The Christian Coalition has proven to me once again that their freaky fixation on women's bodies and what we do with them goes beyond simple morality-mania. It extends to a genuine fear of women's bodies and the power we have to do nothing less than destroy the world with them. Why else would they continue to fight against any attempts to re-adjust their focus away from reproductive rights and towards the truly scary issues of poverty, global warming and HIV/AIDS? Clearly, women's bodies are dangerous to these people.

So, is it any surprise that on Tuesday, November 28th The Christian Coalition voted to accept President-elect Reverend Joel C. Hunter's resignation before he started because he wanted to expand their core issues beyond the confines of an anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality agenda?

But without an obsessive focus on reproductive rights, how would The Christian Coalition protect against feminists-gone-wild rampages where we gratuitously leave our partners, kill our children and become lesbians?! The key to ensuring a harmonious bible-based society is keeping tight reins on a woman's ability to control her own body.

However, citing "philosophical differences" , Reverend Hunter (author of the tellingly titled "Right Wing, Wrong Bird: Why the Tactics of the Religious Right Won't Fly With Most Conservative Christians") chose to step down before he was scheduled to take over the leadership of this odious organization on January 1st.

"Philosophical differences" really just means that The Christian Coalition's political plan, dominated by their own sense of moralistic superiority, seemed narrowly focused and increasingly irrelevant; especially compared to the issues The Reverend Hunter believes are truly important. The Reverend Hunter wanted to "broaden the conversation," saying "I'm really over this whole polarization thing."

But polarization is exactly what The Christian Coalition is about. If The Christian Coalition couldn't rely on Reverend Hunter to keep the fires of fury burning then what exactly would the organization's role be in the political firestorm surrounding reproductive rights?

Fearing that helping the hungry, tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic and exploring ways to prevent ongoing environmental degradation would scare off their core supporters, The Christian Coalition's incumbent President Roberta Combs and the Board of Directors backed out of the deal. Their strident anti-choice politics allow them the opportunity to have almost no impact on real people and real families while maintaining their base of support. The coalition's legislative agenda for 2006 includes prioritizing the passage of the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act – a bill that seeks to "ensure that women seeking an abortion are fully informed regarding the pain experienced by their unborn child". This is exactly what the organization deems significant for their base. A pointless piece of legislation that, with its focus on abortions performed at or after 20 weeks, would impact roughly 10% or less of the actual number of legal abortions that take place in this country. The real motive for the bill is its role in the religious right's journey towards enacting laws that bestow full-fledged rights onto fetuses; ensuring that women are treated as nothing more than vessels.

The Christian Coalition's rallying cry may be falling on deaf ears these days anyway. As The Washington Post recently reported, the organization has amassed a debt of more than $2 million, and with its one sole Washington DC employee, seems more pathetic than loathsome. Reverend Hunter was smart to take a pass on the leadership role over an organization so blinded by fear and anger over what women's bodies are capable of they can't see what's truly important.