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Christian Right Regroups for a New Attack
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Frustrated by slow going on the marriage amendment and confused by Bush's increasingly enigmatic stance on faith-based social welfare, the Christian Right is regrouping for a new attack.

To the outside world, things couldn't look better for religious conservatives. Yesterday's nit-picking arguments in the Supreme Court over whether and where and what parts of the Ten Commandments could be posted in public spaces were swept aside by the crisp comments of Justice Antonin Scalia, who at one point told Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (who was arguing for a Ten Commandments display in his state), "'Our laws come from God.' If you don't believe it sends that message, you're kidding yourself." At another point, Scalia declared: "It is a profoundly religious message, but it's shared by the vast majority of the people . . . It seems to me the minority has to be tolerant of the majority's view."

Scalia, of course, is locked in a political struggle with Justice Clarence Thomas for the hearts and minds of conservatives who are debating which of the two to support for chief justice. He has become the Christian Right's charismatic champion here, but whether he has the political weight to push the fight forward is another matter.

Meanwhile, religious conservatives momentarily have shifted their attention away from the stalled campaign to ban same-sex marriage and instead are concentrating on getting behind a bill that would allow religious leaders to openly endorse political candidates. As Jim Backlin of the Christian Coalition explained to The Hill newspaper yesterday, the theory is that such a bill would give religious bigs a chance to promote candidates who support the marriage amendment from the pulpit, where they exercise considerable sway. ...