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Rebel With a Cause: [Louisiana Governor] Bobby Jindal's Spiritual Journey
The Wall Street Journal ^ | July 25, 2008 | Robert Costa

Posted on 07/31/2008 6:26:24 AM PDT by Ebenezer

In 1988, 16-year-old Piyush Jindal totaled his father's new car a few weeks before graduating from Baton Rouge High School. Piyush -- who then and now prefers the nickname "Bobby" he adopted from "The Brady Brunch" sitcom -- had to assess more than fender damage with his parents.

"Which God do you have to thank for your safety?" Mr. Jindal, now governor of Louisiana, remembers his mother, Raj, a practicing Hindu, inquiring after he escaped from the wreck. For the child of Punjabi immigrants who had announced his Christian beliefs the previous summer, the question was difficult.

Twenty years later, Mr. Jindal, a convert to Roman Catholicism, is being mentioned as one of John McCain's top choices for the Republican vice-presidential nomination. And his strong religious faith is often cited as a potential bonus for the ticket.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Eastern Religions; Theology
KEYWORDS: bobbyjindal; catholic; hinduism; jindal2008veep; louisiana; spiritualjourney
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To: angkor

then please explain how it is violative of the Constitution for the voting public to look at a ballot through the prism of their faith, when casting their vote.


81 posted on 07/31/2008 12:08:41 PM PDT by xsmommy
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To: xsmommy

Just for the record, I’m all done with this thread.


82 posted on 07/31/2008 12:11:01 PM PDT by angkor (Conservatism is not now and never has been a religious movement.)
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To: angkor
You know exactly who I mean, no need to hide it under a clumsy attempt at an insult.

that's just it, i have NO IDEA who you meant, i was grasping trying to make sense of the silly nickname. Sorry it didn't spring immediately to my mind bc i have NEVER supported mike huckabee for anything. Wait a minute, as one of your RELIGIONISTS, shouldn't i have been unthinkingly supporting him because he is a born again Christian/pastor of some stripe? but i did not. Because while i do look at candidates through the prism of my faith [traditional Roman Catholic; not Rudy Giluiani-esque Catholic in Name/RINO], it is not an unthinking, unreasoning process. it is a weighing of different factors. You are painting with a very broadbrush, a very narrow segment of religious conservatives with your RELIGIONIST rant.

83 posted on 07/31/2008 12:15:18 PM PDT by xsmommy
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To: angkor

okay, that’s fine. but it is obviously due to your inability to make yourself understood and not for a lack of willing listeners who will debate you civilly and honestly.


84 posted on 07/31/2008 12:16:27 PM PDT by xsmommy
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To: angkor; VRWCmember; Campion; xsmommy

I notice that you have NOT answered my question, so I will rephrase it. Which SPECIFIC parts of the GOP platform do you want removed?

What does Huckabee have to do with ANYTHING?


85 posted on 07/31/2008 12:30:08 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: angkor; VRWCmember; Campion; xsmommy
I see, that’s quite distinct from the many discussions right here on FR about Romney’s Mormonism. Do you think Jindal’s parents might be Hindu? And Huckster sure kept his credentials as an ordained minister out of the debates, didn’t he?

Individual have EVERY RIGHT to use ANY METHOD they wish in determining who they will and won't vote for.

And despite what you and your libertarian ilk think, "We the People" ARE NOT the government. We ELECT the government, this is a constitutional republic. You seem to think that this is a pure democracy, the Founding Fathers realized that YOUR method would soon collapse into anarchy.

86 posted on 07/31/2008 12:34:13 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: xsmommy; angkor
but it is obviously due to your inability to make yourself understood and not for a lack of willing listeners who will debate you civilly and honestly.

There are PLENTY of anti-FReeper, anti-conservative sites for the "get your foot off our neck" crowd to go to.

It's odd that he left the thread without ever IDENTIFYING which portions of the GOP platform were so offensive to his libertarianism.

87 posted on 07/31/2008 12:37:37 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: angkor
It cautions that religious tests are not a good thing.

No, it prohibits the Federal government from requiring them at all. It's not a manual of advice for voters.

88 posted on 07/31/2008 1:15:02 PM PDT by Campion
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To: angkor
I actually want the GOP to remove your religious agenda from my political platform.

What religious agenda is included in the political platform? If you are talking about abortion, the pro-life position is often informed by one's religious beliefs, but there even athiest physicians who have come to the conclusion that the pre-born baby meets any reasonable scientific definition of a living human being and thus support the pro-life position -- not from religious belief but from science. If you are talking about support for religious freedom and a stand against the expanding encroachment by judicial fiat against religious expression, (which I'm not even sure that is in the GOP platform) the issue is really one of taking power back from the courts and returning it to the people. How about a specific listing of the "religious agenda" items you want removed from the GOP platform.

I want the conservative movement to exclude religious sentiment as an expression of legitimate conservative discourse.

Well, I want you to exclude hostility toward those who openly identify themselves as Christians as expressions of legitimate conservative discourse. Your diatribes against those whom you call "religionists" have no place in legitimate conservative discourse.

And I want you to form your own religious party and run your politics on your own steam, not on the back of conservatism and the GOP.

If the GOP were to take a strong position in favor of your approach and tell the "religionists" to *#*# off and go form their own religious party, the result would be the death of the GOP as it would go the way of the Whig party. In fact, that is pretty much what happened to the Whig party when it took the same approach you are recommending with regards to the Abolitionists. Good luck with that.

89 posted on 07/31/2008 3:24:42 PM PDT by VRWCmember
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To: wagglebee
It's odd that he left the thread without ever IDENTIFYING which portions of the GOP platform were so offensive to his libertarianism.

Based on the level of rationality he displayed, I don't think that is odd at all. Quite to be expected in fact.

90 posted on 07/31/2008 3:31:24 PM PDT by VRWCmember
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To: wagglebee; angkor; VRWCmember; Campion; xsmommy
What does Huckabee have to do with ANYTHING?

Apparently angkor believes that if Huckabee had not been in the primary race and enjoying the monolithic support of the "religionists" (a supposition not supported by any evidence that I ever saw), then the GOP would have nominated a solid Reagan Republican (or maybe a Goldwater Libertarian) rather than McCain. Of course this position completely ignores the fact that there weren't any solid conservative choices in the running that ever had anywhere near double-digit support in any of the polls -- with the possible exception of Fred Thompson who appears to have waited a little to long to announce his intention to run.

91 posted on 07/31/2008 3:37:21 PM PDT by VRWCmember
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To: angkor; xsmommy
I’ve had this discussion many times on FR, and I can tell you how it ends.

I can tell you how it ends, too. It ends with one individual throwing up his hands and saying "I'm done with this thread" and running away like a scared little girl rather than addressing specific relevant questions asked of him.

92 posted on 07/31/2008 3:42:23 PM PDT by VRWCmember
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To: VRWCmember; angkor; Campion; xsmommy
Apparently angkor believes that if Huckabee had not been in the primary race and enjoying the monolithic support of the "religionists" (a supposition not supported by any evidence that I ever saw), then the GOP would have nominated a solid Reagan Republican (or maybe a Goldwater Libertarian) rather than McCain.

My guess is that he was holding out for MoRon Paul who is certainly NOT a conservative and is actual more of a populist anarchist than a libertarian.

93 posted on 07/31/2008 4:35:25 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: angkor
You apparently don't know anything about Jindal, which is a shame, since he is an accomplished and principled conservative the like of which we haven't seen for years. Here's a quote from a fairly typical article by a Conservative activist:

"Jindal, in his last term, had an ACU (American Conservative Union) rating of 100, with 96 for both terms. In addition he has consistently taken the No New Taxes pledge proposed by Americans for Tax Reform.

"...In 1991 he was a young Hill staffer working for U.S. Rep. Jim McCrery. One day McCrery asked him to look over some Medicare plans being proposed in committee. A couple of days later, he brought back to the boss a totally revised system that was so impressive McCrery introduced him to Louisiana Governor Murphy J. Foster Jr.

"A few years later, Jindal, at the age of 24, was appointed Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. He took hold of the state's Medicare program, which was running at a loss of $400 million, and in three years produced a surplus of $200 million.... If Jindal gets a chance to debate Hillary Clinton, Hillary will be fumbling for her cue cards."

And Angkor: Google is your friend.

94 posted on 07/31/2008 5:15:24 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("The first duty of intelligent men of our day is the restatement of the obvious. " - George Orwell)
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To: Natchez Hawk

Non sequitur. There was nothing about “religious persecution” and no whining in the article. Did you notice?


95 posted on 07/31/2008 5:16:57 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("The first duty of intelligent men of our day is the restatement of the obvious. " - George Orwell)
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To: angkor

He answers questions about himself, dealing with his education, his religion, his political principles, his experience, his goals. He doesn’t play on his religion for votes. You are misrepresenting Jindal without research, without evidence, and without cause.


96 posted on 07/31/2008 5:19:12 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("The first duty of intelligent men of our day is the restatement of the obvious. " - George Orwell)
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To: angkor

Who applied a “religious test” in this article or on this thread? Names, quotes, links...


97 posted on 07/31/2008 5:21:01 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("The first duty of intelligent men of our day is the restatement of the obvious. " - George Orwell)
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To: angkor
"His religious belief is often cited...." Unattributed, AND passive voice. This is even weaker than the near-equivalent "people say..." or "some sources indicate...." It doesn't in the least imply that Jindal himself is attempting to parlay his religion into a political advantage.
98 posted on 07/31/2008 5:26:06 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("The first duty of intelligent men of our day is the restatement of the obvious. " - George Orwell)
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To: Clemenza

Uh... did you notice there’s nothing in the article about alleged religious persecution?


99 posted on 07/31/2008 5:30:22 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("The first duty of intelligent men of our day is the restatement of the obvious. " - George Orwell)
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To: angkor

That doesn’t mean they have to kick their Christianity out the door, though. If a person is a true Christian, it stays with them day and night. It can’t or shouldn’t be turned off and on like a lightbulb.


100 posted on 07/31/2008 6:12:00 PM PDT by Marysecretary (.GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL)
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