And the winner of the 2004 Demon-ratic parties Spiritual Leader is....STALIN!!!
Oh crap, he's vacationing in hell. Accepting his award tonight is Michael Moore!! He won't be in hell for at least a month!!
Posted on 06/15/2004 5:40:04 PM PDT by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign has hired a new director of religion outreach, who is being described by a Catholic group as "a curious choice."
Mara Vanderslice, who formerly worked as religion outreach director for Democrat Howard Dean, was raised without any faith and didn't become an evangelical Christian until she attended Earlham College, a Quaker school known for its adherence to pacifism, the Catholic League said on Monday.
According to Catholic League President William Donohue, when Vanderslice was in college she was active in the Earlham Socialist Alliance, a group that supports convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and openly embraces Marxism-Leninism.
Upon college graduation, Donohue said, Vanderslice spoke at rallies organized by ACT-UP, an anti-Catholic group that disrupted Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1989 and spit the Eucharist on the floor.
In 2000, according to Donohue, Vanderslice practiced civil disobedience by taking part in a protest of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, and in 2002, she was among those who tried to shut down the nation's capital in a protest against the IMF and the World Bank.
"At first John Kerry was considered too moderate for Mara, which is why she became Howard Dean's Religion Outreach Director," Donohue said. "She admits that she was a freak in the Dean campaign: her colleagues dubbed her the 'church lady,' informing her that Dean was liked precisely because he didn't talk about religion."
"'How in the world did you get hired?' is how one staffer put it," Donohue said.
"Unfazed Mara contends we have a 'collective commitment to protect the integrity of God's creation,' specifically citing the needs of the 'least of these.' Yet she supports John Kerry, a man who has never learned of an abortion he couldn't justify, Donohue said.
"All the polls show Kerry getting whipped badly by Bush among practicing Catholics, Protestants and Jews. Moreover, the latest edition of Time magazine reports that only 7 percent of likely voters think Kerry is a man of strong religious faith," Donohue said.
"Given all this, his choice of Mara Vanderslice as his religious point woman is confounding. Her resume is that of a person looking for a job working for Fidel Castro, not John Kerry.
"Just wait until Catholics and Protestants learn who this lady really is," he added.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
No, it's par for the course for Kerry.
THIS??? is the guy the Democrats want Catholics to trust ???
He is a danger to the values of any religion.
catholicsagainstkerry.com
Join us. We're making history not waiting for it to happen to us. We need your help.
Yeah, and this appointment will help.../s
"the fatal mistake of so many politicians - wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage."
Mark Tooley, "Religious Left Coalitions"
Two relatively new religious coalitions are combating the burgeoning influence of Christian conservatives. The Interfaith Alliance, created in 1994, is largely a mishmash of fading, old-line Religious Left fixtures whose predictable denunciations of Ralph Reed and Pat Robertson have failed to attract sustained attention or new allies. But the Call to Renewal, which Sojourners publisher Jim Wallis helped create last year, has been considerably more successful in portraying itself as a viable alternative to the Christian Right.
Many National Council of Churches types have endorsed the Call, but their profiles have been kept noticeably low. More prominent have been "progressive" evangelicals and Roman Catholics who claim their politics are "above" and "beyond" the "traditional politics" of Left and Right. . .
[SNIP]
Of the Call's 100 prominent endorsers, eighteen are Roman Catholic, including Bishops Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit; Raymond Lucker of New Ulm, Minnesota; LeRoy Matthiesen of Amarillo, Texas; Francis Murphy of Baltimore; Peter Rosazza of Hartford, Connecticut; Walter Sullivan of Richmond, Virginia; and, Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee.
[SNIP]
Cafferty was joined by Wallis and other Call founders, including Baptist evangelist Tony Campolo, who seemed to summarize the Call's objective when he said, "We want to change the purpose of evangelism. . . Political issues are at the heart of the Christian faith. We thank them [the Religious Right] for making America aware that politics is religious."
Campolo, whom President Clinton has cited as one of his ten most admired preachers, pledged that the Call's "progressive evangelical caucus" would "avoid Left and Right" while advocating community programs to battle "gay-bashing, racism, and poverty." He said they would seek "reconciliation and not polarization."
Note on the Thomas Gumbleton mentioned above:
On Wednesday, September 3rd, 2003, the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) Coalition held a panel discussion/press conference entitled Iraq: George W. Bush's "Vietnam"? at the National Press Club in Washington DC. The panel featured former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark, Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, family members of U.S. GIs, and other leaders of the anti-war movement, who collectively discussed the growing mood in the United States to bring U.S. troops back from Iraq and to end the occupation.
Mara Babyslice has an uphill battle ahead of her.
Doug Maben, an ex-intern who is a Presbyterian pastor, organized an exciting Denver town meeting, and one of the most moving local speakers was another former intern, Mara Vanderslice, who challenged the enthusiastic audience to join the Jubilee 2000 campaign. A beloved teacher and mentor of mine, Vincent Harding, introduced the evening. Call to Renewal and Sojourners board member Leah Gaskin Fitchue is now dean of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, which hosted the Atlanta Faith Works Forum. Media coverage was very extensive in Atlanta as it was in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Former Sojourners magazine editor Bob Hulteen now works for the Minnesota Council of Churches and organized the successful town meeting we held at Rev. Al Gallmon's Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.
Vanderslice, Mara Louise
Email: Bvanders@worldnet.att.net
Greetings! I am back home in Boulder after completing my intern year with Sojourners 1997-98. I worked with the Call to Renewal and Jubilee 2000 during my year at Sojourners. I am hoping to connect up with other Sojourners subscribers in Colorado. I am looking for a church community and especially other young adults interested in faith and social justice. -- Before Sojourners I graduated from Earlham College with a degree in Peace and Global Studies. I also love the mountains, going hiking, skiing, running and mountain biking. Please get in touch with me, as I am trying to find a progressive Christian community in Colorado. Also, I would love to know about your church, Bible study or social justice work. If anyone is interested in forming a Jubilee 2000 chapter in Colorado please let me know. God bless! Address: 1011 Tantra Park Cir., Boulder, CO 80303, United States. Home: 303-499-8125. Date Entered: 09/08/1998. [Directory ID: 750].
And the winner of the 2004 Demon-ratic parties Spiritual Leader is....STALIN!!!
Oh crap, he's vacationing in hell. Accepting his award tonight is Michael Moore!! He won't be in hell for at least a month!!
Ping.
Sojourners was founded by Jim Wallis in 1976, the offspring of the Post American, which was published by a few radical theology students who banded together commal-style in Chicago in the late 1960s. Encouraged by Richard Barnet [of the Institute for Policy Studies], Gordon Cosby [of World Peacemakers], and others, Wallis decided to move his ragtag Christian hippie community to Washington. Barnet's influence was soon felt at Sojourners, for after Wallis moved the Sojourners commune to Washington and came in contact with IPS, the appearance of the magazine improved and its rhetoric was toned down. But when Wallis addresses his colleagues in the elite theological circles, he makes no effort to conceal his politics. He told Mission Tracks in 1979, in the article "Liberation and Conformity", that he hoped "more Christians will come to view the world through Marxist eyes. . ."
[SNIP]
The U.N. Special Session on Disarmament of 1978 was to be an extravaganza for peace activists throughout the Western world. . .The entire endeavor had been conceived and approved by the World Peace Council in 1975, based on the Soviets' perception. . .Never mind that nothing specific on disarament resulted from the special session. What did emerge were some organizational vehicles for "the movement"--Mobilization for Survival, the Riverside Church Disarmament Program, World Peacemakers--all of which "IPS fellows were instrumental in organizing", as an IPS annual report pointed out. . .
The theme of the March 1978 Sojourners issue was in keeping with the campaign being promoted by World Peacemakers. . .
Hmm...not bad--maybe with a nice Brie and some Château Margaux...
one of Sojourner's affiliated groups, the Call for Renewal
~ PRAYER ~
St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle
Be our protection against the wickedness
and snares of the devil;
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
Thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits
who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen
+
This confirms what we've known all along. Kerry is a
complete and total "nutcase"!
Religious Democrats?
by Mara Vanderslice
Dean supporters were not religious and liked him because he didn’t talk about religion. A senior staff member who came into Iowa in the final weeks even asked me, "How in the world did you get hired?!" He just couldn’t comprehend expending resources to reach out to the religious community. "It’s not that I’m against it," he said, "it’s just I would have never thought of it. Who would have known religious people could get behind us?"
When Dean abruptly started talking about religion, his comments came across as insensitive and out of touch: He said he would only talk about religion when campaigning in the South; he called Job his favorite "New Testament" book.
I was amazed by the ignorance about religious people that I found among campaign workers, who seemed unable to comprehend Christians being Democrats. What an odd misconception, considering that an overwhelming percentage of Democrats are religious; according to George Barna, one of the most respected pollsters on religious matters, 79 percent of Democrats attend a Catholic or Protestant church. It was not the right wing Dean was alienating, but the very base of his party.
PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC nominee John Kerry need not make the same mistakes. Kerry and his wife Teresa have publicly emphasized the importance of their Catholic faith. Kerry spoke recently to a church audience quoting from James on how faith without works is dead. If Kerry continues to use religious language appropriately (and not only when speaking in the South) and embraces the millions of religious Americans that are the base of his supporters, he might just change some assumptions about the "secular" Democratic Party, and in the process, pick up a crucial constituency that could tip the balance of the election.
Mara Vanderslice, a Christian activist and political organizer
What separation between church and state? The Bush campaign is making a bid for the votes of churchgoers, getting churches to distribute campaign materials and enlist voters:
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."
******
April 05, 2004
Palm Sunday With John Kerry Went to church.
A Catholic, Kerry marked Palm Sunday and the start of Easter week at the Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church where he was given a hero's welcome.
"We're thankful that there's going to be a revolution in this country ... a new movement," declared pastor Gregory Groover. " And we say, God, bring him on, the next president of the United States."
Kerry, who has worshiped at the predominantly black church at least twice before, and his wife Teresa both took communion.
Mara Vanderslice, program director for the Jubilee USA Network, says of President Bush's recent trip to Africa: "one of the single most pressing issues to the people of Africa (did) not (get) addressed on his tour --Africa's debilitating foreign debts. Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa pay out $14.5 billion every year in debt service. This is more than the continent receives in foreign aid... and more than is needed to stem the tide of AIDS,estimated at $10 billion annually."
******
President Bush's faith = "Bad"
John Kerry's "faith" = Good
Democrats = Hypocrites
Clergy Leadership Network Meeting a Bust
The Clergy Leadership Network meeting in Cleveland this week fizzled. According to the Plain Dealer:
Fewer than 100 people attended morning sessions on practical ways to influence the election. Sen. John Kerry, Democratic presidential hopeful, declined an invitation to the conference. Sen. John Edwards, a leading candidate to be Kerry's running mate, did show up Monday, but Mara Vanderslice, who works with religious constituencies for the Kerry campaign, was scheduled to speak Tuesday, but also chose not to attend.
There are a number of reasons why the event was a failure. While the leaders of the group will undoubtedly put their own spin on the event, this failure exposes some of the fundamental problems with the Clergy Leadership Network. The philosophy behind the group was to counter groups like the Christian Coalition and the religious right... not out of a profound sense of creating a positive political influence. At the core, the movement is more about removing George Bush from office than providing an alternative religious voice. The low turnout, is not a reflection of support for George Bush, rather, it is a rejection of those who want to leverage religion to influence an election.
Nice deconstruction.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.