NHPrimary.com: Religious groups' power in New Hampshire
appears to be waningBy Jeffrey Merritt/The Telegraph of Nashua, New Hampshire
January 10, 2000
Web posted at: 12:07 p.m. EST (1707 GMT)
Four years ago at this time, Ray White was the executive director of the New Hampshire Christian
Coalition, a group that was at the forefront of a political movement of conservative Christians across
the state.
White still pays attention to politics today, but he said most of his attention is focused on his
family and his insurance business.
That transformation reflects a conundrum of the 2000 presidential primary in New Hampshire. Just as
most of the candidates are making a point of publicly declaring their religious faith, grass-roots
groups of religious conservatives appear to be on the wane.
"There's no question there's still an influence there, and I don't minimize that," White said. "But I
also think there's not an activism like there was in the last election."
Founded by the Rev. Pat Robertson, the Christian Coalition became a national force in the early 1990s
and encouraged a cross-over between religion and politics through the millions of voter guides it
distributed in churches.
But the organization has been weakened by losing a battle with the Internal Revenue Service for
tax-exempt status and now is deeply in debt.
White, though, traces the weakening of an organized movement to the Republican takeover of Congress in
1994, which he described as a "watershed moment" for conservative Christians, who had fought to make
it happen.
But the results of that victory were disappointing for many activists, he said.
"It's totally the fault of evangelical, Christian Republicans," White said. "I think we blew it. ...
Once we got into power, we just muffed it."
Shelly Uscinski of Merrimack, another former leader of the Christian Coalition's state chapter, is now
the New England director for Patrick Buchanan's Reform Party campaign for the presidency.
"A lot of groups have a 10-year cycle and then something new will come along," Uscinski said,
acknowledging that the fight with the IRS has contributed to the weakening of the coalition.
"That slowed them down considerably," she said. "They lost a lot of their leadership people. ... I
just don't think they've gotten their momentum back again."
Still, Uscinski said the willingness of many presidential candidates to speak openly about their faith
may be tied to the rash of widely publicized school shootings in recent years.
"I wonder if there isn't a sense that maybe it is time to start talking about it again," Uscinski
said. "When there's all kinds of violence, people do tend to turn to God and religion."
The current chairwoman of the New Hampshire Christian Coalition is Connie Coviello, who leads the
group from her home in Stewartstown, more than 150 miles north of Manchester near the Canadian border.
Coviello agreed that the coalition has been less visible in the state under her leadership in the past
10 months, but she said the group remains active.
From her vantage point, the media has maligned Texas Gov. George W. Bush and other candidates who have
emphasized their faith on the campaign trail.
"Why try and look for the reason behind it?" she said.
"Why not just say it's a wonderful show of faith and take it from there?"
Nashua Board of Education member Taylor Cole used to head the coalition's Greater Nashua chapter, a
post he left behind after his election in 1997.
Cole, who supports Republican Gary Bauer, said part of the turn to religion appeared to be a response
to the scandal that surrounded President Clinton.
"I do believe it's important that all of them talk in moral terms," Cole said. "That, I think, is good
for the nation. I think that the president's behavior and his impeachment and so forth has a lot to do
with it."
White said he believes the candidates who discuss their faith are all sincere, but he also sees it as
partially due to a backlash against Clinton.
"Guys are trying to say, in effect, 'I'm not him,'" he said.
|
