The South Bend Tribune has an AP story wherein John Hostettler whines about how persecuted his preferred brand of proselytizing Christianity is by the mean old Democrats. You may recall my previous entry wherein Rep. Hostettler was whining about a mean old federal court judge who feels bound by the First Amendment and 7th Circuit case law and, consequently, told Gibson County to take the Ten Commandments display down from their court house.
At issue this time “is how Congress should respond to allegations of proselytizing and favoritism for Christians at the Air Force Academy.”
Obey had succeeded during committee debate in attaching a provision condemning Air Force Academy officers for creating a climate where non-Christians were discriminated against.
The Air Force is investigating numerous allegations of inappropriate actions by academy officials, including a professor who required cadets to pray before taking his test and a Protestant chaplain who warned anyone not proselytizing would “burn in the fires of hell.”
Obey said a senior chaplain at the academy was transferred to Japan after criticizing what she saw as proselytizing.
In response, Hostettler, on the floor of Congress said “Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can’t help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians.” Democrats immediately objected and demanded that he be censured. Hostettler backed down and retracted his remarks.
Update 6/21/05: The Evansville Courier Press has more.
Hostettler began his remarks opposing Obey’s amendment by saying, “the long war on Christianity continues today on the floor of the House of Representatives. It continues unabated with aid and comfort to those who would eradicate any vestige of our Christian heritage being supplied by the usual suspects, the Democrats.”
He later said, “Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can’t help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians.”
. . .
Obey said Hostettler’s “outburst . . . is perhaps the perfect example of why we need to pass the language in my amendment.”
Obey’s proposed amendment to a defense appropriations bill would have put Congress on record as being against “coercive and abusive religious proselytizing” at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Incidentally, according to the Washington Post coverage of the issue Rep. Obey’s motion in response to Hostettler’s outburst was that Hostettler’s “words be taken down” which, of course, brings to mind Indiana’s very own Taking Down Words.
Hostettler had a choice: to agree to withdraw his words, or to stick by them and face a ruling from the chair that he had violated rules against disparaging another member on the floor. If the member’s words are taken down, it is considered a serious offense and the lawmaker would not be able to speak for the rest of the day.
Eventually, Hostettler rose and read a sentence that had been written out for him in large block letters by a young Republican floor aide: “Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the last sentence I spoke.”
Update 6/21/05 at 5:10 p.m. Poking around the Internet, I see some additional commentary on Rep. Hostettler. I enjoyed the commentary by Gadflies and thumbtacks, in particular this:
m so relieved that the Jesus Christ I bumped into on the way to adulthood is such a peace-nik and has such a fondness for odd company, welcoming anyone who knocks. As I kid, I was impressed that He said “Let the little children…”, not “somebody MAKE the little children come unto me”. It occurred to me then that maybe there was something in that free will business, after all. I don’t know who it was that Mr. Hostettler met on the way to adulthood, but chances are, I wouldn’t have liked him.
On the other hand, I find For Freedom We Stand’s assessment to be ridiculous:
Hostettler’s right.
Every Christian viewpoint is supported by Republicans and vehemently opposed by the Democrats, whether pro-life on abortion, in favor of banning homosexual marraige, stopping affirmative action, allowing prayer in schools, supporting the intelligent design anti-evolution movement, or displaying the Ten Commandments.
That’s a nice selective list (I’ve gotta say, the part about affirmative action confuses me. I was unware of a Biblical connection.) Note the absence of the inconvenient bits in the Bible about peace, humility, and helping the poor.
Progressive Depot figures Hostettler is trying to make a name for himself and sees a trend, noting recent rhetoric about how Democrats are “against people of faith.” — a meme that readers of this blog may recall in response to the ICLU’s suit against sectarian prayer as part of official House business.
Civil Commotion asks of Hostettler “who is this idiot?” and provides some background about the proselytization at the Air Force Academy. According to that site (the links of which I haven’t checked for accuracy):
The details of the Academy’s excesses have been well documented, and include offenses such as calling jewish students “filthy jews†and “Jesus killers.†Nobody should be uneasy about a demand that such things stop, and stop at once. It’s not about denigrating Christians; it’s about not denigrating minority faiths.
I also found this entry at Nero Fiddled. The author doesn’t mention the recent brouhaha over Hostettler’s comments about Democrats not being able to help themselves from demonizing Christians, but it does contain a passage about Hostettler’s amendment designed to prevent the enforcement of the federal court’s order to remove the Ten Commandments monument at the Gibson County court house. It is part of a thoughtful piece about a small segment of politically active Christians who seem to be unhappy with the secular rule of law but duplicitous when talking about the subject. The passage on Hostettler is as follows:
After shrieking that the ruling denied “the Christian heritage of the United States,” Hostettler now seeks essentially to overturn Marbury v. Madison — the landmark 1803 case which established the judiciary as the final arbiter of constitutionality. “The genius of the American system,” says the Times editorial, “is that the founders carefully balanced power among three coequal branches. Mr. Hostettler’s amendment would throw out this brilliant structure, and 200 years of constitutional history, and make Congress the final interpreter of the Constitution.” While the amendment is unlikely to survive in the Senate, its quiet passage in the House is unsettling.
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