DNC Effectively Squelching Pro-Lifers' Cries in Boston
by Bill Fancher and Mary Rettig
July 29, 2004
(AgapePress) - The pro-life message is being muffled in Boston, where the city has been forced to renege on a promise to pro-life demonstrators in town for the Democratic National Convention.Activist Gary McCullough says pro-lifers around the Fleet Center are not happy because they are being relegated to a fenced area topped with razor wire and guarded by armed snipers. "The free-speech pen -- I think it's also called 'Auschwitz' -- literally looks like a prison camp or a concentration camp," McCullough says.
Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition led a demonstration on Tuesday against the sequestering. "This would be troubling under any circumstances, but it's done at the behest of a party which allegedly champions free speech and civil liberties," he says.
Mahoney also explains that the Beantown government had issued a permit for a two-day prayer vigil outside the home of John Kerry, but that it was rescinded by the Secret Service. "To think that two or three young women laying a dozen roses on the sidewalk in front of Senator Kerry's home, to remind him of the tragic loss of innocent human life through abortion -- to think that that might somehow pose a national security risk is ludicrous," the pro-life activist says.
But Asa Hutchinson of the Department of Homeland Security says security has to be tight. "These are national security events," he explains. "The Secret Service is coordinating those [activities] with local law enforcement, and the security will be greater than any convention that we've seen in the history of our country."
Hutchinson says given recent events, security is a major concern. "The law enforcement presence [in and around the Fleet Center] will be substantial -- and the public should feel comfortable with the security we provide," he says.
But pro-life demonstrators like Mahoney and McCullough are not finding the security measures comfortable, nor do they appear to be appreciative of they way they are being treated under those restrictions. Regardless, they continue to express their deeply held religious faith as they demonstrate for the rights of the unborn.
Advice on Demonstrating Faith
Meanwhile, some Democratic advisors says presidential candidate John Kerry needs to make his faith more evident instead of making it seem like a political ploy in his campaign.
Some have criticized Kerry for being largely silent on his Catholic faith, outside of black churches and other meetings with such groups as the NAACP. His reticence to speak up about his faith in other circles, some of his advisors say, may pose a problem.
A Time magazine poll recently found that only seven percent of Americans described Kerry as a man with strong religious faith. That contrasts sharply with President Bush, who talks openly about being a born-again Christian.
Bush has made faith a central tenet of his campaign, and he has been leading dramatically among white Evangelicals, and Catholics who attend church every week. Kerry, by comparison, has been picking up support from non-practicing Evangelicals, who are turned off by Bush's faith emphasis.
David Wade, a Kerry spokesman, says the Massachusetts senator shares his values and beliefs openly, while maintaining that faith is personal. But Kerry may be coming around. Tad Devine, a top Kerry strategist, says they have come to the point in the campaign where the candidate's motivation needs to be revealed. Devine says religion is a "natural motivation" for Kerry.
