Ties That Bind: Bush and LaHaye have a history, and share a sense of missionBy 
Howard Fineman

NewsweekMay 24 issue - In 1974 an obscure 40-year-old Baptist minister from 
Lynchburg, Va., traveled to California to preach in the church of a popular 
pastor, the author of a Christian best seller about how faith builds character. 
But when Jerry Falwell arrived at Tim LaHaye's San Diego church, he had a 
lowercase revelation: LaHaye wasn't just a lively preacher and writer, he was a 
powerful political operative. LaHaye's organization, Californians for Biblical 
Morality, had mobilized evangelical Christians and, in doing so, had helped 
elect Ronald Reagan governor. "I realized I wanted to do the same thing on a 
national basis," Falwell recalled in an interview with NEWSWEEK. "Tim was my 
inspiration."
      
Of such moments is history made. Since the mid-'70s the rise of religious 
conservatives in pop culture, publishing and politics has been a profound trend 
in American life, reaching its zenith, perhaps, in the "Left Behind" series—and 
in the pastorate-presidency of George W. Bush. In politics, Falwell went on to 
found the Moral Majority, which helped elect Reagan president—and George H.W. 
Bush as vice president—in 1980. LaHaye and his wife, Beverly, were players in 
Reagan's Washington, too—he as a founding board member of the Moral Majority; 
she as head of Concerned Women for America. Until the heady '80s, Protestant 
evangelicals largely had shunned electoral politics. Now they were full partners 
in the conservative movement.

Which is where Bush the Younger enters the scene. He and LaHaye aren't close, 
but they go way back. By the late 1980s, Bush and Karl Rove had decided that the 
key to establishing "Junior's" political base in Texas was to reach out to 
evangelical Christians. Conveniently enough, Bush's job in his father's 1988 
campaign was to focus on those voters nationally. A key leader in that 
constituency was Falwell, who was for Vice President Bush; LaHaye went with Jack 
Kemp, but was eased out of that camp for some anti-Roman Catholic statements 
he'd made. The Bush campaign took LaHaye in, inviting him to an event at the 
veep's home. "I'm pretty sure I introduced Tim to George W," Falwell says.
            
By that time Bush II had become an earnest Christian, a double helix of faith 
and ambition. Ever since, and with growing confidence, he has spoken the 
Biblical and political language of the evangelicals. In 1999 LaHaye was among 
the religious conservatives with whom the then Governor Bush met as he prepared 
to launch his candidacy, telling them he felt "called" to run and to serve. As 
president, Bush has had his best speeches written by Michael Gerson, a graduate 
of Wheaton College in Illinois (known as "the evangelical Harvard"). In spare, 
Biblical cadence, they proclaim Bush's central themes of individual compassion 
and faith-based strength and, since 9/11, an Armageddon-like struggle between 
good and evil.

The White House won't say whether the president has read the "Left Behind" 
books. But Bush doesn't need to have read them to speak to the hearts of their 
readers, says Cal Thomas, a columnist who worked for Falwell years ago. Even if 
they don't take the Book of Revelation as literal truth, most evangelicals have 
been reared on tales and debates about the End Times. For fans of Bush—and 
LaHaye—it's the backdrop of life its own self. "It's not a secret code," says 
Thomas. "It's our shared experience." 
© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.