Republicans Will Hide the Bible-Thumpers at Their Convention

Pat Robertson hasn't gotten his invitation to the Republican National Convention yet. Neither has Jerry Falwell. And neither has our own Franklin Graham. According to news posted today on the Drudge Report, the guys in charge of the convention seem intent on hiding the halo crowd from the general public. Robertson, for one, isn't particularly amused: "I've had no request from anybody to be there." Unlike Falwell, Robertson believes the GOP is deliberately keeping him and other evangelicals away. "In the last convention, the thought was to keep all the conservatives out of sight," said Robertson, who has attended every Republican convention since 1988, but said he won't go this year. "The general thrust will be to entice the so-called independent moderates, and I am not sure that there would be much reason for a conservative to be there."

Maybe Rev. Pat and Colin Powell, who also won't be attending but for slightly different reasons, can microwave some popcorn and watch the convention together at the 700 Clubhouse.

Republican spokesmen like Ralph Reed are rationalizing that it doesn't matter that such prominent evangelicals as Falwell, Robertson, and Franklin aren't being given prominent roles at the convention, since the Christian Right has infiltrated and taken over the Republican Party. The evangelicals don't need to be there on the podium. They're in most of the delegate seating.

As Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition, so aptly said, "We'll have a huge presence there. We have the president." Indeed they do. And he has them.

My Bible warns against that time when rulers own religion. Seems like the Constitution warns against that too, but I could be wrong about that.