Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Rabbi, governor defend Fordice Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 15:23:03 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \HD Rabbi, governor defend Fordice \BY Ralph Z. Hallow \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES A prominent rabbi and the Republican governor of Wisconsin yesterday defended Mississippi Gov. Kirk Fordice's "Christian nation" remarks while most Jewish and liberal groups went on the attack. The Mississippi governor's ringing endorsement of family values on Tuesday omitted the "Judeo" prefix, sparking the furor. "The United States is a Christian nation," he said at the end of a news conference Tuesday with other GOP governors in Fontana, Wis. "The less we emphasize the Christian religion the further we fall into the abyss of poor character and chaos in the United States of America." Yesterday, Mr. Fordice defended his remarks, saying: "I simply made a clear statement of truth. It has nothing to do with running down anybody else's religion. That's a very far stretch that I just can't imagine people making." "There is a powerful secular bias in the mass media against the fact - and it is a fact - that religion is a fundamental and active category of American life," said Rabbi Jacob Neusner. "The media rarely represent religion as a normal and important dimension of people's everyday life, but it really is," said Mr. Neusner, professor of religious studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa. "Fordice wants to remind people of that fact. While he might have chosen somewhat more inclusive language, his meaning is clear and entirely constructive." Finding prominent Republicans to comment - even those who tried to make traditional values the core of their campaign - was another matter. Pleading in person or through spokesmen that this was not their issue, several potential GOP presidential candidates and some Republicans campaigning for national party chairman declined to comment. "The cultural war in America between the 'anything goes' forces and defenders of traditional values has, it seems, come home to the Republican Party and is being treated as an unwelcome visitor," said Michael R. Pence, Republican president of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation in Indianapolis. Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson was the one prominent elected Republican to defend Mr. Fordice and the point the governor tried to make on behalf of the GOP. "Kirk Fordice was speaking from his heart," Mr. Thompson told The Washington Times yesterday. "This country has some basic values that we have to adhere to and I see nothing wrong with those values. The vast majority of Americans agree with them." Mr. Pence bemoaned "the schism in the party between those who believe that it has to dilute its message so as not to frighten people and those who want it to stand for traditional values as well as limited government and free markets. "I'm one of those Republicans who reject the notion that the key to resurgence at the national level is to retreat from the basic values that brought Ronald Reagan to the White House," Mr. Pence said. Although Mr. Fordice said during the Tuesday news conference that his comment was not meant to imply "at any time that religious intolerance or . . dogma is being forced on anyone," South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell said he wanted to add "Judeo" to the Christian heritage of the nation. Mr. Fordice snapped back that if he had wanted to add it, he would have done it himself. Khalil Jahshan, a National Association of Arab-Americans offical, said statements like Mr. Fordice's "unfortunately tend to raise fears and apprehension on the part of minorities, and even persons of the Christian faith such as me find these statements unnecessary and divisive." Most Jewish leaders were equally incensed. "Unfortunately, Governor Fordice has yet to learn that America is not a country that is defined in terms of religion or race," said Kent E. Schiner, president of B'nai B'rith International. "The United States is a pluralistic society, as any high school civics course could have taught him." In a letter to the governor, Melvin Salberg, Anti-Defamation League national chairman, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director, said Mr. Fordice's rejection of Mr. Campbell's "Judeo-Christian" comment "reflects a shocking and incomprehensible insensitivity to Jews and Judaism." Arthur J. Kropp, president of People for the American Way, said the party "seems to be practicing a systematic politics of exclusion - first women are pushed out, then gays, now Jewish Americans and others who don't happen to be Christians." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM