By Jim Duke and Chad Groening
January 29, 2001

(AgapePress) - President Bush today is establishing a White House office of faith-based action that would distribute billions of dollars to religious groups and charities over the next ten years. Critics are saying such programs could violate the separation of church and state, but the President counters those attacks by stating that religious groups must be part of the solution to society's ills.

"A compassionate society is one which recognizes the great power of faith," Bush said last week. "We in government must not fear faith-based programs, we must welcome faith-based programs."

To build support for the program, Bush will meet throughout the week with leaders of spiritual and charitable groups. He also plans to attend Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast.

Meanwhile, the vote on Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft is scheduled for Wednesday. Vice President Dick Cheney was asked Sunday if the opposition to Ashcroft stems from anti-Christian bigotry because of his faith.

"I think it would be a terrible day for America if we ever get to the point where someone's religious convictions and the depth of their commitment to their religious views becomes sort of a litmus test ... in terms of whether or not the Senate will confirm them," Cheney said.

Yesterday Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi said the attacks on Ashcroft come from three points.

"One, this is not really about John Ashcroft," Lott said. "It is about trying to weaken him as much as they can, but it's also a shot across the bow, saying 'Don't you dare appoint a conservative to the Supreme Court. This is just a tiny example of what we'll do.' "

"But they're also saying ... they're against John Ashcroft, who is a man of qualifications and integrity. He's conservative and he feels strongly about his faith. It's almost as if you're a believing Christian or if you're a believing Orthodox Jew, you are unacceptable. And that is very bad and dangerous for our country," the Senate Majority Leader said. Lott predicts Ashcroft will be confirmed by Thursday.

The Hormel Link
The chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition says three liberal Democratic senators demonstrated an anti-Christian bias when they attacked Ashcroft during confirmation hearings earlier this month. Lou Sheldon says the Democrats were critical of Bush's nominee for Attorney General because as a senator, Ashcroft opposed the nomination of homosexual activist James Hormel to be ambassador to Luxembourg.

Sheldon says Senators Dianne Feinstein of California, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, and Patrick Leahy of Vermont should be far more angry at Hormel for his attempts to recruit children into the homosexual lifestyle. He says one only has to look at a coloring book found in Hormel's Gay and Lesbian Reading Center at the San Francisco Public Library.

"What was so offensive about the material in his library was that there was a coloring book ... a book that children would use. This was so sexually explicit," Sheldon says.

"We took this coloring book and we made copies of those pages ... I think it was four pages ... and we gave it to all [100 senators in] the U.S. Senate. And that is really what killed [Hormel's] nomination -- and John Ashcroft understood this thoroughly. He was outraged when he was this sexually explicit material," he says.

Bill Clinton later circumvented the Senate by appointing Hormel while it was in recess. Hormel, a professed homosexual, resigned the ambassadorial position the moment Bush became President.

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