What the Bible Says

DID you know fundamentalist Christians have been "directed by God to represent him in every area of life"?

Had you heard that the Almighty opposes sanctions against the racist South African regime, opposes the Equal Rights Amemdment and opposes a tax increase?

No? Then you need to pick up a copy of the Presidential Biblical Scoreboard, a publication designed to help the God-fearing "Christian majority" defeat the forces of evil: the "liberal minority."

Just who is the liberal minority? A tiny and perverted sliver of the American electorate who support a world government, who believe Jesus Christ was a "moral teacher, a fanatic, or a hoax," and who "protect the criminal" instead of the victims of crime. These enemies of America's traditional values include the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Education Association, Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women.

BIBLICAL SCOREBOARD (BS) claims to be a "nonpartisan nonsectarian" publication. Its executives deny that it is pro-Republican, though it seldom says anything good about the Democrats. "Scoreboard recommends to its readers that they vote for the candidates which best represent Judeo-Christian values--those that are pro-family, pro-morality, pro-traditional values, pro-freedom, pro-biblical."

Unfortunately for Democrats, their standard bearers apparently oppose all of the above, plus apple pie and motherhood. Not a single Democrat receives passing marks in the latest issue.

Oddly enough, the man who scores lowest on the Biblical Scoreboard is a Black Baptist minister, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jackson, the only presidential hopeful to quote Jesus Christ at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Jackson, the man who called on the nation to put principles ahead of politics, the preacher who--like Christ--challenged his fellow sisters and brothers to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.

But Jackson draws the ire of Biblical Scoreboard because he is "anti-military superiority," anti-Star Wars, and he's a liberal. Quoting an unnamed political analyst, Biblical Scoreboard says Jackson would be "the first Marxist President of the United States."

Jackson also angers the boys from Biblical Scoreboard because he's pledged to raise taxes on a group Jesus was never real fond of: the rich. This upsets Biblical Scoreboard, which says taxing the rich is "anti-family."

What sort of men get high ratings from this publication? Few score higher than Sen. Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina). Helms is the biggest opponent of civil rights in the Senate, and the strongest backer of (anti-family?) government handouts to (anti-moral?) tobacco producers, a fact Biblical Scoreboard never reveals. The magazine also doesn't mention Helms' record of opposing programs which help the poor and the sick.

Of the presidential aspirants the white Baptist--television evangelist Pat Robertson--is tops. Robertson is right on every "biblical, family, moral freedom issue" save one. The preacher misses a perfect score because he favors imposing "sin taxes" on those who indulge in vices. Though arguably laudable, this is nonetheless an endorsement of higher taxes, something God and Biblical Scoreboard oppose.

Biblical Scoreboard wants Christian men and women to "represent God in the political arena." "As the prophets of old confronted the kings with God's standards, we must take a stand for God through writing letters, voting, and informing others when the government makes decisions on moral issues," Biblical Scoreboard says.

MIDWAY through the publication, Biblical Scoreboard says its survey is "not intended, nor implied, to be a statistical judgment of a person's personal moral behavior or relationship with God." Only an indicator, it seems, of how the candidates will "impact families, children, and national" morality.

In the back of Biblical Scoreboard is an advertisement for Conservative Digest, boasting flattering cover articles on South African President P.W. Botha, America's ever-in-hot-water Attorney General Ed Meese, plus Rev. Pat Robertson and Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Another ad boasts "Dark Secrets of the New Age", an "urgent message for Christians, warning them of Satan's plan for a One-World Religion." Another book "reveals the demonic forces" behind Satanism in the United States.

This publication might seem laughable if it were not so influential. It will be distributed to thousands of churches in the coming months and sent to pastors whose flocks number in the millions. And it will motivate many to vote against candidates who endorse "humanistic anti-God values" (i.e., the Democrats) and for "candidates who support Judeo-Christian values" (i.e., the Republicans).

The not so subtle message: by backing George Herbert Walker Bush, that Bible-believing, God-fearing Episcopalian, "you'll be doing your Christian duty in helping to rebuild our nation and its institutions on the God-given foundation of Biblical truths."