TV preacher Pat Robertson has long had an interest in changing social policy in America.
Robertson wants the law to reflect his personal religious views. At first, he tried to bring this about by running for president. After his failed bid in 1988 to capture the Republican Party nomination, Robertson created the Christian Coalition to influence government.
The Christian Coalition is on the wane these days, but another Robertson project is quietly helping the Virginia Beach televangelist gain the power and control he lusts for – Regent University.
Robertson founded CBN University in the late 1970s and changed its name to Regent University in 1990. According to Regent’s mission statement, the university is designed “to produce Christian leaders who will make a difference, who will change the world.” The vision of Regent, according to a document posted on its Web site, is “to provide Christian leadership in transforming society by affirming and teaching principles of truth, justice and love as described by the Holy Scriptures, embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, and enabled through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Robertson has seen his influence as a Religious Right powerbroker wax and wane, largely due to his frequent outbursts of outlandish commentary. Every year Robertson tells viewers of his “700 Club” cable broadcast program that God has personally provided him with predictions for the coming year. For example, he told his audience that there would be “mass killings” on American soil in 2007, most likely by a nuclear strike. Americans United has tried its best to chronicle Robertson’s bizarre comments and it’s not any easy task.
But even as these outbursts go on, Robertson continues to use Regent to affect public policy. Is it working? Certainly the Bush administration seems to have no problem in hiring lots of people who have graduated from Regent.
The Boston Globe reported yesterday that Regent “has had no better friend than the Bush administration.” The article noted that in 2001, the president hired a high-ranking Regent administrator to head the White House’s Office of Personnel Management.
“The doors of opportunity for government jobs were thrown open to Regent alumni,” reported The Globe.
Of course Monica Goodling, former top aide to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, is one Regent’s most recognizable names, due to the scandal over the Justice Department’s apparent political purge of federal attorneys.
Goodling was instrumental or at least right in the middle of the Justice Department’s controversial firings of several federal prosecutors. Goodling graduated from Regent’s law school in 1999 and joined the Justice Department with “scant prosecutorial experience” The Globe noted.
Jay Sekulow, top attorney at Robertson’s legal outfit, the American Center for Law and Justice, bragged to the newspaper that “We’ve had great placement [within the administration]. “We’ve had a lot of people in key positions.”
Goodling was indeed functioning in a top position within the Justice Department and wielded substantial influence. Alan Cooperman of The Washington Post reported recently that a former Justice department official said that Goodling “forced many talented, career people out of main Justice so she could replace them with junior people that were either loyal to the administration or would score her some points.”
Also looking at the number of Regent graduates in the Bush administration, Dahlia Lithwick lamented in a Slate article that the “express goal” of Regent and its graduates “is not only to tear down the wall between church and state in America but also to enmesh the two.”
Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, told The Globe that Regent is becoming more adept at training attorneys who are intent on carrying out a Religious Right mission.
Regent’s Web site boasts of its connections with the White House. We know the Bush administration has filled all kinds of government positions with highly unqualified individuals solely because of their loyalty to the president.
It’s just as disturbing that the administration has staffed some key positions with persons who have hailed from Robertson’s fold.
Aside from a law school, Regent offers graduate degrees in education, theology, business and mass media, because these are the areas of public life Robertson wants to influence. Robertson’s efforts to forge a lasting political group through the Christian Coalition may have failed, but Regent may stand as the project that gives him the power he has always sought.
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