Leaders of the Religious Right will be hosting Justice Sunday III this weekend - a rally designed to support the nomination of Samuel Alito Jr to the US Supreme Court.
Jerry Falwell, James Dobson and Tony Perkins are among the Alito allies speaking at the event.
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State notes that Greater Exodus Baptist Church, site of the rally, has received over $1 million in "faith-based" grants since their pastor first endorsed George W. Bush in 2000.
Pastor Herb Lusk, the Philadelphia preacher hosting the Religious Right-led "Justice Sunday III" rally this weekend, has a long history of partisan activity on behalf of Republicans and has been awarded more than $1 million in "faith-based" grants by the Bush administration, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State....
"Lusk's case highlights one of the often overlooked dangers of the faith-based initiative," (Rev. Barry W.) Lynn said. "Government funding too often sucks churches into partisan politics. After all, if church leaders want to keep the pipeline to tax funding open, they had better back administration policies."
"Justice Sunday III" is sponsored by the Family Research Council, a Washington-based Religious Right group headed by Tony Perkins. The event, scheduled for Jan. 8 from 7-8:30 p.m., is the third in a series designed to pressure Congress to stack the federal courts with judges hostile to church-state separation and to promote Republican political hopefuls.
The event this weekend has been timed to coincide with the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearings of Alito, which get under way Jan. 9. Speakers include Lusk, Falwell, Perkins and U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). (Santorum faces re-election this year and is locked in a tight race.)
The previous Justice Sunday events (Justice Sunday I & Justice Sunday II) have drawn intension criticism from mainline Christian leaders, Jewish leaders, and Roman Catholic leaders for suggesting that opposition to the Religious Right's political agenda and the president's judicial nominees is tantamount to bigotry against Christians.
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