GOP keeps faith, but not in prime time

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NEW YORK -- Religious ideas and figures are seldom on display during the prime-time moments of the Republican convention, but faith talk is abundant all over Manhattan.

At a "faith, family and freedom rally" at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel sponsored by the Bush-Cheney campaign, the speakers exhorted 1,000 listeners to get out the vote under a banner that read: "President Bush Shares Our Values."

"The press beats up on you like there's something wrong with faith, family and freedom; like the basics of society are askew and they should not be projected," said Sen. Sam Brownback, Kansas Republican and a Roman Catholic. "This is where the mainstream of America is."

Several similar events are planned through the rest of the week, often with blessings from the nation's top Republicans. Among the prominent Republicans at the Waldorf were Tim Goeglein and Matt Smith of the White House Office of Public Liaison.

This morning, former Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma will hold a prayer breakfast for 700 people at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center with White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. as the speaker.

Tomorrow morning, the RNC is staging a "Catholic outreach event" at the Westin Times Square featuring party Chairman Ed Gillespie and columnist Peggy Noonan.

And religion did surface pointedly during the convention last night with Sen. Elizabeth Dole's citation of Jesus in her defense of freedom of religion.

"Two thousand years ago, a man said, 'I have come to give life and to give it in full.' In America, I have the freedom to call that man Lord, and I do," said Mrs. Dole, North Carolina Republican, citing John 10:10.

She said Republicans understand that right must be protected.

"The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. The right to worship God isn't something Republicans invented, but it is something Republicans will defend," she said.