-Caveat Lector- http://www.investors.com/web_edition/today/welcome.html NATIONAL ISSUE BILL BRADLEY'S 'RIGHT-WING' PAST Before Running Left Of Gore, He Was An Evangelical Date: 9/9/99 Author: Paul Sperry At 6-feet-5, Bill Bradley must have cut an imposing figure in the pulpit at the Grace Presbyterian Church in Crystal City, Mo. The faithful who heard his evangelical sermon there in the 1960s, or those who later listened to his Bible lessons at First Presbyterian Church in Princeton, N.J., are no doubt surprised to hear Bradley's secular and far-left views today. But even more surprised, fundamentalists say, are the thousands of athletes to whom Bradley ''witnessed'' in a long and emotional testimony of faith he penned as a pro basketball player. ''I love Jesus Christ and I try to serve Him to the best of my ability, no matter how small and insignificant that might be,'' Bradley wrote in the conclusion. ''I've made my choice and I've never regretted it. How about you?'' The testimony was distributed by the American Tract Society, an evangelical ministry that opposes abortion. Investor's Business Daily obtained a copy of Bradley's religious tract, which went out of print in 1971. Bradley, who kicked off his Democratic bid for the White House Wednesday, has since disavowed his fundamentalist Christian beliefs. In his 1996 memoirs, in which he did not mention the ATS tract, he says he was put off by what he calls fundamentalists' ''narrowness of view'' and intolerance of other faiths. He now embraces all religions. He's also pro-choice, calling abortion-rights foes ''zealots.'' As a three-term U.S. senator, Bradley was one of Washington's staunchest backers of a woman's freedom to abort a pregnancy - even in the final trimester. He's also for federal funding of abortions and recently chided Vice President Al Gore for waffling on the issue. Running to the left of Gore on that issue and others, Bradley has cut into Gore's lead among Democrats. In fact, Bradley and Gore are running neck and neck in New Hampshire, an August poll by KRC Communications Research shows. Those among the so-called Religious Right lament that Bradley has ''grown in office.'' ''To move forward in the leadership of the Democratic Party, he has to disavow all that (cultural conservatism),'' said Christian Coalition spokesman Jeffrey Taylor. But Bradley's spokesman sees no contradictions. ''He's always been a pro-choice Democrat in his public service,'' Eric Hauser said. And before that? He would not comment. Hauser also says Bradley, 56, was never a born-again Christian. ''I wouldn't characterize it as that,'' said Eric Hauser, though he stopped short of defining what he was. ''In general, he talks sparingly about his own personal faith, feeling that it's a private matter,'' he explained. That may be the case now. But when Bradley was around 25, he proudly broadcast his faith in Christ and exhorted others to live a biblical life: first, in an article in ''The Christian Athlete,'' the Fellowship of Christian Athletes' flagship magazine; then in the ATS sports tract. ''It is remarkable how relevant, how real and vital Jesus Christ is today. We cannot see Him, but He lives. And the Bible says that blessed is he that believes without seeing Christ,'' Bradley wrote in the tract. ''But so many want to become Christians on their own terms. Some say: 'I want Him to come into my life, and He can occupy all the rooms but one. I want the study for myself,' '' he wrote. ''Or some will give up becoming a follower of Christ because it is hard, and they won't be convinced until God shows them through a bolt of lightning or a burning bush that He is real. That was my problem when I was searching for Jesus Christ,'' Bradley confessed. He wrote he ''first met Christ'' at an FCA conference his junior year in high school. There, he was moved by personal tales of faith shared by former pro quarterback Fran Tarkenton and FCA founder Don McClanen, among other ''huddle group leaders.'' Bradley wrote that it was later, at Princeton University, that he accepted Christ as his savior in a fit of despair over bad grades. ''I knew I had been giving my life to the wrong goals,'' he recalled. ''I knew then that I wanted to give my life to Jesus Christ and His service.'' He wrapped up his testimony by urging other jocks to let Christ come into their lives. ''The choice is simple. It is between the eternal and the passing, between the strong and the weak, between the living challenge and a boring conformity,'' he wrote. ''Between Jesus Christ and the world.'' Bradley doesn't mention the testimony in his 1996 memoirs. He does recount being ''converted'' in college, but writes in general terms: He made ''agreements'' with ''God'' and took comfort in ''religion.'' He writes of other ''evangelicals'' accepting Christ as their ''personal savior,'' but not himself. And when he uses fundamentalist language - such as ''accepted'' or ''converted'' - he wraps them in quotes, as if to say: Those are their terms. Bradley writes that he ''began to see that fundamentalism had a downside'' in his senior year at Princeton, which began in 1964 - yet he still wrote his ATS testimony four years later, in 1968, as a New York Knicks rookie. As a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, he ''reacted to the narrowness of view and uncharitable attitude of many who professed the same faith.'' Bradley also resented the ''absolutism of fundamentalists.'' Intolerance was also an issue. He writes that he was particularly turned off by what he saw as racist attitudes in the Oxford church he was attending. But in ''The Christian Athlete'' article of March 1968, Bradley wrote: ''I don't think I could have studied eight hours or more a day at Oxford without the discipline I learned in sports. Also it has given me an open door to witness for Christ.'' Bradley writes that he now resists the ''exclusivity of 'true believers' '' and accepts all faiths, from Buddhism to Islam, so long as they seek ''inner peace.'' ''I'm not sure the Fellowship of Christian Athletes would subscribe to that utilitarian philosophy,'' said Christian Coalition's Taylor. As a senator, Bradley listed his faith simply as ''Protestant.'' ATS archivist Kristen Mitrisin says Bradley's tract was popular at the time and sold as many as 300,000 copies before going out of print. She said it was ''pretty strong'' and influenced a lot of athletes. ''He seems very sincere'' in his testimony of faith, Mitrisin said. ''For him to fall away from it so dramatically is too bad.'' Recent tracts by pro football great Reggie White and pro basketball player David Robinson are not nearly as deep and personal as Bradley's. Garland, Texas-based ATS represents five conservative denominations ''known as the Bible churches,'' Mitrisin said. It lists among its ''council of reference'' the head of Campus Crusade for Christ. ATS' Web site sells books such as ''Abortion: Where have all the babies gone?'' It also posts anti-abortion articles. One is on the American Life League honoring Pat Buchanan. Another, titled ''Partial Birth, Total Confusion,'' calls those among the pro-choice crowd ''extremists,'' and argues that ''the right to abort entails the right to kill, and kill cruelly.'' In 1996, Bradley voted against a ban on partial-birth abortions, while several other Democratic senators voted for the ban. His press kit boasts: ''Bradley was a consistent and unwavering supporter of a woman's right to choose.'' He supports Medicaid payments for abortion. ''He can join the crowd,'' said Marvin Olasky, author of ''Abortion Rites'' and editor of World magazine. ''Just about every Democratic leader in the country was pro-life at one time -(President) Clinton, Gore, Dick Gephardt, Jesse Jackson.'' Olasky chalks up a large part of Bradley's turn from Christian values to ''political utility.'' But Bradley, who played alongside many blacks, is passionate in his writing against racism in the church during the civil-rights movement. ''I could not fathom how those who professed such faith in Jesus Christ could so adamantly refuse to see that prejudice and discrimination against black people were affronts to Christian values,'' he wrote in 1996. Olasky, a University of Texas professor, agrees. ''Yeah, that was there, very often'' in southern churches, he said. ''But if he was that smart of a guy, you'd think he'd go beyond that'' period's ugliness and separate out the flawed, human face of the church from Christ's word. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- (C) Copyright 1999 Investors Business Daily, Inc. http://www.investors.com/web_edition/today/welcome.html Bard DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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