PRAYER POLITICS (Evan Bayh prez hopes sidetracked by prayer ruling referring to Jesus Christ)

townhall.com ^ | Dec 17, 2005 | Robert Novak

[Liz]

Hopes by Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana to become the centrist candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination were not helped by the Nov. 30 ruling of Federal District Judge David Hamilton of Indianapolis, a former Bayh aide, against the Indiana state legislature opening its sessions with a prayer referring to Jesus Christ.

When Bayh was governor of Indiana, Hamilton was his chief counsel and master political strategist. Hamilton ruled, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, that any prayers referring to Jesus Christ by name, "Savior" or "Son of God" are unconstitutional. He said that such a reference "amounts in practical terms to an official endorsement of the Christian religion." Hamilton was named to the court by President Bill Clinton in 1994.

A footnote: Republican Rep. John Hostettler of Indiana, a member of the House subcommittee on the Constitution, contends the judiciary has no power to kill the legislature's prayer. He plans to write President Bush urging him not to enforce Hamilton's ruling.

Robert Novak is a television personality and a columnist who writes Inside Report.

Copyright © 2005 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

[Liz]

Conservative pro-life Christian voters made monumental contributions to GWB's 2004 vote totals. Pres Bush won with 63 Million Votes (13 million more than 2000). The US Census Bureau said 159 million US citizens describe themselves as Christians.

Religious and cultural issues provided the margin of victory for Republicans in the 2000 and 2004 elections.

Black religious voters famously factored heavily into that vote due to that sector's strong opposition to gay marriages----a key Christian conservative issue.

If this trend continues, it could be one of the most important political stories of the next several decades. Here are the numbers: The National Association of Evangelicals, represents 39 million Christian churchgoers. There are an estimated one billion Catholics around the world, and according to the Church of England, there are 70 million Anglicans.

The map, though impressive, conveys the misleading impression that blue state Catholics voted for Kerry (a CINO).

According to EWTN "The World Over Live" analysts, with the exception of VA, where Catholics spit 70/30 in favor of Bush, the majority of Catholic voters split 55/45 for Bush.....a whopping number of votes since Catholics number about 52 million Americans.

According to CNN exit polls, Bush voters included 38% of union members, 40% of those with union members in their households, 42% of those earning $15,000-$30,000, 44% f those who earn under $50,000 and 44% of Latinos, 45% of youth (aged 18-29), 13% of liberals—even 11% of Democrats voted for Bush.

2004 Election polls indicated 34% called themselves conservative, 21% liberal. Christians control 2/3'rds of the Nation's assets.

If you look closely, the map appears to place the insignificant "Other Voters" in the ocean.....that's accurate, because "Other Voters--RINO Republicans" were on cruise ships.

(MAP UPDATE Bush won Ohio, Iowa and New Mexico later.)

Republicans Can't Win Without Christian Conservatives / major study by the Pew Forum

Americans who regularly attend worship services and hold traditional Christian religious views increasingly vote Republican, while those who are less connected to religious institutions and more secular in their outlook tend to vote Democratic, according to a major study by the Pew Forum. Some of the conclusions of this report were already evident in 2004 exit polling data.

For example, voters who attend church more than once a week (16 percent of all voters) chose Bush over Kerry by a margin of 64 – 35 percent.

Likewise, those who attend Christian denominational Churches on a weekly basis (26 percent of voters) supported the President by a 58 – 41 percent margin. Also very telling, those who never attend Church (15 percent of voters) overwhelmingly supported Kerry 62 – 36 percent.

The study further found that traditionalist elements within each religion tended to vote Republican, while modernist groups within the religions trended towards the Democrats. A multiple regression analysis of exit poll and public opinion survey data from 2000 and 2004 enabled the Pew Research Center to assign a relative weight to various demographic markers.

Interestingly, church attendance was tied with race as the most significant factor. But even that number is deceiving; in that race is only an important factor due to the high level of support the Democrats receive from black voters.

These trends represent a major shift over the past forty-five years. White Christian Evangelicals in 1960 favored Democrats by a two-to-one margin; now they are Republican by a 56 – 27 percent margin. Seventy-eight percent of them voted for President Bush in 2004.

In 1960, 71 percent of Catholics were Democrats and now Democrats have only a slight edge among Catholics (44 – 41 percent) and Catholics voted for President Bush (52 – 47 percent) in 2004. These trends have also brought an increased acceptance of religion in the public square. While Americans do tend to favor the separation of church and state, 70 percent of voters want their President to have strong Christian religious beliefs.

Likewise, the study reveals that 52 percent of Americans believe that Christian churches should express political views. Surprisingly, support for political involvement of churches is strongest among younger voters age 18 to 29 (59 percent).

[FlingWingFlyer]

Hamilton ruled, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, that any prayers referring to Jesus Christ by name, "Savior" or "Son of God" are unconstitutional.

Which constitution is this moron talking about? Surely not the U.S. Constitution. It says no such thing. Look it up.

[Brilliant]

My suspicion is that in those counties where Catholics are the largest denomination, it is by a narrow margin in a lot of counties.

[Liz]

Must be the Scottish Constitution (/sarc).

[Liz]

Narrower than some of these other marginal hyphenate groups that tout their politcal power?

I don't think so.

[Brilliant]

No. My point is that if a county is 31% Catholic and 30% Protestant, then painting it blue may not mean much.

[FlingWingFlyer]

It's the "...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..." part that gets to me. The Bill of Rights belong to the American people. NOT THE GOVERNMENT. According to the First Amendment, the government and their "judges" have absolutely no right to tell us when/where we can exercise our religious rights and when/where we can't. The Bill of Rights prohibits it. What is "unconstitutional" is the government's so-called "judges" making rulings denying Americans the right to freely exercise their religious rights anywhere/anytime they want.

[Liz]

The point is not to list Catholics "and" Protestants----but to cite Christians all on the same page re Jesus Christ.

[Brilliant]

Well, in my mind, I was responding to this point in your post:

"The map, though impressive, conveys the misleading impression that blue state Catholics voted for Kerry (a CINO)."

Maybe I should have made that more clear. If a county is 31% Catholic, that might be the largest single denomination. On the other hand, it takes more than 31% to win that state's electoral votes, and if 30% is Protestant, I don't think you can attribute the outcome to the fact that the county may have a few more Catholic votes than Protestant.

[unlearner]

It is high time for civil disobedience.

Christians need to continue to publicly pray in the name of Jesus whatever may come.

Make friends with the rapists and murderers and thieves because soon Christians may become their neighbors in prison.

This ruling destroys the most essential foundation of this nation. Christians sought to worship God according to their conscience without fear of persecution. This was written into law (the highest law of the land). If it had not been constitutionally guaranteed the several states would never have agreed to form a sovereign nation.

If the American revolution was a just war, then resisting these acts of tyranny are also justified. This ruling is an act of war every bit as much as the terrorists 9/11 attack.

[Liz]

OK......your point is made.

[Liz]

.....rapists and murderers and thieves may become Christians' neighbors in prison.....

Not so far-fetched.

'Village' Impudence in Massachusetts

David Parker of Lexington, Massachusetts was arrested on April 27, 2005 after insisting to school officials that under Massachusetts state law he had a right to be notified in advance about the human sexuality curriculum, and to have an opportunity to opt out his kindergarten son from any discussion of homosexuality. He refused to leave the school meeting without assurance that his request would be honored.

The school retaliated by having Parker arrested for criminal trespassing. He was handcuffed, jailed overnight, and banned from school property. He steadfastly maintained that he had committed no crime. The Parker case caused a great local uproar.

David Parker objected to the book called Who's In a Family?, which his kindergarten son brought home from school in a "Diversity Book Bag." The book by Robert Skutch illustrates same-sex couples and contains descriptions about them, such as "Robin's family is made up of her dad Clifford, her dad's partner Henry, and Robin's cat Sassy." It is listed on the book list published by the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

The school superintendent ordered all teachers not to notify parents in advance when discussing homosexuality because they are just teaching about diversity, citizenship and tolerance, and he said, "Parents can't pick and choose what they want their kids to study." Most parents consider this attitude an arrogant intrusion into the privacy of family values and parental rights.

Although the Massachusetts district attorney announced on October 20 that David Parker would not now be prosecuted for criminal trespassing, he remains under pretrial probation for a year and is forbidden to go on school property. The school still maintains its right to teach students whatever the school wants and without parental consent.

http://www.eagleforum.org/psr/2005/dec05/psrdec05.html