JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) has caused a major stir with comments, published in the Florida Baptist Convention's newspaper, suggesting that the separation of church and state is “a lie” and that failing to elect Christians to public office will cause governments “to legislate sin.”
Harris, who rose to national prominence in 2000 when as Florida Secretary of State she was widely criticized for her role in the Bush-versus-Gore election debacle, has served since 2002 in the U.S. House representing a west-central Florida district.
On Aug. 24, the Florida Baptist Witness published a package of articles and interviews with candidates in the state's Sept. 5 primary elections for governor and United States Senate. Harris is the front-runner in a three-candidate field for the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).
However, Harris' campaign has been plagued by several major gaffes, hints of scandal and repeated loss of key campaign staffers. For several months, polls have suggested she will lose badly to Nelson in the November general election.
Her campaign's problems intensified when secular media outlets around the state reprinted her remarks to the Witness.
In response to a question about why Florida Baptists should care about the primary election, Harris said Christians should try to elect fellow believers to office.
“If you are not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin,” she said.
She continued: “They can say that abortion is alright. They can vote to sustain gay marriage. And that will take Western civilization, indeed other nations, because people look to our country as one nation as under God, and whenever we legislate sin and we say abortion is permissible and we say gay unions are permissible, then average citizens who are not Christians, because they don't know better, we are leading them astray, and it's wrong….”
Earlier, in response to a question from the paper's managing editor, Joni Hannigan, about the role that people of faith should play in politics, Harris seemed to disparage church-state separation.
“[W]e have to have elected officials in government and we have to have the faithful in government, and over time, that lie we have been told, the separation of church and state, people have internalized, thinking that they needed to avoid politics, and that is so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers,” Harris said, according to a partial transcript of the interview posted on the Witness website.
“And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women and if people aren't involved in helping godly men in getting elected, then we're going to have a nation of secular laws. That's not what our founding fathers intended and that's [sic] certainly isn't what God intended.”
She also said that, in politics, “we need the faithful and we need to take back this country.”
Several Florida politicians — Republican and Democrat alike — lambasted Harris' remarks. Her House colleague, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), reportedly said she was “disgusted” by the remarks.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, two of Harris' primary opponents condemned her remarks. “I'm a Christian, and I'm a Republican, and I don't share her views,” said Republican candidate Will McBride, an attorney who is a pastor's son. “There are people of other faiths and backgrounds of outstanding integrity who know how to tell the truth.”
Another of her Republican opponents, developer Bill Monroe, called on Harris to quit the race and resign from Congress. He singled out her suggestion that non-Christian voters are ignorant of morality when voting, saying the suggestion was “contemptible, arrogant and wicked.”
Harris' campaign released a “Statement of Clarification” Aug. 26 attempting to douse the firestorm.
“In the interview, Harris was speaking to a Christian audience, addressing a common misperception that people of faith should not be actively involved in government,” the statement said. “Addressing this Christian publication, Harris provided a statement that explains her deep grounding in Judeo-Christian values.”
The release also mentioned her past statements and actions in support of Israel, and quoted her campaign manager, who is Jewish, insisting Harris was open to people of many religions.
“I joined this campaign because Congresswoman Harris is a passionate supporter of Israel, the Jewish people, and always has the best interests of all Floridians at heart,” Bryan Rudnick said. “As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, I know that she encourages people of all faiths to engage in government so that our country can continue to thrive on the principles set forth by our founding fathers, without malice towards anyone.”
According to the Sentinel, Harris, in an Aug. 26 appearance at an Orlando gun show, said “it breaks my heart” if people understood her comments as bigoted in favor of Christians.
In response to a question about whether the nation's framers intended the United States to be a nation of secular laws, the paper said, Harris was “less clear.”
“I think that our laws, I mean, I look at how the law originated, even from Moses, the Ten Commandments,” the Sentinel quoted her as saying. “And I don't believe, that uh…. That's how all of our laws originated in the United States, period. I think that's the basis of our rule of law.”
After the 2000 presidential election, in which Florida's disputed vote for Bush was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, Harris parlayed her notoriety into two successful House campaigns, in 2002 and 2004.
But her Senate campaign has been plagued by troubles for several months, including reports of tepid support from national Republican leaders, several news stories about her close ties to a defense contractor convicted of corruption, and repeated losses of high-level campaign staffers. Rudnick is the fourth person to fill her campaign-manager position.
Elsewhere in the Witness interview, Harris detailed her faith background. She was raised in the Presbyterian Church in America, a conservative offshoot of the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA). She said she now attends Calvary Chapel, an evangelical congregation in Sarasota. Her grandfather, aunt and uncle were missionaries.
In reply to Hannigan's question about what Harris would say to God were he to ask Harris why she should be let into heaven, she said, “That's an interesting question. Because I loved your Son and because I know he died for my sins. I know he was resurrected at your right hand and I served him. You know we're covered with, our sins are covered with his blood and so we are blameless before him. We are as white as snow.”
Harris also expressed strong opposition to abortion rights, embryonic stem-cell research and gay rights.
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