[Marxism] Bush, McCain, Keyes and "moral values"

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob Jones University* Drops Interracial Dating Ban
Fundamentalist school finds itself thrust into Republican presidential  
debate.

From Evangelical Press | Bob Jones III, president of Bob Jones  
University (BJU), announced March 3 that the fundamentalist school is  
dropping its longstanding ban on interracial dating. The move comes  
after widespread criticism of the policy in the wake of presidential  
candidate George W. Bush's campaign appearance at the school.
. . .

The southern school adopted its ban on interracial dating in the 1950s.  
Ironically, the policy was not instituted in response to concerns of  
white parents, but came after an Asian family threatened to sue the  
school when their son, who was a student at the school, nearly married  
a white girl. BJU did not admit black students until the 1970s. The  
school lost its tax-exempt status in 1983 after a 13-year battle with  
the Internal Revenue Service, which said the school's policies violated  
federal law.

The school had justified its ban on interracial dating by saying that  
God created people differently for a reason.

George W. Bush spoke at the school prior to South Carolina's primary.  
Although other candidates have spoken at BJU over the years without  
incident, the appearance by Bush was portrayed by political foe John  
McCain as an endorsement of the school's extreme beliefs, including its  
prohibition on interracial dating and its anti-Catholic views. Bush  
subsequently made it clear that he does not share the school's  
controversial views, and apologized for missing an opportunity to speak  
against bigotry during his visit to BJU.

South Carolina House Speaker Pro Tem Terry Haskins, a Greenville  
Republican and Bob Jones graduate, quit as co-chair of McCain's South  
Carolina campaign organization in response to McCain's remarks. Haskins  
said Bob Jones III is serious about trying to reconcile deep spiritual  
convictions with a changing social and political landscape. "It hurts  
him to be portrayed as an institution that teaches hate," Haskins said.

Bob Jones University is a school of 3,500 students with a strict  
fundamentalist bent. Its presidents have been outspoken in their  
criticism of other Christian leaders, including Billy Graham, whom they  
criticize for reaching out to many denominations during crusades. When  
Pope John Paul II visited South Carolina in 1987, the late Bob Jones,  
Jr. said he would rather "speak to the devil himself" than meet with  
the Pope.
. . .

Related Elsewhere
CBN News reported that McCain may had originally planned a trip to the  
university.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/110/53.0.html
______________

George Bush, Alan Keyes, and Bob Jones University

While in South Carolina Bush went and spoke at Bob Jones University.  
Bob Jones University is a university that forbids its students from  
inter-racial dating and is anti-catholic. Bush said he was upset  
because McCain accused him of being anti-Catholic...he didn't say  
anything at the time about being against inter-racial dating ``I reject  
bigotry and I repudiate anti-Catholicism and racism and I reject the  
politics of those who try to pit one group of Americans against another  
and those who try divide us based upon our race or based upon our  
faith,'' Bush said.

My question is…did he tell that the Christian fundamentalist when he  
went to visit Bob Jones? Why would Bob Jones University want him to  
speak there if he held such views, views in such contrast to what they  
believe to be ordained positions from Christ himself?

Now Alan Keyes who along with John McCain attacked Bush for not saying  
his strong anti-racism and ant-catholic bashing statement when he was  
at Bob Jones University also seems to have fucked up. Keyes had just  
spoken there on fucking Monday the day before the debate his damn self.  
Furthermore, Mr. Keyes had even requested that the University send a  
musical group to his Friday night rally in Greenville.

Now why would Keyes be so upset at Bob Jones Universities stance on  
inter-racial dating and Anti-Catholic views when it comes to Bush but  
invite them to play at his own damn rally? During the 1996 Presidential  
primaries, he also spoke at Bob Jones and never uttered a single word  
of reproach against the University. For a man that does a lot of talk  
about integrity he sure does have a short memory. Like the time he  
forgot he was a black man speaking at Bob Jones.
http://www.8bm.com/diatribes/volume01/diatribes035/diatribes705-723/ 
diatribes716.htm
_________

McCain's Selective Outrage
Jacob Weisberg
Posted Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000, at 12:33 AM PT

You have to admire John McCain's guts. Going to Virginia Beach, the  
home of Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, to denounce the  
religious right is about as ballsy a move as we're likely to see in  
Republican politics in this lifetime. It was a pungent, Sister Souljah  
moment. But once you get done being impressed by McCain's cojones, you  
have to wonder a bit about his coherence. To denounce the "agents of  
intolerance" while standing next to Gary Bauer might be the act of a  
hero. It's definitely not the act of an intellectual or moral purist.
. . .
This is not McCain's first burst of selective outrage. All the time he  
has been blasting away at George W. for visiting Bob Jones University  
without protesting its policies, McCain has been giving a free ride to  
the man who was his most valuable ally in South Carolina, Rep. Lindsey  
Graham. Graham accepted an honorary degree from Bob Jones himself. When  
Brit Hume pointed out this inconvenient fact while Graham was  
denouncing Bush's visit to Bob Jones on Fox News Channel, Graham used  
the same defense Bush gave before he changed his mind and apologized to  
Cardinal O'Connor: Lots of other Republicans did the same thing before  
everyone suddenly woke up one day and decided it was unacceptable. "I  
was invited to go, I went, and I'll accept responsibility for going,"  
Graham said. "People like Strom Thurmond and Bob Dole have gone."

In other words, McCain's problem isn't with all "agents of intolerance"  
trying to exert influence within the Republican Party. It's just with  
the agents of intolerance who don't happen to be helpful John McCain
More at http://slate.msn.com/id/1004709/

Another interesting and prescient February 28, 2000, article at The  
American Atheist:
http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/elec8.htm
___________

* "Founded as Bob Jones College in College Point, Florida, in 1927 by  
well-known evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., the school moved to  
Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1933. In 1947 it moved again, this time to its  
current 200 plus acre campus in Greenville, South Carolina, and  
reopened as Bob Jones University. Today the university offers over 150  
undergraduate and graduate majors to more than 5000 students each  
year."

In the interest of full disclosure, Bob Jones University was a  
consistent draw for my high school in Beaumont, California (class size  
in the 1950s of 60-70).

Brian Shannon





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