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http://snipurl.com/e2qa Saturday, April 16, 2005 The Courier-Journal Louisville, KY Judicial fight heads to church Event at Highview to target filibusters By Andrew Wolfson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Conservative Christian leaders will be in Louisville next weekend for a national telecast in which they plan to accuse Senate Democrats of blocking "people of faith and moral conviction" from being confirmed as federal judges. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will join the telecast through a four-minute videotaped speech, his spokesman said, a move that has prompted criticism from many Democrats. Organizers said the April 24 event will be taped at Highview Baptist Church and simulcast to more than 1,000 churches and a million "values voters" nationwide, in hope of rallying support for dropping a Senate rule that has allowed Democrats to block 10 of President Bush's judicial nominees. In a flier promoting the event, its sponsor, the Family Research Council, says that "for years, activist courts, aided by liberal interest groups like the ACLU, have been quietly working under the veil of the judiciary, like thieves in the night, to rob us of our Christian heritage and our religious freedoms." Organizers said Highview was selected for the telecast because it is the home church of one of the speakers, Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Democrats and national liberal groups are denouncing the program -- being called "Justice Sunday: Stop the Filibuster Against People of Faith" -- and saying it is an attempt to exploit religion for political purposes. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters yesterday that Frist's participation is "really beyond the pale" and "just creates more divisiveness that is so unnecessary. "In America, we are a democracy, not a theocracy," Reid said. "God does not take part in partisan politics." People for the American Way, a Washington-based group that supports "a diverse Democratic society," has called for Frist to repudiate the April 24 event, which it described as "religious McCarthyism. It is dishonest, destructive and despicable." The Rev. Barry Lynn, a lawyer and minister who is executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said it is an "absurd claim that the federal courts are somehow destroying Christianity. What the Family Research Council is really worried about is that the courts are the last line of defense against the very extreme agenda of the religious right." 'Double standard' In a written statement, Frist spokesman Bob Stevenson accused Senate Democrats and other critics of a "double standard," noting that they said nothing last fall when Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry spoke of "eternal life" and denounced Bush from the pulpit of a Baptist church in Florida. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., issued similar remarks, saying in a statement to the newspaper, "I don't recall the Courier being concerned about this type of activity when presidential candidate John Kerry openly campaigned in churches during the 2004 election." Mohler said he is proud Highview will play host to the event; he called it "important for the Christian community." "I think it is really important that Christians understand as citizens what we should expect from the courts and what is the proper role of the judiciary," he said. "I hope they will come to a new understanding of why we as citizens should pay very careful attention to the judicial nominating and confirmation process � and where appropriate, become active in that process." Highview's senior pastor, the Rev. Kevin Ezell, said the 6,000-member church "very much supports" the national telecast. "It is obvious there is a bias against faith-based people," Ezell said. "I'd rather not go any further than that." Other speakers will include Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, which produces a religious radio program broadcast in more than 164 countries; and Chuck Colson, the born-again Watergate defendant and founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries. The telecast will be distributed to churches around the country, through the Internet and over Christian television and radio networks. The broadcast and a 30-minute service preceding it will be taped in Highview's new $10 million building on Shelbyville Road, which seats 2,000. Founded about 50 years ago, Highview is a conservative Baptist church. On its Web site, the church says its members believe "the Scriptures are literally God-breathed and contain no mixture of error. The truth of Scripture and the person of Christ are the foundations of the church and stand in direct opposition to the moral ills of society." Targeting Senate rules The Louisville event will come on the heels of threats by Republicans, including House leader Tom DeLay, to impeach federal judges for failing to heed Congress' call to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who died March 31 after the courts refused to order her feeding tube reinserted. Conservative Christians are calling for the Senate to change its rules and allow an up-or-down, majority vote on judicial confirmations. The Democratic minority has blocked confirmation of 10 of Bush's judicial nominees, while confirming 204, by preventing Republicans from gaining the 60 votes needed to close debate. Frist has promised that the Republican majority might change the rules to require only a majority vote, and Democrats have vowed to bring Senate business to a standstill if he does. The Family Research Council says a vote on the rule would be the most important in the Senate this year. "As the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left has been repudiated in almost every recent election, the courts have become the last bastion for liberalism," the group's president, Tony Perkins, says in the organization's flier promoting the event. "Many of these nominees to the all-important appellate court level are being blocked, not because they haven't paid their taxes or because they have used drugs or because they have criminal records or for any other reason that would disqualify them from public service; rather, they are being blocked because they are people of faith and moral conviction." The flier depicts a young man holding a Bible in one hand and a gavel in the other and states, "The filibuster was once abused to protect racial bias, and now it is being used against people of faith." In an interview, Perkins said Senate Democrats have targeted nominees by "code word," opposing those it says have "deeply held personal beliefs," which he said means they are opposed to abortion and are religious. But Lynn noted that the Senate has confirmed many Catholics and evangelical Christians. And in a letter to Frist, Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way, said that debates over Bush's judicial nominees have "focused on their public records and judicial philosophies, not on their religious beliefs." Lawmakers' feedback Kentucky Rep. Anne Northup, R-3rd District, issued a statement saying: "President Bush's judicial nominees deserve an up-or-down vote by the Senate. It is up to individual churches to decide whether they want to participate in a telecast or forum on the issue." But Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., issued a statement yesterday saying he hopes that Frist "will decide not to participate in this blatant assault on the fundamental principle of separation of church and state. "Obviously, it's a desperation tactic and a clear sign that as of today, Republicans don't have the votes for their irresponsible nuclear option as the intense battle over judges enters the home stretch." Cam Savage, a spokesman for Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Sodrel of Indiana, said yesterday that depicting Democrats who oppose some of Bush's court picks as "against people of faith" is "certainly not language that the congressman would use." Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky. and Reps. Ron Lewis, R-2nd District, and Hal Rogers, R-5th District, did not return phone calls seeking comment. Staff writer James R. 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