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Conservatives love Bush
"Bush has systematically reached out to virtually every element of the conservative coalition—from antiabortion advocates to western property rights activists to anti-tax groups to evangelical Christians and conservative Roman Catholics to proponents of a robust national missile defense," reports The Washington Post. And conservatives, including religious conservatives, are very grateful. "This president has a very keen sense of who he is and what he believes and what's important to him," says Kenneth L. Connor, president of the Family Research Council. "He's daily giving evidence that at his core he is a conservative." His predecessor, Gary Bauer, agrees, and notes that reaching across party lines is fine, so long as it's just a social thing. "The policy is what matters," he says. "Nobody is going to begrudge watching a movie with Ted Kennedy as long as Ted Kennedy doesn't start winning the policy battles." Similarly, former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed tells the paper conservatives love Bush: "It's early, but the preliminary indications are that his victory and early weeks have energized the grass roots unlike anything I've seen in recent memory. I can't explain it — I can only tell you it's happening." The Post quotes the Hudson Institute's Marshall Wittmann in gauging reaction to Bush's posting of John DiIulio—a conservative, but a Democrat—to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. "That was viewed by the right as the boldest personnel move Bush has made" Wittman says, "and they're smitten by it."

Bush's evangelical speechwriter
If religious conservatives like the words coming out of Bush's mouth, they have more than Bush himself to thank. The (Baltimore) Sun profiles the president's chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson. Planning to attend seminary after graduating from Wheaton College, Gerson was hired by Chuck Colson (who had read his articles in the Wheaton student newspaper) to help with a book. After working with Colson for a while, Gerson entered the political life on all cylinders. He was policy director for Senator Dan Coats and a speechwriter for Bob Dole and Steve Forbes. For a while, he moved out of full-time political life to serve as senior editor at U.S. News & World Report. The Sun piece is essentially one quote after another about how great Gerson is. An earlier Christianity Todayarticle by Ron Sider suggests that Gerson is also the point of contact between some evangelical leaders and Bush.

Part 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle's "Alternative Faiths" series: Hare Krishnas:

• A test of faith | Allegations of past child abuse threaten Hare Krishnas' existence (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Growing up in the Hare Krishnas | Couple have mixed views about upbringing in sect and continuing to keep their faith (San Francisco Chronicle)

Part 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle's "Alternative Faiths" series: Scientology:

1. When Scientology is passed down | Second-generation disciple dedicates his life to the church (San Francisco Chronicle)
2. Leaving the fold | Third-generation Scientologist grows disillusioned with faith (San Francisco Chronicle)
3. Scientology founder's family life far from what he preached | L. Ron Hubbard had at least seven children by three different wives, including one bigamous marriage (San Francisco Chronicle)
4. Earlier: Building Scientopolis | How Scientology remade Clearwater, Florida—and what local Christians learned in the process. (Christianity Today, Sept. 8, 2000)

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February (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45