Posted on 10/21/2004 7:57:32 AM PDT by truthandlife
IF JESUS were voting in next months presidential election, Pastor Jim Henry frequently tells his congregation of 11,000 evangelicals, the Son of God would back the candidate most supportive of family values and the Bible. And George Bush cares about those issues and thats why hes energised the evangelical base, Pastor Henry told The Times yesterday inside his sleek, modern office at Orlandos vast First Baptist Church. And Ive preached from the pulpit. Ive told them that if they dont go out and vote, they should be ashamed.
For Karl Rove, Mr Bushs chief political adviser, those words will be electoral manna. Mr Rove is a fervent believer in the power of Americas Religious Right to decide the election. It is now an article of faith inside the White House that if white born-again and evangelical Christians turn out in big numbers, Mr Bush cannot lose.
In the four years since the disputed 2000 election, Mr Rove has been obsessed by his conviction that up to four million evangelical Christians who should have voted for Mr Bush stayed at home, partly because of last-minute revelations about Mr Bushs 1976 arrest for drink-driving.
Since then, Mr Bush has done everything possible to boost turnout among all religious voters, but has been particularly assiduous in his efforts to energise the predominately white, evangelical Christian Right.
Born a high-church Episcopalian, before turning to evangelical Methodism when he gave up drinking in 1986, Mr Bush laces all his speeches with religious rhetoric, has outlawed partial birth abortion, called for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, opposed stem-cell research and talks often about the power of Jesus Christ in his life the essence of evangelical faith.
It is easy to see why. The Religious Right in America is a massive, largely Republican, army of God, with huge numbers in critical swing states such as Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Iowa. If it marches to the polling stations on November 2, Mr Bushs faith is likely to be handsomely rewarded.
White Protestants in America who describe themselves as either born-again or evangelical account for a quarter of the electorate, a bigger voting bloc than blacks and Hispanics combined.
A recent poll by the National Annenberg Election Survey estimated that born-agains and evangelicals account for 36 per cent of registered voters in Missouri, 27 per cent in Ohio, 30 per cent in Iowa and 22 per cent in Pennsylvania. Recent polls show that up to 80 per cent of those voters prefer Mr Bush. Another survey found that 54 per cent of born-agains plan to vote for Mr Bush, while a massive 90 per cent of evangelicals plan to do so.
Calling for a constitutional ban on gay marriage, for example, was Machiavellian in its political calculation. Almost certain to die in Congress, the move forced Mr Kerry to oppose it. James Dobson, of the group Focus on the Family, now calls the fight against gay marriage our D-Day or Gettysburg or Stalingrad.
In Florida, the biggest prize among the battleground states, a third of voters describe themselves as evangelical. The state has more than 2,000 Baptist churches and a Baptist membership of nearly 1.1 million. Pastor Henry has been registering voters at his services since June. He does not tell them who to vote for, but it is clear that Mr Kerry, a practising Roman Catholic who backs abortion rights, is not the evangelicals favourite.
Another poll by the Barna Group found that Mr Bush also has a 63 per cent to 36 per cent lead among Catholic voters. If these voters need any more encouragement not to vote for Mr Kerry, the Republican National Committee directs them to a website: www.kerrywrongforevangelicals.com.
The party also sent a mass mailing to voters in West Virginia and Arkansas last month telling them that if Mr Kerry won, Bible-reading might be banned.
George Bush is a man of principle, Pastor Henry said. Senator Kerry has taken the opposite stance on the values issues, right down the line. His wife says that she wants to push the gay rights agenda. To push a wrong lifestyle contradicts the Bibles standards. Ill think youll find that after this election, the evangelical vote has picked up a lot.
In the last of the presidential debates, Mr Kerry tried to blunt Republican appeal among evangelicals by reminding them that Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, has a lesbian daughter. Nearly 70 per cent of voters, secular and religious, believed he was wrong to do it.
Exactly.
BTW... I, for one, am proud to be part of the army of God!
If Kerry wins, even charismatic Christianity in all of its mysticism and spiritualism will eventually be banned along with scriptural faiths, because parts of it do continue to resemble abstract vestiges of the Reformation, pre-Modernism and so forth.
The FR board is full of threads concerning the liberals efforts to marginalize religion. Open up those threads and ask to be placed on their ping list.
The latest horror is the recent arrest of a small group of Christians who were witnessing during a Philadelphia Gay Pride event. The group was following all applicable laws, but when the parade participants converged on them and began screaming at them, the police arrested the Christians for hate speech.
Coming soon to a town near YOU.
I think Bush is a man of God trying to do Gods will. I have 2 friends, a married couple, that are both Pastors. Months ago (April during Easter) they told me that they believed this election was a spiritual battle. Kerry has no moral code and Bush is trying to be Gods man in a very secular and socialistic political climate.
I agree...the words that made THE difference in my life
were " Choose Life". To me, that's all the choices that
allow for life to be saved. There's no hope for the
dead.
If anyone has abused the use of religion as a tool
in this election it's the poodle. He has shamelessly
prostated himself with promises in Black churches, putting
those churches in danger of losing their tax exempt status because his actions violate IRS rules.
When is the last time you've seen President Bush preaching from the pulpit, calling KErry names and asking for the vote?
God Bless the preacher for speaking up. What's fair is fair.
Why not? Are you suggesting that all his brothers and sisters should not register to vote either?
President Bush and John Kerry: On the Issues Important to Catholics
"Seismic" Catholic Shift to Bush [Insight ]
Analyst cites abortion stance as some Catholic voters shift to Bush
Poll: Catholics Trending Towards Bush
Kerry Losing Ground Among White Catholics
Voting Our Conscience, Not Our Religion [Catholic Prof Says "Vote Kerry"]
Vatican: Kerry guilty of heresy; incurrs automatic excommunication
Should a Catholic Vote for Bush or Kerry?
Why is Bush getting the bishop's blessing?
Ambassador Ray Flynn in Cleveland 10/16/2004- "Vote 2004: The Catholic Factor"
John Kerry Flip-Flops on When to Use His Catholic Belief on Politics
Abortion is Turning Democrats Off to Kerry
Planned Parenthood Unveils TV Ads Backing John Kerry on Abortion
Anyone who didn't know that is a dunce.
I have been stating here for some time that the November surprise will be the huge turnout of the Christian voters.
Active Christians really don't like the idea of some Mullah running our "election" boards.
I am voting, and convinced my mom and brother to do the same (for Bush). This is their first time ever.
The media is ignoring the fact that the Christian army is on the move this time.
I wonder. Jesus WAS, literally, an heir to the throne of King Of Jews, by his bloodline. But Jerusalem had been taken over by Rome - and no King reigned at that time. I wonder if Jesus would not - is not - concerned about the struggle today between the prince of Darkness and the Prince of Peace. I wonder why we talk of "what would Jesus do if he were here today?" HE IS here today - "Lo, I am with you alway." He gave us counsel and instruction and said "Do as ye have seen me do..." He expects us to uphold the right! I doubt he wants us to ignore the fight and just lay back and say, "Oh, well, it doesn't matter what happens, I'll get to heaven anyway." He also said "As ye have done to these...my children, ye have done unto me." If we do not stand up and roar - and fight - and vote...we will have condemned ourselves, our children to a life under anarchy:
anarchy Function: noun Text: 1 absence of effective government or the resulting social disorder Synonyms chaos, lawlessness, mobocracy, ochlocracy Related Word confusion, disorder, disorganization Idioms mob rule (or law), reign of terror
If you aren't experiencing a chill up your spine with what's happening out there right now - you have your in the sand. You may think, because we have an unprecedented 200 years of true freedom that it can't just disappear.
It can. It is. Right now. "confusion, disorder, disorganization Idioms mob rule" - Don't shrug off the danger - "ye do it unto" Him.
Yes. A battle that has now become visible and all the warriors on both sides are revealing themselves for the world to see. There are some strange alliances one would not have foreseen.
The bible and creationism was outlawed in our public schools. Need any more evidence?
Click on my screen name.
And then there are others like me who can't stand the smell in the voting booth and won't be voting for anybody this time.
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