Democrats Hold Church Sacred & Don't Solicit Members

This is just amazing. It isn't amazing that Republicans would request church directories so they can spam, telephone and mass mail members in an attempt to recruit new Republicans. It's amazing that the North Carolina Republican leadership chooses to try to smear Democrats by linking them to homosexuals. This is a smear? Oh, please.

Chris Mears, the political director for the state GOP doesn't have the balls to face questions after sending out the request to North Carolina churches. According to The Charlotte Observer, he referred questions to Bill Peaslee, the state party's chief of staff.

Peaslee says Republicans are just appealing to one of their constituencies when they ask church members to break the rules that most churches have about disseminating personal information about their members for the purposes of solicitation. The Catholic Diocese has this rule, my church has this rule and I know many others do as well.

Peaslee is quoted in the Observer as saying:

"... The Democrats may feel it's more profitable to go and do voter registration drives at a homosexual convention. We feel more comfortable going to churches."

Classy guy, eh?

Jerry Meek, the chairman of the Democratic Party of North Carolina, says that Democrats don't seek membership lists of organizations.

"We believe that people go to church to worship and not to sign up to receive Republican propaganda," Meek said. "I would say the vast majority of Democrats are Democrats because of their faith, not in spite of it. But that is a place that is so sacred that we should not inject politics into the church."

Not only is it classy. It's true. I'm a Democrat because of my faith. My parents raised me to believe that helping others was a daily event. They live it. They breathe it. I don't quite do as good a job as they do, but the message is being passed to my children as well. Helping others. Loving and respecting our neighbors, teachers, family. Doing what's right. These messages fit right in with going to church. These messages are woven into the fabric of the Democratic Party.

Reddhedd at Firedoglake had a wonderful post back in January. It's titled A Question of Doing What's Right. It sometimes doesn't load properly, but the post is worth searching for on the site. Here's just a small bit from that post:

Growing up, my folks taught me that I was no better than anyone else. Period. But they also taught me that no one else was better than me, either, and that sense of self has helped me to question things that I thought were wrong my whole life. It's one of the reasons that I started blogging.

But it isn't enough that I want more for myself and my family. Every person in this nation needs to wake up and realize that they deserve more as well. That's a message that Democrats could take to the bank, I'm sure of it. I know it is a message that would resonate here in West Virginia. People are hungry for hope, they are hungry for someone who will value them -- and not just use them as a pawn.

More than that, they deserve to be valued. It's a question of doing what is right, not just what is politically expedient in the moment to win the election or raise more money or whatever else seems to be driving political power these days. Let's give the little guy a voice again -- help him to stand on his own two feet and make something for his children, and you help the whole country. That goes for moms, too, I can tell you that.

It is time for the "all fear, all the time" message of the Republican Party to end. If they are sinking to the new lows of soliciting church members for party membership then they are the ones feeling the fear. They are desperate. Their message is stale and they know it. It's time for a new message. It's time for hope. There is a better way. We deserve it and we will demand it at the polls on November 7, 2006.

More reading: For a little background on how Republicans have used churches in the past see Steve Clemmon's post from 2004.