Don Hodel: 21st Century Christian Crusader

Don Hodel: 21st Century Christian Crusader

Wednesday, August 27th 1997: Can't you just see the President sitting around the Religious War Room at the White House plotting the downfall of England. Well if the Christian right has its way you might.

Don Hodel, the newish president of the Christian Coalition, has decided that interfering with American domestic policy isn't quite enough. So Hodel, putting the finishing touches on his God-fearing agenda this week, has decided to throw the might of the Christian right against worldwide religious persecution.

On its face, that quest is tough to argue against. Most of us are weary of seeing Serbs and Muslims go after each other's children, Palestinians terrorizing Jews, and "Who-tus" slaying "What-tus" in the Congo.

Hodel says, "Today we are putting another issue at the top because it is an international crisis and U.S. inaction on this subject is a disgrace. That issue is worldwide religious persecution...Today millions of people of faith around the world are being killed, tortured, raped or maimed, sold as slaves and more, for no reason other than they are Christians, Muslims or Jews or something else."

Hey Don, this "international crisis" had been going for 5,000 years and we're not going let you decide who is right and who is wrong.

Mr. Hodel, for some reason, decided to list China, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq as nations that turn their backs on religious freedom. One wonders what happened to Serbia, Bosnia, Britain, Ireland, and the Palestinian territories within Israel.

But okay, -- if we can help, maybe we should. After all, Bill Clinton might like the idea of leader the "Crusades" in the cockpit of B-1 bomber cloaked in a red, white and blue tunic, tights and helmet tastefully emblazoned with a cross of gold.

Ralph Reed

I wonder if Ralph Reed would join up as a besworded Crusader - leaving his cushy campaign consultancy to twirl a saber at the right hand of God.

One problem is which God?

And that's Hodel's problem as well.

Actually Hodel didn't come up with this idea. Our old friends and Republicans --Senator Arlen Specter (PA) and Representative Frank Wolf (VA) authored the Freedom of Religious Persecution Act sometime last year. It's going nowhere fast. Probably designedly so.

Senator Arlen Specter

The Specter-Frank bill would set up a White House office to monitor worldwide persecution. That office would "impose sanctions" on foreign governments that violate religious rights and "consider asylum procedures." Religious war would only be a pen stroke away.

Hodel, Specter and Frank fail to answer this question: "Which side do we support when religion comes into play?"

For instance, would Hodel offer asylum to American Buddhists who are currently under attack by Fred Thompson? Would Specter begin blockading London because of its activities in Northern Ireland. Or why not carpet bomb both Ireland and England in the name of fairness. That goes for Israel too. Hey, while we're at it, we could cut off shipments of Pepsi to the South in retaliation for church and synagogue bombings.

But Hodel is no fool, is he? Another topper on his "to-do" list is the passage of a constitutional amendment. Yes, another one. This one would slap down the Supreme Court which didn't like his idea of unfettered religious practices in schools and government institutions.

And they ain't kiddin

It just goes to show you that the founding fathers weren't just whistling Dixie when they separated public policy from religion. They knew that self-appointed judges like Hodel would get themselves into a pile of trouble in the name of God.

Anyway, Hodel, Specter and Frank show their obvious lack of historical perspective. Few instances of "religious persecution" are based on religion at all. Down through the ages, religion has been the convenient excuse for economic warfare or used as a rallying point for Hitlerian despots.

Hodel does the Christian Coalition a disservice as he tries to inject himself into matters of state. Next he'll suggest "The White House Office of International Family Values" which monitors tax policies of foreign nations and punishes those who fail to pass his litmus test. He's trying that now here as well.

Mr. Hodel's heart might be somewhere in the vicinity of the right place, but extending our interference, our economy and perhaps the lives of young Americans to battle for religious freedom is taking ourselves all too seriously.