The Virginia Lt. Governor position is up for grabs and the Republican candidate, E. W. Jackson, an evangelical Christian minister, is running on a Christian right platform. He has made a national name with unsympathetic and sometimes harsh comments on gays, Planned Parenthood and President Obama.
According to the Virginia Pilot, last month in a sermon in Cheasepeake, VA where he is a minister, Pastor Jackson professed in a sermon “people who don’t follow Jesus Christ are engaged in some sort of false religion.” All Americans are entitled to their own opinions and beliefs, and in this country they can even openly express their opinions. This is the great thing about being an American.
On August 1st, in a radio interview E.W. Jackson said the Democratic party is “anti-God and has no place for Christians.” Jackson went on spew that voting Democrat is fundamentally un-Christian.
On October 22nd the Republican candidate went on the campaign trail straight to the Simon Family Jewish Community Center sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Tidewater. The Pastor faced challenges from his audience about his recent sermon on “false religion.” Of course, like any good politician he quickly backtracked from his sermon. He said, “Of course like every Christian, I believe he is the only way. But we understand that Christianity came out of Judaism. We have deep and profound respect for Judaism. We do not view Judaism as a false religion. I can’t say that about everything.”
In a follow-up question at the Jewish Center, Pastor Jackson was ask if he felt the same way about Islam. His response was a non-response. He said, “Look, I’m running for lieutenant governor. I’m not running to be theologian of Virginia. That means I’ve got to serve people who are atheists and Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus and Mormons and of every background. So I don’t want to try to get into a theological analysis of what I think of various religions.” Or, maybe it was a response – atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Mormons, etc. all fall into E. W. Jackson’s category of “false religions.”
Any politician does have to represent “ALL THE PEOPLE” which in the State of Virginia, like any other State in the USA is a melting pot of immigrants for many cultures and religions from around the world.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that E.W. Jackson is on the Tea Party’s most favored list. Two years ago, he was yelling “cut it or shut it” in Washington DC referring to the budget. Of course, now he says he believes there must be a different approach. Sequestration has been damaging to VA. According to the Washington Post, he explains his change of opinion as follows, “‘foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” But wait a minute, that quote sounds familiar.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing…”
Too bad government leaders can’t run the government on conservative attitude, borrowed quips and twisted quotes from famous dead guys.
