posted 09-02-2003 08:44 AM            

Anyone with a brain in their head knows he is a FAKE-CHRISTIAN.

posted 09-02-2003 09:55 AM            

give or take a few...

and a know this and a mech that don't know shit !

I'm slightly curious what you two are doing to make the world a better place...

one things for sure you fellers will be bashing bush for two terms...

and I am very much at peace with that !

shame you bozos are going to be so unhappy...

not really LOL !

other than the brown pants and blue coat...he's allright by me...btw this is "baseball" below...something your mamas wouldn't let you play...or that was the story right ?

posted 09-02-2003 11:52 AM            

His Freedom of Speech includes his right to free exercise of his religion.

Can someone help find the editorial Rush Limbaugh referred to today?

>"No longer does the Republican party stand for shrinking the federal gov't or reducing the intrusion of gov't into our private lives

The Republican party now stands for whatever the latest opinion poll says." Rush says
quoting the Manchester Union Leader as source.<

Opinion Poll?
Pollsters try to lead opinion instead of determine opinion!

While most pollsters called it a Bush slam dunk.
The only pollster honest and accurate enough to call the 2000 election a dead heat was Zogby:
"We count every Republican response twice, on the belief that they are more likely to be out working and earning a living."
(thus less likely home to answer the phone) ZOGBY -October 2000 Ohio State forum on Polling and Politics/ C-SPAN ( I taped it)

so even the most honest among them lets his personal bias skew the results.

What Newt called "opinion leadership"
like thousands of simultaneous editorials released on the same day 'saying the same things in the same words' "independently"

Why not just take Robertson's word for Bush being a Christian?
Robertson who has called his followers to proay for the death or disability of the 3 Moderate Democrats on the supreme court.

WWJS?
What Christians?*
These american Talibans might as well be calling themselves napoleon or caesar for the obvious fact they don't follow Christ's teachings.

John 12:43
For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

If only, they followed the teachings, instead of just making a mockery of the name...
Ahh! If only:

John 14:24
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings

All this constant call for public display of religion.
WWJS *What Would Jesus Say?
>Matthew 6:5
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.<

Hmmm..WWJS?*...HE didn't call them 'christians'..
HE called them "hyprocrites"

Shall we all follow Christ's example?

HYPOCRITES!
Leave religion in your hearts and in your churches.

Who cares that Bush worships a Goddess
& is not a Christian.
As long as he upheld and defended the Constitution he got my support.

"USAPatriot Act" RIP Constitution and Bill of Rights...
when he signed that; he violated his Oath of Office.

posted 09-02-2003 12:55 PM               

You really need to get your mind out of the sewer - tsk, tsk. First you reference pedophiles, then dildos, and now onto douche bags. Can't you come up with realistic or more concrete (hee, hee) examples?

posted 09-02-2003 03:11 PM            

you know what they say about that

anyway did I hear this right !!!

shitoga's listening to RUSH LIMBAUGH !?!?!?!?!

I've seen and heard it all now...

posted 09-02-2003 03:40 PM            

your inability to keep your mind focused off all things "physical" is a direct attribute to a lack of moral foundation...

posted 09-03-2003 01:57 AM            

Media gloss over retired Air Force officer James Barrett, whom Hill also murdered and the Colonel's wife was also shot and injured by Hill's 'Christian' shotgun blasting away.

http://www.staugustine.com/stories/082903/sta_1766327.shtml

>The murders of Britton and Barrett came during a bloody surge of anti-abortion violence a decade ago.

Another abortion doctor had been killed in Pensacola in 1993 by Michael Griffin, who is serving a life sentence. Another was killed by an unknown gunman that year in Mobile, Ala., although police said that appeared have been a botched robbery unrelated to the doctor's practice.
Two receptionists were killed at Boston-area abortion clinics in 1994 by John Salvi, who committed suicide in prison two years later.

Earlier this year, James Kopp was convicted of killing an Buffalo, N.Y., abortion doctor in 1998, while fugitive Eric Rudolph was captured and charged with a 1998 bombing that killed an off-duty police officer at an Alabama abortion clinic.
<
Fortunately some of his fellow 'christian' soldiers actually have beliefs:

>"We and other pro-life organizations are against violence, period," said Erik Whittington of the American Life League. "What he did is definitely not anything that anyone I know of supports."

Tom Glessner, director of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, said Hill deserves the death penalty.

"He's not a pro-lifer, as far as I'm concerned," Glessner said. "Osama bin Laden acted out of conviction, too."
<

Two receptionists;
retired Air Force officer;
an off-duty police officer;

All murdered by people who call themselves "Christians"* and claim to be "pro-life"

*"In vain" is used many times in the Bible as meaning "falsely":
'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'
'You shall not murder.'

Luke 3:14
And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man...

posted 09-03-2003 08:54 AM            

Your way of killing is more acceptable than somebody's elses.

Typical Far Right insanity.

As long as your personal, vengeful "god" approves.

I bet you have a seat in heaven with the elders.

posted 09-03-2003 09:09 AM            

NOT !

you just keep supporting the state and federal sponsorship of murder...

posted 09-03-2003 09:29 AM            

I don't think abortion is a good thing, it is rather traumatic for everybody and everything involved.

Does a loose sperm and egg, each constitute 1/2 a person by your definition.

So everytime you beat off, are you killing 1/2 a human?

Or a womyn has a period? Is that murder of 1/2 a person?

By your definition, the universe is positively black and white, so you can't have any in-between. Good or Evil. No shades of gray.

Amazing what you can get away with in the name of a personal god, especially when you have to point weapons at somebody to force them into your belief system.

You have no problem with the government cutting funds to schooling, and businesses not supplying day care, unlike the Europeans, who have state and corporate sponsered day care.

Oh I forgot, The Europeans are all filthy, communist, 'Merca wannabes?

Another good, old boy, killing in the name of a symbol, probably a vengeful god, and a false sense of Patriotism.

Man Goes on Trial for Killing Ariz. Sikh
1 hour, 41 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!

By BETH DeFALCO, Associated Press Writer

MESA, Ariz. - A man accused of fatally shooting an Indian immigrant four days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was acting out of a rage fueled by prejudice, a prosecutor said in opening statements of the man's trial. The man's attorney argued mental illness was to blame.

On the day of the terrorist attacks, Frank Silva Roque was overheard saying he would shoot people whom he described with an ethnic slur, prosecutor Vince Imbordino said as the murder trial opened Tuesday.

"This is a clash of two cultures and, in part, a result of Sept. 11," Imbordino said. "But the murder of Mr. Sodhi ran much deeper than that."

Roque is accused of killing gas station owner Balbir Singh Sodhi, a 49-year-old who wore a beard and turban as part of his Sikh faith.

Sodhi was neither Muslim nor from the Middle East, as the terrorist hijackers had been. Yet authorities say he was targeted by Roque on Sept. 15, 2001, because of his appearance.

Police reports quoted Roque as saying "I'm a patriot" and that he was "standing up for his brothers and sisters" in New York after his arrest on the day of the shooting. Roque is also charged in drive-by shootings that day at the home of a family from Afghanistan (news - web sites) and at a convenience store owned by a Lebanese man. No one was injured in the latter shootings.

Roque's attorneys are presenting a "guilty except insane" defense and say he has suffered from mental illness since he was a teen.

His brother is expected to testify that Roque would "argue with people who weren't there," said defense attorney Daniel Patterson. Patterson said Roque's mental illnesses caused him to hear voices in his head and contended his client didn't have a history of racial or ethnic hatred before Sept. 11.

The attacks served as a catalyst for his psychological problems and led Roque to hate people from the Middle East, Patterson said.

A court-appointed psychiatrist found Roque was sane at the time of the killing, according to reports released last week.

If the jury finds Roque was insane, he wouldn't be subject to the death penalty that prosecutors are seeking. But he would be confined to a state hospital until doctors determine he is no longer a threat.

Sodhi was outside his gas station when authorities say Roque drove up and shot him.

Landscaper Luis Ladesma testified Tuesday that he had been on his hands and knees, showing Sodhi the source of a sprinkler problem when Sodhi was killed. He said he heard tires squeal and then Sodhi's voice.

"The only words I heard him say was 'Don't kill me'," Ladesma said.

News of Sodhi's death touched off protests in his homeland and prompted India's prime minister to call President Bush (news - web sites). About 3,000 people attended a memorial service for Sodhi at the Phoenix Civic Plaza the week after the shootings.

The trial is expected to last about a month.

posted 09-03-2003 08:42 PM            

Judy, 21, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, says she was subjected to harrowing experiences while a member of Word of Life (International).

Judy claims her mother made her join the group when she was just two years old.

She says she left aged 14 after she became "increasingly confused and disturbed by the group's practices", including vomiting and screaming rituals.

Judy's parents divorced when she was four.

She and her mother moved from Buckie to Aberdeen, where Word of Life had set up.

Judy contacted the Evening Express after an article appeared in the paper in which the group's pastor, Jim Addison, denied claims members were ever involved in vomiting or screaming ceremonies.

Mr Addison was speaking out as landlord Aran Handa launched a legal action to oust Destiny House Church - formerly Word of Life - from the Meridian Hotel on the city's Lang Stracht.

Judy says: "The vomiting, and the screaming ceremonies did take place."

Judy alleges that her 12-year involvement with the group drove her to slash her arms and twice attempt suicide by taking a drugs overdose.

She says her involvement with the group has left her with severe psychological problems.

"I ended up in Cornhill and I'm seeing a psychologist once a week for post traumatic stress disorder.

"For years I was suicidal and depressed, as well as anorexic and bulimic."

She alleges she endured her worst experiences during prayer meetings held at Mr Addison's Clifton Road house.

Deliverance, a ceremony which involved vomiting to rid the body of evil, and spiritual warfare, praying while screaming and simulating stabbing the Devil with a sword, she claims took place at the end of every service.

"Usually, there would be one person sitting on a chair with a group of people sitting round praying for him or her," she alleges.

"The group had to lay hands on the person who was told to cough, or vomit, into a bucket.

"When vomit came up, Jim Addison would shout, "Cough up the demons" or "Come out, you rebellious demons."

At the age of 14, Judy says she left home to stay with her dad in Buckie.

"I'd grown up with the group but I began questioning so much of what went on."

But she alleges group leaders tried to force her to rejoin.

"They said I would die spiritually if I left and that I'd go to Hell.

"But I stood my ground and never returned."

Judy says she and her mother, who is still a member of the group, are no longer in contact.

Judy is battling to rebuild her life and is on a course at Aberdeen University which helps people with mental health issues get back into education.

She intends studying for an HNC in Social Sciences at Aberdeen College in February and is involved in voluntary administration work and helping people with mental health problems at Cornhill. She no longer believes in God.

Her heartbroken dad Alf (not his real name) said: "I don't want any other child to go through what Judy has.

"It made her very ill, mentally and physically."

Looking back to when his wife first started taking Judy to the controversial Beacon Fellowship in Buckie - later to become Word of Life - Alf says he immediately noticed a change in his daughter's behaviour.

"Every time I picked Judy up in the car, she would be singing hymns.

"At four years old, she didn't know any nursery rhymes, only hymns, and that's not right."

He also says his ex-wife became a different person once she joined the group.

"She just changed completely when she got involved. She was totally messed up, a different woman."

"We had been so much in love, and we were always holding hands walking up and down the street.

"People said we were the perfect couple."

Alf remembers the day Judy turned up on his doorstep after leaving her mother's Aberdeen flat.

"I didn't see much of her so when she turned up in Buckie one Friday night, I was surprised.

"She said she didn't want to go back to Aberdeen and was terrified about her mother's reaction.

"Thankfully, she found the strength to leave but the only way she could cope was by blaming herself.

"The church had humiliated and taken away her sense of identity so she was left with no self-esteem.

"For years, she found it impossible to speak about it."

Alf says Judy is a lot better since she started to come to terms with her experience.

"I have seen a difference in her in the last year. She smiles and laughs a lot more.

"But I don't want her to get under pressure again in case she cracks."

Alf said: "I wish there was some way of closing the group because what Judy has been through could well happen to another child."

Leader of Destiny House Church - formerly known as Word of Life (International) - Jim Addison refused to comment on Judy's claims when we visited his home near Hatton, Peterhead.

Mr Addison's wife, Irene, said: "He doesn't want to speak, because it would just perpetuate the issue."

Demanding prophecy

Judy has several taped prophecies and audio conferences delivered by Jim Addison between 1991 and 1996.

She also has a book written by him entitled, Your Divine Destiny, published by Sword Publications in 1995.

One of Mr Addison's tapes includes the message: "Never give in to what people want but give in to what I want and yield to it.

posted 09-03-2003 09:58 PM            

Here is what is probably the most interesting part of this site: a collection of quotes from leaders of the Religious Right, with a focus on Pat Robertson and the Christian Coalition. As usual, bold means that it is a quote; otherwise its me. Some of these statements are so stupid that they're almost funny.

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"When I said during my presidential bid that I would only bring Christians and Jews into the government, I hit a firestorm. `What do you mean?' the media challenged me. `You're not going to bring atheists into the government? How dare you maintain that those who believe in the Judeo Christian values are better qualified to govern America than Hindus and Muslims?' My simple answer is, `Yes, they are.'" --from Pat Robertson's "The New World Order," page 218.

This pretty much sums up Pat's political philosophy. Unfortunately for him, what he espouses here is blatantly unconstitutional, as Article VI, Section 3 states: "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

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"The mission of the Christian Coalition is simple," says Pat Robertson. It is "to mobilize Christians -- one precinct at a time, one community at a time -- until once again we are the head and not the tail, and at the top rather than the bottom of our political system." Robertson predicts that "the Christian Coalition will be the most powerful political force in America by the end of this decade." And, "We have enough votes to run this country...and when the people say, 'We've had enough,' we're going to take over!"--Pat Robertson

Ah, the vision of a Christian Coalition takeover...warms the heart to a boil.

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"The Constitution of the United States, for instance, is a marvelous document for self-government by the Christian people. But the minute you turn the document into the hands of non-Christian people and atheistic people they can use it to destroy the very foundation of our society. And that's what's been happening." -- Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, Dec. 30, 1981

Who was it that talked about having a wall between church and state? That's right, Thomas Jefferson...but what the hell did that guy know?

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"It is interesting, that termites don't build things, and the great builders of our nation almost to a man have been Christians, because Christians have the desire to build something. He is motivated by love of man and God, so he builds. The people who have come into (our) institutions (today) are primarily termites. They are into destroying institutions that have been built by Christians, whether it is universities, governments, our own traditions, that we have.... The termites are in charge now, and that is not the way it ought to be, and the time has arrived for a godly fumigation."--Pat Robertson, New York Magazine, August 18, 1986

This is possibly one of the worst things that Pat has ever said. I challenge any of his followers to defend the idea of fumigating the non-Christian "termites." It astounds me that Newt Gingrich could publicly admire such a man and get away with it.

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"You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. I can love the people who hold false opinions but I don't have to be nice to them."--Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, January 14, 1991

Pat is a charismatic, Pentecostal Christian (meaning he speaks in tongues and stuff like that), and only believes that you are a Christian if you are "born-again." This means that all Catholics and most Protestant denominations are out-in fact, not only are they not Christian, they're downright evil.

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"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history."--Pat Robertson, 1993 interview with Molly Ivins

Forget for a minute, if you will, the fact that Robertson is now comparing the "plight" of Christians in America with that of Jews in Nazi Germany-he is saying that what they "suffer" is worse than what any other group has EVER suffered. Yes, not a day goes by (in Pat's fantasy land) that Christians in America aren't tormented and killed for being Christian, even worse than the slaves for being black, even worse than the Jews for being Jews. It is also interesting to note that the argument that Robertson is making is similar to the argument that Hitler made against the Jews-that the Jews were oppressing his Aryan people and he had had enough.

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(talking about apartheid South Africa) "I think 'one man, one vote,' just unrestricted democracy, would not be wise. There needs to be some kind of protection for the minority which the white people represent now, a minority, and they need and have a right to demand a protection of their rights."--Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," 3/18/92

Here's another side of Pat, a racist side that he has been very careful about hiding. The idea that Robertson thinks that a white person's vote should matter more than a black person's vote is something to think about when hearing the Christian Coalition's talk of improving race relations in America.

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"NOW is saying that in order to be a woman, you've got to be a lesbian."--Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," 12/3/97

I always thought that the National Organization for Women was all about equal pay for equal work and things like that; apparently, its really all about the lesbian plot that Pat enlightens us more about below.

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"The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians." -- Pat Robertson, fundraising letter, 1992

Frankly, this requires little comment. I feel the "kill their children" and "witchcraft" parts are particularly instructive.

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(talking about Planned Parenthood) "It is teaching kids to fornicate, teaching people to have adultery, every kind of bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism-everything that the Bible condemns."--Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," 4/9/91

And here I was, always thinking that Planned Parenthood existed to provide things like birth control and STD information, but apparently they also exist to promote sex with animals. Ah, how little did I know.

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"I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period."--Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," 1/8/92

Yeah, its all about keeping' 'em in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, ain't that right?. Whooee! Now go get me a beer, woman!

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"The public education movement has also been an anti-Christian movement...We can change education in America if you put Christian principles in and Christian pedagogy in. In three years, you would totally revolutionize education in America." --Pat Robertson,"The 700 Club," September 27, 1993.

Total bull.

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"You see what happened in 1962. They took prayer out of the schools. The next year the Supreme Court ordered Bible reading taken from the schools. And then progressing, liberals, most of them atheistic educators, have pushed to remove all religion from the lives of children...The people who wrote the "Humanist Manifesto" and their pupils and their disciples are in charge of education in America today." --Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," January 13, 1995

Another conspiracy from paranoid Pat. More baseless claims.

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"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."-- George Bush

This is just bad.

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"If anybody understood what Hindus really believe, there would be no doubt that they have no business administering government policies in a country that favors freedom and equality. ... Can you imagine having the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as defense minister, or Mahatma Gandhi as minister of health, education, and welfare? The Hindu and Buddhist idea of karma and the Muslim idea of kismet, or fate condemn the poor and the disabled to their suffering. ... It's the will of Allah. These beliefs are nothing but abject fatalism, and they would devastate the social gains this nation has made if they were ever put into practice." --Pat Robertson's "The New World Order," page 219.

So Robertson doesn't want the Ayatollah of Iran, or Mahatma Gandhi (I really don't get why he decided to go after Gandhi, of all people) in our government. Instead, he wants a fanatical member of his religion...also, his definition of karma is incorrect. Karma basically means that you reap what you sow, something the Bible talks about.

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"I am bound by the laws of the United States and all 50 states...I am not bound by any case or any court to which I myself am not a party...I don't think the Congress of the United States is subservient to the courts...They can ignore a Supreme Court ruling if they so choose."--Pat Robertson, Washington Post, June 27,1986)

I guess we should be happy that he considers himself bound by the law (except, I guess, when it comes to federal election laws). Of course, for someone who ran for President, his grasp of the system of checks and balances among the branches of government is less than that of a junior high school student. What's worse is that Robertson has a law degree from Yale-although he never was able to pass the bar exam.

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"How can there be peace when drunkards, drug dealers, communists, atheists, New Age worshipers of Satan, secular humanists, oppressive dictators, greedy money changers, revolutionary assassins, adulterers, and homosexuals are on top?"--Pat Robertson, The New World Order, p.227

What the hell is this about? The fact that his man actually ran for President is truly an amazing thing.

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"There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it anymore." --Pat Robertson, November 1993 during an address to the American Center for Law and Justice

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." This simply wouldn't work if there wasn't a separation of church and state. A theocracy would inevitably violate the First Amendment. Separation of church and state is the only way to insure that freedom of religion is kept.

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"We're going to bring back God and the Bible and drive the gods of secular humanism right out of the public schools of America." --Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan addressing the anti-gay rally in Des Moines, 2-11-96

Thank God that Buchanan has decided to give up politics and go back to Crossfire.

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"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good...Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."--Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 8-16-93

Frankly, this is one of the scariest things I have heard in a long time.

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"We should resist the temptation to identify our religious convictions with the platform of a party or the platitudes of favored politicians."--Ralph Reed, 1996

Clearly a bunch of horseshit. Robertson has talked about how the Coalition supports specific candidates, all Republicans. Check out the next quote for the real story.

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"We want...as soon as possible to see a majority of the Republican Party in the hands of pro-family Christians by 1996." --Pat Robertson, Denver Post, 10/26/92

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"Many of those people involved with Adolph Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals--the two things seem to go together."--Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," 1/21/93

This statement is grossly incorrect. Suffice to say, it is a historical fact that the Nazis killed homosexuals as ruthlessly as they did Jews.

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"I think we ought to close Halloween down. Do you want your children to dress up as witches? The Druids used to dress up like this when they were doing human sacrifice... [Your children] are acting out Satanic rituals and participating in it, and don't even realize it."--Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," 10/29/82

That's right, here he chooses to go after Halloween, of all things. Man, being Pat Robertson's kid must have sucked.

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"It's like guerrilla warfare. If you reveal your location, all it does is allow your opponent to improve his artillery bearings. It's better to move quietly, with stealth, under cover of night. You've got two choices: You can wear cammies and shimmy along on your belly, or you can put on a red coat and stand up for everyone to see. It comes down to whether you want to be the British army in the Revolutionary War or the Viet Cong. History tells us which tactic was more effective."--Ralph Reed Los Angeles Times, 3/22/92

Beautiful. Reed pretty much admits that he wants to deceive us of his true aims...Puts the good cop-bad-cop thing on the agenda page in perspective.

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I want to be invisible. I do guerrilla warfare. I paint my face and travel at night. You don't know it's over until you're in a body bag." --Ralph Reed, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 11/9/91

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posted 09-03-2003 10:06 PM            

Bush campaign efforts to buy a way into the hearts and minds of Christian voters under scrutiny

The New York Times reported last week that President Bush's leading political advisor, Karl Rove, engineered the hiring of Ralph Reed, formerly executive director of the Christian Coalition, by the Enron Corporation. Reed went to work for Enron during the period when Bush was organizing his presidential campaign and Rove associates indicate that the high paying consulting job with Enron was a way of firming up Reed's support for the Bush candidacy at a time when other Republicans were trying to win the backing of key leaders of the Christian Right. Reed's support for Bush during campaign 2000 is thought to have played an important part in the President's primary victories, as well as contributing to his success in the general election. Enron paid Reed as much as $10,000 to $20,000 monthly during the period between his hiring in September 1997 and the company's collapse late last year.

While Rove's efforts in getting Reed a cushy consulting contract may not involve a violation of the law, they do raise disturbing questions about the extent to which those who were trying to take and hold the high moral ground during campaign 2000 were actually selling conscience to the highest bidders, in this case, the now bankrupt Enron Corporation. The first question that came to my mind when I learned about all this was what possible contribution a high profile leader of a Christian advocacy group could possibly make to an energy company like Enron? Was Reed's position at the company simply one more way in which Enron could skirt the law and contribute to the Bush campaign while keeping its politics "off the books," just as it tried to keep its massive debts hidden from public view? Was Rove's successful effort to have Enron hire Reed simply one part of an orchestrated effort to buy a way into the hearts and minds of voters who also happen to be Christian? When asked about his relationship with Enron, Reed denied that his hiring was a form of political patronage. He won his contract with Enron purely "on merit," Reed told reporters. Further, said Reed, his work for Enron involved helping "with an Enron campaign in Pennsylvania to win a central role in the state's electricity market." Since there is little in Reed's background to that qualifies him as an expert on electric power, one can safely conclude that his services with the company were primarily to cement Enron's connections at the highest reaches of governmental power. To date, Vice President Dick Cheney's refusal to disclose details about his contacts with Enron during the critical period when he was shaping Bush administration energy policy leaves large parts of this story yet to be told.

Whatever further details may emerge during Congressional investigation into the Enron scandal, the degree to which politicians and corporate executives work together behind closed doors to serve each other's interests rather than the interests of the publics they are legally required to serve is alarming. But the phenomenon of corruption in high places is nothing new. What is new in this is the extent to which leaders of the Christian right have allowed themselves to become players in the power games rather than modeling the standard set by Jesus Christ, who put it plainly: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." Enron employees and stockholders have taken a serious financial hit as a result of the shady accounting practices that kept them in the dark while those at the top walked away with millions. By the same token, those who placed their trust in certain public leaders who have put themselves forward as servants of God, while in fact, making secret deals with Mammon, have seen their trust betrayed and the name of God mired in scandal.

posted 09-03-2003 10:35 PM            

Christian Right Talks of Bolting GOP in 2004

Leaders of the Christian right are thinking of bolting the Republican Party in 2004. Such a move would deal a severe blow to President Bush’s re-election effort.
Though Christian voters played a pivotal role in electing Bush in his razor-thin victory over Al Gore, NewsMax has learned that major figures in the evangelical movement are talking about withholding support from the Republican Party.

The issue came recently to the fore because of comments made by Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council, a Washington-based public advocacy organization founded by Dr. James Dobson and affiliated with Dobson's Focus on the Family.

Recently, Connor, as a guest on Dobson's national radio program as well as in a newsletter sent to Christian activists, openly questioned the Republican party's commitment to social issues Christians are concerned about.

"If Republican leaders cannot mount a vigorous defense of marriage, then pro-family voters perhaps should begin to reconsider their loyalty to the party," warned Connor.

When contacted for this story, Dobson's office indicated he was unavailable for comment, but directed NewsMax to tapes of his interview with Connor.

Conservative religious activists cite the latest insult: the Republican Party’s failure to rally behind Sen. Rick Santorum, whose comments about the upcoming Supreme Court case on consensual homosexual acts triggered a national firestorm.

With the left mounting a major battle to redefine marriage, pro-family leaders are worried that the White House and Beltway Republicans care little about this issue and other social issues.

Along with other leaders of the politically powerful pro-family movement, Connors was appalled at the "muted defense" of Santorum, R-Pa., who has been under attack by the gay rights lobby and its liberal allies in the media and the Democrat party. That failure, Connors said ominously, raises the question whether the GOP is the best vehicle for resisting the Democrats' radical political agenda.

Connors recently wrote a scathing memo attacking the Republican leadership to pro-family leaders.

"Beyond a few tepid statements of personal support for Santorum, no prominent national GOP leader seems willing or able to mount a spirited, principled defense of marriage and family.

“The question naturally arises: have Republicans been so intimidated by the smear tactics of the homosexual lobby and its Democratic attack dogs that they are cowering in silence," he wrote.

Dobson: 'Where Are the Republicans?'

Dobson echoed these sentiments during a joint broadcast with Connors on his Focus on the Family radio broadcast.

"Where are the Republicans on this?" he fumed. "I’ve heard very, very little coming from Mark Racicot, the Republican national chairman, or from the White House or from anybody else."

Dobson chastised the Republicans for getting too cozy with the gay lobby. He complained that Racicot met secretly with the homosexual group Human Rights Campaign but failed to disagree with it on the major issues. Connors said that Racicot didn’t utter one word in defense of marriage and failed to make the case that the Republican platform makes – that marriage should be limited to one man and one woman – he simply went with the message of so-called tolerance and inclusion.

Tolerance and inclusion aren’t the issues here – the issue is whether or not we’re going to radically redefine marriage, according to Connors.

Connors has written that HRC, "which desperately wants to marginalize pro-family Republicans, is exploiting the meeting to suggest the GOP is open to its political agenda. Surely someone as savvy as Mark Racicot, a former governor who was seriously considered as President Bush's running mate, was aware of the propaganda value in his meeting with HRC."

The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of Traditional Values Coalition was also angered by Racicot's meeting with HRC. He warned that "this has caused concern among conservatives that Republican leaders are going to sell out on the issue of homosexuality."

Dobson worries that the Santorum controversy indicates the Republican Party’s weak commitment to social issues. He said: "And now that one of the most articulate defenders of family values in the Congress is under attack, Republicans are hiding under a bush somewhere. The lack of courage is amazing."

Ready to Stay Home in '04

How much does the GOP's increasing timidity on family issues threaten the party's future? Mike Farris, chairman and general counsel of Home School Legal Defense Association and one of the leading pro-family activists on Capitol Hill, told NewsMax.com: "Nobody who cares about these issues is going to go the Democrat party … this is a question of enthusiasm versus inactivity. Enthusiasm is going to wane if there’s not solid support for the fundamental principles that this nation was founded on."

It is only "smart politics to always remember to take care of your base. You don’t ever want to alienate your base,” said Farris, an ordained minister and father of 10 who is is president and professor of government at Patrick Henry College.

Farris, who has close ties to the White House, blamed the problem on GOP stupidity. “We’ve been doing a lot of things smart as Republicans, but ignoring Rick Santorum when he needs public reaffirmation is just stupid politics and it will hurt,” he said.

Schlafly Upset

Famed and influential activist Phyllis Schlafly, who single-handedly took down the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, told NewsMax.com she was disturbed by the Republicans' failure to rally around Santorum. She called the administration’s defense of the Pennsylvania Republican "pretty limp" and "most cowardly.”

"There’s no reason for Santorum to apologize or back off. What he said was almost word for word what Justice Byron White said in his Supreme Court opinion in the previous gay rights case a number of years ago,” Schlafly said.

“I think the party and the administration’s statements are pretty generally recognized as weak-kneed and that they’re not backing up the constituency that elected George Bush. I think they’ll pay a price for that."