Posted on 08/13/2004 7:51:51 PM PDT by Roscoe Karns
FORT WORTH, Texas - (KRT) - Sixteen prominent theologians and religious leaders, some with ties to former President Clinton, have called on President Bush to stop asking Republican Party volunteers for church membership directories.
The Rev. Tony Campolo, a former spiritual adviser to Clinton, helped write a letter to Bush that was mailed Friday.
Ron Flowers, a retired religion professor at Texas Christian University, added his name to the letter. He said he wants to call attention to the Bush campaign's attempt to "politicize churches."
He said the letter, which urges both Bush and Democratic Sen. John Kerry to respect the integrity of houses of worship, is not politically motivated.
"We would say the very same thing if the Kerry campaign were to do that," he said.
The Bush campaign has defended its request for church directories, saying that people of faith have a right to take part in the political process. A Bush spokesman could not be reached for comment Friday.
The campaign memo, made public last month, instructs volunteers in 22 duties, ranging from organizing conservative churches for Bush to sending state campaign headquarters copies of church membership directories.
James Dunn, a religion professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., who helped draft the letter and organize the signers, said Bush's request sets a dangerous precedent.
"It's very, very dangerous," Dunn said.
"We don't have religious parties in the country."
Other signers include Jimmy Allen, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and James Laney, former president of Emory University in Atlanta and an ambassador to South Korea in the Clinton administration.
They join other critics, including leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist General Convention of Texas, who have criticized the Bush campaign for the memo.
Some groups have also said the request could jeopardize a church's tax-exempt status, though the Bush campaign has said the requests are legal.
There's nothing dangerous about it. Whine away. It's going to happen anyway.
They're just afraid of tens of thousands of evangelicals voting. And they think if the word doesn't get out from the GOP into the churches these people won't KNOW??
What a bunch of morons.
The so-called "Reverend" Tony Campolo was the wolf in sheep’s clothing "spiritual leader" who gave Clinton a pass and who was yucking it up with Clinton at Ron Brown's funeral (remember the laughing/crying Clinton performance, that’s the guy Clinton was with).
I guess his Sunday mornings were free and clear eh.
I tend to agree with these folks. I support Bush but I really don't want to get "junk mail" through my church's mailing list.
It's okay for Kerry to shill in black and liberal churches, because? Hypocrites.
Did they request the campaign stop using the White Pages too?
They're not getting FBI files, just names of folks to try to court votes.
Why are left-wing theologians such hypocrites???
I guess it's O.K. when the Democrats preach from the pulpits of black churches. That's not politicizing churches.
Dear Mr Flowers: Your hypocrisy destroys your credibility. You rats, along with your self-righteous black reverands, have been politicizing the pulpit for years. Sit down and shut up sir.
More like tens of millions. There are an estimated 93 million people who consider themselves "Christians" and fewer than 24 million of them voted in 2000. There's a very large number of potential voters out there...
Why are left-wing theologians such hypocrites???
That's an easy answer.... simply because one must
be a hypocrite to be left-wing. (s)
Yoo hoo, Mr. Flowers, I didn't see your letter to the Editor in the San Antonio Express News criticizing John Edwards when he was in San Antonio 2 wks ago at Antioch Baptist Church. Oh, maybe it's because you didn't write one.
I can't believe anyone would even admit to being such a thing. This man must be a genuine idiot.
It doesn't bother me. The directories of the members of my church are the property of the people who hold them. Any person in the congregation who wishes to give a directory to an operative of a political party is within his rights. Of course, anyone who would give such a directory in order to assist in the election of a baby-killer would be committing a mortal sin.
bttt
You know what I want to happen? I want democrats to stop spaming one of my email address they harvested rather dubiously. That is worse than sending people you don't know snail mail. As to "politicize churches" it seems to me that is a rat specialty.
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