GOP allows anti-Catholic bigotry
Gary Caruso
Capital Comments
"One of the greatest challenges facing Fundamentalists and biblical Christianity in the 21st Century is to stir evangelistic enterprise in fulfillment of the Great Commission," says Bob Jones University president Bob Jones III. He goes on to say in his "President's Message" on his Web site, "The diminution of evangelistic enterprise to cults which call themselves Christian, including Catholicism and Mormonism, is frightening."
Frightening? What frightens many is the Feb. 2 visit of Republican presidential contender Texas Governor George W. Bush to BJU to demonstrate just how conservative — and sleazy — Bush can be in courting the bigoted, right-wing vote in South Carolina. Bush has even gone so far as to contend that Democrats and Independents will vote for his Republican opponent, U.S. Senator John McCain, because "Al Gore can beat McCain."
Desperate men say and do desperate things in times of desperation. And Bush is presently desperate. In a national poll of Republican voters on Jan. 28, Bush led McCain 70 percent to 12 percent. Last weekend, a Newsweek poll showed Bush leading McCain nationally by 55-32 percent.
Thus far in three primary events, Bush has won two, but McCain did not enter those two. In fact, McCain gathered 25 percent in Delaware where he had not once stepped into the state. Most troublesome for Bush is a poll showing Independents favoring McCain 55 to 30 percent. Now who was supposed to have the better chance of winning in November?
Tonight McCain and Bush square off in a debate that not only may determine this weekend's South Carolina primary election, but the Republican nomination. Both have courted the so-called "Bubba vote" by staying out of the fray over the Confederate Flag which has flown since 1962 over the South Carolina capital building. It is a wonder how either candidate might justify honoring Nazi Gestapo courage and patriotism if the swastika were flying over the next primary state's capital.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are also embroiled in a bigotry case against Catholics. The House of Representatives chaplain is retiring, and a search committee has interviewed potential candidates. A Catholic priest was chosen by 14 of the 18 members of the commission. However, Speaker Dennis Hassert (Protestant) and Majority Leader Dick Armey (Presbyterian) chose the Presbyterian minister who was the committee's second choice. Since it has been 210 years — yes, more than two centuries since a Catholic held the House chaplain's position — Catholics are livid about the veto of the committee's choice.
Catholics account for 30 million voters nationwide. Within Congress, more than half of the members are Catholics. Yet ingrained bigotry pervades just below the surface of civility. The same can be said for South Carolina's flying the Confederate Flag — a current-day symbol for Neo-Nazi White Supremacy, a previous-day symbol for the Ku Klux Klan.
Despite his current problems, George Bush will be the Republican nominee in November. His money and party organization will carry him through, but not until after the Michigan primary next Tuesday which also permits Independents to vote. Beginning with Super Tuesday on March 7, Bush will clobber McCain in closed Republican primaries (Bush leads 60-25 percent among Republicans ... so he is truly the party "insider").
Much to the chagrin of Notre Dame students who thought Bill Bradley's lofty ideas could conquer party organization, Al Gore will face Bush. Bush's mistakes of not repudiating the Confederate Flag and embracing Bob Jones University bigotry, along with his smug passive campaign style, will cost him the election. (Had Bush's brother, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, attended BJU, he would have been prohibited from dating his current wife, an Hispanic, because BJU prohibits interracial dating.)
Bush and the Republican Party have serious problems by associating with the likes of Jones who writes, "Christian education at BJU consists of ... regular doses of eye-opening, biblical warnings about the perils facing the church in the latter days ... and of bringing the light of Scripture to open young eyes, both to what God is doing and to what the devil is doing. It is possible to receive academic education without that light, but it is not possible to have Christian education without it."
Jones also believes that another challenge is "to deal with the departure from biblical doctrine and the corresponding transition to an ever-changing and ecumenical faith based upon pragmatism and accommodation to popular religious trends and emotions."
We can count on Jones to vote Republican this fall and continue to oppose our cult of Catholicism. However, the way to beat Republican bigots is to play their own game of opposing "popular religious trends and emotions." Instead of supporting their attempts to place the Ten Commandments in classrooms across the nation, Democrats need to adopt one line in their convention platform. It should mandate that the teachings of Buddha be displayed in lieu of the commandments. After all, we Democrats don't throw religious stones, but more importantly, we've already had candidates visit their temples.
Gary J. Caruso, Notre Dame, '73, is serving in President Clinton's administration as a Congressional and Public Affairs Director and is currently assisting Vice President Gore's White House Empowerment Commission. His column appears every other Friday, and his Internet address is Hottline@aol.com.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, February 15, 2000
