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: Fordice won't retreat on 'Christian nation' Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 15:30:30 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \HD Fordice won't retreat on 'Christian nation' \BY Ralph Z. Hallow \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Republican National Chairman Rich Bond yesterday criticized Mississippi Gov. Kirk Fordice for calling America "a Christian nation," but Mr. Fordice refused to back down. Noting "a demand from the American Jewish Congress for me to repudiate your statements," Mr. Bond said to Mr. Fordice in a letter, "If the assertion you made in Wisconsin is that the United States is a 'Christian nation,' then I must say you are wrong, and I hope you will correct the record. . . . "As you may remember, our platform refers to a Judeo-Christian tradition, and you voted for that platform. If you have changed your mind, that certainly is your prerogative," Mr. Bond said. "But I strongly believe you would be making a mistake, and urge you to reconsider." In an telephone interview last night, Mr. Fordice told The Washington Times: "We do not capitulate in any way. I stand by my statement. This is a Christian nation, and that's one subject. I also agree the nation was founded on Judeo-Christian ideals, which is another subject." Mr. Fordice had said Tuesday, in response to a reporter's question at a GOP governors' conference in Fontana, Wis., that the "United States is a Christian nation." Jewish and liberal groups immediately criticized the governor. Mr. Fordice told The Times that he made the statement at the windup of the meeting because, "for two days the press, in reporting the conference, attempted to discredit Christians in the party - or as the media refer to them, 'the religious right.' " Mr. Bond also released a joint statement with seven other prominent Republicans that said in part: "The Republican Party stated loudly and clearly in its 1992 platform that 'we believe . . . in the Judeo-Christian heritage that informs our culture.' . . . We reject any statement that demeans Americans on the basis of religious beliefs. The strength of the United States is its diversity. . . ." Joining in the statement were Spencer Abraham, National Republican Congressional Committee co-chairman, former Bush campaign senior adviser Charles Black, Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft, former Army Secretary Bo Callaway and Mississippi RNC member Haley Barbour. All are candidates seeking to succeed Mr. Bond as chairman of the Republican National Committee in January. Mississippi RNC member Suzanne Case-Rogers and Mississippi GOP Chairman Evelyn McPhail also joined in the statement. William Bennett, former Bush drug policy chief, one of the few prominent Republicans willing to defend or even comment on Mr. Fordice's tribulations, told The Times yesterday that "the Republican Party should not be embarrassed to talk about the importance of religion in the lives of Americans." Referring to Mr. Fordice's statement that 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," Mr. Bennett said, "Empirically, that's right - more than right." Mr. Fordice noted that in the 1990 census, 81 percent of the population gave Christianity as their religious preference and 2 percent preferred Judaism. Responding by letter to Mr. Bond yesterday, Mr. Fordice chastised him for not taking "the opportunity to talk with me personally." Mr. Fordice also said, "I certainly have not changed my mind, as suggested in your letter, in my strong support of the 1992 Republican platform. My statements and feeling are no more inconsistent with that platform than they are with the [joint] statement." Mr. Fordice told The Times, however, that his statements on Christianity were directly related to the GOP's search for a coherent vision and definition. "If Israel is a Jewish state and Saudi Arabia is Islamic, we are Christian, and that gives us an anchor to windward - a basis for building character and a value system," he said. "And that transfers to what our party is and what it stands for as a course for morals and ethics, without excluding anybody." "You've got to have a moral basis of values to base your party's values on," said Mr. Fordice, 58, who entered politics last year as a novice to became Mississippi's first Republican governor since Reconstruction. Mr. Bennett said he has met and talked with Mr. Fordice. But Mr. Bennett also stressed that he always says "Judeo-Christian" when talking about America's dominant religious tradition. Mr. Bennett said if he believed Mr. Foridice meant that "those who are not Christians aren't fully American or fully welcome," he would be wrong and should retract his statement. Mr. Bennett added, however, that he had heard Mr. Fordice discussing the issue Wednesday night on television and concluded he wasn't talking about exclusion. "If so, he shouldn't be pilloried," Mr. Bennett said. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. 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