The New York Times reports today that the Republican National Committee has taken credit for mailing out literature to voters in West Virginia and Arkansas claiming that if liberals were elected they would ban the Bible.
The mailings include images of the Bible labeled "banned" and of a gay marriage proposal labeled "allowed." A mailing to Arkansas residents warns: "This will be Arkansas if you don't vote." A similar mailing was sent to West Virginians.In an e-mail message, Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, confirmed that the party had sent the mailings.
"When the Massachusetts Supreme Court sanctioned same-sex marriage and people in other states realized they could be compelled to recognize those laws, same-sex marriage became an issue,'' Ms. Iverson said. "These same activist judges also want to remove the words 'under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance."
The mailing, which the RNC told The New York Times was part of their effort to mobilize religious voters, drew some support from a prominent Southern Baptist leader.
Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, argued, "We have the First Amendment in this country which should protect churches, but there is no question that this is where some people want to go, that reading from the Bible could be hate speech."Land did offer that the ad was “probably stretching it a bit far."
A bit far? This is one of the ugliest attempts to divide Americans that I have ever seen from a political campaign. George Bush should be ashamed (though he obviously isn’t).
United Methodist Bishop William Boyd Grove offered a statement condemning the ad that was published exclusively on this site on Saturday.
The Interfaith Alliance has also called for the advertising to be condemned.
“No political party can claim that it holds the monopoly on religious morality, much less that it has received divine endorsement," said the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President of the non-partisan Interfaith Alliance, the nation’s largest interfaith organization.“We call on President Bush and Republican National Committee Chair Ed Gillespie to denounce these divisive tactics and to support the appropriate healing role of religion in this nation. Manipulation of religion for partisan purposes has no place in a democracy that is founded on the Constitutional guarantee of the freedom of religion.” Gaddy said.
The Rev. Dr. Albert M. Pennybacker, Chiar/CEO of the Clergy Network, has also issued a statement:
Banning the Bible? Can you believe that the Republicans would stoop to using religion for that sort of political trick in West Virginia?Such a cynical and manipulative use of religion is simply shameless. It crosses the line. It demeans the Republican Party and the Bush/Chaney campaign. Even further, it demeans the Bible itself. And yet unintentionally, it calls us again to the biblical vision of peace and justice for the world, this time in sharp contrast to a desperate strategy for a campaign appearing to lose its moral moorings.
I am confident that people of faith will not be fooled. They will not believe this wild claim about the Bible and a Kerry victory. But they will see that the Bush/Chaney campaign is not above playing cheap with their biblical faith.
I call on the Bush/Chaney campaign totally to repudiate this misuse of the Bible. Also, I suggest that our current President apologize to the Bible-believing people of our country for implying that any American president can take their Bibles away from them.
If any ever asks you why the country is so polarized and divided you have to answer that it is because of people like George W. Bush and his idolatress friends.
