By Berry Craig
[11-29-04]

PADUCAH, Ky. -- Jesus Christ was for President George W. Bush, according to the author of a letter-to-the-editor in the Paducah Sun.

The writer claimed to be a Democrat. He was sure if the King of Kings returned before Nov. 2, "He would cross party lines just like I will and pull the Republican lever."

I don't know where the letter-writer goes to church. But how a mere mortal could purport to know the way the Son of God would cast an earthly ballot is beyond this fallible Presbyterian's power to comprehend.

I fear more than a few of my fellow Kentuckians believe the sentiment of the letter. There were evidently many more missives like it in Bluegrass State papers. "You can't be a Christian and a liberal" and "You can't be a Christian and a Democrat" were again common election-year charges from the president's holy warriors, and not just in Kentucky.

Key in "You can't be a Christian and a liberal" on your PC. Do a Google search. You might find right-wing radio host Doug Giles, apparently a Rush Limbaugh wannabe.

"Can a Christian be a liberal? Short answer: no," Giles wrote. He added, "there is no way a Christian can buy into neo-liberal ideology and be faithful to the bigger-than-Dallas teachings of the scripture and expect to continue enjoying his hard-won religious liberties."

Doubtless Giles would find a kindred spirit in Bob Jones III, the neo-Confederate who runs Bob Jones University, where tolerance and critical thought are on permanent sabbatical. "In your re-election, God has graciously granted America -- though she doesn't deserve it -- a reprieve from the agenda of paganism," President Jones wrote in a congratulatory letter to President Bush, who has spoken at BJU. "….You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ."

Bush is a Methodist. Sen. John Kerry, who was his Democratic challenger, is a Catholic. I wouldn't presume to question the faith of either man. I learned in Presbyterian Sunday school that the Good Book warns us, "Judge ye not, lest ye be judged."

Of course, not all Republicans share the theology of Giles, Jones III and the rest of America's GOP-friendly Christian Taliban. "They're scary," one Republican conservative admitted to me.

Even so, I haven't heard any Republican brass hats dress down their Christian soldiers for talking like "GOP" stands for "God's Own Party."

Bush, who carried Kentucky a second time, said he believed God wanted him to be president. Ernie Fletcher, an ex-Baptist minister, didn't claim to enjoy the Almighty's blessing when he won the Kentucky governorship in a blowout last year. Even so, he countenanced GOP catering to the "You can't be a Christian and a Democrat" crowd.

"In his campaign, [Fletcher] … soft-pedaled religion, but his party did not," columnist Al Cross wrote of the governor in the Louisville Courier-Journal. "One of its mailers promoted him with a photo of silhouetted steeples; inside, a Bible photo accompanied an item on character education and the Ten Commandments."

Anyway, the author of the Sun letter concluded with a question for readers: "If you were to die after the election, would you be proud of yourself, standing before God, after voting against Bush? I, for one, won't have to worry about that."

I'm not worried about my vote. It was for Kerry. I hope I live long and prosper, but I have faith my ballot won't keep me from getting through the Pearly Gates.
 

-- Berry Craig is a professor of history at the West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah. He and his wife, Melinda, belong to the Witherspoon Society.