*Pat Robertson's enterprise will receive $1.5 million as of 2005.

DENVER - January 18, 2005 - A new book identifies the direct challenges to democracy posed by the alliances of the new political right.

• Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Ks) called for "reduction in the separation of church and state" at the 2004 Republican Convention
• Televangelist Pat Robertson characterized church-state separation as a "lie of the left," a "communist invention."
• Robertson evangelicals have called tolerance for other religions "intolerance for Christianity," and gay civil rights an "infringement of the freedom of religion."
• David Horowitz promotes his Academic Bill of Rights for "more tolerance on campus," even as his group (Students for Academic Freedom) seeks to remove from the University of North Carolina freshman reading list the book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. Ultraconservatives have branded the book "anti-Christian" for its mention of liberation theology; and "anti-capitalist," because it "blames corporations" for the plight of the poor.

These are a few of the subversions of language and of the Constitution, as well as the many contradictions on the political right, described in Michele Swenson’s newly-published book, Democracy Under Assault. Depicting America’s destiny in terms of the end times foretold in the New Testament Book of Revelation, fundamentalist allies of Robertson and former Nixon aide, Chuck Colson, posit two world views that cannot coexist - that of biblical literalists aligned against "cultural Christians, secularists and pagans." Robertson evangelicals predict imminent civil war, should "God’s rightful heirs" fail to gain dominance over all social and governmental institutions in preparation for the Second Coming of Christ. Heirs to the nineteenth century Nativist movement that equated "Americanization and Christianization," they allege a humanist conspiracy to divert America from its providentially ordained role as a Christian nation.

Swenson describes assaults on the independent judiciary, and resurrected nineteenth-century science and socioeconomic Darwinism that holds it the duty of the rich to drive the poor into extinction. An unholy alliance of Christian Reconstructionists, hard-core gun advocates, pro-corporate and anti-tax forces contribute to Pat Robertson’s professed goal of a "bullet-proof Republican majority," a guarantee of their continued inordinate influence on U.S. domestic and foreign policy.

Some of the pseudo-science promoted by right-wing ideologues:

• Replacement of scientifically accurate information about condoms for disease prevention from governmental Web sites (like the CDC) with inaccurate information about the high failure rate of condoms.
• Incorrect information in an abstinence-only class links premarital sex to increased rates of cervical cancer.
• Faulty "scientific studies" link higher rates of breast cancer to abortion.
• Warnings about global warming are labeled "a hoax."
• The resurrected nineteenth century "science" of biodeterminism holds the redress of "genetically-determined" poverty futile.

The book delineates the many distortions of exclusionary religion. Unsuccessful at injecting the teaching of creationism into public school curriculum, the right has designated evolution a "religion" that also should not be taught. Religious nationalists allege "Christian persecution" for any perceived demographic or public policy challenge, from environmental action and birth control, to public schools and non-traditional roles for women. Holding his the last generation before the Second Coming, Reagan Interior Secretary James Watt dismissed environmental protections: "When the last tree is felled, Christ will return," he testified before Congress. Promulgating revisionist history, the doctrinal father of religious nationalists, Francis Schaeffer, led the movement among Christian Reconstructionists to rewrite intellectual history to align the intent of the Founding Fathers with the Reformation, the New Testament and the political goals of the New Religious Right.

Framing all issues in terms of a persecuted Christian minority oppressed by liberal elites, the political religious right labeled opponents of Alabama attorney general William Pryor’s Circuit Court nomination "anti-Catholic," just as opponents of Alberto Gonzales’ selection as attorney general were named "racists." War protestors are accused of "aligning themselves with terrorists and Saddam Hussein." Thus is language subverted in order to foreclose debate on any issue, degrading public dialogue and compromising the very basis of U.S. democracy.

Twenty percent of 2005 author earnings from the book Democracy Under Assault are dedicated to progressive causes - "to help counteract the muting of progressive voices," said Swenson.

Democracy Under Assault is now available at area bookstores, as well as online at www.barnesandnoble.com and www.Amazon.com, linked by the author’s Web site, www.Theopolitics.com, where there is a chapter-by-chapter outline of the book.

Swenson has worked with many groups involved with peace and social justice issues. She has volunteered time with homeless teens, women and children, as well as doing background research for gun safety and health advocacy groups, and has testified on numerous occasions before the Colorado legislature on these issues. Her presentations to various groups have covered issues surrounding violence and health care. Currently a resident of Colorado, she researched and wrote Democracy Under Assault over a period of15 years.