Evangelicals Sway White House on Human Rights Issues Abroad

[kskiska]

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 — Shortly after George W. Bush took office, an odd coalition came to the White House to see Karl Rove, the president's powerful political adviser, to ask that the United States intercede in the civil war in Sudan. The group included Charles W. Colson, the born-again Christian who spent seven months in jail for his role in Watergate, and David Saperstein, a Reform rabbi and a longtime lobbyist for liberal causes in Washington.

The two-decades-long war in Sudan was not a front-burner problem for the new administration, and Mr. Rove was not a foreign policy adviser. But the religious strife between Christians and Muslims in a conflict that had killed two million people was of enormous concern to American religious groups, particularly the evangelicals who make up a major portion of President Bush's electoral base.

Mr. Rove, the participants in the meeting recalled, was unusually receptive during a nearly hourlong conversation. "He made it clear how seriously the administration was going to engage on this," said Rabbi Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

(snip)

The groups now find the Bush White House to have an open door, particularly with a president who uses evangelical language in his speeches and credits his faith with helping him to give up drinking.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2003/10/26/politics/26RELI.html?hp

[flamingyouth]

1. Wow - the NY Times

Right in there on that "breaking news."

(Evangelicals have power??? NO!!!)

[Blue_Roses]

20. Don't kid yourself

the "christian right-wing" are very strong and have money too.

They are extremely persuasive and hide their true motivations through evangelical rhetoric.

It's hard to know who is truely "spiritual" and who is just pushing their agenda.

[kskiska]

2. Get this

"Under previous Republican administrations, they would take our calls and often return them," Dr. Land said. "In this administration, they call us. They say, you know, `What do you think about this?

[flamingyouth]

4. <shudder>

That is one creepy-assed statement.

[Rose Siding]

3. They influenced the UN speech!

That's where the off-the-wall sex trafficing thing came from? Bizzare.

[Blue_Roses]

22. UN speech

where is there a link? I really what to get the facts about this. Our preacher mentioned it in the service today and I don't think he is right.

[Philosophy]

5. But Sudan isn't sitting on top of our oil

And that's why they haven't done squat since then. The "open door" is just to pander to the rubes in their constituency that fell for that "compassionate conservatism" thing. After the meeting, as soon as the "door" closes I'm sure * and Rovesputin are laughing behind it.

[madfloridian]

6. What does this paragraph mean?

I take it to mean that the child is not as worthy as the president.

SNIP:"No one disputes that Mr. Bush already cares deeply about those issues and has a personal faith that his advisers say brings a moral dimension to a foreign policy better known for war. "To put it simply, it's a fairly radical belief that a child in an African village whose parents are dying of AIDS has the same importance before God as the president of the United States," said Michael Gerson, Mr. Bush's chief speechwriter and an important White House policy adviser who is a born-again Christian....."

Or am I reading it wrong.

[Philosophy]

7. God's priority right now is getting Bush* reelected

That's what * told the former Palestinian prime minister. God was helping him out with that whole peace in the Middle East thing for a while, but as soon as * decided that it was time to start campaigning again, God had to drop everything and focus all His divine power on that much more important task. So I'm sure He doesn't have any time for caring about African children right now either.

[mikehiggins]

8. It's that damn Galilean again

How inconvenient for the religious right that they allege to follow that Jesus Christ character. Everytime they open their <expletive deleted> mouths and say any <expletive deleted> thing at all, they step all over their <expletive deleted> own <sexually related organ> and reveal just how <expletive deleted><expletive deleted><expletive deleted> their <expletive deleted> little brains really are.

Jesus Christ didn't say an orphaned child was as important in the eyes of God as the President of the United States. He said an orphaned child is much MORE important in His eyes than any self <expletive deleted> righteous hypocritical <expletive deleted> whited <expletive deleted> sepulchar.

<expletive deleted>

[Classical_Liberal]

11. Oh my God?

Yes, that is the way I read it too. The Bush whitehouse maybe religious but they sure as heck don't know JC! They must have attended some pretty strange Sunday schools!

[xxqqqzme]

12. how in the hell does one

bring 'moral dimension' 2 a foreign policy better known 4 war? WTFIUWT? squatter's foreign policy IS war!

'no disputes squatter cares deeply?' the last thing that sorry ass cared about was why his coke dealer was late!

[berry]

13. I think the spin is that Bush is so humble (gag!)

that he thinks ("radical" as the thought must be to the masses who worship the pRresident) that he is no more important than the child in Africa. That's their line, I think. What's hard (impossible really) to swallow is that Bush* really thinks this.

(Edited--to say I agree with the posters just above--on what the Bible has to say about this. I wrote before reading all the posts--bad habit.)

Apparently the WH is really pushing the Xian persona of Bush* these days. Milbank at the WashPost had a story today about Bush lying face down on the floor in the Oval Office praying during (or before?) the attack on Iraq. Supposedly his aides found him like that. Now who is that going to impress? Only a very specific demographic, I would think. This fits very well with the halo photos that have also been cropping up recently. (Ugh!)

Lately, I've also noticed that a lot of the groups making noise about human rights abuses in North Korea are Evangelicals. I hadn't thought much before about how they might influence N Korea policy--or maybe already have. Maybe they were the ones who got N Korea put on the axis of evil list. I think I remember that it was a last minute addition by a speechwriter--maybe Gerson? (I'm not denying the abuses, in Korea or in the Sudan, but these people are too, too creepy. And too willing to urge holy wars as solutions.)

[Sentath]

19. in Thy name we pander...

I think you're mistaken.

Its a syntactical pattern that identifies the culture that he is speaking to, i.e. KJV readers.

[bluestateguy]

9. Where were these people 20 years ago?

Do they only care about human rights when it's a leftist or communist regime perpetrating the abuses? Where were they in the 1980's when their hero Ronald Reagan was sucking up to the fascist governments in Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile, Honduras, the Afghan Mujahadeen and yes, Saddam Hussein's Iraq. These folks lost credibility on human rights a long time ago.

[Classical_Liberal]

10. More importantly why don't these so-called christians care

about christian Palestinians on the west bank who are getting their homes bulldozed?

[Malva Zebrina]

14. Chuck Colson was busy running the

Prison Ministries--he found Jesus while serving time in prison for his role in Watergate and then founded the ministries--the evangelists visit the prisoners and try to convert prisoners . Additionaly , Colson is very active in church affairs--he was initially responsible for the turn to the far right in the Southern Baptist Convention-the one which Jimmy Carter finally had to resign from membership-and this turn to the right, the takeover by far to the right persons in that church, was accomplished by behind the plotting and sleeze . Colson's name was there in the thick of it--the method some on DU will recognize as the trademark of the religious political right--now he writes columns or whatever and probably thinks once more he is a big important player in something-- Colson had this http://www.cbn.com/CBNNews/News/030314a.asp to say about Bush's pre-emptive war--I assume he is anxiously awaiting the prophecy and his resultant flying up into the sky and sees the wars and killings as a god ordained event--no doubt he is joyful over the war and murders of thousands of innocents . I have met a whole lot of these types of believers who are postively ecstatic over the possiblity of the "rapture" happening in the immediate future.

Quote from the article:

"I'm convinced that you see the disposition to basically destroy civilization with terrorism. You see a relationship between the terrorists and Iraq. You know that Iraq has been producing weapons of mass destruction. In this kind of age, I think the just war doctrine does contemplate that you would take a preemptive strike to get rid of those weapons only. I mean, that would be the purpose of it."

-- Chuck Colson
founder, Prison Fellowship

[scarletlib]

15. With the exception of Women's Rights

The only rights for women this group cares about is the right to be repressed and denied any control over reproductive rights. These SOB's have joined in with the most repressive countries in the world whenever an issue of women's rights comes up.

They are a total disaster for the women and children of this planet.

[Malva Zebrina]

16. Many religions,

repress women's reproductive rights . It is not only the "fundies", a term used disrespectfully toward this one particular Christian sect. The Catholic church, for one, has been very active and demanding in it's war on women's reproductive rights also, The Pope has a non voting seat at the UN and has negatively influenced initiatives that deal with women's health--

[Mari333]

17. They also sway Neocon Policy in Israel

Thankfully, many christians do NOT agree with the BFEE and its whackos in the WH like Boykin and the Crisco Kid.
http://www.iraqwar.org/Armageddonupdates.htm
http://www.counterpunch.org/hill01042003.html

[madfloridian]

18. They are working in smaller groups as well. "Operation Save America"

http://www.operationsaveamerica.org/index.html

These are the people who claim the credit for the Schiavo legislation and Jeb's intervention. If you can read this website and not feel ill, tell me how.

Here a local article about the group:
Religious Conservatives: Schiavo Win Opens Doors

SNIP:..."SNIP...."Religious conservatives say that with an arsenal of prayer vigils, Christian radio broadcasts and thousands of e-mail messages to Florida lawmakers, they played a pivotal role in the legislative battle this week over whether to feed a brain-damaged woman who has been kept alive artificially for 13 years.

Now some conservatives are hoping to use similar tactics to help them challenge court rulings they opposed in other states.

Randall Terry, founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, said he and other conservatives intend to use what they consider a stunning victory here to pressure lawmakers elsewhere to chip away at court rulings allowing abortion and banning prayer and the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools, among other issues.

"Finally, a governor and legislature had the courage to stand up to judicial despots because of an overwhelming call by the public," he said....."END SNIP

To top off this fiasco, they now find to their chagrin that 76% of the people around our area opposed Jeb's intervention. They did not know that the legislature was considering the bill.

[Flying_Pig]

21. The secondary headline in my paper for this article, says...

"Groups an influence on foreign policy of Bush administration, officals say".

Then why the glaring absence of any discussion about Israel's influence on our government, especially on this administration? If any religious group holds sway on the foreign policy of this administration, it is the Jews. Vis-a-vis their PACs, like AIPAC, and through direct lobbying efforts conducted by the Israeli government, I cannot think of any religiously connected group that has a greater influence, and I won't even talk about the membership of PNAC, and its influence on our policies.

Israel wanted war in Iraq, they got it. They wanted the Syrian Sanctions bill passed, they got it. They wanted the $87B for Iraq passed, they've almost got it. I could give a hundred examples of their influence, not only on our foreign policies (look at our U.N. votes and vetoes supporting Israel), but also on our domestic political processes as well. They carry tremendous influence, not just on Republicans, but also on Democrats, who have been supporting many of the things mentioned above, mainly because of pressure from pro-Israel groups.

As Israel's Sharon has stated, "Bush is the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House", we can be sure that Israel will use its considerable influence with the media, and with conservative Jewish voters here in the U.S. (and again, via AIPAC), to work hard for Bush's "re-election"

Anyway, for the reporter who wrote the N.Y. Times article, it is a specious omission on their part, and disingenuous, to say the least, to leave out the Jewish religion when discussing religious influence on our foreign policy. If it is thought that having religious influence on the operating processes of our government is a negative thing, and if efforts are ever undertaken to reduce this influence, then it is not only Christian influence that needs to be recognized and discussed.

Which leads me to wonder, exactly why did this reporter fail to include the Jewish religion in their article?

[grasswire]

23. the Colson connection

Michael Gerson, Bush's #1 speechwriter, used to work for Colson at Prison Fellowship Ministries. That's the evangelical connection Colson has to the WH.

Colson is less a religious man than he is political. I know whereof I speak -- I have been close to several people who worked in his organization in Reston and I have attended some events where he spoke. He has enormous influence in religious America, with a daily radio program and communications to millions of churched people. He's a sort of god with them.

Beware of this: Colson has a real thing against the rise of Islam in America's prisons. I expect that to be used as a way to crack down on African American men who have been imprisoned, at some point in the future.

[CBHagman]

24. We know what Bush loves, and it's not his neighbor

For all that Bush prances and struts around speaking of love and the value of volunteerism, when push comes to shove, he doesn't give much of a sign of understanding the message of the New Testament. If he's read the Gospels, they haven't sunk in.

The book of Matthew says that not everyone who cries out, "Lord, Lord," and performs various acts in the name of God actually SERVES God. The epistle of James goes a bit further, condemning those who treat the wealthy more favorably than the poor.

Guess which group makes out like a bandit under Bush & Co.?

It's Mammon these guys love, not the kids in Africa, and definitely not the kids in D.C. or Mississippi or Illinois.