The Houston Chronicle reports
that lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is involved in the Tom DeLay
mess,
quietly arranged for eLottery to pay conservative, anti-gambling activists to help in the firm's $2 million pro-gambling campaign, including Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, and the Rev. Louis Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition. ...
To reach the House conservatives, Abramoff turned to Sheldon, leader of the Orange County, Calif.-based Traditional Values Coalition, a politically potent group that publicly opposed gambling and said it represented 43,000 churches. Abramoff had teamed up with Sheldon before on issues affecting his clients. Because of their previous success, Abramoff called Sheldon "Lucky Louie," former associates said. ...
Abramoff asked eLottery to write a check in June 2000 to Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition (TVC). He also routed eLottery money to a Reed company, using two intermediaries, which had the effect of obscuring the source.
Simply delicious, and a testament to the corruption that ensues when religious leaders enmesh themselves in politics.
And while the old-guard's hypocrisy is revealed, there may be positive movement on another front. According to this report in the Boston Globe, evangelical pastor Rick Warren, author of the best-selling The Purpose Driven Life, is considered a new breed of evangelical leader who rejects attempts to legislate the change he preaches about. "If I thought that legislation could change the culture, I'd become a politician. But I don't believe it can," Warren said.
He may not support gay equality, but this is still a hopeful
trend within evangelicalism. Here's to him.