GOP keeps faith, but not in prime time

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.

The convention is rung about with religious groups, ranging from Falun Gong demonstrators on sidewalks all over the city to services at the Upper West Side Riverside Church that have been a magnet for political liberals.

At Sunday’s reception at the Chelsea Piers by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a bevy of visiting members of Congress were toasted for their friendship with Israel.

On Monday morning, two Colorado film producers premiered “George W. Bush: Faith in the White House,” a laudatory 70-minute video about the president to be distributed in 300,000 churches to persuade Christian voters that Mr. Bush is their man.

“This is another viewpoint on President Bush,” producer David Balsiger said at a press conference. “It’s a side we wanted people to see. The religious voter feels more comfortable sleeping at night knowing our president prays, reads Scripture, is not hesitant to share his faith and is not hesitant to pray with world leaders. This is the sort of behind-the-scenes things he does.”

Narrated by Janet Parshall, who hosts a talk show on local radio station WAVA-FM, the film cost $300,000 and is being marketed to delegates as an answer to Michael Moore’s anti-Bush documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

Story Continues →