Is the Christian right the Republican Party’s real political base or have conservative Christians taken over the GOP, forcing the party to meet their demands?
For former Missouri Sen. John Danforth, the answer became clear when the Republican-controlled Congress intervened in the case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman who died after her husband won the right to remove her feeding tube.
“The effort to keep Terri Schiavo alive artificially became a religious crusade and Republicans in Washington responded to a core constituency, even though it meant abandoning traditional Republican philosophy,” Danforth writes in his new
book…
Most of the folks I spend conscious intellectual time with don’t belong to either of the Establishment political parties. Right or Left in political persuasion, most could care less about organized religion. Still, vigilance is required when our Constitution and Bill of Rights are being compromised in the name of somebody’s god.
Danforth, an ordained Episcopal priest and a lifelong Republican who represented Missouri for 18 years in the Senate, argues that the religious right has focused its agenda on divisive issues that polarize Americans and create a stalemate in government.
These issues, such as abortion, gay marriage and the use of religious displays on government property, are “of little intrinsic importance except as wedges” to energize the base by pitting “people of faith” against their perceived enemies…
“If Christianity is supposed to be a ministry of reconciliation, but has become, instead, a divisive force in American political life, something is terribly wrong and we should correct it,” Danforth writes.
Danforth is a moderate and the party he’s devoted his life to appears to be preparing to destroy itself in a sectarian rapture. He just may have a point.
I’m disappointed that he chose the case of Terry Schiavo to make his point. While the Republican leadership certainly tried to use the case for political gain, there were plenty of good reasons to let her live, in the care of her family.
If one good thing comes out of the Radical Right’s unconscionable efforts to keep Terry Schiavo “alive” mechanically, long past the point where her family, God, and the entire civilized world knew it was her time to pass, it will be a lessening of the power of these proto-fascists “Christians” of the far right.
‘her family’
Terri’s family wanted to keep her alive. Her ex-husband wanted her dead.
Terri wasn’t in any shape to live with her folks, Frank. That’s why she was in a hospice. There is definately a point where someone can’t live at home any longer, regardless if a family member is present to care for them 24/7 or not.
In this instance, however, the guy is both religious and directly involved in the stem cell issue; I didn’t see it as at all out of line.
Beyond that, I’m sure the kids at DailyKos will love this, but I don’t see the right divorcing themselves from xian conservatives any time soon. Too much money in it and it keeps them from going off and forming the Jeebus Party and putting their own spoiler candidate on a ballot.
Only party deader than the Dems are the Republicans — there aren’t many left and NOBODY listens to them anymore.
Danforth makes the same mistake as many when talking about Stem Cell research. He has a relative he wants cured. Forget about the aborted baby the stem cell was taken from, just fix my brother. What about the rights of the unborn? This guy is a priest?
Who appointed you spokesman for “the entire civilized world”, Mr. Mustard?
The radical right has their core beliefs in a ‘body’. Look at Jesus Christ. No Christian can understand the true meaning of the crucifix. They place all their faith in a body and making it live ad infinitum, whereas Jesus was trying to display the opposite, which was that the body is insignificant. Jesus did not feel any pain in the crucifixion. This is what He was trying to tell us. He was beyond mind and body. He was Spirit. The TRUE agony that Jesus had to face was that He WAS GOD, AND HE WAS MAN. In other words, the cross is a symbol of Infinity (the vertical part of the crucifx- God) intersecting the finite (the horizontal part of the crucifix- Man). That is a terrible junction point in one’s life. It is a place where and when you finally realize that the cartoon of you is being sketched by a cartoonist– AND BOTH OF YOU ARE THE SAME.
WTF does that have to do with Danforth or Schiavo, 0113?
I think the first thing that the government should do is declare these churches that are doing political things to lose immunity, be declared a business and taxed the hell out of. I don’t think that they will be any base left after the irs is through with them.
get over it folks…. when you have religion in the population you will have religion in the politics, it can’t be avoided, and shouldn’t… if the GOP is elected of and by the religious right, then it will represent the religious right… that’s the proper function of a representative democracy. complaining that the GOP suffers religious influence is like complaining that the democratic left doesn’t.
Forget about the aborted baby the stem cell was taken from, just fix my brother.
You seem confused about the origin of stem cells. Can you elaborate?
I’d like to call for the Democrats to end the influence of the radical left.
Oh, that’s all they have “left”. Sorry.
#11
The most cherished cells are the embryonic cells.
Frank IBC and AB CD…do either of you know what happened or did you just get your news from Fox? Terry Schiavo died the day she went into that coma. Did you even read the autopsy report on her? She was blind and half her brain was gone. It was a case of a mother not wanting to let her child go…even though “Terry” was long gone.
Also, if you had read anything about her husband, you would have seen that he tried EVERYTHING over the years for Terry…taking her to California for an experimental procedure involving the placement of a stimulator implant in her brain. Admitted her to the Mediplex Rehabilitation Center in Florida where she got 24 hour care and neurological testing and regular speech and occupational therapy. Her husband also trained and became a respiratory therapist and emergency room nurse to help her out.
But of course the religious idiots in the country want to paint the man as someone who just wanted his wife dead so he could marry his girlfriend. It’s morons like that who make me sick. Again, anyone that’s religious should be considered being mentally handicapped. I’ve had about enough of this. If you want to go and pray to some invisible man in the sky, far be it from me to say you’re totally wasting your time and money…but when you want ME to waste my time and money, then I fight back.
I’m not religious, I don’t listen to Fox News, but I do know that you’re a moron, JUK.
>declare these churches that are doing political things to lose immunity,
What does this have to do with the religious right? The main people campaigning in churches are Democrats. If this happened, it the IRS followed your recommendations, they would be shutting that party out of all those black churches, and they would lose their base, and the religious right’s preferred candidates would win even more elections.
>Terry Schiavo died the day she went into that coma.
No, she didn’t. If she had there would have been no dispute about removing a feeding tube. You don’t feed the dead.
You might be right on every other point, but the fact remains that just as you say she was ‘dead’, well Michael Schiavo was no longer her ‘husband’, given his behavior of taking another woman.
Also, if she had been truly “brain dead”, she would have been on a respirator.
“What does this have to do with the religious right? The main people campaigning in churches are Democrats.”
Are you delusional or just plain ignorant? Have you seen which religious shows and/or leaders are on television lately? Have you traced the funding of various campaign issues to see who is actually funding them? Do some of that and you’ll find the Religious Right and their churches are drastically outspending and outpreaching the “liberal” churches.
Additionally, to address the “religion and politics will always mix, it is inevitable” sentiment in other posts… It doesn’t have to be that way, a good majority of the industrialized free world keep their religious views seperate from their political views (read: Canada, western Europe, Australia, etc). Only in the US do we consider it our right (and duty) to cram our beliefs down everyone else’s throats.
#17 & #18: What are your medical credentials to confidently ascertain what Schiavo’s medical condition was?
What’s that, you don’t have any advanced medical degrees? Hmm, that’s what I thought…
You don’t have to have an MD to know that “brain dead” = “needs respirator to breathe”.
Wow, you two just boggle the mind. So what you’re saying is, if she were truly brain dead, she would need a machine to stay alive? I see.
Do you also believe there was a chance for her to recover? Being blind and only half of her brain left and all? What, just grow that other half of her brain back? It’s a miracle!
And AB CD, you’re implying that her husband should have just kept her going on the feeding tube for decades to come…and remain totally devoted to her and chaste? Is that the only outcome you would have accepted? Sorry, I repeat what I said: “Terry” died that day. The thing that was left was just a body the kept only it’s lower brain-stem functions…not unlike some of the people on this board.
Quit while you’re behind.
Obviously you DO need some training or some semblence of knowledge in the field to understand that brain dead CAN mean no respirator.
But since you’re making things up to suit your will, I guess anything is possible.
What beliefs are being “crammed down your throat”, natefrog? I’ve noticed just the opposite – it seems that many non-religious Americans want to purge American society of all traces of religion.
It’s not clear what you are trying to say here. Do you mean a majority of the governments in those countries? A majority of the populations? Or political parties? Could you please clarify?
Outside the former communist countries, strict separation of church and state is the exception, not the rule, in Europe. Even ultra-liberal Sweden has a state-imposed church tax on all those who declare themselves to be members of the state-sponsored Lutheran Church.
How much training does one need to grasp the meaning of a single sentence?
Frank: You’re living proof that one doesn’t need to be on a ventilator to be “brain dead.” (Although you apparently do need a medical degree to differentiate between a “respirator” and a “ventilator.”)
It seems that your reading comprehension isn’t the greatest, JUK. I made no claims that Schiavo had any chance of recovery.
What I did say is that it was wrong to starve and dehydrate her to death, when her family was willing to care for her.
Nice non-sequitor there, natefrog.
Is it a “non-sequitor” (sic) to analyze how people spell and use language to form their argument and then estimate the strength or intelligence of their argument?
Additionally, are you saying your argument of “brain dead=needs respirator” was not a “non-sequitor” (sic)?
Several people here have made the claim that Terry Sciavo was “brain dead”.
I have pointed out that if one is “brain dead”, one will not be able to breathe independently, and must be on a machine in order to breathe. Terry Sciavo was not.
It’s perfectly relevant to the discussion, natefrog.