Bad for the Jews, worse for the Christians: How Abramoff, Reed, and DeLay sullied the faiths they profess.

• Author: Morris, Rachel
• Position: 10 MILES SQUARE - Jack Abramoff - Ralph Reed - Tom DeLay

When Jack Abramoff arrived at federal court in Washington, D.C., this January to plead guilty to fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to bribe public officials, he wore a trenchcoat that strained across his stomach and an immaculate black fedora. Bemused observers wondered why Abramoff had chosen to appear in court dressed as a Mafia don. But the fedora--reportedly a Borsalino from Bencraft Hatters in Brooklyn--is also a ubiquitous accessory in the world of Orthodox Judaism, the faith that Abramoff has professed ever since watching "Fiddler on the Roof" as a 12-year-old. "I hope that I can merit forgiveness from the Almighty and from those I have wronged or caused to suffer," he told the judge, his face creased in contrition. Given the shamelessness with which he had defrauded his Indian clients, this display of devoutness may have seemed cynical. In fact, it was classic Jack Abramoff. As a man who spelled 'God' as 'G-d' in email messages, but referred to his tribal clients as "f'ing troglodytes" and entreated his staff to "get some $ out of these monkeys," Abramoff has always freely mingled the sacred with the profane.

Abramoff's activities have distressed his fellow Orthodox Jews, but they have proved even more problematic for evangelical Christians. In his lobbying campaigns, Abramoff cashed in on the conservative Christian credentials of two longtime allies: Tom DeLay, who has often used religious causes to shore up political power and who is now facing money-laundering charges of his own; and Ralph Reed, who duped his allies on the religious right into waging anti-gambling campaigns to benefit Abramoff's casino-owning clients. In DeLay and Reed, Abramoff found two similarly ambitious political players with few qualms about putting their public piety to the service of private corruption.

But by sullying the faiths they so publicly professed, the three have reminded many evangelicals of their historical aversion to mixing religion with politics. "Christ's spiritual kingdom and the civil order are two completely different things," John Calvin once observed. "We may not (as people commonly do) unwisely mix these two together." At the grassroots level, evangelicals have grown increasingly troubled by their leaders' embrace of politicians who are now mired in corruption probes. The Abramoff scandal marks an uneasy coming of age for the religious right as a political force: an acknowledgement that it has become sufficiently powerful to be worth manipulating for morally dubious ends--and a sign that the relationship between conservative Christians and the Republican Party may be fraying at the edges.

In Washington, Abramoff made no secret of his religious affiliation. He is a close friend of Rabbi Daniel Lapin, a controversial Orthodox Jew who is influential among evangelical Christians and is the author of Thou Shalt Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money...