With God On Their Side

When asked which single issue most affected their vote in the presidential election, the greatest number of Americans – including 80 per cent of Bush voters – said “moral values.” As Esther Kaplan shows in her richly detailed investigation, it’s no wonder the Christian right voted for Bush in droves – their loyal support has produced results. While organizations that offer abortion counseling and services or help to prevent HIV see their funds cut, church groups receive millions in federal dollars to promote sexual abstinence and marriage (provided, of course, it is heterosexual). Bush has appointed a Christian right dream team to the federal courts, deadicated to tearing down what one such judge calls the “so-called separation of church and state.” Religious zeal even shapes Bush’s foreign policy, as Chritian belief in the end times spurs the administration’s support for hard-line policies in Israel. A comprehensive and prescient stud of the Christain right’s growing political clout, With God on Their Side is essential reading for anyone concerned about America’s direction under the second administration of George W. Bush.