Free travel and fellowship lure pastors into organized political lobbying.

Evidence

It is easy to see why so many pastors are happy to sign on. Aside from the opportunity for cross-denominational fellowship, activism, and political engagement, there’s the free or subsidized travel. Church United sponsors annual trips to the state capitol in Sacramento, dubbed, “Awakening Tours,” where pastors learn about the legislative process, meet public officials, pray loudly under the rotunda, and “strategically target committee members” in order to defeat what Domen has called “the enormous evil facing California from the legislature.” Meetings with congressmen are often arranged with assistance from the Christian legal firm Advocates for Faith & Freedom, which also acts as a sponsor of the tours. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 406

Categorization

• XREF: Extends ch4’s claim about bottom-up civic capture — the Awakening Tours are the machinery that politicize local pastors. — connects to: Evangelical pastor-mobilization organizers openly admit their meetings are political. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 358; Pastor-mobilization meetings are timed and placed to swing contested elections. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 358; A centralized network of celebrity pastors controls conservative evangelical infrastructure — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 454 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Evangelical pastor-mobilization organizers openly admit their meetings are political. #corroborates (0.82) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 358
• Undisclosed movement strategists architect the grassroots religious right. #responds-to (0.78) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 721
• Pastor-mobilization meetings are timed and placed to swing contested elections. #expands (0.75) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 358
• Postwar evangelical political power moved through direct presidential access and official state religion markers #qualifies (0.73) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 82
• A centralized network of celebrity pastors controls conservative evangelical infrastructure #complicates (0.72) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 454
• The Vatican sponsored outward-facing political parties rather than internal Church reform #complicates (0.72)