Salazar lets fly
Focus on Family aims to create theocracy in U.S., senator says
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
April 22, 2005
WASHINGTON - Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., intensified his war of words with Focus on the Family on Thursday, accusing its evangelical Christian leaders of trying to turn the United States into a theocracy.
"I think that the way Focus on the Family and the conservative right wing is attempting to take the country will threaten the basic cornerstone of our freedom," Salazar said in an interview.
The back and forth between the state's new senator and one of the nation's most powerful evangelical groups was touched off by the fight over President Bush's judicial nominations.
But it has escalated into a brawl in which the sides are trading shots over whether the U.S. Senate is anti-Christian and whether Focus on the Family is anti-Catholic.
A political arm of the Colorado Springs-based ministry has mounted an aggressive ad campaign against Salazar and senators from 15 states. It is pressuring them to scrap filibuster rules that have allowed Democrats to block a handful of controversial judicial nominations.
Salazar, a Democrat and lifelong Catholic, blasted the ads on Wednesday, saying Focus on the Family was "hijacking" Christianity and becoming an appendage of the Republican Party. The ministry reaches millions of evangelical Christians through the leadership of its founder, James Dobson.
"I think the kind of attack that is being used against (Democratic senators) and against me has the potential of moving our country to abandoning the freedom of worship which we enjoy in this country, and moving toward the creation of a theocracy," Salazar said.
After his first verbal barrage on Wednesday, a Focus on the Family spokesman said Salazar was aligning himself with Democratic senators who allegedly showed an anti-Catholic bias in rejecting one of the appeals court nominees, former Alabama attorney general William Pryor.
Salazar responded Thursday with a terse letter to Dobson. In it, he defended Senate colleagues of various faiths, and he called on Dobson to repudiate a Focus board member who once referred to Catholicism as "a false church."
The board member, R. Albert Mohler Jr., said Thursday he stands by the comments he made in March 2000 on the cable news show Larry King Live.
"I believe that the Roman church is a false church and it teaches a false gospel," Mohler said at the time. "And indeed, I believe that the pope himself holds a false and unbiblical office."
Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminar in Louisville, Ky., said he was shocked by Salazar's letter to Dobson.
"It's either a demonstration of the most grotesque form of manipulation or evidence of absolute ignorance," he said. "Anyone who is shocked that evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics disagree on fundamental theological doctrines is simply unaware of four centuries plus of church history."
"This is really an effort to divert attention from the fact that there is an anti-Christian bias, an anti-Catholic bias, that is evident in this debate over judges," Mohler said.
Dobson was not available for comment Thursday. In an appearance on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes show late Thursday, he defended Mohler's past statements about Catholicism.
"This is not about Catholicism. This is about an effort in the Senate to block people of faith and also people with conservative views. It's not just those with Christian views," Dobson said. "It's not a fight against Catholicism.
"Senator Salazar is the one who's trying to change the subject," Dobson said, because he abandoned a campaign promise to give all judicial nominees an up-or-down vote in the Senate.
Judicial appointments have been a key issue for evangelical Christian groups. They blame judges for not enforcing decency standards, denying public displays of the Ten Commandments and refusing to reinsert the feeding tube of Florida hospice patient Terri Schiavo.
Mohler and Dobson are scheduled to appear together Sunday on a nationwide simulcast intended to rally support for ending Senate filibuster rules. The "Justice Sunday" event also will feature Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship and a videotape appearance by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Heated rhetoric about judicial appointments has dominated Capitol Hill this week. Republicans, working with evangelical Christian groups, are threatening to seek rule changes giving all judicial nominees a right to an up-or-down vote in the Senate. Under existing rules, a minority party can use filibuster procedures to delay an appointment indefinitely unless there are 60 votes to proceed.
Ten of President Bush's more controversial judicial nominees stalled during his first term, and he recently renominated seven of them. Salazar, who took office in January, said the traditional filibuster helps ensure that nominees have at least some bipartisan support before winning lifetime appointments.
"I may never participate in a filibuster. I may support some or all of these judges," Salazar said. "But that's not the question that's being debated today. It really is a question about breaking the rules in the middle of the game, and an abuse of power on the part of one party that holds all the keys to the kingdom."
Focus on the Family's Carrie Gordon Earll said Salazar was the one using religious division as a distraction.
"Focus has worked alongside Catholics for years on very key social issues, and we expect that to continue," Earll said. "The letter from Sen. Salazar to Dr. Dobson is a religious rabbit trail getting us away from the real issue here, which is, 'Will Salazar give these qualified nominees an up-or-down vote or is he going to be part of the obstruction?' And I think the answer to that is becoming painfully clear."
Salazar's Senate offices fielded a flood of phone calls on both sides of the issue Thursday, as observers debated the pros and cons of a new senator attacking one of the best-known religious groups in his state.
Catholic senator, board member go head to head
• "I think that the way Focus on the Family and the conservative right wing is attempting to take the country will threaten the basic cornerstone of our freedom."
- Sen. Ken Salazar, who says evangelical Christian leaders are trying to turn the U.S. into a theocracy
• "This is not about Catholicism. This is about an effort in the Senate to block people of faith and also people with conservative views. It's not just those with Christian views."
- R. Albert Mohler Jr., Focus on the Family board member on Salazar's criticism of the group