Iowa Supreme Court justices: David Baker, Michael Streit, and Chief Justice Marsha Ternus. The justices lost their seats primarily because of what they believed was their constitutional stance in a 2009 decision allowing same-sex couples to marry. [1] The New York Times reported that Lane was the "unheralded mastermind" of the campaign against the justices, directing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Gingrich and from the AFA. [1] A pastor from Iowa said, "God used David Lane and his sphere of influence to bring together all the elements" of a broad strategy to unseat the justices. [1]

Related Research Articles

Christian Coalition of America

The Christian Coalition of America (CCA), a 501(c)(4) organization, is the successor to the original Christian Coalition created in 1987 by religious broadcaster and former presidential candidate Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson. This US Christian advocacy group includes members of various Christian denominations, including Baptists (50%), mainline Protestants (25%), Roman Catholics (16%), Pentecostals, among communicants of other Churches.

Mike Huckabee 44th Governor of Arkansas

Michael Dale Huckabee is an American politician, Baptist minister, bassist and political commentator who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomination in both 2008 and 2016.

American Family Association American nonprofit organization promoting fundamentalist Christian values

The American Family Association (AFA) is a Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. It opposes LGBT rights and expression, pornography, and abortion. It also takes a position on a variety of other public policy goals. It was founded in 1977 by Donald Wildmon as the National Federation for Decency and is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an American conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of advocating, training, and funding on the issues of "religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family". ADF is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. It also has four branch offices located in Folsom, California; Washington, D.C.; Lawrenceville, Georgia; and New York.

Louis P. Sheldon was an American Presbyterian pastor, and then Anglican priest, and chairman of the social conservative organization, the Traditional Values Coalition.

Rick Scarborough is a Christian right political advocate and former Southern Baptist pastor from Pearland, Texas, who heads Vision America, Vision America Action and the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration.

2005 Texas Proposition 2

Proposition 2 was a referendum for a state constitutional amendment placed on the ballot by the Texas legislature and approved by the voters at the November 8, 2005 general election. The measure added a new provision to the Texas Constitution, Article 1, Section 32, which provides that "Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman", and "This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage." Texas thus became the nineteenth US state to adopt constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. It was the most populous state to adopt a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage until California passed its ban in November 2008.

<i>Rediscovering God in America</i>

Rediscovering God in America is a book written by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with photography from his wife Callista Gingrich. and a film series based upon the book and narrated by the two Gingriches. The book was a New York Times bestseller.

Mike Huckabee 2008 presidential campaign

The Mike Huckabee 2008 presidential campaign began on January 28, 2007, when former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States for the 2008 election. Huckabee ultimately ended his bid for the nomination after losing the Texas Republican primary on March 4, 2008.

Mike Huckabee is the former Governor of Arkansas (1996–2007) and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 presidential election. He was running for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 presidential election but suspended his campaign on February 1, 2016

National Organization for Marriage

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is an American non-profit political organization established to work against the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. It was formed in 2007 specifically to pass California Proposition 8, a state prohibition of same-sex marriage. The group has opposed civil union legislation and gay adoption, and has fought against allowing transgender individuals to use bathrooms that accord with their gender identity. Brian S. Brown has served as the group's president since 2010.

Nonpartisanism in the United States is organized under United States Internal Revenue Code that qualifies certain non-profit organizations for tax-exempt status because they refrain from engaging in certain prohibited political activities. The designation "nonpartisan" usually reflects a claim made by organizations about themselves, or by commentators, and not an official category per American law. Rather, certain types of nonprofit organizations are under varying requirements to refrain from election-related political activities, or may be taxed to the extent they engage in electoral politics, so the word affirms a legal requirement. In this context, "nonpartisan" means that the organization, by US tax law, is prohibited from supporting or opposing political candidates, parties, and in some cases other votes like propositions, directly or indirectly, but does not mean that the organization cannot take positions on political issues.

TheCall (organization)

TheCall is an organization which sponsors prayer meetings led by Lou Engle along with other Christian leaders pastors in the United States. The meetings request prayer and fasting by Christians in protest against issues such as same-sex marriage and legal access to elective abortion. TheCall has drawn support from American Evangelical leaders, but has also been criticized for intolerance.

The Values Voter Summit is an annual political conference held in Washington, D.C. for American social conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States.

Fred Karger American political consultant and activist

Fred S. Karger is an American political consultant, gay rights activist and watchdog, and former actor. His unsuccessful candidacy for the Republican nomination for the 2012 US presidential election made him the first openly gay presidential candidate in a major political party in American history. He has not held elected or public office. Karger has worked on nine presidential campaigns and served as a senior consultant to the campaigns of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford. Karger was a partner at the Dolphin Group, a California campaign consulting firm. He retired after 27 years and has since worked as an activist on gay rights causes, from unsuccessfully attempting to protect the gay bar The Boom to using his organization Californians Against Hate to investigate The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the National Organization for Marriage's campaigns to repeal the state's same-sex marriage law.

Faith and Freedom Coalition

The Faith and Freedom Coalition is a conservative political advocacy 501(c)(4) non-profit organization in the United States.

The start of the 2012 Republican race for president was shaped by the 13 presidential debates of 2011 beginning on May 5. Gary Johnson and Buddy Roemer, both former Governors, were left out of most of the debates, leading to complaints of bias. On December 28, 2011 Johnson withdrew to seek the Libertarian Party nomination and on February 23, 2012 Roemer withdrew to seek the Reform Party and the Americans Elect nomination.

Jim Garlow is the former Senior Pastor of Skyline Church located in La Mesa, California, a suburb of San Diego. Garlow is often cited as an evangelical leader in the political arena, quoted on issues such as the 2012 Republican presidential primary. He is a leader in the "pulpit freedom" movement, which insists that pastors should be free to carry out political advocacy from the pulpit in defiance of Internal Revenue Service regulations.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Eckholm, Erik (April 3, 2011). "An Iowa Stop in a Broad Effort To Revitalize the Religious Right". The New York Times. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  2. ↑ לתולדות בתי החולים היהודיים בירושלים [Annals of the Jewish Hospitals in Jerusalem] (in Hebrew). medethics.org. 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 "TFN Asks IRS to Investigate Foundation Linked to Texas Restoration Project". Texas Freedom Network. January 10, 2008. Archived from the original on February 14, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
  4. 1 2 Hallow, Ralph Z. (May 13, 2009). "Moral-values groups hail tax ruling". The Washington Times. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 Posner, Sarah (January 23, 2008). "The FundamentaList (No. 18)". The American Prospect. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  6. ↑ Smith, James A. Sr. (January 20, 2006). "Pastors seek 'miracle,' action for marriage amendment: Organizers 'mobilize pastors and pews' to put initiative on November ballot". Florida Baptist Witness. Archived from the original on March 21, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.