Justice Sunday II, the Family Research Council’s retread rally for religious supremacism slated for August 14th in Nashville, has shaken up its line up.
Country singer Lee Greenwood originally scheduled to appear is out — and House Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay(R-TX) is in. But Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN, once considered the favored candidate of the Christian Right for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, seems to have fallen out of favor.
DeLay and Frist have long hitched thier political futures to the leaders of the Christian Right. Speaking at a secret conclave hosted by the Family Research Council early this year, they each pledged their fealty to the lords of the Christian Right. The tape of the proceedings obtained by Americans United for Separation of Church and State and released to the media generated national outrage.
Sen. Frist, who was the marquee pol at the first Justice Sunday, (via video) faced a firestorm of criticism for appearing with gang of theocrats who had equated opposition to president Bush’s controversial nominees to the federal bench, with opposition to “people of faith.”
Nevertheless, Frist was not invited to speak this time — even though the rally is being held in his home state of Tennessee. He has apparently fallen out of favor for having flip-flopped on stem cell research.
In any case, over the next ten days, the event promises to draw national attention, considerable opposition, and throw into sharp relief the still-formidable role of the theocratic Christian Right in national politics.
