Robert Jeffress, the Dallas minister who made the controversial comments about Mormonism being a cult, isn’t backing down from his contention that a candidate’s faith should matter to voters. “The question is not whether personal spiritual beliefs shape a politician’s values and policies, but what spiritual beliefs mold those values and policies,” he wrote. Still, he said, “while I prefer a competent Christian over a competent non-Christian, religion is not the only consideration in choosing a candidate. Frankly, Christians have not always made good presidents. We also must consider whether a candidate is competent to lead and govern according to biblical principles.” But, he argued, “at this point, we have the opportunity to select both a competent leader and a committed Christian.”
Former Eagle editor Davis Merritt asks a question similar to that raised in the book “What’s the Matter With Kansas?”: Why is the middle class set on self-destruction? He argued in a commentary that most of the fiscal fundamentalists in the GOP are the very people who will pay the harshest price for such policies. “Despite decades of evidence to the contrary,” Merritt wrote, “millions of Americans still buy into trickle down, and the Republican leadership cynically encourages them to continue working against their self-interest.”
The plight of Ronnie Rhodes deserves special attention from Gov. Sam Brownback as he considers a clemency petition filed this week by Washburn University, where a team of law students has found troubling problems with the eyewitness testimony and legal procedures that led to Rhodes’ conviction three decades ago for a Wichita murder. Rhodes, whose case has been followed closely by The Eagle’s Ron Sylvester, was denied parole for an eighth time in August — this year by the state’s new Prisoner Review Board, a Kansas Department of Corrections panel put in place after Brownback abolished the independent Parole Board in January to save money. Evidence in the 1981 case that could now be tested for DNA cannot be located. The Washburn analysis also pointed to shortcomings in his legal representation and the appellate review of his case. Given the “red flags” of wrongful conviction identified by the Washburn students, Brownback needs to take special care to consider whether the system has done Rhodes a 30-year injustice.
Robert Jeffress, the Dallas minister who made the controversial comments about Mormonism being a cult, isn’t backing down from his contention that a candidate’s faith should matter to voters. “The question is not whether personal spiritual beliefs shape a politician’s values and policies, but what spiritual beliefs mold those values and policies,” he wrote. Still, he said, “while I prefer a competent Christian over a competent non-Christian, religion is not the only consideration in choosing a candidate. Frankly, Christians have not always made good presidents. We also must consider whether a candidate is competent to lead and govern according to biblical principles.” But, he argued, “at this point, we have the opportunity to select both a competent leader and a committed Christian.”
