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."
If you are not electing Christians you are electing the other side. Which side are you on?
the important thing is she looks good on a horse.
Peculiar thing how people can get so disgusted by Christian comments, but no one cares about the fact that Islam dictates that we can not profile for national security, cannot show cartoons that offensive to that particular religion, can call for the eradication of the state of Israel, etc. Yes, gays can force their "lifestyle" upon society, education books and curriculum and laws without disgusting our media and legislators. I pretty much agree with Harris on this one.
Amen Katherine Harris: "Saying what needs to be said, in-spite of the criticism that will become"! (And the sad thing is that many of the so called Republican-Conservatives will criticize her even though they are spouting liberal-media driven hate speech (just LIKE The DEMOCRATS! DO). It's a shame that they learned nothing from Reagan that "thou shalt not break the 11th Commandment".. Also that these "republicans" are being driven manipulated by the media to hate Christian-Conservative-Reaganites just as Satan (Hillary) would (Right-Wing conspiracy)...
I for one would much rather have Katherine Harris on my side (one of the sweetest-most gentile southern kind Politicians you will ever meet), than the far liberal-media driven croud that sides with hillary, Kerry, Dean, and McCain!!
Harris is right, but her candidness may well cost her the election.
Well, let's see. The 2002 Senate race in Minnesota was between mayor Norm Coleman (Jew) and former Vice President Walter Mondale (Christian, and the son of a Methodist minister to boot).
I was rooting for Coleman to win. Which side were you on?
Luckily, she is self-destructing. Now, if one could keep the collateral damage to the absolute minimum...
She was right, of course. The truth hurts.
We don't have religious tests for candidates in this country. Ours is a secular government, and has worked for over 230 years precisely because of that.
Are you opposed to Jews in office?
Whoever said that Coleman and the Congressman weren't-aren't Reaganites..? Of Course They are, but they also expose much of the same views that Harris does: A belief in the Biblical God, and they attempt to have their political carreers follow their faith too (I would bet)!
It's they leftists whom want to take God out of Government that is the REAL enemy not other Republicans (no matter how much we dissagree with them..)!
BINGO! We have a winner!:) Good post, and IMO "Rep. Debbie" is the south end of a northbound horse;)
She's worse than Roy Moore in her exclusivist views.
The Paul Wellstone wing of the DemocRATs thanks you for you support of the Mondale campaign.
And everyone said.....hah?
Conservative/GOPer Jews are "THE OTHER SIDE"? Since when?
So I doubt very much that she would exclude electing Jews that abhear to a JUDEO-Christian world view, anymore than you or I, the same goes for Catholic-Reaganites!!! Which would you rather have Katherine Harris on your side or so called Republicans like McCain, Graham, Lugar, etc...? Lets focus on electing more true Conservative-Conservative Reaganites and defeating those like McCain-Kerry! k?
"Yes, gays can force their "lifestyle" upon society,"
Sorry to hear you were forced into a homosexual relationship. Are you sure you weren't latent before?
Those are all VERY old pictures.
The people of Minnesota and Virgina certainly elected Reaganites in that election, but they DIDN'T elect "Christians", so by Harris' standards they're "in essence going to legislate sin"
If you agree with Harris' comments, then you were rooting for Mondale over Coleman.
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