‘D. James Kennedy held rallies with names such as “Reclaiming America for Christ.” So far, it seems the Tea Partiers are mostly interested in reclaiming America for the Chamber of Commerce’

For what was presented as a rally of angry conservative Americans, last weekend’s National Tea Party Convention in Nashville was remarkably lacking in evangelical Christian leaders and rhetoric.

There were enough references to indicate that “most of the Tea Partiers were strong Christians,” as Melinda Warner reported on Huffington Post. Prayers opened and closed many gatherings (“Be with Sarah Palin. Protect her, Lord”). There was a workshop called “Why Christians Must Engage.” Discussions and speeches were peppered with phrases such as “Judeo-Christian nation.”

But overall, the convention wasn’t at all like those God-and-country revivals of the Reagan- and Gingrich-era National Affairs Briefings, or the more recent Bush-era Values Voter Summits. Fiscal conservative reformers such as Ross Perot and the late John B. Anderson might have been more at home than such Christian Right warriors at Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell.

Will the Christian Right join the Tea Party? Will the Tea Partying fiscal conservatives make room for social conservatives? Should they?
I doubt it.

[Editor’s note: Some of the original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid, so the links have been removed.]