Rob Boston, church/state separation activist and writer, caught a recent episode of Christian Right leader Janet Folger’s “Faith2Action” radio show that should make news among reporters on the campaign trail. On it, a VP of the Christian Right powerhouse Family Research Council announces that FRC is working with the Christian Right Alliance Defense fund, to develop pre-packaged election-year sermons on Christian Right issues for pastors across the country. So far, so legal. “Then,” the FRC guest continued, “finally we’re gonna be doing a candidate comparison message that is going to ask pastors to cross the line.”

There are multiple stories here for enterprising religion and politics reporters. Most obviously, “crossing the line.” But the political pre-packaging of sermons is a fascinating story, too. And then there are the “candidate comparison” brochures, an under-appreciated weapon of the Christian Right. Conventional wisdom holds that they were an invention of the Christian Coalition in the 80s. But in my new book, The Family, I write about Christian fundamentalist candidate comparisons distributed in churches for the 1952 elections. Regional papers denounced them, but they didn’t make national news back then, in part because they appeared bi-partisan. That is, reflecting the convoluted politics of religious conservatism in the Cold War, they endorsed both Republicans and Democrats — whoever promised to be a “Christian” candidate, instead of an American one.

–Jeff Sharlet