political activist
A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...
who works to increase the political strength of religious groups on the
Christian right
The Christian right are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation ...
, to promote
social conservative
Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...
values in the United States.
Funded largely by the
American Family Association
The American Family Association (AFA) is a conservative and Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. Lane has organized political briefings with appearances by fundamentalist pastors such as David Barton and politicians such as
Mike Huckabee
Michael Dale Huckabee (, born August 24, 1955) is an American diplomat, political commentator, Baptist minister, and politician serving as the 29th United States Ambassador to Israel, United States ambassador to Israel since 2025. A member of ...
,
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1 ...
,
Michele Bachmann
Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican P ...
and
Haley Barbour
Haley Reeves Barbour (born October 22, 1947) is an American attorney, politician, and lobbyist who served as the 63rd governor of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he previously ser ...
. In his behind-the-scenes work for
right-wing politics
Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...
, Lane has been described by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' as "something of a stealth weapon for the right".
Activism
Pastor meetings
In the 1990s Lane organized his first pastor meetings in California, where he lives, and in Texas. In the 2000s, the effort was greatly expanded, with funding from the AFA. Each meeting, which is nearly free to participants, costs the AFA "many tens of thousands of dollars". AFA spokesman Bryan Fischer said that, as co-sponsor of the pastor meetings, the AFA maintained an expanding email list of some 40,000–60,000 pastors across the U.S.
From 2005, Lane served as the executive director of The Texas Restoration Project, a program founded by Barton and the AFA to help conservative religious leaders in Texas become more politically aware and active. The Texas Restoration Project spent $1.26 million on six pastor briefing meetings in 2005 in support of Governor
Rick Perry
James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...
, and "Judeo-Christian values". A nonprofit group, the Niemoller Foundation, using money from wealthy Texans such as businessman James R. Leininger, and money from the AFA, paid for Lane's salary and for the pastor briefings through 2007. Liberal watchdog
Texas Freedom Network
The Texas Freedom Network (TFN) is a Texas organization which describes its goals as protecting religious freedom, defending civil liberties, and strengthening public schools in the state. It works to counter the activities of the Christian right. ...
(TFN) called for an investigation of the Niemoller Foundation's tax-free nonprofit status in early 2008, but in May 2009 the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
sent a letter to the Niemoller Foundation ruling that they did not violate their tax-exempt status, and that ministers and pastors may advocate political action on behalf of moral values in their congregations without risk to their tax-exempt status, as long as they do not endorse a specific candidate or spend substantial funds on political issues. Dan Quinn of the TFN said, "this ruling is disappointing because it will embolden wealthy special interests who want to funnel money into nonprofits as a backdoor way to drag churches into partisan campaigns." Lane said in response, "What we're doing is the mobilization of pastors and pews to restore America to her Judeo-Christian heritage. That's our goal."
In 2010 Lane coordinated politically oriented pastor meetings in Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Iowa; several of these considered "important battlegrounds in presidential politics." Mark DeMoss, a former aide to Reverend
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch ...
, said that such mobilizing of pastors for political action is important work, with "people out there like David Lane, whose names we may not know, who are contributing to a large fabric of involvement." In March 2011, Lane said of a two-day, 400-person meeting of Iowa pastors and spouses, "What we're doing with the pastor meetings is spiritual, but the end result is political. ... From my perspective, our country is going to hell because pastors won't lead from the pulpits." Huckabee addressed the pastors in praise of Lane, saying he was "bringing pastors together so they go back to their pulpits and light them on fire with enthusiasm, to make America once again the greatest country on earth under God."
Opposition to same-sex marriage
In the late 1990s, Lane worked against
same-sex marriage in California
Same-sex marriage has been legal in California since June 28, 2013. The State of California first issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples from June 16, 2008 to November 5, 2008, a period of approximately 4 months, 2 weeks and 6 days, as a ...
, helping place California Proposition 22 on the ballot in 2000. In this effort, Lane worked with the California Restoration Project, founded by Edward Atsinger of
Salem Communications
Salem Media Group, Inc. (formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher based in Irving, Texas, targeting audiences interested in Christian values and wha ...
, one of the largest Christian broadcast companies. The proposition passed, restricting California marriages to being only between one man and one woman. It was soon challenged, and overturned in 2008 by the
California Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...
.
Lane worked with Houston-based Lutheran pastor Laurence White to pass opposite-sex-only marriage amendments to the state constitutions of Ohio (in 2004), Texas (in 2005), and Florida (in 2006). The Texas campaign for Proposition 2 passed overwhelmingly. The Florida measure is known as Amendment 2, and Ohio's is referred to as State Issue 1.
Iowa Supreme Court justices
In November 2010, voters in Iowa removed three
Iowa Supreme Court
The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a chief justice and six associate justices.
The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 ...
justices: David Baker, Michael Streit, and Chief Justice Marsha Ternus. The justices lost their seats primarily because of what they believed was their constitutional stance in a 2009 decision allowing same-sex couples to marry. ''The New York Times'' reported that Lane was the "unheralded mastermind" of the campaign against the justices, directing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Gingrich and from the AFA. A pastor from Iowa said, "God used David Lane and his sphere of influence to bring together all the elements" of a broad strategy to unseat the justices.