Diana Butler Bass provides a Twitter history lesson on that Ralph Drollinger fellow we discussed yesterday.
This guy’s a piece of work. A former college basketball player, Drollinger spent a year in the NBA as That 7-foot White Guy On The Bench Who Never Takes Off His Sweats. He’s played a similar role in the religious right ever since — a fringe player with fringe views way, way down on the depth chart.
But you can still enjoy a nice living and have a long career even on the D-list of right-wing activism. Drollinger’s views qualified him for a steady income from the wingnut welfare funding stream and he parlayed that into a Santa Clarita-based “ministry” promoting ultra-conservative, politicized “Bible studies” for state legislators. Drollinger’s “Capitol Ministries” limped along, helping to spread the gospel of capitalism and culture war and mostly flying under the radar.
But now, thanks in part to his relationship with now-Vice President Mike Pence, Drollinger’s little operation has set up shop in the White House itself, baptizing Trumpism in what Pat Robertson’s rag calls a “spiritual awakening.”
Diana Butler Bass notes the few times Drollinger has previously been in the news, such as when he got in a bit of hot water for declaring that it was a “sin” for married women to work in California’s legislature — or for any other woman to work “outside the home” (i.e., outside their husband’s home). If you’re wondering why that “biblical” injunction doesn’t apply to Betsy DeVos, it’s because, like all white evangelical ministries and institutions, Capitol Ministries isn’t going to do or say anything that might jeopardize its shot at getting a cut of that sweet, sweet Amway fortune.
Drollinger has also raised eyebrows for things like condemning Jewish legislators for “reject[ing] the Jesus of scripture.” Here’s a 2007 report on a Harrisburg prayer breakfast sponsored by Capitol Ministries described as “exclusively Christian” and aimed at getting legislators to “submit to Christ as Lord.”
The real trouble for Capitol Ministries started in 2009, when Drollinger did … something? … that prompted mass-resignations from his ministry. Everybody who wasn’t Ralph Drollinger fled the sinking ship and formed their own competing Bible-studies-in-state-capitols ministry.
It’s a weird, murky account in the way that accounts of conservative ministry implosions often tend to be weird and murky — lots of dark hints, but no specifics as all involved perform ostentatious lamentation while piously citing scriptural prohibitions against speaking ill of other believers:
The situation came to a head this past spring, when current or former Capitol Ministries board members contacted Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, which Drollinger had attended. On July 17, after an investigation, Grace officials announced that they “agreed to temporarily suspend our affirmation of Ralph Drollinger, pending the resolution of our inquiry into allegations made against him.”
At some point over the summer, five board members resigned from Capitol Ministries. This group included John Anderson, a Grace Church member who is now on the Board of Directors of Capitol Commission. In communication with current or former Capitol Ministries board members and others, Grace officials noted on Sept. 24 “It is the estimation of these men that Ralph Drollinger is not biblically qualified for spiritual leadership.” They added, “The attacks Ralph has continued to make on the character and motives of these men, as well as our elders, regrettably affirms to us this determination.”
On Oct. 15, they announced, “Ralph Drollinger no longer has any relationship with Grace Community Church.” Drollinger had already left the church prior to their announcement.
On Nov. 3, Erb emailed many in the Capitol community with more details about his departure from Capitol Ministries, noting “This decision was necessitated by biblical concerns regarding the conduct of the ministry’s president.”
Such vagueness makes it difficult to know whether these “Grace officials” (I love that phrase) are condemning Drollinger because he’s Mark Driscoll or because he’s Jerry Sandusky. The concerns they sanctimoniously refuse to specify could be anything — idiosyncratic doctrinal stances, marital infidelity, embezzlement, drug use, mental incapacity, or just being a bullying jerk.
I appreciate that conservative evangelical groups offer vague statements like these because they want to avoid creating a scandal among “them that are without,” but such hints and pious euphemisms have the opposite effect — they invite outsiders to imagine the worst. Transparency and candor are wiser, and just as biblical. Let your yea be yea. “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.”
In any case, despite all the pious invocations of 1 Corinthians 6, the two rival Zedekiah Bible-study ministries wound up suing one another in court:
Two rival “ministry” groups, both seemingly dedicated to providing Bible studies and counsel to legislatures across the country, are trading lawsuits and ugly charges in a turf war that almost certainly wouldn’t exist if large donations were not at stake. California-based “Capitol Ministries” is led by former professional basketball player Ralph Drollinger, who once drew criticism for saying that women who seek public office when they have small children at home are sinful. His organization operates in California, D.C., and about six other state capitals, including the one in Raleigh, N.C. Former employees disgruntled with Drollinger pulled out and started the “Capitol Commission” as a rival group. Capitol Commission pulled in $1.1 million in donations in 2010, while donations to Capitol Ministries fell from $1.6 million to $496,000. Hence the lawsuits for all kinds of dirty tricks. And while the two “non-profit” groups besmirch the whole notion of ministry, any number of humble pastors and chaplains are more than willing to lead legislative Bible studies or prayer groups for free, no organizations or donations required.
That battle lasted for a couple of years, leaving Drollinger’s Capitol Ministries a bit staggered and even further on the fringes of the fringes of the religious right. Diana Butler Bass summarizes that situation and explains how Capitol Ministries managed its dramatic comeback:
Ralph Drollinger was not a mainstream evangelical figure in any way — he has always been controversial. So, how did get to the White House? Despite being kicked out of California, his own church disowning him, and lawsuits, by 2015, Drollinger is leading a congressional Bible study where the controversial Capitol Ministries is sponsored by (among many others) Mike Pence of Indiana. This is one of Drollinger’s Member Bible studies — on same-sex marriage. Note Pence is a sponsor.
In 2015 Pence, like Drollinger, was still a deep-bench reserve for the right wing, someone isolated by his fringe views and his track record of scandal and failure. But 2016 changed all that for Pence when he hitched himself to the Trump wagon and brought his old buddy Drollinger along for the ride.
That’s a pretty good snapshot of what Trumpism is doing to the religious right and to conservative white evangelicalism in general. You may be previously proven as “not biblically qualified for spiritual leadership,” but if you can just touch the hem of Trump’s garment, you will be transformed into the herald of a “spiritual awakening.” It’s miraculous.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In