you to read, the date on the article was one month ago (June 3, 2004)
not 4 years ago. Moreover the democrat have not actively tried to
breech the separation of church and state. I have no wish to see that
this nation becomes a theocracy.
Going to a church is a person's right guarenteed by the constitution.
Actively involving churches in the political process is against the
constitution.
larry
On Fri, 2 Jul 2004 11:29:08 -0400, John Purugganan
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> As far as I can remember, Al Gore was shown on TV "In a church" signing with
> the choir, when he was running for president. Get over it.
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Larry C. Lyons [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Friday, July 02, 2004 11:15 AM
> To: CF-Community
> Subject: Bush Campaign Seeks Help From Church Congregations
>
> Anyone notice that the Bush campaign is trying to get church
> membership lists and encouraging them to vote for the Shrub. According
> to a report today on the Dianne Reame show on NPR, apparently the
> reelection campaign has also contacted the Vatican to enlist them to
> pressure catholics to vote for Shrub.
>
> Isn't this illegal, and doesn't it jeopardize the tax exempt status of
> any participating church.
>
> larry
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/03/politics/campaign/03CHUR.html?ex=108891360
> 0&en=ef9d99d91cad0cc7&ei=5070
>
> June 3, 2004
> Bush Campaign Seeks Help From Congregations
> By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
>
> Correction Appended
>
> The Bush campaign is seeking to enlist thousands of religious
> congregations around the country in distributing campaign information
> and registering voters, according to an e-mail message sent to many
> members of the clergy and others in Pennsylvania.
>
> Liberal groups charged that the effort invited violations of the
> separation of church and state and jeopardized the tax-exempt status
> of churches that cooperated. Some socially conservative church leaders
> also said they would advise pastors against participating in such a
> partisan effort.
>
> But Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush administration, said
> "people of faith have as much right to participate in the political
> process as any other community" and that the e-mail message was about
> "building the most sophisticated grass-roots presidential campaign in
> the country's history."
>
> In the message, dated early Tuesday afternoon, Luke Bernstein,
> coalitions coordinator for the Bush campaign in Pennsylvania, wrote:
> "The Bush-Cheney '04 national headquarters in Virginia has asked us to
> identify 1,600 `Friendly Congregations' in Pennsylvania where voters
> friendly to President Bush might gather on a regular basis."
>
> In each targeted "place of worship," Mr. Bernstein continued, without
> mentioning a specific religion or denomination, "we'd like to identify
> a volunteer who can help distribute general information to other
> supporters." He explained: "We plan to undertake activities such as
> distributing general information/updates or voter registration
> materials in a place accessible to the congregation."
>
> The e-mail message was provided to The New York Times by a group
> critical of President Bush.
>
> The campaign's effort is the latest indication of its heavy bet on
> churchgoers in its bid for re-election. Mr. Bush's top political
> adviser, Karl Rove, and officials of Mr. Bush's campaign have often
> said that people who attended church regularly voted for him
> disproportionately in the last election, and the campaign has made
> turning out that group a top priority this year. But advisers to Mr.
> Bush also acknowledge privately that appearing to court socially
> conservative Christian voters too aggressively risks turning off more
> moderate voters.
>
> What was striking about the Pennsylvania e-mail message was its
> directness. Both political parties rely on church leaders âEUR"
> African-American pastors for the Democrats, for example, and white
> evangelical Protestants for the Republicans âEUR" to urge congregants to
> go the polls. And in the 1990's, the Christian Coalition developed a
> reputation as a political powerhouse by distributing voters guides in
> churches that alerted conservative believers to candidates' position
> on social issues like abortion and school prayer. But the Christian
> Coalition was organized as a nonpartisan, issue-oriented lobbying and
> voter-education organization, and in 1999 it ran afoul of federal tax
> laws for too much Republican partisanship.
>
> The Bush campaign, in contrast, appeared to be reaching out directly
> to churches and church members, seeking to distribute campaign
> information as well as ostensibly nonpartisan material, like issue
> guides and registration forms.
>
> Trevor Potter, a Washington lawyer and former chairman of the Federal
> Election Commission, said the campaign's solicitation raised delicate
> legal issues for congregations.
>
> "If the church is doing it, it is a legal problem the church," Mr.
> Potter said. "In the past, the I.R.S. has sought to revoke and has
> succeeded in revoking the tax-exempt status of churches for political
> activity."
>
> If a member of the congregation is disseminating the information,
> however, the issue is more complicated. If the congregation had a
> table where anyone could make available any information whatsoever
> without any institutional responsibility or oversight, then a member
> might be able to distribute campaign literature without violating tax
> laws. But very few churches have such open forums, Mr. Potter said.
> "The I.R.S. would ask, did the church encourage this? Did the church
> permit this but not other literature? Did the church in any way
> support this?"
>
> Mr. Bernstein, the e-mail message's author, declined to comment. Mr.
> Schmidt, the campaign spokesman, said the e-mail message only sought
> individual volunteers from among the "friendly congregations," not the
> endorsements of the any religious organizations or groups.
>
> "The e-mail is targeted to individuals, asking individuals to become
> involved in the campaign and to share information about the campaign
> with other people in their faith community," Mr. Schmidt said.
> "Yesterday, a liberal judge from San Francisco overturned a
> partial-birth abortion ban which banned that abhorrent procedure. That
> is an example of an issue that people of faith from across the United
> States care about."
>
> He said that the Pennsylvania e-mail message was part of a larger
> national effort. The number of congregations mentioned - 1,600 in just
> one state - suggests an operation on a vast scale.
>
> But even some officials of some conservative religious groups said
> they were troubled by the notion that a parishioner might distribute
> campaign information within a church or at a church service.
>
> "If I were a pastor, I would not be comfortable doing that," said
> Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
> of the Southern Baptist Convention. "I would say to my church members,
> we are going to talk about the issues and we are going to take
> information from the platforms of the two parties about where they
> stand on the issues. I would tell them to vote and to vote their
> conscience, and the Lord alone is the Lord of the conscience."
>
> The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of the liberal Americans
> United for Separation of Church and State, argued that any form of
> distributing campaign literature through a church would compromise its
> tax-exempt status. He called the effort "an absolutely breathtakingly
> large undertaking," saying, "I never thought anyone could so attempt
> to meld a political party with a network of religious organizations."
>
> In a statement, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith
> Alliance, a liberal group, called the effort "an astonishing abuse of
> religion" and "the rawest form of manipulation of religion for
> partisan gain." He urged the president to repudiate the effort.
>
> In a statement, Mara Vanderslice, director of religious outreach for
> the Kerry campaign, said the effort "shows nothing but disrespect for
> the religious community." Ms. Vanderslice continued: "Although the
> Kerry campaign actively welcomes the participation of religious voices
> in our campaign, we will never court religious voters in a way that
> would jeopardize the sanctity of their very houses of worship."
>
> How many congregations or worshippers will choose to cooperate remains
> to be seen. In an interview yesterday, the Rev. Ronald Fowlkes, pastor
> of the Victoria Baptist Church in Springfield, Pa., said he had not
> seen the e-mail message but did not think much of the idea.
>
> "We encourage people to get out and vote," Mr. Fowlkes said, but as
> far as distributing information through church, "If it were focused on
> one party or person, that would be too much."
>
> Correction: June 4, 2004, Friday
>
> A front-page article yesterday about efforts by the Bush campaign to
> enlist help from religious congregations referred incorrectly to Steve
> Schmidt, who defended the effort. He is a spokesman for the campaign,
> not for the Bush administration.
> _____
>
>
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