Bush Campaign Seeks Help From Thousands of Congregations

Sofia, I would postulate that the more "literal" the white church the more GOP-leaning. Also I offer that it might very well be a spurious correlation that links "black" churches with Dems.

dys--

I think I can agree with your first sentence--the literal, more fundamentalist churches are the GOP backers...

I'm notquite clear on your second, though...I guess you are saying the dividing line is not so much by race--but what... fundamentalism or liberalism of the church's doctrine.

I know there are "more liberal" churches that would back a Democrat candidate, and possibly a few predominately black churches that may support the GOP... <who are we kidding here.> But, now I'm curious. I will research this one.

I wonder if they even keep statistics on this. I thought the number of blacks voting GOP was in the single digits--which does make race a legitimate issue in voting trends, IMO.

I wanted to be very clear about this pamphlet,afterreading dys'post, I imagined he,orothersmay have seen this as an anti-blackpeople post.

In the pamphlet were messages to black congregants from Clinton, quotes from him to them. I didn't say the pamphlet was designed and distributed by the black church. It was from the Clinton campaign to churches to distribute among their parishoners. His many negative references about the evil "them" was left so it could be construed that "them" was at the same time "Republicans" and "whites". It read like Clinton was MLK incarnate.

Was not Clinton billed as the first black president or something to that effect?

As for Bush since he was directed by God to become president isn't it fitting for those with a direct line to God electioneer for him?
< That's a joke son>

Yes, au. And, truthfully, I respected his drive to address racism. One of the few things I really supported about Clinton--but he really went LOW to assure their voting bloc, IMO.

He relied on that bloc very heavily, and they came through for him.

Somehow, I don't think they'll be lining up to put Kerry in office.

Black churches use services for get-out-the-vote efforts

By Liz Sidoti
Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- With one week until Election Day, grass-roots get-out-the-vote efforts are in full swing in black communities as church leaders use their services to encourage their congregations to vote.

Black voters are a key constituency for Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore, and a big turnout by them on Nov. 7 is crucial for Gore in his race against Republican George W. Bush.

While Gore preached Sunday at black churches in Detroit, state Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Columbus Democrat, encouraged parishioners at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Columbus to vote and get others to do the same.

"We still live in a community, in a world that's separated by color. There is still a black America and a white America. That's why we need to get out and vote," she told about 100 fellow blacks who shouted "Amen" in agreement

The Bethel AME church -- like many other black churches across the state and nation -- has spent countless hours registering and educating voters. This week, the church will work to encourage them to go to the polls, said Joe Ann Lucas, the church's coordinator for voter registration.

Church leaders and politicians have used worship services to encourage blacks to vote ever since Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

"Black churches have really been a key part of the black community -- certainly in the civil rights movement -- because they're at the core of the community's organizational efforts," said Herb Asher, an Ohio State University political science professor.

The movement that led to blacks gaining the right to vote was born in churches, so it makes sense for church leaders to use their pulpits to get people to exercise that right, the Rev. David Todd said after Sunday's service ended.

"We do it to remind people of the importance of voting and how we had to struggle for this right," he said. "Politics have always been a part of our lives."

Ray Winbush, director of the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., agrees that blacks should definitely get out and vote. But he finds it disturbing that the presidential candidates wait until they get close to Election Day before turning to the black community more.

"White politicians have always gone to the black community last, because if they go there first, they're perceived by potential white voters as catering to black people, and they don't want to do that," Winbush said Sunday night.

Melanie J. Blumberg, a Kent State University political science professor, said get-out-the-vote efforts in black churches target two key constituencies for Democrats -- blacks and urbanites.

"We're talking about two efforts going on here because the two groups tend to overlap in black churches," she said.

Democrats typically win about 85 to 90 percent of the black vote nationally, Asher said.

"It's not a question of support, but about the level of turnout," he said. "It's much better to get that 85 to 90 percent with a big turnout at the polls than that 85 to 90 percent with a small turnout."

sofia, my reference to spurius correlation between black churches and voting Dem is more racial than religious. Be it accurate or not historically, I am offering that Dem party is seen as more supportive of civil rights issues and "black" churches are simply a congregation point for dissemination of political tracts.

I won't disagree, dys.

As Howdy Doody would say. Cowa Bonga.


House steps into church-politics debateWASHINGTON (AP) —

Churches that mistakenly mix religious and political activity would face reduced fines but keep their tax exempt status under a provision in a corporate tax bill the House is to consider this week.
The proposal, which could invalidate the strict separation of religion and politics in current tax laws, was introduced by House Republicans the same week President Bush's re-election campaign targeted 1,600 Pennsylvania congregations to recruit voters.
Critics fear it would give politicians a pass to flout the rules without putting religious organizations at risk.
The mammoth bill, the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, would impose reduced fines against churches and other places of worship that inadvertently allow political activity on their properties more than twice a year. On the third violation, the religious organizations would lose their tax exemption for one year.
The Internal Revenue Service prohibits political campaign activity, for or against any candidate, from taking place at all organizations that receive tax exempt status under a section of the federal tax code — including most churches and religious groups. Violators could lose their tax breaks and face excise taxes.
The plan "provides the IRS with a remedy short of revoking tax-exempt status," said a Republican aide to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Thomas of California, who wrote the corporate tax bill, which was formally filed last Friday. Lawmakers were expected to consider the bill on Thursday and put it to a vote next week.
Critics said the plan preaches blissful ignorance that gives legal cover to violators. It is similar to a proposal by Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., that opponents fear would allow houses of worship to engage in partisan electioneering, including endorsing or opposing candidates, during religious services.
"This just basically tells churches that ignorance is the best policy," said Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "If you claim you don't know what the policy is, you can get away with multiple violations and dramatically reduced fines."
Lynn added: "I don't think it's any coincidence that this is being fast-tracked in Congress just days after the Bush campaign announced its outreach in churches."
Last week, the Bush campaign e-mailed Pennsylvania churchgoers to target 1,600 "Friendly Congregations" where people can register to vote and pick up political information as the election nears. But the campaign said the missive was intended only to be passed from "individual to individual" — and not from preacher to congregation.
Campaign officials said Monday they were unaware of the church provision. But spokesman Steve Schmidt accused Lynn of "an extreme position — he wants to exclude people of faith from America's civic life."
"Not only is that misguided, it's dangerous," Schmidt said. "You don't want to exclude people from the electoral process, from the democratic process. You want to include people."
"People of faith have as much right to participate in the political process as anyone else," Schmidt said.
Pennsylvania is a key political swing state that offers 21 electoral votes. Bush lost the state in 2000 by a mere 204,000 votes.

This should read the religious right captures the US government.


Congress Toys With Forgiveness


Published: June 14, 2004

It seems axiomatic in Congress that whenever a bill comes along that both parties agree must be passed, it becomes a magnet for every piece of pork, every political cause, every lobbyist giveaway. The latest example is an urgently needed measure to end a $5 billion annual subsidy for American exporters that has put the nation in violation of international trade practices. Over the last few months, even as Europe began imposing billions in retaliatory tariffs on American industries, lawmakers have contrived to turn this relatively simple vehicle into a $100 billion gravy train.
More than 100 amendments throw everyone from Nascar entrepreneurs to dog-track owners and tobacco growers a piece of the action, even though they have nothing to do with the trade issue at hand. And now, just as House action is approaching, Republican leaders have added an outrageous sop for political-minded church leaders.
Under the proposal, churches that venture too zealously into politics would be allowed three "unintentional violations" of the law governing nonprofit organizations without risking immediate loss of their tax-exempt status. Wouldn't we all love such tax-code mercies? This transparent bridge across the church-state divide comes as hustings-tempted clergy are already being openly enlisted by White House campaigners as "friendly congregations" for the November elections. The House proposal mocks honest clergy as much as the tax code.

The right reverend Bush continues to close in on separation of church and state. The constitution be damned

Bush Allies Till Fertile Soil, Among Baptists, for Votes

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Published: June 18, 2004

[] INDIANAPOLIS, June 17 - President Bush's re-election campaign took its effort to enlist churches in turning out conservative voters to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention this week, urging pastors to do everything short of risking their churches' tax-exempt status to support the president's re-election.
Mr. Bush's courtship of Southern Baptists, the largest Protestant denomination, began Tuesday when he addressed them in a live telecast from the White House and thanked them for their prayers. The campaign's appeals picked up in earnest the next day, when Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition, who is now an official of the Bush campaign, arrived to ask pastors more explicitly for their help in winning votes.
Mr. Reed delivered his remarks at a Bush-Cheney "pastors reception," paid for by the Bush campaign. The hosts were the departing president of the Southern Baptists and three other prominent leaders, and the reception was in a conference room of a hotel adjacent to the convention. As the pastors came in, a campaign aide collected about 100 signatures and addresses from ministers pledging to endorse Mr. Bush's re-election publicly, to "host a citizenship Sunday for voter registration," to "identify someone who will help in voter registration and outreach" and to organize a " 'party for the president' with other pastors" on specific dates closer to the election.
As the pastors mingled around fountains of soft drinks and trays of cubed cheese, Mr. Reed urged, "Without advocating on behalf of any candidate or political party, you can make sure that everyone in your circle of influence is registered to vote."
Mr. Bush's political advisers often repeat their belief, Mr. Reed reminded the pastors, that about four million conservative Christian voters did not vote in the last presidential election. The campaign is determined not to let that happen again.
And the leaders of the 16 million Southern Baptists have already organized what they say is the first major voter registration drive in their history, beginning at the annual meeting.
But as the Bush campaign escalates its appeals to conservative Christian churches, experts in election law say, it is inviting pastors toward potentially treacherous terrain where letting personal endorsements spill over into the business of their churches can jeopardize their tax-exempt status.

More
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/politics/campaign/18baptists.html?th

More of the same ol' same ol' from the GOP...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1803&e=10&u=/washpost/a19082_2004jun30



Hmm. 'duties'?

I really hate how the guys in charge use religion to get elected.

Cycloptichorn

Do you honestly believe this stops them

Updated: 07:27 AM EDT
Bush Seeks Church Membership Data

By David Morgan, Reuters
WASHINGTON (July 1) - President Bush, seeking to mobilize religious conservatives for his reelection campaign, has asked church-going volunteers to turn over church membership directories, campaign officials said on Thursday.

In a move sharply criticized both by religious leaders and civil libertarians, the Bush-Cheney campaign has issued a guide listing about two-dozen "duties" and a series of deadlines for organizing support among conservative church congregations.

A copy of the guide directs religious volunteers to send church directories to state campaign committees, identify new churches that can be organized by the Bush campaign and talk to clergy about holding voter registration drives.

The document, distributed to campaign coordinators across the country earlier this year, also recommends that volunteers distribute voter guides in church and use Sunday service programs for get-out-the-vote drives.

"We expect this election to be potentially as close as 2000, so every vote counts and it's important to reach out to every single supporter of President Bush," campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
But the Rev. Richard Land, who deals with ethics and religious liberty issues for the Southern Baptist Convention, a key Bush constituency, said he was "appalled."

"First of all, I would not want my church directories being used that way," he said, predicting failure for the Bush plan.

The conservative Protestant denomination, whose 16 million members strongly backed Bush in 2000, held regular drives that encouraged church-goers to "vote their values," said Land.

"But it's one thing for us to do that. It's a totally different thing for a partisan campaign to come in and try to organize a church. A lot of pastors are going to say: 'Wait a minute, bub'," he added.

The guide surfaced as a spate of opinion polls showed Bush's reelection campaign facing a tough battle.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showed Bush running neck-and-neck with Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry among registered voters, 47 percent of whom said they now believed the president had misled Americans about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
The Bush campaign has also been spending heavily on television ads, only to see the president's approval ratings slump to new lows.

Stanzel said the campaign ended the month of June with $64 million on hand. He had no figures on how much Bush has raised in June. At the end of May, Bush had raised $213.4 million and spent all but $63 million.

The latest effort to marshal religious support also drew fire from civil liberties activists concerned about the constitutional separation of church and state.

"Any coordination between the Bush campaign and church leaders would clearly be illegal," said a statement from the activist group Americans United for Separation of Church and State.