Posted on 07/02/2004 8:36:00 PM PDT by Kerberos
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Bush, seeking to mobilize religious conservatives for his reelection campaign, has asked church-going volunteers to turn over church membership directories, campaign officials said on Thursday.
In a move sharply criticized both by religious leaders and civil libertarians, the Bush-Cheney campaign has issued a guide listing about two-dozen "duties" and a series of deadlines for organizing support among conservative church congregations.
A copy of the guide obtained by Reuters directs religious volunteers to send church directories to state campaign committees, identify new churches that can be organized by the Bush campaign and talk to clergy members about holding voter registration drives.
The document, distributed to campaign coordinators across the country earlier this year, also recommends that volunteers distribute voter guides in church and use Sunday service programs for get-out-the-vote drives.
"We expect this election to be potentially as close as 2000, so every vote counts and it's important to reach out to every single supporter of President Bush," campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
But the Rev. Richard Land, who deals with ethics and religious liberty issues for the Southern Baptist Convention, a key Bush constituency, said he was "appalled."
"First of all, I would not want my church directories being used that way," he told Reuters in an interview, predicting failure for the Bush plan.
The conservative Protestant denomination, whose 16 million members strongly backed Bush in 2000, held regular drives that encouraged church-goers to "vote their values," said Land.
"But it's one thing for us to do that. It's a totally different thing for a partisan campaign to come in and try to organize a church. A lot of pastors are going to say: 'Wait a minute, bub'," he added.
The guide surfaced as a spate of opinion polls showed Bush's reelection campaign facing a tough battle. (Poll: Sending troops to Iraq a mistake; Interactive: Poll questions and responses)
A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showed Bush running neck-and-neck with Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry among registered voters, 47 percent of whom said they now believed the president had misled Americans about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
The Bush campaign has also been spending heavily on television ads, only to see the president's approval ratings slump to new lows.
Stanzel said the campaign ended the month of June with $64 million on hand.
He had no figures on how much Bush has raised in June.
At the end of May, Bush had raised $213.4 million and spent all but $63 million.
The latest effort to marshal religious support also drew fire from civil liberties activists concerned about the constitutional separation of church and state.
"Any coordination between the Bush campaign and church leaders would clearly be illegal," said a statement from the activist group Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Well, if they were around they would be doing this instead of the campaigns.
Whatever... I'm Catholic...
Oh, and welcome to FR--Donate NOW!
The FFs and our Constitution prohibits a national religion...that's it.They never said anything at all about not involving religious peoples on politics.
Much later on,laws were passed,to prohibit politicking, BY CANDIDATES,in churches and temples;however,the Dems have totally IGNORED this for as long as it's been around.Papa Joe Kennedy spread so much "walking around money",in Southern black churches and did so so OPENLY,that EVERYONE knew about it at the time.And Catholic churches had sermon after sermon preaching how everyone just HAD to vote for that JFK.
algore "preached" (gave political harangues,sounding like REVEREND LEROY,from the old Flip Wilson T.V. show)at so many black churches,that he imagined that he WAS A "reverend",in 2000.
Getting a list,is far different from any and all of that and in noway has anything at all to do with a "THEOCRACY"!
And as an aside,up until rather recently,there was written into law,that political office holders had to be Protestant.Sooooooooooooooo...have we always lived in a theocracy,then?
Why can't religious people, aka church members, participate in the political process?
As long as it's voluntary, and nothing is forced, what in the world is wrong??
I don't get this knee jerk aversion to religious people joining in the political process.
3 years late...welcome
Perhaps you would feel more at home in the Party that despises Christians.
Your posts make it clear that you share their hatred.
Are you at all familiar with the Democrats use of black churches in this country or where the civil rights movement organized? How about the various denominations that have inserted themselves into political debates by endorsing left of center positions? Heck, before the war in Iraq, I attended a Lutheran service after which we were told of topical literature available at the door. It turned out to be a collection of anti-war articles from the likes of Common Dreams and other self described progressive outlets.
I would hope the Bush campaign seeks to register and get out the vote in every way they know how. Their opposition is doing that and more.
What ARE you talking about? Where in our Constitution does it say political parties can't write to people who belong to certain churches? I think you are reading a lot more into the very few words that the Constitution has in it that ONLY pertain to the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT not ESTABLISHING a religion.
This has nothing to do with a theogracy.
Not a thing in the world wrong with our candidates using church lists.
If all Christians would do their duties as citizens, the Left wouldn't have a prayer.
God blessed us with liberty, but with that precious gift comes responsibility.
I'm aware of that.
It is improper and silly to rely on a Reuters/CCN report such as this for an accurate description of the situation. We need more info before coming to any conclusion. As far as separation of church and state are concerned in a political campaign, the "statement" on this by the activist group is utter nonsense. Kerry would very much like to have such a separation, since his erratz Catholicism would then be not a consideration.
I'm with you.
Seems pretty tame compared to lefties stumping from the pulpit of black churches.
Land has a big ego.
Well, I would venture from what I've seen and gleaned that most white Southern protestants and evangelicals will vote for W.
I attend several churches here in Nashville including a Pentocostal, a Southern Baptist and a PCA.
The first two are pretty open about who they prefer.
It will happen, mark my words. Or better yet, mark the words of John, who warned us.
There really isn't anything new about this. Haven't you seen the democrats standing in the pulpits for years doing the Baptist preacher campaigning thing, while attacking any Pubbie who would dare speak anywhere near a Church? Church goers are citizens too, and have every right to hear what the candidates who decide our future have to say!
I know Republicans from almost every church in town and they all complain about so many others from their churches being ignorant about voting.
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