Yesterday, the Catholic League issued a news release exposing the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) newly appointed Senior Advisor for Religious Outreach, Rev. Brenda Bartella Peterson, as one of thirty-two clergy members to file an amicus brief seeking to excise the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Today, Catholic League president William Donohue reveals more about her:
“Last November, a small group of mostly Protestant clergy members on the Left started a group called the Clergy Leadership Network (CLN) to counter the efforts of the so-called Religious Right. Its first executive director, Rev. Brenda Bartella Peterson, explained that ‘Our sole mission is to get a national leadership change.’
“The CLN seems more at home with politics than religion. For example, when Rev. Peterson was asked whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God, she breezily answered, ‘I would rather you not quote my theology.’ She is similarly uneasy talking about abortion. That is why she said her clergy group takes no position on abortion, saying only that it would interfere with the CLN’s ‘reason for existence.’ Which means getting rid of Bush.
“When Rev. Peterson was tapped to become the DNC’s Senior Advisor for Religious Outreach, the Democratic activists knew exactly what they were getting: all she had to do was walk across the street from her CLN office to join the DNC. And what they got is a person who believes that ‘paying taxes is a way of loving your neighbor.’ Maybe she’ll persuade Teresa Heinz Kerry to tell us how much she pays in taxes so we can get a handle on just how much the billionaire loves her neighbor.
“So this is the kind of person the DNC wants practicing Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Muslims to embrace. If Peterson were a plant by the Bush camp, we’d understand it. What we don’t understand is political suicide.”
