http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/15363945.htm

Aug. 25, 2006
Katherine Harris says failure to elect Christians will `legislate sin'
By Jim Stratton
The Orlando Sentinel

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/15363945.htm

Aug. 25, 2006
Katherine Harris says failure to elect Christians will `legislate sin'
By Jim Stratton
The Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. - Rep. Katherine Harris said this week that God did not
intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that
a failure to elect Christians to political office will allow lawmaking
bodies to "legislate sin."

The remarks, published in the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist
State Convention, unleashed a torrent of criticism from political and
religious officials.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said she was "disgusted" by the
comments "and deeply disappointed in Rep. Harris personally."

Harris, Wasserman Schultz said, "clearly shows that she does not
deserve to be a Representative . . ."

State Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, demanded an apology, saying the
statements were "outrageous, even by her standards.

"What is going through this woman's mind?" said Slosberg. "We do not
live in a theocracy."

Harris said her religious beliefs "animate" everything she does,
including her votes in Congress.

She then warned voters that if they do not send Christians to office,
they risk creating a government that is doomed to fail.

"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 told interviewers, citing
abortion and gay marriage as two examples of that sin.

"Whenever we legislate sin," she said, "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 . . ."

Harris also said the separation of church and state is a "lie we have
been told" to keep religious people out of politics.

In reality, she said, "we have to have the faithful in government"
because that is God's will. Separating religion and politics is "so
wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers," she said.

"And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly
men and women," 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."

The notion that non-Christians "don't know better," or are less suited
to govern disturbed Rabbi Rick Sherwin, president of the Greater
Orlando Board of Rabbis.

"Anybody who claims to have a monopoly on God," he said, "doesn't
understand the strength of America."

Sherwin and others also said Harris appeared to be voicing support for
a religious state when she said God and the founding fathers did not
intend the United States to be a "nation of secular laws."

The alternative, they said, would be a nation of religious laws.

"She's talking about a theocracy," said Sherwin. "And that's exactly
opposite of what this country is based on." A clause in the First
Amendment prohibits the establishment of a state religion.

Ahmed Bedier, the Central Florida Director of the Council on American
Islamic Relations, said he was "appalled that a person who's been in
politics this long would hold such extreme views."

Bedier said most Christians would find such comments "shameful."

Harris has always professed a deep Christian faith and long been
popular with Christian conservative voters.

University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato said the
comments will appeal to Christian fundamentalists who typically turn
out for Republican primaries...

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/15363945.
htm

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/15363945.ht

Aug. 25, 2006
Katherine Harris says failure to elect Christians will `legislate sin'
By Jim Stratton
The Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. - Rep. Katherine Harris said this week that God did not
intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that
a failure to elect Christians to political office will allow lawmaking
bodies to "legislate sin."

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/15363945.htm

Aug. 25, 2006
Katherine Harris says failure to elect Christians will `legislate sin'
By Jim Stratton
The Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. - Rep. Katherine Harris said this week that God did not
intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that
a failure to elect Christians to political office will allow lawmaking
bodies to "legislate sin."

The remarks, published in the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist
State Convention, unleashed a torrent of criticism from political and
religious officials.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said she was "disgusted" by the
comments "and deeply disappointed in Rep. Harris personally."

Harris, Wasserman Schultz said, "clearly shows that she does not
deserve to be a Representative . . ."

State Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, demanded an apology, saying the
statements were "outrageous, even by her standards.

"What is going through this woman's mind?" said Slosberg. "We do not
live in a theocracy."

Harris said her religious beliefs "animate" everything she does,
including her votes in Congress.

She then warned voters that if they do not send Christians to office,
they risk creating a government that is doomed to fail.

"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 told interviewers, citing
abortion and gay marriage as two examples of that sin.

"Whenever we legislate sin," she said, "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 . . ."

Harris also said the separation of church and state is a "lie we have
been told" to keep religious people out of politics.

In reality, she said, "we have to have the faithful in government"
because that is God's will. Separating religion and politics is "so
wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers," she said.

"And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly
men and women," 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."

The notion that non-Christians "don't know better," or are less suited
to govern disturbed Rabbi Rick Sherwin, president of the Greater
Orlando Board of Rabbis.

"Anybody who claims to have a monopoly on God," he said, "doesn't
understand the strength of America."

Sherwin and others also said Harris appeared to be voicing support for
a religious state when she said God and the founding fathers did not
intend the United States to be a "nation of secular laws."

The alternative, they said, would be a nation of religious laws.

"She's talking about a theocracy," said Sherwin. "And that's exactly
opposite of what this country is based on." A clause in the First
Amendment prohibits the establishment of a state religion.

Ahmed Bedier, the Central Florida Director of the Council on American
Islamic Relations, said he was "appalled that a person who's been in
politics this long would hold such extreme views."

Bedier said most Christians would find such comments "shameful."

Harris has always professed a deep Christian faith and long been
popular with Christian conservative voters.

University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato said the
comments will appeal to Christian fundamentalists who typically turn
out for Republican primaries...

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/15363945.htm

Aug. 25, 2006
Katherine Harris says failure to elect Christians will `legislate sin'
By Jim Stratton
The Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. - Rep. Katherine Harris said this week that God did not
intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that
a failure to elect Christians to political office will allow lawmaking
bodies to "legislate sin."

Aug. 25, 2006
Katherine Harris says failure to elect Christians will `legislate sin'
By Jim Stratton
The Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. - Rep. Katherine Harris said this week that God did not
intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that
a failure to elect Christians to political office will allow lawmaking
bodies to "legislate sin."

Separating religion and politics is "so
wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers," she said