Chip Frontz tipped me off to the news that the Alabama chapter of the Christian Coalition is disassociating itself from the national body on account of the latter’s “leftward drift.” The Alabama chapter is the third to do so.

[Alabama chapter president John] Giles said the relationship between the state affiliate and national organization began to deteriorate in 2003 when Combs appeared in Alabama, without Giles’ knowledge, to endorse Gov. Bob Riley’s $1.2 billion tax plan after the Christian Coalition of Alabama had come out against it.

Giles said the relationship worsened as the national organization drifted from its original tenets to address environmental and economic issues, like raising the minimum wage.

I remember when Gov. Riley’s tax plan was being touted as an application of biblical principles to tax policy. It was designed in part by Susan Pace Hamill, a Law professor at the University of Alabama who published a law review article, “An Argument for Tax Reform Based on Judeo-Christian Ethics” [PDF]. While the national Christian Coalition supported the tax plan, the Alabama chapter strongly opposed it, and their efforts are credited with helping to send it down to defeat.

The national Christian Coalition seems to be following the recent trend of conservative evangelicals straying from the traditional conservative party line. Global warming, poverty and other issues traditionally associated with liberalism have been taken up by groups like the National Association of Evangelicals. It’ll be interesting to see how this affects the electoral prospects of the GOP in the next two elections.