Posted on 10/31/2006 8:50:34 AM PST by SmithL
The rocky marriage of religion and politics was tested again last weekend when Democratic Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. criticized the GOP's approach to faith.
During a stop Saturday in Paris, Tenn., Ford said one of the hallmarks of the Democratic Party is that members don't "use the Bible to judge people."
He then quoted from the Bible about "the spirit of fear," and living in the spirit of love, and he paraphrased U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn.
"My friend Lincoln Davis, who chairs this campaign, says there is one big difference between us and ... Republicans when it comes to our faith," Ford said. "He said 'Republicans fear the Lord. Democrats fear and love the Lord.'"
After Saturday night's debate in Nashville, Ford told reporters that the comment wasn't directed at Corker.
"I just made the point ... people who go around and try to judge other people are to be real careful," Ford said.
However, Republican opponent Bob Corker's campaign and supporters said the comments crossed the line.
"If Harold Ford believes what he said about our relationship with God is true, then it's incredibly disturbing," Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a prepared statement. "It's outrageous for Harold Ford to say that someone's love for the Lord depends on their political views -- and it is offensive to all Tennesseans who want their next senator to bring people together, not divide them."
Religious rehetoric has "been used fairly effectively by Ford to insulate himself against personal attacks," said Bruce Oppenheimer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University. "Clearly the turning point of this was the ad in the church."
Ford's ad, filmed inside Mt. Moriah East Baptist Church in Orange Mound, was widely hailed by pundits as successful and criticized by some civil liberty and interfaith groups as questionable.
"The recent rush of candidates-political parties -- and their often aggressive tactics -- to reach out to 'people of faith' lures religious organizations and religious leaders into dangerous legal territory," C. Welton Gaddy, president of the 185,000-member Interfaith Alliance, wrote in a letter last month to the national chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties.
"We didn't mix religion and politics," Ford told an interfaith gathering at a prayer breakfast in Chattanooga earlier this month after quoting from Ephesians. "I am who I am. I can't step out of who I am when I go to work."
The National Republican Senatorial Committee released a commercial that borrowed heavily from Ford's church ad and questioned his God-focused image in light of his attendance at a Playboy-sponsored party last year.
Behind the back-and-forth is a battle over religious voters, a demographic that in previous election years has helped turn out the Republican vote. This month, a Gallup poll found white religious voters "equally as likely to say they will vote Democratic as Republican," a dramatic shift from their strong Republican leanings expressed in surveys conducted earlier in the year.
"One of the things the Republicans have done very well over the last 20 years or so is make religion one of their cornerstones," said John Geer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University. "The Democrats don't want to give that ground up. Religion isn't Democratic or Republican."
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Tight race draws national names
Prominent political figures will stump for the candidates in Tennessee this week.
Details
First lady Laura Bush will campaign for Republican Bob Corker today in Kingsport and Franklin.
Former president Bill Clinton will headline a rally for Democrat Harold Ford Jr. at 11 am. Wednesday at the Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ in Memphis.
Wesley Clark, former NATO supreme allied commander, will join Ford for a 2:30 p.m rally Wednesday in Clarksville.
I think your scenario is very doable and quite likely. It would however be a net loss of 2 seats because Chafee will likely lose, though that will be no loss in the truest sense of the term.
Forgot about Chaffee. I try to, anyway.
Popeye? "I yam what I yam"
Should have read further before I posted Popeye also. I thought "Popeye" when reading the article. :O)
Well I've come to understand myself over the years that it's important to hold each other accountable. It depends on how you approach judgement. If you run around damning everyone to hell for their actions I don't think that's the accountablity God had in mind. However, if we run around teaching people what they should be doing that's conviction. If we use kindness to spread what ought to be done then I believe we get what God intended.
That being said. We will all be judged one day and to use the "don't judge me arguement" to avoid responsiblity is downright stupid.. because one day HE will come a knockin.
one of the most mis-used bible quotes ever.
The GOP is always willing ot be judged by the same standard it judges. It's the Dem party that is NOT and is never called to task by their MSM insurgents.
You and I have the same understanding.
Did he borrow Clinton's 40-pound Monicagate Bible?...
Plus you will find a FR link to the REAL, the LIBERAL JUNIOR, who votes like Teddy Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi.
Why so wishy-washy on the left? Perverted, lying, thieving, back-stabbing, hypocritical, anti-Christian, anit-freedom and liberty, anti-American, traitorous, worms from a cess pool of Hell. Demonically insane DUmmie nutjobs.
No, you're right. It's just too depressing to go on.
Thank you for the clarification. Spot on.
Former president Bill Clinton will headline a rally for Democrat Harold Ford Jr. at 11 am. Wednesday at the Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ in Memphis.
"The recent rush of candidates-political parties -- and their often aggressive tactics -- to reach out to 'people of faith' lures religious organizations and religious leaders into dangerous legal territory," C. Welton Gaddy, president of the 185,000-member Interfaith Alliance, wrote in a letter last month to the national chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties.
Has the Interfaith Alliance criticized Ford on his most recent statements?
Because I thought I was sure Jesus said something about a millstone hung around the neck for harming His children...I've always wonder how pro-abortion people like JUNIOR can say they love the Lord and then turn around and vote and fund programs that destroy His unborn innocents.
In the passage, from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus addresses those who would harm children, saying, "It would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea." Matt 18:6 NKJ
Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.
Mark 7:6-7
Just heard the Right to Life ad against JUNIOR...87 percent voting record for Planned Parenthood's agenda.
It brings to mind the "Strickland for Governor" radio ads I'm hearing in Ohio. Violins in the background, telling the sob story about watching his house burn and how much the church means to him, yada, yada. I have to say, it could be pretty effective with the average little ol' lady. But what makes it laughable to me is that they're playing these during breaks for Rush, Hewitt, Savage & the like. Do they really think that these listeners don't already know what snakes they are?!
not by his appearance by with Righteous judgement by the Holy Word of G-d. I judge them as murderers, who are unfit to lead. But my L-rd , Y'shua commanded me to judge!
b'shem Y'shua
John 7:24 "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."
I can not support anyone who supports the murder of small children and older people.
Was there a photo of his Bible? Was it NEW looking like Slick Willie's was? Mine is kinda well worn at the spine.
I'm working on it... LORD knows that I am working on it.
LLS
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