Deal W. Hudson

Gov. Mike Huckabee Repudiates Anti-Catholic E-Mail

Deal Hudson

As expected, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee Tuesday issued the following statement in response to media inquiries about an e-mail issued by Rev. Tim Rude in Iowa:

“We are glad that Rev. Rude issued an apology and clarification for his comments.  They were not authorized by, disseminated by, approved by, or condoned by the campaign.  Our campaign enjoys strong support from Catholics as well as evangelicals, and for that matter, from people whose support is not faith-based at all.  I have spoken in Catholic churches and maintained a strong relationship with Christian brothers and sisters from many denominations. 

“While I’m deeply grateful that many people of faith support me because they know I represent views compatible with theirs, I know that there are many others who support me because of an effective record of achieving results.  Either way, I’m grateful for the support. “I consider Sam Brownback a Christian brother and know that he feels likewise toward me.  Like Senator Brownback, several key members of my staff are Roman Catholic. As believers, we don’t have time to fight each other.  We need to focus on having a servant’s spirit and bringing hope to those who have given up.”

Huckabee is right to say that "we don't have time to fight each other." 

BUT, when blatant anti-Catholic attitudes are manifest, such as that disclosed in the e-mail from Rev. Rude, time must be taken to challenge them.

This was no small matter than should have been ignored -- it is better to have been put on the table and settled so that everyone can move on without such subterranean messages being passed around. 

Rev. Rude Offers a Sincere Apology

Deal Hudson

Here is the text of the apology just issued by Rev. Tim Rude regarding his e-mail about Sen. Brownback converting to Catholicism:

Dear Friends,

Several days ago I wrote an e-mail that contained a reference to Senator Brownback that has offended our Catholic brothers and sisters and maybe yourselves as well.  I cited that Senator Brownback had converted to Roman Catholicism in 2002, and frankly that was all I needed to know, as a recovering Catholic, about his discernment.  I also stated this fact perhaps wasn't widely known amongst evangelicals who are supporting the Senator.

I was careless in the first place with my words.  And obviously, if I knew this private e-mail would somehow not remain private, I would have taken great care not to convey anything that would be offensive to anyone.

As you know, I support Governor Huckabee first and Senator Brownback as a close second.  I have a number of friends working for the Senator and he would make an outstanding president.  The reason I wrote this, in the first place, is that this was a major factor in choosing Governor Huckabee over Senator Brownback.  I frankly agree theologically more with a Southern Baptist.  Perhaps, Mormons are rallying around Mit Romney and Catholics around Senator Brownback.  I don't know.

In no way do I think a Catholic would not make a great president, in fact, if Governor Huckabee drops out of the race I will support Senator Brownback.  But I do apologize for my statements because it could be taken as anti-Catholic which isn't the case at all.

Again, please accept my apology and I ask for your forgiveness.

Sincerely,
Tim Rude

I think Rev. Rude has shown a lot of character by making this direct and obviously heartfelt apology.  Good for him. 

We should all think twice before making careless statements about the faiths of others. 

Rev. Rude Confirms the Anti-Catholic E-Mail

Deal Hudson

The "Window" has confirmed that it was Rev. Tim Rude, pastor of  Walnut Creek Community Church, Windsor Heights, Iowa, who wrote the offensive e-mail received by members of the Brownback campaign.

Rev. Rude, who left the Catholic Church 30 years ago, plans on issuing an apology. He says he did not intend the e-mail to be made public. 

"All I was trying to say" he explained, "is that Protestants should vote for Protestants."

Huckabee Supporters Spread Anti-Catholic Message in Iowa

Deal Hudson

Members of the Brownback campaign in Iowa have received an anti-Catholic e-mail being
circulated among Evangelical voters in Iowa.  They are certain that it came from a leader
at Walnut Creek Community Church in Windsor Heights, IA.  The pastor of the church is
Rev. Tim Rude.

They also know the email has been in circulation for the past two weeks.
It came to their attention a few days ago when it was sent to a key Brownback
evangelical supporter.

The author of the e-mail appeals to anti-Catholic prejudice in an effort to
discredit Senator Brownback's "discernment" and character. He says that
Huckabee is "one of us" and he makes a reference to Catholicism as if it's a
disease or affliction to "recover" from.

The author provides evidence of the whisper campaign in his comment that, "I
don't [know] if this fact [Brownback's Catholicism] is widely known among
evangelicals who are supporting Brownback."

Here is the text of the e-mail, with the names removed, that was supplied to the
Brownback campaign:

"Dear XXX and XXX,

"Pastors XXX and XXX relayed to me that you are both supporting Sam
Brownback for President. It sounds like there is, in fact, regular
contact with Senator Brownback and yourselves. I applaud your
participation in the selection of the next president of the United
States. It is our duty as Christians to take our stewardship of
this country extremely serious. And I am sure that you are aware
that our entire Walnut Creek leadership staff, to my knowledge, is
supporting Mike Huckabee.

"On July 20, we drove up to Ames and spoke with pastors XXX and XXX
about our position and were well received. However, it sounds like
you are the men we need to communicate with about our advocacy.

"I am interested in your decision to support this candidate. As you
know, both candidates are down in the polls. Nation-wide polls
show Brownback at 1% and Huckabee at 3% amongst Republican candidates.

"About 3 weeks ago, I met the Governor personally. I learned that
he was a Southern Baptist pastor for 12 years. The Governor told
us that he concluded that people needed to gain positions in the
government in order to safeguard our Christian values. People need
to make that sacrifice. He served as LT. Governor prior to serving
as governor for 10 and a half years.

"The second time he ran for Gov. he gained over 48% of the black
vote. That is remarkable and it conveys he can really broaden his
base. I think he is electable. He is a remarkable communicator. 
I believe as people listen to him, just like in Arkansas, they will
like what he says and like him personally. I have listened to him
in private and over the radio. He is the best communicator I have
ever heard run for office. President Reagan was a great
communicator but he did not as closely represent a Christian
perspective as does Huckabee, although Reagan did a very good job.

"Huckabee is an evangelical. He has not learned how to speak to
evangelicals; i.e. Bush 41 & 43. He is one of us.  I know
Senator Brownback converted to Roman Catholicism in 2002. Frankly,
as a recovering Catholic myself, that is all I need to know about
his discernment when compared to the Governor's. I don't if this
fact is widely known among evangelicals who are supporting Brownback.

"The one criticism of Huckabee is that he raised taxes in Arkansas. 
First of all, is that he had to raise money to meet some Federally
imposed funding initiatives. When he took office, Arkansas was
47th ranked state in education. When he left office, they were
23rd rank. The roads were in horrible shape in the aftermath of
the Clintons. He raised money for them. This is a
constitutionally sanctioned responsibility of government. He cut
taxes 86 times in Arkansas. He left with a budget surplus that was
significant. He also left office with an 86% approval rating. He
can build consensus even in a primarily Democratic state.

"Michael Ferris of the Home School Legal Defense Association
enthusiastically endorses him as does the former Promise Keeper
magazine New Man.

"There is much more to say. Like you, we are trying to make a 1st
or 2nd place showing in the Iowa Straw Poll to give our candidates
a boost and viability. Money and media attention would be gained to
the winners. All Huckabee needs is exposure in my opinion. The
money will come and will the volunteers.  I would ask you to
reconsider your support of Senator Brownback; and lead your people
in not splitting the Christian vote among the two candidates. I
have been impressed with the pastors across the Greater Des Moines
area switching their support or giving their support for the
Governor. We are in Iowa for 'such a time as this'.

"XXX church is trying to gain 1000 votes of people who were not
planning on going to the Iowa Straw Poll from our efforts alone. 
Would you join us in accomplishing this goal?

"Brownback is a good man but there is a better candidate in my
opinion. One that will gain momentum as he is heard. The Gov. is
of true presidential character.

"Well, I thought I would give this a shot. I know it is hard to
change horses in the middle of the stream but I know you will
prayerfully consider what I have to say.

" Your brother and friend,"

End of e-mail

I'm confident Gov. Huckabee will quickly repudiate this kind of anti-Catholic
campaigning.  But it does demonstrate the kind of unfortunate resistance
to Evangelical-Catholic political cooperation that still exists in the American heartland. 

Deal W. Hudson
Executive Director
Morley Institute for Church & Culture
Washington, D.C.

Procreating for Putin

Deal Hudson

It had to happen: What does a totalitarian country do when it's population is in a nosedive due to abortion and declining birthrate?

Invite 10,000 young adults to a summer camp and encourage them to marry and have sex, but not necessarily in that order.  Condoms are forbidden.

The sad outcome is likely to be the use of abortion to pay the price of the summer fun.  Mother Russia is still a country that uses abortion as contraception. 

Until Putin and other Russian leaders have the courage to shut down the abortion clinics and promote a culture of life these social experiments will only exacerbate the problems.

Why Print Publications Go Digital

Deal Hudson

The latest issue of Fortune magazine contains an article, "Can the Washington Post Survive?"

By reading this article you can understand the market forces that led the board of the Morley Publishing Group to conclude that Crisis magazine should go digital.

Donald E. Graham, the chairman and CEO of the Washington Post, has led his newspaper in an aggressive direction away from print onto the Internet and radio.  Many of his reporters regularly spend just as much time doing podcasts, radio shows, and taking video footage as they do writing for print.

No less a sage than Warren Buffett, a lifelong newspaper aficionado, the owner of the Buffalo News, and a director of the Washington Post Co. for most of the past 35 years, told Fortune, "The present model - meaning print - isn't going to work."

The print model isn't going to work -- Morley came to the same conclusion.  Given the limited resources of a Catholic magazine underwritten by donations, rather than financed by print ads, the board decided the future of Catholic journalism is on the Internet.

Graham and Buffet have come to the same conclusion.  

License to Lust After Our Children?

Marjorie Campbell, marjorie@marjoriecampbell.com

People have always had strange, disruptive appetites that can drive them to distraction - but must remain restrained by force of law, moral authority and community insistence.  I have worried for years that the pedophile appetite would press to be unleashed from societal constraints and, I must admit, found disturbing evidence in the NYT article you cite, Deal, reported as a banner online news story by AOL today. 

Who, I wondered after reading the article several times, is the social misfit here?  Am I misreading this article or does the NYT seem strangely to suggest that Mr. McClellan presents concerns only vigilante mothers find pressing?  In this regard the NYT notes that Mr. McClellan is adopted, can't work, has no criminal record, has been "run out of Washington State" and has touched children only "non-sexually" and "fears for his safety".  The reporter then asserts that legal remedies "most likely will be a difficult road" citing a UCLA 1st amendment law professor who calls it "an interesting case."

What a profoundly odd way to report on a gut-wrenching, hovering predator who has hosted a website "to promote association, friendship; and legal, nonsexual, consensual touch (hugging, cuddling, etc) between men and prepubescent girls", identifying locations for finding "unsupervised girls", and offering extensive resources and news reporting on "girl love".  His observations includes statements like this:   It might seem provocative to be hanging around elementary school playgrounds these days, but I've been surprised at how close you can get to some and how long you can loiter there without being noticed (or at least questioned).

But the NYT did not report on this content.  Nor did the NYT pull in the comments of trained psychological and mental health professionals on the dangers to society of nurturing this disorder, the likelihood of "celibate" girl love, the impact on girls of being "consensually, non sexually" fondled by men longing for "girl love", the likely provocation and inciting of sexual predation by his online broadcasts or the profound psychological harm to this disordered, nonworking individual living no doubt miserably in pursuit of a longing that promises only evil.  Nor did the NYT seemed concerned to find 1st Amendment professionals who offered legal and legislative options for addressing such a serious threat and unacceptable provocation.  Such a range of professionals exist, of course, but why were they not of interest to the NYT?  These omissions are particularly disturbing in view of the dreadful recidivism rate and our inability to assimilate convicted men suffering this grave disorder safely back into our communities.

This is playing with fire.  I am reminded of the founding of MADD - and the tragic self-help undertaken by Ellie Nesler when she fired 5 shots in a California courtroom into the head of a man accused of sexually molesting her son.  Asking mothers to stand by calmly while the community licenses disturbed, isolated men to lust freely after our children slams the Culture of Adult Desire against a mother's instinct to protect her children.  That's not a safe match to strike.

Pedophile Apologetics in the New York Times

Deal Hudson

This article from the New Yorks Times is truly disturbing.

It chronicles the LA story of "Jack McClellan, who has had Web sites detailing how and where he likes to troll for children, appears to be doing nothing illegal."

He writes on his "exhibitionist" blog with "his thoughts about little girls."

McClellan has been kicked out of one community already:

"Two months ago, Mr. McClellan said, he was more or less run out of Washington State, where he lived off and on with his parents, after the news media there and various Web sites drew attention to his activities, making him worry about his safety and that of his family. He had been posting nonsexual pictures of children on a Web site intended to promote the acceptance of pedophiles, and to direct other pedophiles to events and places where children tended to gather."

Acceptance of pedophiles?  This kind of thing has been in the air for many years, promoted by organizations such as NAMBLA, but this kind of marketing is unique. 

Read the article and ask yourself if the New York Times reporter wrote this article with any kind of moral compass, at all.

Evangelicals Declare Support for Palestine

Deal Hudson

Thirty four evangelical leaders have signed a letter to President Bush urging him to pursue the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

The letter was the result of a February meeting of U.S. Islamic League Forum in Doha, Qatar of Evangelicals and Muslims religious leaders and diplomats. 

As someone who attended the meeting to me, everyone was surprised by the level of evangelical concern for Palestinian issues. 

It's taken as a given in the Middle East that American evangelicals are completely indifferent to the problems on the West Bank. 

The letter makes it clear that signers also consider themselves strong supporters of Israel. 

For the most part, this group of evangelicals are not from the mainstream of the "Religious Right."

In fact, some of them, such as Tony Campolo, have long been a vocal critic of the Robertson-Falwell-Reed-Dobson wing of evangelicalism.

One of the signers, however, is the editor of the influential Christianity Today, David Neff. 

If publications like that begin a steady drumbeat of concern for Palestinians, mainstream evangelical opinion could be affected.

"Pirates" at the USCCB

Deal Hudson

The scene of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" most-favored by the USCCB reviewer is precisely the one that would have run me out of the theater if my son had not been sitting next to me.

At that moment it occurred to me that everybody involved in the film had lost their minds and had nothing better to offer than an underwater phantasmagoria of "surreal" Jack Sparrows.

Jack Sparrow above water is strange enough and strains credulity. 

It's like Jack Nicklaus says about a hazard on the golf course: A golfer should never have to suffer from more than one hazard at a time, for example, when the ball is behind a tree in a sand trap. The sand trap alone is sufficient and just punishment for the errant shot.

To put Jack Sparrow is into the realm of a watery underworld of demons and spirit was too hard to follow, too taxing on the suspension of disbelief, an obstacle for the mind hungry for order, even  in works of imagination.

Once again, I disagree with the USCCB. Oh well, it's only a movie this time.