Last week the Democratic National Committee named The Rev. Brenda Peterson their new senior advisor on religious outreach.
Today The Washington Times, the conservative DC paper owned by The Rev. Moon, slandered Peterson in a profile article that questioned her commitment to Christianity because she signed a brief before the Supreme Court asking that “under God” be taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance. Many religious people object to that part of the Pledge because of a belief that church and state should remain separate. Peterson’s position is sound and she was brave to take it.
Also assaulting her integrity is the far-right Catholic League. Today they sent out an e-mail to supporters that I was able to obtain. They wrote:
Catholic League president William Donohue commented today on the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) new Senior Advisor for Religious Outreach, Rev. Brenda Bartella Peterson:“We know that Rev. Peterson wants ‘under God’ thrown out of the Pledge, and that she believes ‘Love Thy Neighbor’ means paying taxes. Now we will show the positions of the Clergy Leadership Network (CLN), the organization she recently left as its executive director.
“In the CLN’s ‘Debate’ section of its website, it says a lot about separation of church and state, but virtually nothing about religious liberty (e.g., it is against faith-based initiatives). Regarding tax policies, it would be an understatement to say it likes taxes: ‘Taxes provide a way to look out for our neighbors….Slashing taxes denies that!’ It then says that slashing taxes is ‘inevitably an appeal to our greed, not to our generosity or compassion.’ In other words, the greedy want to keep the money they’ve earned; those who want to take it from us are the altruists. No wonder Rev. Peterson says, ‘The federal budget is a moral document.’
The Catholic League was the source for The Washington Times smear piece. This group backs an extreme agenda that includes some far out apologetics for the Catholic priest sex scandals and the role of the Catholic Church during the Holocaust.
Brenda Peterson is a solid Christian with a record of integrity. She speaks up for the poor and the left behind in society and is a remarkable source of inspiration. The DNC is lucky to have her.
