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Rob Garver

Rob Garver is a freelance journalist living in Springfield, Va., and is currently studying at Georgetown Public Policy Institute.

Recent Articles

"Megachurch" Madness

Rob GarverAug 16, 2005

History warns us that when large religious groups start imagining themselves to be oppressed by a pernicious and cunning minority, bad things can happen. So it was with a growing sourness in my stomach that I watched the luminaries of the Christian right take the stage at a Tennessee “megachurch” Sunday evening for “Justice Sunday II.”

A Liberal's Education

Rob GarverAug 11, 2005

Dear Senator Santorum,

Until I picked up your bookIt Takes A Family, I had never really recognized what it means to be a liberal. It turns out I've been going about things all wrong. I hadn't realized that I was supposed to be opposed to everything good, right, or true in America.

I also hadn't realized that I'm supposed to be taking my ideological orders from a cabal of “village elders” made up of “the intellectual as well as practical leaders of the liberal movement in America.”

The black helicopters that deliver The New York Times every morning must have skipped my street the day that was announced.

Leftward Christian Soldiers

Rob GarverJun 24, 2005

Deep in the heart of the reddest county in a red state, a new grass-roots movement is taking shape that means to break the religious right's hold on the rhetoric of Christianity by developing a network of activists on the “Christian left” that can be mobilized to support progressive causes.

Founded by Jacksonville, Florida, businessman Patrick Mrotek, the Christian Alliance for Progress (CAP) says its purpose is the “reclaim” the Christian faith from the extreme religious right.

Darfur in Darkness

Rob GarverJun 15, 2005

When President George W. Bush appeared at the White House on Monday, flanked by the presidents of five African nations, Brian McLaren -- the pastor of an evangelical Christian church in suburban Maryland -- expected to hear at least one reference to the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Allen Wretch

Rob GarverMay 11, 2005

In late April, The Hotline, a widely read daily briefing paper for Capitol Hill insiders, polled 175 members of Congress and political strategists; they named Senator George Allen of Virginia as the most likely Republican candidate for the presidency in 2008.

A former governor who happens to be the son and namesake of the legendary Washington Redskins football coach, Allen wasted no time giving political junkies more to speculate about. Four days after the poll was published, Allen traveled to the mecca of presidential hopefuls -- New Hampshire -- for a pair of political fundraisers, leading pundits of all stripes to note that he was following in the footsteps of many presidential contenders before him by getting an early start in the Granite State.

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