Ashcroft's speech at college stirs controversy
From the Los Angeles Times
By David G. Savage
Times Staff Writer
January 13, 2001 8:07 AM CST
WASHINGTON -- Stressing the role of religion in the nation's history, attorney general nominee John Ashcroft told students at a conservative Christian college in 1999 that America was founded on the belief that "we have no king but Jesus."
"Unique among the nations, America recognized the source of our character as being godly and eternal, not (as) being civic and temporal," Ashcroft told the audience at Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C. "America has been
different. We have no king but Jesus."
In his brief remarks, the Missouri Republican stressed the importance of Christianity as the source of American law, culture and character. His comments, released by Senate Democrats late Friday, are likely to raise new questions about whether or how his deeply held religious beliefs might influence his performance as the nation's chief law enforcement officer.
Ashcroft, son of a Pentecostal minister, has said before that religious beliefs infuse every aspect of his life, "INCLUDING POLITICS."
Debate about the proper role of religion is as old as the nation itself.
While some of the nation's founders saw religious faith as the bedrock upon which everything rested, others stressed the importance of separation between church and state. Both religion and government flourished when the two were kept separate, they said.
In his 1999 remarks, made while accepting an honorary degree, Ashcroft said he believed that Christian faith was central to the nation's founding. He said that a rallying cry of the American Revolution against the British monarchy
was, "We have no king but Jesus." This call "found its way into the fundamental documents of this great country," he continued.
While the Declaration of Independence does not speak of Jesus, it says that the rights of all Americans are "endowed by their Creator."
Ashcroft said he believes that laws and civil authority cannot take the place of a religious order founded upon faith.
"There's a difference between a culture that has no king but Caesar, no standard but the civil authority, and a culture that has no king but Jesus, no standard but the eternal authority," he said. One leads to "criminality, destruction, thievery, the lowest and the least," he said. "When you have no king but Jesus, you release the eternal, you release the highest and best, you release virtue, you release potential."
His critics are likely to focus on his praise for the university where he spoke.
For much of its history, Bob Jones University practiced racial segregation. And even after it admitted black students, it maintained until recently a ban on interracial dating. Ashcroft said last year that, when he accepted the degree, he was not aware of the university's controversial views.
"I thank God for this institution," Ashcroft said, adding that he was honored to appear along with Reps. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., two leaders of the House's impeachment of President Clinton.
Bob Jones, founder of the university, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that Ashcroft was given the honorary degree because he was the first senator to call for Clinton's resignation in the wake of the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal.
"That was a courageous thing in our estimation," Jones said on CNN.
The Senate will open hearings on Ashcroft's nomination Tuesday and Democrats said that they will question their former colleague about his speech.
"Bob Jones University has become a symbol of divisiveness and intolerance in our society," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., the committee's chairman until Republicans take control of the Senate on Jan. 20. "The committee will want to explore whether Sen. Ashcroft's views have changed since he proudly accepted the university's honorary degree."
Elliot Mincberg, legal director for People for the American Way, a liberal group that opposes the nomination, said he was surprised that Ashcroft invoked God's name to praise Bob Jones University.
"For someone who takes his religious belief seriously, it seems shocking he would thank God for an institution that has such a history of religious and racial bigotry," Mincberg said. "I also think it is troubling for someone who wants to be attorney general to blur the line separating church and state."
But a spokesman for President-elect George W. Bush noted that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., the Democratic candidate for vice president, frequently had spoken of the importance of his religious faith.
"Faith is an important part of the fabric of our society," said Ari Fleischer, Bush's spokesman.
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