Injustice Sunday: April 24th
Sunday April 24th is Justice Sunday: so declared by the Christian Right Family Research Council — which is sponsoring a national telecast seeking to rally Christian rightists against Democrats, liberals and other supposed opponents of “people of faith.” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (D-TN) plans to participate.
The episode has ignited a firestorm of criticism of Senator Frist, a man who wants to be president. I’ve had alot to say about this in the last few days. Let’s hear from some other editorial voices from around the nation:
“There seems to be no limit to how low Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will go in his campaign to push through every single one of the president’s judicial nominees. It doesn’t seem to matter that the Senate already has confirmed more than 200 of President Bush’s picks while Senate Democrats have blocked only 10. Frist now wants to launch a holy war. He plans to join a telecast of Christian conservatives to condemn Senate Democrats as opposing people of faith.”
“If Frist has any evidence that Democrats are opposing judicial nominees just because of those nominees’ personal religious beliefs, let him bring it forward. Failing that, he should concede that fouling a genuine ideological debate with charges of religious bigotry is nothing more than a smear campaign. He should withdraw from participation in ‘Justice Sunday.’”
– The Boston Globe, reprinted in The Brattleboro Reformer
“Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee is joining prominent evangelical Christian leaders to say that Democrats opposed to President Bush’s judicial nominees are engaged in ‘a filibuster against people of faith’… The Democrats have promised a scorched-earth response if the Republicans exercise the ‘nuclear option’ and change the Senate rules to deprive them of the filibuster on judicial nominees. In such a confrontation, the Democrats will look like obstructionists, but we bet the Republicans will look worse, that is to say, like bullies and tyrants. They are treating their victory in the last presidential election like it was a landslide, when in fact it was a squeaker like the one before it. They may soon learn that their mandate is not what they think it is.”
“…judges are not making personal decisions about weighty matters of civil rights. They are handing down rulings based on the individual rights of the minority, exactly what the courts were established to do. The position and appointment of judges who listen to the minority before members of mainstream faith must be protected if our nation is to survive this time of political polarity.”
– The Rocky Mountain Collegian
“Mr. Frist is not responsible for the rhetoric of others. But it will be a distressing new low in the debased debate over judges if the Senate leader appears at an event predicated on slander, unless he makes clear that he does not condone such slander. Whatever one says about the aggressive Democratic use of the filibuster — which we do not support — it simply is not motivated by anti-religious sentiment. There are people of faith and goodwill on both sides of the issue. If he attends, Mr. Frist should make clear that he knows as much. Clarity from the majority leader is particularly important now, because the past few weeks have seen an aggressiveness in conservative attacks on the judiciary that cumulatively takes one’s breath away.”
“Frist… is lending his name and his fast-diminishing prestige to this reprehensible effort to enlist faith on the side of a single political issue. This sort of stuff will not, as he hopes, make him the next president of the United States. Instead, it shows what raw ambition has made him: a person of pander.”
– Syndicated columnist Richard Cohen
The Republican leadership is going down an extremely distasteful and dangerous road by aligning itself with a group that is campaigning against Democrats by saying they are ‘against people of faith.’ … Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Senate majority leader, has said he will appear on a telecast with this group next Sunday. That’s very disappointing… In a nation as diverse as the United States, it’s unsettling and potentially dangerous to have our politics divided so starkly on religious grounds. Such tactics lead to intolerance and alienation of those whose beliefs appear to be different.”
– Newsday
“Mr. Frist is being reckless and irresponsible in his efforts to curry favor with the Christian right… this is a battle that goes beyond any one particular judicial nomination. It goes to the heart of the Constitution’s emphasis on protecting the minority against the whims of the majority, which is at the core of our democracy.”
“The Christian right sees its long-awaited chance for conservatives to dominate all three branches of government and return U.S. government to what they see as its ‘biblical’ roots.”
“That has to frighten anyone who is not a Christian conservative. It should frighten us all.”
“Right-wing Christian groups and the Republican politicians they bankroll have done much since the last election to impose their particular religious views on all Americans. But nothing comes close to the shameful declaration of religious war by Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, over the selection of judges for federal courts…. Frist is determined to get judges on the federal bench who are loyal to the Republican fringe and, he hopes, would accept a theocratic test on decisions.”
“It’s important to take a careful look at who is invoking Christianity, and for what purpose. Yes, some of the noblest impulses of the American experience have arisen out of Christian faith. But it’s also true that fanatics, zealots and bigots have marched under the Christian banner, from the Salem witch trials to the Protestant Know Nothing movement to the cross-brandishing Klan.”
“It would be interesting to ask some Democratic officeholders whether they are “against people of faith.” Imagine putting that question to the Rev. Emanuel Cleaver, pastor of St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, who is a Democratic member of the U.S. House. Or Kentucky Treasurer Jonathan Miller, who is finishing a book on how faith should inform politics.”
“But then defensively offering a list of Democrats who are faith-friendly just plays into the hands of cynical Republican strategists. The point is, our Founding Fathers intended to protect religious freedom, not impose religious orthodoxy. In America, religious faith is supposed to be a matter of personal choice, not majority rule.”
– David Hawpe, Columnist, The Louisville Courier Journal
[UPDATE] “Sen. Bill Frist, the majority leader from Tennessee, is not the first politician to turn to religion for help with an agenda.”
“Still, Frist’s plan for a videotaped address to a major church gathering Sunday regarding judicial appointments is drawing valid criticism. He should reconsider aligning with the Family Research Council’s planned event ”Justice Sunday,” in which organizers bill opposition to President Bush’s nominees as being ”against people of faith.”’
“That characterization of filibuster threats by Democrats is extremely unfair and off-base. The filibuster issue, on its own, could pose a vitriolic political battle, but it has not been about religion and shouldn’t be painted that way now.”
“Billed as a corrective to “the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left,” the ironically named “Justice Sunday” will attempt to stiffen the spines of Republicans in Congress who may have second thoughts about the wisdom of ending the right to filibuster by heathen Democrats.”
“If this sounds like an unconscionable attempt by tax-exempt religious institutions to dictate the contour of American democracy, it is. Frist, R-Tenn., could care less about fairness if appearing on a program with known theocrats will curry favor with the mullahs who’ll be fashioning the Republican presidential platform in 2008.”
– Columnist Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Clergy and Laity Network is mobilizing to organize counter events on the same day, calling it Social Justice Sunday. Why not give them a hand?
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