Nelson doesn't act like Christian, Harris says The senator's GOP opponent says his votes go against the faith's principles.
Jim Stratton | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted October 6, 2006 Six weeks after urging voters to elect only "tried and true" Christians, Senate candidate Katherine Harris is questioning her opponent's faith by saying he "votes completely contrary" to Christian principles. In an interview published by a Christian news service, Harris said incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson "claims to be a Christian" but supports policies "completely contrary to what we say we believe." Nelson is a nondenominational Christian who was baptized Baptist. He grew up attending Baptist and Episcopal churches and joined First Presbyterian Church after moving to Orlando last year, according to spokesman Bryan Gulley. He has served as chairman and vice chairman of the National Prayer Breakfast and, when in Washington, attends weekly prayer breakfasts with other elected officials. When he flew on the space shuttle in 1986, he took a Bible with him. Nelson issued a statement this week, saying, "My faith is the essence of my being. But it is a part of my life I don't feel I should try to take advantage of in the public square." Jim Towey, President Bush's former director of faith-based and community initiatives, has known Nelson for about a decade. When Nelson was Florida insurance commissioner and Towey was the state's secretary of Health and Rehabilitative Services, they started a lunchtime Bible study together. Towey said that continued when he and Nelson moved to Washington. Towey, a Democrat, said he disagrees with Nelson's legislative position on abortion but does not question his religious convictions. "Bill Nelson is a man sincerely following the Lord and seeking him," said Towey, who worked for a Republican senator before joining the White House senior staff. "It's very important to him." Towey, now a college president in Pennsylvania, said Harris' comments about Nelson "sounded desperate." Wooing evangelicals Harris, a Republican congresswoman from Longboat Key, has been courting evangelical Christians -- a group that has historically supported her -- for much of her Senate campaign. In late August, she angered some Christians and non-Christians with comments she made to the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention. Harris said that God did not intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that failure to elect "tried and true" Christians would allow lawmakers "to legislate sin." She also said "God is the one who chooses our rulers" and suggested non-Christians "don't know better." Harris spokeswoman Jennifer Marks said the candidate's comments about Nelson's commitment to religious principles were "absolutely appropriate." She said Nelson is "claiming to share" Christian values but acting in ways inconsistent with them. Marks said Nelson opposed a ban on partial-birth abortions, opposed an amendment forbidding gay marriage and opposed a measure requiring parental notification of minors being taken across state lines to seek an abortion. "He has to answer for his record," Marks said. Nelson spokesman Gulley said Harris was twisting facts to suit her politics. Gulley said Nelson opposed the partial-birth-abortion ban because it did not allow for exceptions in which the life of the mother might be in danger. He opposed the marriage amendment because he thought the issue should be left to the states. Nelson, however, opposes gay marriage and supports the state's ban on it. 'Not the first time' for Harris Gulley said Nelson supported a Senate parental-notification proposal but opposed a House version. The House version did not allow a judge to override parental notification and called for criminal penalties for doctors if they did not follow the abortion laws of their home state and the laws in the patient's home state. "It was too broad," Gulley said. "They would have had to know the laws in all 50 states." Gulley said Harris had "no credibility" and voters would dismiss what she had said. "It's not the first time she's made remarks of a religious nature that some might find offensive," he said. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-senreligion0606oct06,0,7491785.story?coll=orl-news-headlines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:217059 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
