Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.wpost From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: 'God Does Not Endorse Candidates'; Clerics Condemn Anti-Clinton Epistle Gustav Niebuhr=Washington Post Staff Writer= As the election campaign draws to a close, here's one more weigh- ty issue voters may wish to ponder: By casting a ballot for Bill Clinton and Albert Gore Jr., would they in fact be risking God's wrath? This question - a burning one, in that it could involve the fate of one's soul - has been roiling some members of the religious community, ever since a group of conservative Christian activists put out a pamphlet this month warning that "to vote for Bill Clinton is to sin against God." The pamphlet - 140,000 copies of which have been distributed by the antiabortion group Operation Rescue - says that voters supporting Clinton, who favors abortion rights and gay rights, would help promote "rebellion against the 10 Commandments and other laws of the Bible." Yesterday, a diverse group of 42 religious leaders - Protestants, Jews and Catholics - signed a statement heatedly taking issue with that claim, calling it a piece of "spiritual arrogance and political extremism that has no place in our public discourse." The group also denounced other anti-Clinton mailings aimed at re- ligious groups that it said either distorted the facts or offered politicized "biblical positions" on various issues. "There is a terribly troubling tendency toward theocracy in all this," said James Dunn, a signer of the statement and the direc- tor of the Baptist Joint Committee for Public Affairs, a reli- gious liberty watchdog agency. "It smells a lot like the Mas- sachusetts Bay Colony," where Puritan rulers maintained a heady mix of religion and politics. Rabbi David Saperstein, who joined Dunn at a news conference at First Baptist Church, agreed. "Good, moral people can differ" in politics, said Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. "From the Jewish standpoint, God is not a Republican or a Democrat. God does not endorse candidates." As to the Democratic candidates' religious character, the Rev. Jack Turner, retired pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Ar- lington, where Gore and his family worship, offered a positive report. In a letter co-signed by Clinton's former pastor, the Rev. Brian Harbour of Richardson, Tex., he stated that Clinton and Gore "are men whose heads and hearts have been baptized by divine grace and mercy. . . . We believe their walk with God to be genuine and sincere." After the news conference, First Baptist's senior pastor, the Rev. Everett Goodwin, sought to frame the debate in theological terms. It is permissible, he said, to say a stand on a particular issue is morally wrong, but one cannot identify a political can- didate with sin itself. "You're making a person the sin, rather than an issue," he said. "What you've done is to incarnate evil," a role that in Christianity belongs ultimately to Satan alone. Despite the criticism, the authors of the Operation Rescue pam- phlet remained unmoved. "We're only quoting the Bible," said the Rev. Lou Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition. "It's a grave mistake for Christians to vote for Clinton and Gore." And the Rev. Keith Tucci, director of Operation Rescue, said that to back a candidate with Clinton's views would be to abet sin - in itself a sinful act. "If you're driving the get-away car, you're guilty for what the hold-up man does," he said. "It's not up for debate." And what if a person does vote for Clinton, comes later to be- lieve it was sinful and wishes to be restored to grace? "They ask Jesus to forgive them," Tucci said.<02:13 10-30C9999----- Copyright 1992, The Washington Post. This story is from the Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar- chived or redistributed. For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor- poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)