Free Congress Foundation's
Notable News Now
August 8, 2001
The Free Congress Commentary
God Forsaken in U.S. Senate
by Paul M. Weyrich
Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, discovered that after
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont took over the Chairmanship of
the Senate Judiciary Committee from Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, he had
dropped the phrase "so help me God" from the oath taken when swearing in
witnesses. Sessions made an issue of this at a meeting of the Judiciary
Committee last week and Leahy said he would return the phrase "so help me
God" to oaths, a phrase which was added to the government oath by President
George Washington.
Leahy dismissed the controversy as a mistake, due to his short tenure as
Chairman of the Committee, but Sessions doubts that. At the beginning of
this year, before Dick Cheney was sworn in as Vice-President, the Democrats
controlled the Senate, and conducted hearings. For example, it was the
Democrats who held hearings on the nomination of John Ashcroft to be
Attorney General. Sessions went back and examined the records of that brief
period, and sure enough, there was no "so help me God" when the Democrats
were in charge. Obviously, the dropping of the phrase was no accident, but
quite intentional.
This is not a surprise if you are familiar with the results of some survey
research that the Democrats had done for them for the 1996 presidential
election. That research indicated that there is 19% of the electorate who
are either non-believers, atheists, or against the profession of religion in
the political process. Those voters, although liberal, were not necessarily
wedded to the Democratic Party in 1996. That was because Bill Clinton, the
Democratic standard bearer that year, invoked the name of God at least as
often as the Republicans.
Thereafter, some Democratic campaign staffers crafted a strategy aimed at
getting that vote squarely in the Democratic camp. One of the ideas
suggested was an attack on all uses of God in the governing process. This
group wanted to go after the "In God We Trust" on the currency, abolish the
office of Chaplain for the House and Senate, and get rid of references to
God in various public buildings. Most Democratic Party operatives rejected
an overt assault on God, fearing that would alienate Middle American voters
who had returned to the Democrats under Clinton. Whatever the reality,
Clinton was regarded by most of the country as a middle-of-the-road
Democrat.
But these operatives reasoned that a quiet abolition of references to God
could be done without calling attention to the initiative. The Judiciary
Committee's move on the oath fits nicely into that strategy. Unfortunately
for Leahy and the agnostic faction of the Democratic Party, Senator Sessions
blew the whistle. And Leahy, a nominal Catholic, caved without a fight.
Perhaps he told those Democratic strategists that he would go along with
their idea unless it became an issue in which case, he didn't want to be
caught defending the dismissal of God from his Committee.
Watch for other indications of this strategy being implemented. Some public
buildings are being renovated under contracts that were implemented during
the Clinton era. Some religious historians have already charged that overt
references to God and Christianity and religion in general are being
expunged.
Ronald Reagan used to remind us that we shouldn't ever presume that God is
on our side on various issues but we should rather worry whether we are on
God's side as we go forth in battle. That is something the Democrats might
want to keep in mind as they try to implement this highly questionable
strategy.
Paul M. Weyrich is president of the Free Congress Foundation.
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