In North Carolina last week, one of the few remaining Christian Coalition affiliates hosted their annual God & Country Banquet. As is often the case, sensible people stood outside and peacefully protested the group, its radical leaders, and dangerous agenda. So far, so good.
But one of the featured speakers of the event was far-right House member, Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.), which in this case, made things a little more interesting. (Jones is best known for spearheading the “freedom fries” endeavor in the House cafeteria and telling reporters, in the classiest, most Christian way possible, that it was a “gesture just to say to the French, ‘Up yours!'”)
Jones, who is also championing a bill to allow houses of worship to engage in partisan politicking without risking their tax-exempt status, had an interesting way of describing those who challenge the Christian Coalition.
In an interview before the banquet began, Jones called the protesters “evil people” for opposing his bill or its aim to allow ministers to speak freely on morality. “They are so fearful of traditional, conservative religion in America. These people are bad for the future of America.”
First of all, his bill has nothing to do with letting religious leaders “speak freely on morality.” Pastors can already do this; indeed, they do it all the time without the risk of penalty. His proposal, which has already been defeated twice before, aims to turn churches into PACs, which is a far bigger problem.
But “evil people”? Is this the current state of political rhetoric among Republican members of Congress? To protest a radical group like Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition makes you “evil” and “bad for the future of America”?
It’s not like the protestors were crazed militants. As my friends at Americans United noted, there were only about 30 people on hand, and they were simply there to draw attention to recent attacks on the separation of church and state.
Protestors carried signs reading, “Democracy, not theocracy,” and participant Howard Shirley remarked, “When a certain religion controls your government, we’re all sunk.”
Yeah, Jones is right, these folks are obviously treacherous enemies of the state. They appear to prefer the Jeffersonian model of government to Iran’s. I wonder how these monsters sleep at night.
On a related note, AU noted that if Jones is going to throw around the “evil” label, he has plenty of targets.
According to Jones’ reasoning, lots of other people must be evil too. Apparently, a lot of members of Congress are evil. In October of 2002, the House of Representatives voted on Jones’ bill, rejecting it by a 239-178 vote.
A majority of the American people must also be evil. A recent poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 65 percent of Americans oppose the type of church-based politicking that Jones’ bill would allow.
It’s comforting to know I’m not the only evil one around.