ERLC's Land gives advice on voting in presidential race
___By Steve DeVane
___North Carolina Biblical Recorder
___RALEIGH, N.C. (ABP)--Southern Baptist Convention leader Richard Land said he wasn't telling people how to vote, but he made it clear he believes Republican nominee George W. Bush is the presidential candidate who most closely follows the values and beliefs he considers Christian.
___Land's comments came Oct. 19 during the Christian Action

RICHARD LAND

League of North Carolina meeting at Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh. They were filled with references to Bush, Democratic nominee Al Gore and President Clinton.
___The head of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission said he considers the upcoming election between Bush and Gore to be the most important race in the United States since 1860.
___The ERLC has prepared a voter guide comparing the platforms of the Republican and Democratic parties. Despite separation of church and state, Land said, churches can and should distribute them to members because they are for voter education and not electioneering.
___But, Land said, Gore should not be allowed to call black ministers as he reportedly did from Air Force Two. The vice president called ministers Oct. 14, Land said, urging them to ask their congregations to vote on Election Day.
___Land said Gore could make such calls only "as long as the deaf, dumb, blind woman is attorney general," an apparent reference to Janet Reno. "Hopefully, the eight-year sojourn into the Department of Justice becoming the 'obstruction of justice' is coming to an end," he said.
___Two deacons at a church where he was serving as interim pastor got upset over a sermon he preached during the impeachment hearings for Clinton, Land said. They told him to quit picking on Clinton, he said, because the president had been good for the economy and if they could they would vote for him again.
___Land said he called them "political prostitutes" and "political whores."
___"My vote's not for sale," he said. "I'm never going to vote my pocketbook."
___While God is neither a Republican nor a Democrat, Land said, God is pro-life, pro-family and not pro-homosexual.
___Christians should bring their faith into public policy, Land said, declaring that if enough Christians vote, they can use democracy for change.
___"As far as I'm concerned, the ACLU and the People for the American Way can get used to it," he said. "We're not going anywhere."
___Bush spoke at the ERLC Christian Life Seminar last year. He talked about the "seismic culture shift" in America, but added that if it can shift once, it can shift back, Land said.
___Land said the upcoming election marks the clearest choice for president in his lifetime.
___As an example, Land said, Bush has agreed with the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision that the Boy Scouts do not have to allow homosexuals to be leaders, while Gore disagreed.
___What he doesn't understand is why four Supreme Court justices would want to allow homosexuals to lead boys on camp-outs in the woods.
___"People like that are too dumb to walk," Land told about 50 people attending the meeting. He also said developers of X-rated websites have endorsed Gore because they have not been prosecuted in the last seven and a half years. People who want those websites to continue shouldn't vote for Bush, he said.
___"George W.'s going to throw the book at them," he said.
___Bush has disagreed with a Supreme Court decision that school-sponsored prayer before a Texas high school football game is not constitutional, Land reported, while Gore supported the court decision.
___Land said if people like him don't win the "struggle for the soul of America," there might not be any old-folks homes, because "Jack Kevorkian is the poster boy for the other side."
___"I would never tell you how to vote," he said. "I wouldn't even try. But I will tell you that God may want to talk to you about how you should vote."

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