One Last Thought On Kerry's Religious Beliefs
He quotes James, but does he live it?
Lately, Senator John Kerry has been infusing his speeches with religion. He seems especially fond of quoting from James, noting that faith without works is dead. The San Francisco Chronicle, in a column entitled Voters' perceptions on candidates' faith playing big role in election calls it his "standard quote." Well, the author of "Let's Try Freedom" has made a point about Senator Kerry's inactions that may not line up all that well with his words.
What makes these questions so interesting is that I doubt that many people could read them without already knowing the answers to them. Kerry's idea of giving to charity is to have large government programs that give to charity. In fact, if a website called "crushKerry.com" is to be believed (and I certainly have questions about the accuracy of the information contained on it simply due to the name of the website), he is not much of a believer in giving to charity at all.
But even without knowing this, is there any question in anyone's mind that John Kerry does not support Crisis Pregnancy Centers? His official website makes it clear that he would not support abstinance-only programs but would insist upon the old failed "safe sex" statements. His only discussion about adoption on his official website is about gay adoption. There is not much discussion about marriage (certainly nothing I can find about keeping marriage strong), and the main focus on matters of marriage concerns the Federal Marriage Amendment and the marital tax penalty.
No, I have no reason to believe that Kerry's faith is much more than a last minute "sway the voters" kind of faith. While no one is perfectly consistent in the way that they support their faith, I see virtually no evidence that he really, truly believes in his heart that Christianity is true, or at least relevant to his life.
That's the way I see it, and I sure plan to vote accordingly.
He quotes James, but does he live it?
Lately, Senator John Kerry has been infusing his speeches with religion. He seems especially fond of quoting from James, noting that faith without works is dead. The San Francisco Chronicle, in a column entitled Voters' perceptions on candidates' faith playing big role in election calls it his "standard quote." Well, the author of "Let's Try Freedom" has made a point about Senator Kerry's inactions that may not line up all that well with his words.
Senator Kerry is on record as saying "I'm a Catholic, and so I am not in favor of abortion. But my stance on abortion is borne of my faith, and I can't impose my faith on others. Therefore, I continue to support a woman's right to choose."
He also is on record as saying that faith without works is dead. So obviously he has to do something to implement that faith-based opposition to abortion, right? If I am really, strongly opposed to something bad, but I think people have a right to do it anyway, what will my actions be? It seems to me that I will take action to mitigate the bad thing, as much as possible.
If, for example, I was a powerful Senator married to a billionaire who was "not in favor of abortion", but I thought it wrong to work directly against abortion in the legal arena, I might do some or all of the following things:
- Work to fund pregnancy crisis centers that provide non-abortion counseling
- Work to ease adoption restrictions and promote awareness of the adoption option
- Work to encourage strong marriages
- Work to encourage abstinence in young people not ready for childbearing
- Generously contribute to pregnancy centers
- Generously contribute to non-profit adoption agencies
- Generously contribute to social welfare organizations working with young mothers
I wonder what Senator Kerry's actual record is in these areas? I'm sure it must be outstanding. Surely a man of such strong faith has made enormous contributions to the areas of public policy and private charity.
Right?
What makes these questions so interesting is that I doubt that many people could read them without already knowing the answers to them. Kerry's idea of giving to charity is to have large government programs that give to charity. In fact, if a website called "crushKerry.com" is to be believed (and I certainly have questions about the accuracy of the information contained on it simply due to the name of the website), he is not much of a believer in giving to charity at all.
In 1991 and 1995 (the year of the OK City Bombing when donations to the Red Cross poured in) Kerry had incomes of $113,857 and 126,179 respectively. In those two years, Kerry donated a whopping total of, drum roll please - $0 total to charity . No, that's not a misprint - its zip, zero, zilch, nil, nada, no mas, the big donut, the collar (to use a baseball term).
This is especially puzzling given Kerry's website claim trumpeting his "active membership" in the Catholic faith. Funny, last time we were there we seem to recall a collection plate being passed. Apparently at Kerry's church they missed doing that during the 104 Sundays in 1991 and 1995. Either that or Sen. Kerry has terrible aim, as his envelope seemed to have somehow missed going into the plate or basket.
Also, it's not as if his charitable giving record in the interim was all that much to write home about. From 1992-1994 he gave a whopping total of $3,044. Which means that from 1991-1995 John Kerry gave a paltry total of $11.66 per month (or 40 cents a day - the price of a cup of coffee) to charity, for which the "children" of America will be ever grateful. Perhaps Senator Kerry was so busy dating Hollywood Starlets and trying to pay child support that he missed those commercials with Sally Struthers and the guy from Trapper John MD begging us to help starving children.
However in 1996 his fortunes changed. You see that was the year that he himself was a beneficiary of charity - that being his nuptials to the $500 million dollar woman Ter-ez-zaa Heinz. What's more he didn't have to go on "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire" to do it. We don't know how much Mrs. Heinz-Kerry gives to charity because she still refuses to release her tax records. We do know however that the "charitable" foundation she runs funds some rather loony radical left-wing causes.
But even without knowing this, is there any question in anyone's mind that John Kerry does not support Crisis Pregnancy Centers? His official website makes it clear that he would not support abstinance-only programs but would insist upon the old failed "safe sex" statements. His only discussion about adoption on his official website is about gay adoption. There is not much discussion about marriage (certainly nothing I can find about keeping marriage strong), and the main focus on matters of marriage concerns the Federal Marriage Amendment and the marital tax penalty.
No, I have no reason to believe that Kerry's faith is much more than a last minute "sway the voters" kind of faith. While no one is perfectly consistent in the way that they support their faith, I see virtually no evidence that he really, truly believes in his heart that Christianity is true, or at least relevant to his life.
That's the way I see it, and I sure plan to vote accordingly.
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