- Rick Santorum's pro-Rome agenda threatens the intrusion of European Catholic control into the U.S. Presidency in direct opposition to the stance taken by John F. Kennedy America's first Catholic President?
- Santorum accused John F. Kennedy of "great religious harm" saying: "that the distinction between private religious conviction and public responsibility, espoused by President John F. Kennedy, had caused "great harm in America." Santorum, Wikipedia "Rick Santorum, along with Karen and their children, regularly attend the weekly Solemn Mass in Latin at their local Catholic church, St Catherine of Siena, Great Falls VA - at which it seems that Gregorian chant is the norm. Santorum is also an active Knight of Malta. He was also present in Rome to mark the 100th anniversary of St Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer's birth at a special Opus Dei celebration. At that event nearly 10-years ago to the day, he told the well-known Catholic journalist, John Allen, that President Kennedy's distinction between private religious conviction and public responsibility had caused "great harm in America". He went on to add: "All of us have heard people say, 'I privately am against abortion, homosexual marriage, stem cell research, cloning. But who am I to decide that it's not right for somebody else?' It sounds good, but it is the corruption of freedom of conscience." Now, there's a man who believes what he says, and says what he believes - a very rare politician indeed!"
See Related Source: Rick Santorum for President A Man of Faith and Conviction.
2.) How do the Religious Rightists choose to endorse between two Mormons whose religion is fantastic and non-Judeo/Christian; is said to be based in mythical claims of a contemporary/continuing, specific, ongoing revelation from God? Among the Religious Right there is no consensus on the question: Are Mormons Christians? If Mormons are indeed "Christian"; Can it be said in the reciprocal mode: Therefore, all Christians are likewise qualified as Mormons?
Franklin Graham in his article Mitt Romney's Mormonism Doesn't Bother Me:
"Evangelical minster Franklin Graham said voters should look past a candidate's personal religion when considering whom they should support for office. Graham offered his advice in a recent interview with The Christian Broadcasting Network when asked if Christians could vote for someone who is a Mormon."South Carolina Pastor Reverend Brad Atkins, President of the South Carolina Baptist Convention: Mitt Romney's Mormonism More Troubling Than Gingrich's Infidelity. This Southern Baptist leader said that he believes Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will lose the South Carolina primary to Newt Gingrich simply because Romney is a Mormon.
Pastor Mark Driscoll, from the Seattle Mars Hill Mega-Church : Mormonism Is 'Antithetical to Christianity'; "by the theological definition, Mormonism is a cult."
- Bill Keller, the founder of LivePrayer.com, with over 2.4 million subscribers, says Joel Osteen and Franklin Graham have a duty to expose Mormonism as a cult; "They are looked up to as prominent Christian leaders," Keller said in an interview with The Christian Post:
"When you have someone like Franklin Graham going on CNN and saying he has no problem voting for a Mormon like Mitt Romney and Osteen saying Mormons are Christian, it is clear that politics are being put before the eternal soul of man."
3.) How do the Religious Rightists decide to choose to endorse a moral reprobate who has a long and sordid sexual history as a philanderer and adulator, albeit cleaned up by his recent conversion to Roman Catholicism and his suing for an annulment of his second marriage? See: The Three Marriages of Newt Gingrich.
4.) How do the Religious Right endorse a radical Libertarian who wants secular freedom to act and do, in a private manner as does not injury other humans, would limit drug war, does not support the national Civil Rights Act, and wants "just to be left alone" by government?
Ron Paul's 2004 floor speech about the Civil Rights Act, in which he explains why he voted against a House resolution honoring the 40th anniversary of the law:
"The Civil Rights Act of 1964 not only violated the Constitution and reduced individual liberty; it also failed to achieve its stated goals of promoting racial harmony and a color-blind society. Federal bureaucrats and judges cannot read minds to see if actions are motivated by racism. Therefore, the only way the federal government could ensure an employer was not violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was to ensure that the racial composition of a business's workforce matched the racial composition of a bureaucrat or judge's defined body of potential employees. Thus, bureaucrats began forcing employers to hire by racial quota. Racial quotas have not contributed to racial harmony or advanced the goal of a color-blind society. Instead, these quotas encouraged racial balkanization, and fostered racial strife."Ron Paul also occasionally appears at events sponsored by the John Birch Society, the segregationist right-wing organization that is closely aligned with the Christian Reconstructionist wing of the religious right.
"[T]he forced integration dictated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 increased racial tensions while diminishing individual liberty."
4.) How do the Religious Right " resurrect" their prayerful "hands laid on" choice as per the much discussed spring Rick Perry prayer rally in Texas? Rick is a Texas-style "born again" of the same vein as George W. Bush-the Religious Right's vetted and fully supported faux-Christian "born again" candidate- choice for the 2000 presidential campaign?
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Some of the Religious Right Heavies at the Endorsement Decision Table in Texas
1.) Richard Land from the Southern Baptist Convention:
- "Mitch Daniels has suggested that Americans call a "truce" on divisive social issues until our precarious financial house is back in order. Many pundits have praised the idea, typically thrilled that a Republican leader seems willing to jettison, even temporarily, strong positions on abortion or gay marriage. But social conservatives are mad, and rightly so.
"THROUGHOUT THE 1980S AND '90S, SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES WERE THE FOOT SOLDIERS FOR REPUBLICAN VICTORIES-ONLY TO SEE THEIR ISSUES BARGAINED AWAY OR SHOVED TO THE BOTTOM OF THE GOP AGENDA, BENEATH ISSUES OF FISCAL AND FOREIGN POLICY. Reacting to Gov. Daniels, former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee recently said: "For those of us who have labored long and hard in the fight to educate the Democrats, voters, the media and even some Republicans on the importance of strong families, traditional marriage and life to our society, this is absolutely heartbreaking."
Land Continues:
"Most social conservatives are also fiscal conservatives. They recognize that a federal government that borrows more than 40 cents of every dollar it spends is committing generational theft, spending our grand children's money and impoverishing their future. Social conservatives also argue that government has such high costs partly because of the broken families, broken communities and broken ethics generated by moral relativism.
"The millions of social conservatives and tea party voters firmly believe that Congress can walk and chew gum at the same time. THEY EXPECT PRO-LIFE, PRO-FAMILY LEGISLATION AND THEY WANT DEEP CUTS IN FEDERAL SPENDING, INCLUDING AN END TO OBAMACARE AND ITS REPLACEMENT WITH PRO-LIFE, FREE-MARKET HEALTH-CARE REFORM. THEY EXPECT COMMITMENTS TO THIS EFFECT FROM THEIR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES."
Land:
"There is a deep longing in large segments of the American populace for a restoration of a morality that emphasizes personal obligations and responsibilities over rights and privileges. SUCH A SOCIETY WILL HAVE A RESTORED MORAL SYMMETRY IN WHICH EXEMPLARY PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR IS REWARDED AND LESS EXEMPLARY BEHAVIOR IS NOT. As Jesus reminded us, 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'"
Source: Richard Land in "Americans Don't Want a 'Truce' on Social Issues" in the Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2011.
Just how Richard Land's vision of rewards and punishments in pursuit of "restored moral symmetry" is not lined out, leaving the inquiring wondering as to how such events will be meted out. Is this the rightful role of government, as envisioned by Dr. Land?
2.) James Dobson, Focus on the Family, Family Research Council: Equating stem cell researchers with Nazi criminals:
""In World War II, the Nazis experimented on human beings in horrible ways in the concentration camps, and I imagine, if you wanted to take the time to read about it, there would have been some discoveries there that benefited mankind." "...And you remove ethics and morality, and you get what happened in Nazi Germany." "
Dobson: Called Senator Patrick Lehy an "enemy of God's people" for the senator's Far Right opposing stance on appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. How close is that to being an "enemy of God?" We all know what is allowed to happen to the "enemies of God", do we not?
Dick Armey on Dobson's intrusion into government: Former House Majority Leader Armey declared:
"The criteria of choice in just about every behavior you see in Congress today is politics. Where in the hell did this Terri Schiavo thing come from? There's not a conservative, Constitution-loving, separation-of-powers guy alive in the world that could have wanted that bill on the floor. That was pure, blatant pandering to James Dobson. That's all that was. It was silly, stupid, and irresponsible. Nobody serious about the Constitution would do that. BUT THE QUESTION WAS WILL THIS ENERGIZE OUR CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVE BASE FOR THE NEXT ELECTION."
Armey added:
"To a large extent because Dobson and his gang of thugs are real nasty bullies. I pray devoutly every day, but being a Christian is no excuse for being stupid. There's a high demagoguery coefficient to issues like prayer in schools. Demagoguery doesn't work unless it's dumb, shallowas water on a plate. These issues are easy for the intellectually lazy and can appeal to a large demographic. These issues become bigger than life, largely because they're easy. There ain't no thinking."
(emphasis added)
3.) Don Wildmon, the former chairman of the American Family Association: Interview with Rev. Donald E. Wildmo on what is the evidence of anti-Christian attitudes by the networks?
Rev Wildmon:
"I could probably count on one hand, or certainly two hands, the number of programs in which a Christian depicted in a modern-day setting is shown in a positive manner. They're usually depicted as con men, rip-off artists, adulterers, murderers, rapists, thieves, liars. A person who is wearing a cross, carrying a Bible or standing behind a pulpit is usually mentally deranged, at best incompetent."
Source: Time article "Bringing Satan To Heel."
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Time is Running Out for the Religious Right to Make an Impactful Endorsement
From the Washtington Post:
"The tension is exacerbated by the deep divisions between two key GOP wings: tea party groups yearning for a pure small-government conservative, and evangelical Christians who want a loyal social conservative.
"In one sign of their desperation, some activists are holding out for what they acknowledge is a spectacular long shot: a late-entering savior who could still qualify for enough state ballots and win enough delegates to force a brokered GOP convention this summer.
"THE ROMNEY CONUNDRUM WILL BE ON THE AGENDA FRIDAY WHEN ABOUT 150 EVANGELICAL LEADERS HUDDLE AT A TEXAS RANCH TO DEBATE THEIR NEXT MOVE. Likewise, the subject of consolidating conservative opposition to the former Massachusetts governor is expected to be a major point of discussion among about 500 attendees at a tea party convention set for this weekend in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where the list of speakers includes two Romney rivals seeking the conservative mantle, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.
"'We're aware that the vote is being split and how dangerous that is,' said Joe Dugan, a Gingrich supporter who is chairman of the Myrtle Beach Tea Party and coordinator of the convention.
"'We're trying to encourage coalescing around one candidate,' Dugan added. 'But tea party people are very independent-minded.'"
(emphasis added)-----
Playing Religious Right's Endorsement "Final Hand"/Game Plan Coming Out of Texas
The upshot, the long range game plan: Facilitate keeping as many challengers to Mitt Romney in the chase. Purpose: Keep Romney short of the desired/required number of delegates needed for the nomination and then, at the GOP National Convention at Tampa, draft former Florida Governor Jeb Bush as the Far Right Religionists' "hands-laid-on" candidate.
Original.
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