Keeping the Faith
I am growing increasingly more disturbed by reports about the Bush camp's efforts to reach out to churches across the nation. Take a look at this story from the Miami Herald (mini-registration required). This story says that the Bush/Cheney campaign has requested a whole slew of personal information from parishes across the country. The reporter writes:
These parish directories contain names, family members, home addresses, and phone numbers of all parish members, the articles goes on to report. With this information, the Bush/Cheney team could, in effect, harass churchgoers at home.
So why I am so concerned about this? Well, it's just another example of the closing gap between church and state. For centuries, religion has always been in the background of American political life. Our country has been built on Judeo-Christian moralities, but church doctrine and church policy have always been intentionally kept out of the government. That is, until this year.
Now, Bush and Cheney are attempting to involve churches throughout the nation in their political campaigns, thus strengthening ties between church and state and also putting many churches across the country in danger of losing their tax-exempt status. The Bush/Cheney campaign understands that many Christians in this country will vote for Bush simply because he is a self-proclaimed born-again Christian. They admire him for his faith and blindly follow him because their priests tell them to so. As a Jewish, northeast liberal, it has always been difficult for me to wrap my mind around this concept, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is no way to select a president. These people don't realize that Bush is not looking out for their interests. Instead, he is pandering to them because he knows it will improve his chances of getting re-elected.
Luckily, it seems that cooler heads will prevail in this request. As The Herald article reports, Susan Gibbs, the spokesperson for the Archdiocese in D.C., said, ""Parish directories are for helping parishioners get to know each other better and are strictly for that purpose. They are not intended to be used for any outside commercial purpose, solicitations or anything else. Parish directories or priest directories are not given to outside groups even if it's for a good cause."
But that won't stop Bush and Co. from pursuing this strong vote wholeheartedly over the next few weeks. I can't help but think back to 2000 when Bush said he was a uniter and not a divider. As the 2004 election draws nearer, it seems clear to me that nothing was further from the truth than that statement.
The Republican National Committee has asked Bush-backing Roman Catholics to provide copies of their parish directories to help register Catholics to vote in the November election, a use of personal information not necessarily condoned by dioceses around the country.
These parish directories contain names, family members, home addresses, and phone numbers of all parish members, the articles goes on to report. With this information, the Bush/Cheney team could, in effect, harass churchgoers at home.
So why I am so concerned about this? Well, it's just another example of the closing gap between church and state. For centuries, religion has always been in the background of American political life. Our country has been built on Judeo-Christian moralities, but church doctrine and church policy have always been intentionally kept out of the government. That is, until this year.
Now, Bush and Cheney are attempting to involve churches throughout the nation in their political campaigns, thus strengthening ties between church and state and also putting many churches across the country in danger of losing their tax-exempt status. The Bush/Cheney campaign understands that many Christians in this country will vote for Bush simply because he is a self-proclaimed born-again Christian. They admire him for his faith and blindly follow him because their priests tell them to so. As a Jewish, northeast liberal, it has always been difficult for me to wrap my mind around this concept, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is no way to select a president. These people don't realize that Bush is not looking out for their interests. Instead, he is pandering to them because he knows it will improve his chances of getting re-elected.
Luckily, it seems that cooler heads will prevail in this request. As The Herald article reports, Susan Gibbs, the spokesperson for the Archdiocese in D.C., said, ""Parish directories are for helping parishioners get to know each other better and are strictly for that purpose. They are not intended to be used for any outside commercial purpose, solicitations or anything else. Parish directories or priest directories are not given to outside groups even if it's for a good cause."
But that won't stop Bush and Co. from pursuing this strong vote wholeheartedly over the next few weeks. I can't help but think back to 2000 when Bush said he was a uniter and not a divider. As the 2004 election draws nearer, it seems clear to me that nothing was further from the truth than that statement.
