The Interfaith Alliance has something to say about the tactics of the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign:
Today, The Interfaith Alliance denounced an initiative from the Bush-Cheney campaign seeking to enlist campaign support in 1600 “friendly congregations” in Pennsylvania.
“Whether or not this is legal, this is an astonishing abuse of religion,” said the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance. “It is the rawest form of manipulation of religion for partisan gain.”
A member of The Interfaith Alliance (TIA) sent a copy of the e-mail she received from the Bush-Cheney campaign asking for volunteers to “serve as a coordinator in your place of worship.” A campaign spokesperson in Pennsylvania admitted to Rabbi Jack Moline, a TIA board member, that the email was from the campaign but had only been intended for central Pennsylvania. The spokesperson said that the Bush national headquarters in Virginia had apparently sent it out to others on their list.
“If ever there were a question about the real intent of expanding faith-based initiatives and promoting a presence of religion in government, this tactic puts it to rest,” Rabbi Moline said. “The Bush-Cheney campaign has dropped any pretense of honoring the separation of church and state mandated by the Constitution, and puts in jeopardy the non-profit status of 1600 houses of worship by asking them to engage in partisan politics. The President should repudiate this initiative immediately. 1600 Pennsylvania churches for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. How clever. How reprehensible.”
… The following text is from the email.
Subject: Lead Your Congregation for President Bush
Dear : The Bush-Cheney ’04 national headquarters in Virginia has asked us to identify 1600 “Friendly Congregations” in Pennsylvania where voters friendly to President Bush might gather on a regular basis. In each of these friendly congregations, we would like to identify a volunteer coordinator who can help distribute general information to other supporters. I’d like to ask if you would like to serve as a coordinator in your place of worship. We plan to undertake activities such as distributing general information/updates or voter registration materials in a place accessible to the congregation. If you are interested, please email Luke Bernstein at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) your name, address, phone number and place of worship. If you have any ideas, questions, or concerns please do not hesitate to e-mail me or you can call me at 717-233-4066. Thanks, Luke
I’m just curious enough that I ran that phone number through Google — it belongs to Morris Williams at 301 Chestnut Street, Harrisburg, PA. Even more interesting: that address is listed as the home of a Pennsylvania state liquor store, a coffee shop, the Bureau of Consumer Protection Office of Attorney General, Alliance Funding, Choice One Communications, Village Gap Shopping Center… is this a residence, a shopping center, or an office building? Evidently it’s a little of all of them. There are apartments there called “Pennsylvania Place,” where tenants comment: ‘Inconsiderate management and rude office staff,’ ‘snobby neighbors rude maintenance and office staff,’ and ‘looks good but hard to live in.’
Wow — I tend to digress a bit, don’t I? Google will do that to you.
Well, it’s certainly not coming directly from the HQ here in Arlington, Virginia (and don’t think that doesn’t gall a lot of us here in Arlington, the only solidly liberal county in the state, to have his headquarters on our soil.)…
