Some Fundies are going ape over Kerry's religious advisor...

What do you guys think?

I don't know much about her, but she couldn't be any worse than someone like Ashcroft who is a rabid extremist.


http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200406/POL20040615b.html

Kerry's Choice for Religious Outreach Director 'Confounding,' Group Says
By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Deputy Managing Editor
June 15, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign has hired a new director of religion outreach, who is being described by a Catholic group as "a curious choice."

Mara Vanderslice, who formerly worked as religion outreach director for Democrat Howard Dean, was raised without any faith and didn't become an evangelical Christian until she attended Earlham College, a Quaker school known for its adherence to pacifism, the Catholic League said on Monday.

According to Catholic League President William Donohue, when Vanderslice was in college she was active in the Earlham Socialist Alliance, a group that supports convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and openly embraces Marxism-Leninism.

Upon college graduation, Donohue said, Vanderslice spoke at rallies organized by ACT-UP, an anti-Catholic group that disrupted Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1989 and spit the Eucharist on the floor.

-more

look into it to see what's up. Quakers have always been a bit kinder and gentler than the description here--as well as confirmed pacifists.

Will check back later...

they disaprove because she USED to be further left - I disaprove because she isn't still!

the god botherers always make me laugh - 'tho it's easier for me being on the other side of the world - our fundies are much fewer in number and have very little power in public life/debate.

"Unfazed Mara contends we have a 'collective commitment to protect the integrity of God's creation,' specifically citing the needs of the 'least of these.'

Imagine no religion...

a Quaker? Wonder if they had a problem with him?

Actually, Earlham College used to be more conservative, too.

I think it often does a good job exposing anti-Catholicism. I can't see it supporting Kerry. It only supports politicians who vote against abortion and probably opposes Kerry more strongly than most pro-choicers since he's a pro-choice Catholic.

This is a fascinating description -- a left-wing pacifist Quaker who's also an evangelical Christian? She sounds like a contradiction in terms, to some extent.

A very interesting choice for Kerry to make.

CNS is a bit of a RW rag, and I noticed free republic has it linked on their home page.

I smell something and I didn't realize I even had smelloputer service!

"All the polls show Kerry getting whipped badly by Bush among practicing Catholics, Protestants and Jews. Moreover, the latest edition of Time magazine reports that only 7 percent of likely voters think Kerry is a man of strong religious faith," Donohue said.


Here is the latest Zogby poll of Catholics:





http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=849
The Bush campaign's efforts to court voters in the Hispanic, Jewish, and Catholic communities seem to have fallen flat. Mr. Kerry is leading Mr. Bush by a similar margin to that which former Vice-President Al Gore won among Jewish voters in 2000. Mr. Bush is also running far behind his 2000 Hispanic total, with only 19% of the Hispanic voters supporting him, while Mr. Kerry is beating Mr. Gore's total with 69%. Mr. Kerry is also running very strong among Catholics, topping Mr. Bush, 52% to 37%, showing that not only has Bush's courting of them failed, but his use of wedge issues like gay marriage and partial birth abortion have failed to separate Catholic voters from Kerry.

The Senator's lead among Catholics is similar to the Clinton margins of the 1990s.

-more




Catholics for a Free Choice did a survey in June which indicated a tie between Kerry and Bush at 40% each. However, in that survey 366 of 2239 Catholics surveyed were Latino, which under-represents that group by about 50%.
The Zogby poll released on July 30 shows Kerry ahead 52-37 among Catholics. If we add 437 Latinos to the sample, the sample becomes 30% Latino.

"Corrected" June results

Kerry: 2239(0.4) + 437(0.69) = 1197 for Kerry
Bush: 2239(0.4) + 427(0.19) = 977 for Bush

Kerry: 1197/2673 = 45%
Bush: 977/2673 = 37%

Zogby July results: 52% Kerry, 37% Bush.

My guess would be that there was a serious net shift toward Kerry among white Democrats during July. This might correspond with increased pro-Kerry activity among unions during July.

The Knights of Columbus is a strongly anti-abortion group which has petitioned the Catholic authorities for Ted Kennedy's excommunication. The authorities have said no, since Kennedy did not procure or perform an abortion. While perhaps expert in fornication, Kennedy has apparently not committed adultery either.

http://progressivetrail.org/articles/040428Vanderslice.shtml

<snip>
I was so inspired to see a candidate who was willing to stand up for the things I believed in that I decided to leave my job to work on the Dean campaign. As a Christian, I passionately wanted to galvanize the faith community around the candidate that had captured my heart and imagination. I headed to Iowa, where I managed to convince the Dean campaign to hire me to do outreach to religious communities. I was quickly dubbed the "church lady" as I tried to convince senior staff that, although many people of faith supported Dean’s positions, his secular image would hurt him in the election.

My appeals for intelligent language about faith were met with skepticism. I was told that Dean supporters were not religious and liked him because he didn’t talk about religion. A senior staff member who came into Iowa in the final weeks even asked me, "How in the world did you get hired?!" He just couldn’t comprehend expending resources to reach out to the religious community. "It’s not that I’m against it," he said, "it’s just I would have never thought of it. Who would have known religious people could get behind us?"
<snip>

<snip>
PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC nominee John Kerry need not make the same mistakes. Kerry and his wife Teresa have publicly emphasized the importance of their Catholic faith. Kerry spoke recently to a church audience quoting from James on how faith without works is dead. If Kerry continues to use religious language appropriately (and not only when speaking in the South) and embraces the millions of religious Americans that are the base of his supporters, he might just change some assumptions about the "secular" Democratic Party, and in the process, pick up a crucial constituency that could tip the balance of the election.
<snip>

EDIT:
This link looks and feels to be right wing and spouts pretty much what the original thread article states...

http://www.faithfulvoice.com/mara.htm



Washington Times on this issue:
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040618-121914-6103r.htm

may give the impression of pandering. Anyway, I could care less.

Why name her at all? Kerry's distance from the church is hurting him -- whether you like it or not. But this choice only emphasizes that distance.

Hell, why fill the job at all if this is your choice.