Here’s an article about this conference, which purports to examine "the real agenda of the religious right." Here’s the program and speaker bios, and here are some of the websites they operate. Still, the whole conference wasn’t altogether "fever-swampish":
If we are going to ask the Christian right to stop engaging in demonization, we need to inspect some of our own language," Chip Berlet of the human rights watchdog Political Research Associates said in his talk Friday night.
"I’m uncomfortable when I hear people of sincere religious faith described as religious political extremists," he said. "What does that term mean? It’s a term of derision that says we’re good and they’re bad. There is no content."
Afterward, in an interview, Mr. Berlet added: "The Democrats do just as much name-calling as the right. It’s great for fundraising. [But] it’s a heck of a way of building a social progressive movement."
I couldn’t agree more. For more on Berlet and the conference, go
here.
Update: There’s more from Powerline and Michael DeBow at Southern Appeal.
Elections aside, the Left’s promiscuous use of name-calling and demonization has in fact been very useful. It is part and parcel of why they get their way so often, despite election results and apparent conflicts with public opinion. Name-calling and demonization by the Left have successfully circumscribed the ability of genuine conservatives to function in the political arena, the academy, and virtually everywhere else -- by successfully intimidating conservatives to the point where they let the liberals set the standards for what they can legitimately do, say, or even think.
If I am right, and name-calling and demonization have in fact served the left quite well in the big picture, there is little incentive for them to change. Conservatives and liberals with civil instincts are then left with an appeal to morality, which in all likelihood would simply be dismissed as "bourgeois morality" and ignored.
The home loans seem to be useful for guys, which would like to ground their own business. In fact, it is not really hard to receive a bank loan.