Twisting James
CRISIS Magazine - e-Letter
April 2, 2004
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Dear Friend,
Once again, I have to apologize for not writing last week. I've been
doing a lot of traveling recently -- I just came off of one trip
yesterday and will leave for another tomorrow.
My trip this week was good, though. I had the wonderful opportunity
to speak at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California, a Catholic
liberal arts school in the bay area. I really enjoyed meeting the
students and touring the beautiful campus -- and their Great Books
program does Mortimer Adler proud. I think we can expect good things
from them in the future.
My journey next week is a bit more unusual: I'll be heading off to
Israel. This will be my first trip, so naturally I'm excited to visit
the Holy Land. I'll also be meeting with a number of Church leaders
there while I work on a story CRISIS has been following. I can't say
much more about it now, but I'll fill you in after the trip. In the
meantime, your prayers for my safe travel would be much appreciated.
But I couldn't leave without commenting on something that happened
this week. I'm referring to Sen. John Kerry's religious posturing at
a Baptist church in St. Louis over the weekend. While I really didn't
want to talk about Kerry again, this event was so ridiculous, I just
can't let it pass.
You probably already heard about the incident -- last Sunday, Kerry
spoke to the congregation of the New Northside Missionary Baptist
church during their worship service. He took the opportunity to use
Scripture to help him make an argument for the sorry state of the
Union.
He apparently thought he had a slam-dunk quoting James 2:14, which
he used as an indictment of the current administration. Kerry said:
"The Scriptures say: 'What does it profit, my brethren, if someone
says he has faith but does not have works?' When we look at what is
happening in America today, where are the works of compassion?"
Now it's pretty ironic that Kerry would bring up this particular
passage. After all, it's just too easy to turn the passage back on
him. I mean, here's a guy who gives lip service to his Catholic Faith
when he's trying to get elected, and then opposes it emphatically
once he's in office. If Kerry says he has faith, where are his works?
And since he's so keen on the book of James, he might want to take a
look at James 1:22-24: "Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word
but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a
mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately
forgets what he looks like."
Let's hope that Kerry takes this passage to heart and begins to act
on the teachings of his Faith. Barring that, he's going to need to
get a few more mirrors.
Jokes aside, the senator's appearance at New Northside Missionary is
quite a serious matter. The fact that a presidential hopeful was
given the pulpit in a church during an election year should be in
violation of the IRS' own regulations for tax-exempt churches (which
are not allowed to be involved in political campaigning of any kind).
Kerry never came out and said "vote for me," but his political
allusions were obvious. When he encouraged the congregation to "pray
by moving their feet," he could only have meant for them to "move
their feet" into the voting booth this November.
Had President Bush been the one in that church encouraging
parishioners to "pray by moving their feet," the IRS and Americans
United for the Separation of Church and State (AUSCS) would have been
on the case in no time. And yet where was the uproar over Kerry's
obvious electioneering? If the AUSCS is so concerned with keeping
"houses of worship from becoming partisan political rally halls," why
has there been no public denunciation of Kerry's stump speech in St.
Louis? This is particularly outrageous considering the fact that the
AUSCS just recently petitioned the IRS to investigate a Texas church
that they contend held a GOP fundraiser (it was actually a pro-life
rally, and included the local Pro-Life Democrats).
Of course, there has always been a double standard when it comes to
enforcing this law. Groups like AUSCS only go after the
conservatives, while Democrats (who share their agenda) are free to
campaign all they want in the liberal churches.
This root inequity has prompted Representative Walter Jones from
North Carolina to sponsor H.R. 235 -- a bill that would allow ALL
houses of worship the freedom of speech that is currently enjoyed
only in pro-Democratic churches.
Naturally, the AUSCS is against H.R. 235, saying that it would
politicize religious houses. Actually, H.R. 235 would merely level
the playing field. If Barry Lynn, executive director of AUSCS wants
to explain to America why the "separation of church and state"
doesn't apply to Kerry, I'd be interested to hear it. But I won't be
holding my breath.
Well, that's it for today. Thanks again for your patience with me
during these last few busy weeks -- hopefully I'll be back in the
saddle again soon.
Have a great weekend,
Deal
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