The Most Dangerous Man in America?: Pat Robertson and the Rise of the Christian Coalition

""Teflon televangelist"" Pat Robertson, target of liberal ridicule, nevertheless has the Republican Party in a headlock, argues the author of this screed. Boston, a staffer at Americans United for Separation of Church and State and an editor at Church and State magazine, has set out to prove that Robertson remains both powerful and dangerous, despite his defeat in the 1988 Republican presidential primary and his apparent retreat from politics to make way for such younger religious-right leaders as Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed. Boston largely succeeds at this task, citing extreme Robertson statements along with evidence of campaign-law violations and shady business deals, to create a portrait of a man who holds views on a par with the wildest conspiracy theories of Louis Farrakhan, yet whose power to deliver votes prevents GOP leaders from criticizing him. Boston's writing is energetic, clear and laced with humor-although he sometimes engages in rhetorical overkill rather than let the evidence of Robertson's extremism speak for itself. Faced with a Robertson gem like ""What is Hinduism but devil worship, ultimately?"" who in Boston's audience really needs him to point out that Hinduism ""most assuredly does not advocate worship of Satan""? (June)