Guest Commentary: A History Lesson for Danforth
by James L. Lambert
October 31, 2005
(AgapePress) - Once again a public figure stands at odds with conservative, evangelical Christians and their participation in politics and the public arena. Now former U.S. Senator, John Danforth (R - Missouri) blames evangelical Christians for the divisive atmosphere in Washington.
According to the Associated Press, Danforth says that the "evangelical Christian influence is bad for the Republican party..." In a speech before University of Arkansas graduate students on Wednesday, Danforth said that "nothing is more dangerous than religion in politics and government when it becomes divisive."
The Republican statesman went on to warn the students of a culture where "religious people believe that they have one answer, that they understand God’s truth." Danforth set forth the premise, according to the AP, that the "evangelical Christian influence would be bad for the (Republican) party in the long run."
Apparently the former Senator does not understand U. S. history very well. He forgot that some of America's most well-known and influential Presidents and political leaders were so-called Bible believing Christians. Their influence in the nation’s capital was certainly never seen as divisive. Presidents like Washington, Lincoln and (Theodore) Roosevelt relied on their faith to guide them in public life.
Apparently Danforth also forgot that more than 20 of the original 53 signers of the Declaration of Independence were strong believers who had no problem saying so. For Danforth to blame Christians for the so-called demise of the GOP and for creating a divisive political atmosphere in Washington is absurd.
What public figures, like Danforth, don't like about Christians is that many of us try to follow and pattern our lives after a biblical moral code. Furthermore, since many of us believe in a book where absolutes are taught, it is easy for someone like Danforth and others to be offended by the teaching of the most read book in history. Such minds were offended in Jesus' time, and they will be offended today.
Perhaps, we evangelicals should look closer into Senator Danforth’s long history as a Republican politician because he, himself, is an ordained Episcopal priest. If he used his own standards, perhaps the Senator should not have become involved in public life in the first place. At least, by contrast, the former Senator does not imply he is a conservative Christian, which he is not.
Absolutes in the Bible offend many people; but for Danforth to compare religious Evangelicals in America with religious zealots in Palestine is a phony comparison. This is the same trick liberals have used for five years by comparing conservative Christians to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
To Danforth and to other politicians and members of the media who make this mistake, I say lets stop being disingenuous with the facts. There is no public outcry from Evangelicals to create 'a theocracy.' You don't see evangelical Christian conservative parents trying to use their son to blow up political enemies so that their off-spring can go the heaven. You don't see evangelical Christian conservatives so hateful of their political enemies that they call for the extermination of a ethnic group.
Perhaps I should remind the Senator that the above is happening places like Palestine. Danforth should know that these comparisons are bogus and unfounded. Yet he and his liberal friends continue to perpetrate these false myths.
Syndicated radio talk show host, Paul McGuire, reported this Thursday that his callers from Danforth’s home state "were furious (with) their former Senator’s remarks." McGuire commented by saying, "in my opinion, Senator Danforth used hate speech against evangelical Christians by comparing them to terrorists ...
"John Danforth would not have dared to use such intolerant language against Jews, blacks, gays, Muslims or any other group in America. The fact that the media gave him a free pass on saying such remarks reveals their anti-Christian bigotry."
James L. Lambert, who resides in San Diego, California, is a frequent contributor to AgapePress. He is the host of Night Lights, a weekly conservative talk cable television show in San Diego; the author of Porn in America (Huntington House); and a real estate loan sales agent. He can be reached via his website: JamesLLambert.com.
