Down But Not Out

Don't think for a second that we have seen the end of the religious right. They may be down, but they are not out!

Americans United for Separation of Church and State offers a wonderful analysis:

After eight years of unprecedented access to the White House and (until 2006) in the halls of Congress, Religious Right organizations are about to lose a lot of clout with much of official Washington and could see their influence at the national level diminished.

But it’s unlikely any of these organizations will close down. Rather, they will organize to defeat individual-freedom initiatives put forward by President Barack Obama, and they will place more emphasis on state and local governments as a way to press their agenda forward. (Religious Right groups enjoyed some success on Tuesday night with state ballot referenda.) [...]

Religious Right groups intervened in a number of state ballot initiatives, seeing success in several. Bans on same-sex marriage passed in Florida (62-38 percent) and Arizona (56-44) and looked to be on the verge of passing in California, although results are not official as of this writing. In addition, a ban on unmarried couples adopting children, which is seen as a way to prevent same-sex couples from adopting, was approved by Arkansas voters, 57-43 percent.

... Obama’s electoral landslide does not mean the Religious Right is dead or even seriously wounded. The Religious Right has been part of the American political landscape for more than 30 years and is not likely to fade away simply because of a bad election cycle.

It’s important to remember that several of the Religious Right’s favored candidates won their races, and, more importantly, the referenda results on same-sex marriage shows that this issue remains a potent one for the Religious Right to exploit. With power changing hands in Washington, these groups will shift tactics, not shut their doors.

In short, it is probably too early to declare the culture wars over just yet.

So let's celebrate for a while, but we must be prepared to get back to work in January!

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