Silicon Valley Honchos Backing Christian Right

Yea, though they walk in the valley of silicon, they apparently fear evil. So a group of Silicon Valley big-money men are breaking with their liberal pack and backing a group striving to put Christian conservatives in public office. United in Purpose aims to register 5 million new conservative Christians so they can vote in the 2012 election. Big-buck backers include technology entrepreneur Ken Eldred, and Reid Rutherford, a Silicon Valley solar-energy plant developer, who's on the board of the group.

"Our goal is to raise up a body of believers and that they elect a lot of godly leaders," Bill Dallas, chief executive of United in Purpose, tells the Los Angeles Times. "We're about the agenda of the lamb, Jesus Christ," he added. "Right to life," religious freedom and "traditional marriage" are at the top of the organization's concerns, according to its website, which appeals to those "passionate about God's Word" who want "our nation to return to a Biblical worldview." Liberal religious groups plan to put up a fight. "We will roll out plans in battleground states that will give the right a run for their money," said the Rev. Jennifer Butler of Faith in Public Life. (More Silicon Valley stories.)