Related articles and links |  1 of 2

If you missed yesterday's Weblog on the Family Research Council's attack on Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton's remarks on "bearing false witness," and the priest who interrupted the Olympic marathon, click here.

Finding comments about religion in press coverage of the Republican National Convention is kind of like finding comments about Kirk vs. Picard at a Star Trek convention. But there are some "interesting" comments being made, especially by Traditional Values Coalition head Lou Sheldon:

"Father, help us. Help us to save this nation, this nation that has always said that it was under you, under God. Help us to rise and to raise up the banner that will re-elect George W. Bush. … Yes, oh God, forgive us if we are too partisan. But we believe so much is at stake in having him there to guide us in what we believe."
—Sheldon, quoted in the San Jose Mercury News

"We are very pleased that [the] campaign and the convention committee has selected people like Giuliani, Pataki, and Schwarzenegger [all of whom support abortion rights] to speak. … Their talk is for the undecided people watching television. … The undecided are not conservative Christians. … Blacks and Hispanics love Mr. Schwarzenegger's 'Terminator' image and seeing him there is a chance for transferring the value of what George Bush needs for his vote."
— Sheldon, quoted by CBSNews.com

"Certainly Rev. Lou Sheldon and the Traditional Values Coalition will not reach that undecided small percentage of voters."
— Sheldon, again quoted by CBSNews.com

Here are some more notable quotes of the day:

"What's your plan for parenting & educating all the unwanted children you people want to bring into the world? Who will pay for policing our streets & maintaining the prisons needed to contain them when you, their parents & the system fail them? Oh, sorry. All that money has been earmarked to pay off the Bush deficit. Give me a frigging break, will you?"
—Todd Eastham, North American news editor for the Reuters news agency, in an e-mailed response to a National Right to Life Committee's e-mailed press release. The e-mail, which a Reuters spokesman called "unfortunate," was noted by Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz.

"The United States Supreme Court has held that the unborn are not included within the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment, which contains the Equal Protection Clause. That Court held in Roe v. Wade that the word person, as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn. While the Supreme Court has acknowledged the state's interest in the life of a fetus before birth, it has never repudiated its holding in Roe that the Equal Protection Clause does not apply to a fetus. The Legislature may therefore extend wrongful death and survival causes of action only to persons that are born live without violating the federal Equal Protection clause."
—Texas Supreme Court, ruling (PDF) that parents of a stillborn child can't sue a Fort Worth hospital for negligence because their child was not a person. The Houston Chronicle notes that Texas is one of only 10 states that don't allow wrongful-death claims for stillborn children.

"There was one that mentioned, 'There is no God.' Another speaks to, 'Priests are known to have been molesting kids for years. If you don't know what molesting is, ask your mom.' "
—Don Williams, senior associate pastor of First Assembly of God in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which runs Cornerstone Daycare Learning Center. The daycare center was closed Friday morning after its yard was littered with antireligious messages and threatening messages were left on its voice mail. It reopened yesterday with police protection.

next page... |  1 of 2

August (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48