Posted on 04/12/2007 8:22:49 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
1994 Rudy: "I will work as hard to protect someone's right to believe in God as he or she sees fit -- or not to believe in God."
The Brody File has dug up a Rudy quote from the past that makes for an interesting discussion. In a 1994 New York Times article, Rudy said this:
"As the Mayor of New York City, I will work as hard to protect someone's right to believe in God as he or she sees fit -- or not to believe in God -- because I realize that my right to practice my religion depends completely on my commitment to defend someone else's right to practice theirs, or to practice no religion at all."
The article goes on to mention his views on Catholicism.
"Mr. Giuliani, who as a young man once considered joining the priesthood, noted that many Catholics today "feel that in some intellectual or quasi-intellectual circles, they are demeaned." He said he had also heard Catholics say that "Catholic-bashing has become part of the dogma of what they regard as the politically correct." And he said: "Indeed, I do detect among some who accept the most recent intellectual fads a disdain for those who share in the more orthodox faiths, whether Christian or Jewish or Muslim. In my humble opinion -- and this is meant as an observation, not a challenge -- that disdain emerges from an almost subconscious conclusion that to believe in God too fervently betrays a certain intellectual infirmity." He compared such a view with the "difficult time that some believers have in drawing the line between belief in dogma and respect for those who disagree." He called for believers and unbelievers alike to avoid "the arrogance of having no doubts."
Read the rest of the article here. It's interesting to hear Rudy talk about his faith. Clearly, there is a deeper story there. It makes me wonder what his upbringing was like and how his Catholic faith helped shaped who he is today. It's something worth exploring. I interview Giuliani next week. Maybe I'll pursue this with him. Got questions for him? Email them to me.
great quote.
Mr. Giuliani, I believe I can honestly say I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever. Does that mean I'm arrogant?
Were the Apostles and other martyrs arrogant?
there's a difference between certainty and faith. faith requires belief. you have faith, you don't know. you can wholeheartedly believe, but you still won't be completely certain...unless you've deluded yourself and confused facts with beliefs.
Because you belittle the idea of faith by subverting it with your 'absolutely no doubt whatsoever', you are indeed a bit arrogant IMO.
Okay.
No sense in arguing with you about it.
“the arrogance of having no doubts”? Seriously, do you really need an explanation?
Nice dodge.
Your dogged support for Guiliani has been annoying in the past but this...?! Catholic isn't an ethnicity you avow or disavow... it's about adherence to the teachings and doctrines of the Catholic Church. Your defense of the indefensible in Rudy makes you either a charlatan or a moral schizophrenic. Either way you will get no further posts from me because discussion with you is so apparently pointless.
Are you kidding? Having her around making a fool of herself is entertaining. It would be boring here if we didn’t have the Rudybots around watching them as they desperately promote their liberal candidate to conservative FReepers. What a riot!
Sniff, sniff—smell that? It’s the smell of fear that’s coming from the Rudyite camp. It’s a sweet smelling aroma that keeps me coming back, day after day, hour after hour. Sniff, sniff...aaaahhhh....such a sweet smelling aroma!
That will be my pleasure not to get them from you. You are one nasty individual.
You are one nasty individual.
Prove it. Go through my posting history at your leisure and prove how nasty I am. I've been very civil, though disappointed, with you... and you come back with this?! Prove your libel.
Hey - you lucked out!
Rudy must have been more than a nominal Catholic when he was contemplating entering the Priesthood.
Darn, I missed it. I'll tune in tonight for the reruns.... Thanks for the heads up.
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I agree completely. Giuliani has lived with liberals for so long that he seems oblivious to this and many other issues.
Fully 88% of those polled said they had a problem with Rudy not attending his son's graduation.
No doubt, the polls on Judi Giuliani's abandonement of her daughter would be equally as devastating.
Andrew Giuliani outed his father as a no-show dad ruled by Judi, his shrewish third wife who orders him to stay away from his kids.
Mrs Giuliani The Third abandoned her daughter to settle the bitter divorce so she could be with Rudy.
A “genuine conservative” like Duncan Hunter cannot pull in enough votes from Independents to win the election. We can’t win it on conservative Republican votes alone. The White House would go to the Dems and we can’t let that happen.
What's that sound I hear? It's the sound of wailing and gnashing of teeth coming from the '100% no-compromise our-way-or-the-highway we'll sit home and let a democrat win in order to teach america a lesson' crowd as you realize that without some form of compromise and moderation, you'll continue to be irrelevent...
Sad reality must suck.
We can’t win it on conservative Republican votes alone.
If it were a far-right extremist, you'd have a point. But what about Hunter's positions - pro-life, pro-border control, pro-military, etcetera - scream "exclusively conservative" to you? They sound like things a lot of Independents could get behind, particularly his stances on trade as regards with China, NAFTA, CAFTA, as well as his anti-illegal immigration stance.
There’s a difference between compromising some things and completely throwing things out.
Rudy’s positions are anathema to most conservative positions. Reagan’s line doesn’t apply here: Rudy is not our 80% ally.
Here, the opposite is true. “My 80% enemy is not my 20% ally.”
Except that most of the folks you are attempting to paint as such would strongly support a Fred Thompson candidacy, who is not 100 percent conservative but is on the whole a conservative candidate, unlike Rudy.
Which makes your 100 percenter line of attack completely bogus. Conservatives will move towards the center if needed. They won't move left of center. Rudy is extremely left of center on key issues such as abortion (100 percent NARAL rating) and gun control (addressed Brady Center rallies and called for federal gun control laws).
If you are so serious about the GOP winning, quit pushing a guy who will rift the party.
I hear the lamentations expressed against the hands-sitting conservatives of last year and can't shake the realization that the wrong lesson has been learned. The party shouldn't be saying that conservative were wrong to not vote last election (by the way, yes, I voted), they should realize how badly they've gone adrift to lose the conservative vote.
Going further leftward with Rudy isn't the solution the problem when viewed from this perspective. No matter who you are (Hillary included), you still have to give people a reason to vote for you. The GOP has failed at governnance according to the reasons they were given the reins and the voters have had a negative reaction. Rather than chastising the voters, why don't we learn from this mistake and show some leadership? Their solution so far is to put out a milquetoast, mushy-middle candidate to try to capture the moderates. News flash for the powers-that-be: The Dem faithful will still vote for the candidate with the (D) and the conservatives will be further disenfranchised. Seems like a recipe for electoral disaster to me...
/ my two cents.
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