Washington – Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar stepped up his war of words with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson on Thursday, calling on his group to stop attacking the faith of Democratic senators.
“I would … encourage you to cease your unfounded attacks on the faith of my Democratic colleagues,’ Salazar wrote in a letter to Dobson. “The Senate controversy over judges is simply about whether the rules should be broken in the pursuit of power.’
Dobson responded with his own letter to Salazar, stating that his attacks are justified because some senators are opposing President Bush’s nominees for their religious beliefs.
“It is clear that liberals in the Senate are blocking judicial nominees with strong religious convictions precisely because of those convictions,’ Dobson wrote.
The debate is playing out against the backdrop of a polarized electorate, where conservatives are increasingly drawing support from openly political Christian leaders such as Dobson. Dobson has said it was the involvement of evangelicals and other churchgoers that gave President Bush the edge in his re-election battle.
It is the perception that Bush and Republicans are the “party of faith’ that makes Salazar’s fight with his home- state religious powerhouse so significant, Colorado Springs political scientist Bob Loevy said.
“I think that has put Salazar as a Catholic and a Democrat from the same state as Focus on the Family in a leading role, defending the Democratic Party from becoming ‘the secular party,” said Loevy, of Colorado College.
But Focus officials say attacking them might have the opposite effect.
“I don’t see how that would make the Democrats look more religious,’ said Carrie Gordon Earll, spokeswoman for the Colorado Springs-based group.
The fight started Sunday, when Focus on the Family took out ads in newspapers across the country, attacking Democrats for stalling some of Bush’s judicial nominations. Democrats have blocked 10 of Bush’s 52 appeals-court nominations through filibuster threats and are opposing GOP attempts to change procedural rules.
Focus says seating those judges is important to its goals of blocking abortion and same-sex marriage.
Salazar responded at a news conference Wednesday by calling Focus “un-Christian’ and accusing it of “hijacking’ Christianity for the Republican Party.
A Focus spokesman then accused Salazar, a lifelong Catholic, of standing with senators who have criticized Catholic nominees for their beliefs.
On Thursday, Salazar returned the “anti-Catholic’ charge in kind, saying Focus should disavow board member Albert Mohler, who is scheduled to participate in a Focus telecast on judicial nominations called “Justice Sunday.’
Salazar’s letter to Dobson quoted Mohler telling CNN in 2000: “I believe that the Roman church is a false church and it teaches a false gospel.’
Mohler also has said he agreed with Pope John Paul II’s opposition to communism and abortion.
Earll said Mohler was making a theological point, not attacking Catholics.
Staff writer Mike Soraghan can be reached at 202-662-8730 or msoraghan@denverpost.com.
