The Republican National Committee (RNC) said yesterday that it mailed residents in two states literature warning that if the “liberals” win in November, they will ban the Bible; the mailing also included a statement that if the “liberals” win, they will allow same-sex marriage.
Catholic League president William Donohue criticized the RNC today:
“For the past week, reports have surfaced that the RNC has been behind a mass mailing warning the residents of Arkansas and West Virginia that if the ‘liberals’ win the election, they will ban the Bible. Now the RNC has admitted that it did so; this was its way of appealing to religious voters. But what it did is exploitative. Not only are the Republicans indulging in fear-mongering, they are also playing to the stereotype of Christians from rural communities.
“The role of religion in the public square is something the Catholic League wants discussed by both Republicans and Democrats, and that is why we ran an op-ed page ad in the New York Times on September 20 called ‘Censoring Religious Speech.’ But what the RNC did in these two states has nothing to do with the public expression of religion. No more mailings of this sort should be approved.”
