Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Kline's Abusive Relationship With Religion
You remember Phill Kline, Kansas' late, great attorney general?
(Actually, Kline remains AG and will be collecting a few more precious checks until January when Paul Morrison is sworn in.)
Kline styled himself as a holy man -- a bible-believing supporter of ID, an ardent opponent of abortion, an upholder not of Kansas law, but God's higher law. Despite having God on his side, the voters saw Kline for what he was, a nasty bully, and overwhelmingly voted him out of office after just one term.
Turns out, Kline was in an abusive relationship with his religion, too.
During the campaign, a memo written by Kline surfaced outlining his plan to turn Kansas churches into slot machines that would pay off in contributions to his campaign. Kline thought he'd go Jesus one better by driving the money changers back into the temple.
Kline's memo directed his campaign workers to make sure friendly pastors brought "money people" to fundraisers at their churches. His goal was to form a pro-Kline campaign committee in each church he campaigned at.
Now, the Interfaith Alliance, a Washington-based group that promotes the separation of church and state and government neutrality on religion has called Kline's plan to use churches to bankroll his re-election campaign the worst abuse of religion in American politics during the 2006 election cycle.
(Actually, Kline remains AG and will be collecting a few more precious checks until January when Paul Morrison is sworn in.)
Kline styled himself as a holy man -- a bible-believing supporter of ID, an ardent opponent of abortion, an upholder not of Kansas law, but God's higher law. Despite having God on his side, the voters saw Kline for what he was, a nasty bully, and overwhelmingly voted him out of office after just one term.
Turns out, Kline was in an abusive relationship with his religion, too.
During the campaign, a memo written by Kline surfaced outlining his plan to turn Kansas churches into slot machines that would pay off in contributions to his campaign. Kline thought he'd go Jesus one better by driving the money changers back into the temple.
Kline's memo directed his campaign workers to make sure friendly pastors brought "money people" to fundraisers at their churches. His goal was to form a pro-Kline campaign committee in each church he campaigned at.
Now, the Interfaith Alliance, a Washington-based group that promotes the separation of church and state and government neutrality on religion has called Kline's plan to use churches to bankroll his re-election campaign the worst abuse of religion in American politics during the 2006 election cycle.
