Baptists Angry at Bush Campaign Tactics

AP ^ | 7/3/04

[Owen]

This deserves attention and an agreement or compromise. There are several items of interest:

1) This is a southern organization? If so, the campaign need not squeeze so hard because the South is already won.

2) I think a good compromise would be for the campaign to agree not to use rosters for fund raising, but perhaps it is okay to call folks to get them to vote or maybe volunteer for the campaign. Fundraising: offlimits. GOTV: Okay.

3) I heartily agree that those 4-6 million evangelicals Rove has spoken of should be sought, but in the battlegrounds more than the south.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

AP

Consider the source.

[gunnedah]

The Baptist Church along with all Christians need to realize everything and everybody outside these lines are aligned against them.
African American churches, especially those in the South, the NAACP and many other tax exempt organizations are involved in Partisan Politics and they all are aiming at destroying the principles and values of this nation and the Christian community. This country was founded on Christian Principles and now our government along with activist judges are not only denying it they are trying to exclude any morals or values from being involved in government.
America in the least is headed toward becoming Communist and having a dictator. So what if it means losing tax exemption? Either way we are going to lose if we don't take a stand and fight these crooks and this perverted generation.

[Melinda in TN]

Most of the Southern Baptist Churches in my area have been discreetly campaigning for Bush all along. I don't think this will be a big deal for most of them. They don't tell us who to vote for, they just say to vote for the candidate that stands for what is right. That pretty much eliminates Kerry and the Dems. I don't think the Bush administration should push the issue in churches because most Christian congregations already know what they should do and are doing it. It just doesn't look good for our side even though the Dems are doing the same thing.

[AAABEST]

I'm not very supportive of Bush....anymore but I'll be forced to hold my nose and vote for him in November regardless. Unless I want an antichrist "Catholic" leftist for a president, he's the lesser of two evils.

I would view any attempt at political datamining in my chapel to be profane. If this same initiative was coming from the Kerry campaign every single person on this board who is for this would scream, making some of us hypocritical.

I wouldn't want my personal info being given to the dems by an usher in my church...would you?

[mollynme]

Would you want some democrat caretaker at your church handing your name and phone number to some political operative to be put in a database without your consent or against your will?

Wouldn't bother me. I love sending back those postage-paid envelopes - empty! And I have also been known to vent at democrat push-pollers on the phone - very therapeutic!

[AAABEST]

LOL!

Interesting take. Using their wieght against them, sort of like Judo.

[TheGrimReaper]

Funny.... good ol' "Reverend" Barry Lynn thinks it's "inappropriate".
I've never heard a peep out of Barry when Klinton/Gore/Sharpton/Jackson, et al take to the pulpits of black churches to spread their propaganda DIRECTLY to the congregations.
Generally, if Lynn is against it - I'm for it.

[Sir_Humphrey]

let's just back off, stand back, and let the Dems go into BLACK CHURCHES

The big difference here is that AME churches have whored themselves out and welcome this type of exploitation. This complaint is from conservative Bush supporters whose crime is to see the church as a place of worship, not politics. Criminy, that's thier right. As much as I would disgree with them, I would have no issue here if the churchs invited the politicos in. Clearly, this did not happen.

[UncleJeff]

This source more to your liking??

When religion and politics mix too closely it's bad for both in the long run.

[Alia]

Frankly, I don't see what the problem is. Churches can decline to do so. Other churches might put it on their bulletin boards.

[CobaltBlue]

Some of the things being done are definitely questionable. I keep getting mailings, emails and faxes from an organization that calls itself the National Republican Congressional Committee's Business Advisory Council, which will make me Business Person of the Year for only $250.

As if.

[jwalsh07]

Is this comedy?

Democrats have been campaigning from the puplit as long as I've been alive and whats more I could care less.

[AAABEST]

LOL. A cool $250 makes for good business in their book(s).

The other day the NRA wanted to put me on some honor roll or some such, complete with a certificate that looked even better than anything I've seen from Publisher's Clearing House.

I've gotten plenty of spam from the Bush campaign as well, which I really don't mind. Such is life.

This idea of trolling for lists churchgoers from houses of worship however just strikes me as out of line.

[streetpreacher]

More Baptist self-contradicting church/state separation/political activism nonsense...

[streetpreacher]

The church is for spiritual pursuits only. To exploit that is sacrilegious.

So God doesn't demand Lordship over every area of our lives, especially the way we choose to be governed? Can a genuine Christian faith be so easy compartmentalized?

"Bad Jesus... Go back to church!"

[streetpreacher]

Wouldn't bother me. I love sending back those postage-paid envelopes - empty!

Why, when you can fill it with metal or rocks?

[pickemuphere]

Many black churches are extremely involved in politics. How many times have I seen the Rev Jackson speaking at churches? Of course, nothing he said or did had any political slant to it. He was just preaching.

But that is quite a step below what the adminstration is attempting to do here. If the DNC was surreptitiously collecting names from churches, we would be howling.

I don't mind the voter drives or the open recruitment efforts -- these are both great ideas. But to have the RNC say "Send us a list of your churchgoers," why that's just downright invasive.

[curtking]

Dear Dr. Land,

When Barry Lynn agrees with you, you're wrong.

[latina4dubya]

No one with 1/2 a brain that calls themselves a Christian would vote for Kerry when they know he wold do more to undermine religious expression that Bush has done to further it.

you would think... but a lot of Christians fell for Slick Willie... they may fall for Kerry, too... (although Kerry does lack the "southerness" that Bill had.)