Posted on 08/25/2006 7:47:48 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
ORLANDO, Fla. _Rep. Katherine Harris said this week that God did not intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that a failure to elect Christians to political office will allow lawmaking bodies to "legislate sin."
The remarks, published in the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention, unleashed a torrent of criticism from political and religious officials.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said she was "disgusted" by the comments "and deeply disappointed in Rep. Harris personally."
Harris, Wasserman Schultz said, "clearly shows that she does not deserve to be a Representative . . ."
State Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, demanded an apology, saying the statements were "outrageous, even by her standards.
"What is going through this woman's mind?" said Slosberg. "We do not live in a theocracy."
The criticism was not limited to Democrats.
Ruby Brooks, a veteran Tampa Bay Republican activist, said Harris' remarks "were offensive to me as a Christian and a Republican."
"To me, it's the height of hubris," said Brooks, a former Largo Republican Club president and former member of the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee.
And Jillian Hasner, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said: "I don't think it's representative of the Republican Party at all. Our party is much bigger and better than Katherine Harris is trying to make it."
The fallout follows an interview published in the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention. Witness editors interviewed candidates for office asking them to describe their faith and positions on certain issues.
Harris said her religious beliefs "animate" everything she does, including her votes in Congress.
She then warned voters that if they do not send Christians to office, they risk creating a government that is doomed to fail.
"If you are not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," she told interviewers, citing abortion and gay marriage as two examples of that sin.
"Whenever we legislate sin," she said, "and we say abortion is permissible and we say gay unions are permissible, then average citizens who are not Christians, because they don't know better, we are leading them astray and it's wrong . . ."
Harris also said the separation of church and state is a "lie we have been told" to keep religious people out of politics.
In reality, she said, "we have to have the faithful in government" because that is God's will. Separating religion and politics is "so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers," she said.
"And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women," then "we're going to have a nation of secular laws. That's not what our founding fathers intended and that's (sic) certainly isn't what God intended."
Harris campaign spokesman Jennifer Marks would not say what alternative to "a nation of secular laws" Harris would support. She would not answer questions about the Harris interview and, instead, released a two-sentence statement.
"Congresswoman Harris encourages Americans from all walks of life and faith to participate in our government," it stated. "She continues to be an unwavering advocate of religious rights and freedoms."
The notion that non-Christians "don't know better," or are less suited to govern disturbed Rabbi Rick Sherwin, president of the Greater Orlando Board of Rabbis.
"Anybody who claims to have a monopoly on God," he said, "doesn't understand the strength of America."
Sherwin and others also said Harris appeared to be voicing support for a religious state when she said God and the founding fathers did not intend the United States to be a "nation of secular laws."
The alternative, they said, would be a nation of religious laws.
"She's talking about a theocracy," said Sherwin. "And that's exactly opposite of what this country is based on." A clause in the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a state religion.
Ahmed Bedier, the Central Florida Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said he was "appalled that a person who's been in politics this long would hold such extreme views."
Bedier said most Christians would find such comments "shameful."
Harris has always professed a deep Christian faith and long been popular with Christian conservative voters.
In the Senate primary race, she has heavily courted that voting bloc, counting on them to put her into the general election against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
But publicly, she rarely expresses such a fervent evangelical perspective.
University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato said the comments will appeal to Christian fundamentalists who typically turn out for Republican primaries.
But he said the strong evangelical tone could alienate non-Christians and more moderate Republicans who had been thinking of supporting Harris.
"It's insane," he said. "But it's not out of character for Katherine Harris."
Harris, a Republican from Longboat Key, is running against Orlando attorney Will McBride, retired Adm. LeRoy Collins and developer Peter Monroe in the GOP Senate primary.
McBride and Collins also did interviews with Florida Baptist Witness. Both said faith is an important part of their lives, but Harris' responses most directly tie her role as a policy maker to her religious beliefs.
Ruby Brooks, the Tampa area GOP activist, said such religious "arrogance" only damages the party.
"This notion that you've been chosen or anointed, it's offensive," said Brooks. "We hurt our cause with that more than we help it."
Nope, you wrote in 207 in response to my question where did the common law come from, "The precedents, standards and customs practiced in the various states. No two states were identical in their common laws." Very plainly you meant the common law came from the states, which isn't true.
I cannot believe what I am reading on this website and you all are defending her comments. She is flat out wrong and must add could be called many names I can think of for her stance that only Christians should be elected to office.
I didn't see that any where in the Constitution or in the documents of our founding fathers that declare you have to be Christian to run for office as a Republican. The documents talk about God and in later years we have 'under God' added to the Pledge; In God We Trust as our motto, and the list goes on. No where does it say you have to be Christian to run for office or be a Republican. Last time I checked it says 'freedom of religion' not this Nation will be a Christian Nation.
I think I have seen it all now on this site. I am a Christian but some of the holier than thou comments on here make me sad that some of you will say anything to defend this woman. Next are some of you folks going to say only your church is the true Christian religion? Where does it stop?
You lie.
Precedents, standards and customs evolved over time from multiple sources, they aren't "made up" by courts.
You ought to have a look at the Mitt Romney threads! They are beyond disgusting. The holier than Thou are having a field day bashing Mitt and his religion.
State courts followed the common law from England, prior to the separation, until they chose to change it, and follow their own precedents, emanating from statutes of the individual state Constitution, or their own judgement. State courts of couse follow the precedents set by federal courts when it comes to federal law. If they do not, well, some litigant should have removed the matter to federal court, and blew it.
I don't recognize the screen names -- unbelieveable is all I can say! I won't vote for Romney because he is from New England not because he is Mormon.
Yep. They didn't "make up" the law.
Mitt is my number two choice. I am rather promiscuous when it comes to the religion of candidates, or lack thereof. It just doesn't matter much to me. I weigh more heavily other factors, and the religion issue becomes rounding error, for me.
Regrettably, I recognize a few of the screen names. Scant few, thankfully. Romney is not "saved" and his religion is a "cult." I would expect to see that type of nasty posting on DU, but not here.
Have you reversed yourself? Or are you now claiming that the courts "made up" the customs and practices they followed?
Grasping and spinning.
the process of codifying common practices into a legal system IS "making it up" ... how else do you think laws are made?
Same here! It is disgusting what I have been seeing around here with some of the comments. Hard to believe they are even conservative.
No, I have no reversed anything.
I do not have a choice at this point. I welcome all.
Mitt's religion is not an issue for me.
I won't vote for Romney because he is from New England not because he is Mormon.
Nice bit of doublethink.
Some aren't, others are the third party types who are always against electable Republicans. They have their own conservative litmus test(s).
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