Dover Rejects God

[Dr. Shane]

'Intelligent design' vote has Robertson warning town

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Conservative Christian televangelist Pat Robertson told citizens of a Pennsylvania town that they had rejected God by voting their school board out of office for supporting "intelligent design" and warned them Thursday not to be surprised if disaster struck.

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"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city," Robertson said on his daily television show broadcast from Virginia, The 700 Club.

"And don't wonder why He hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city," he said.

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[Dr. Shane]

It was really kind of silly, in my opinion, for Pat Robertson to say these things. I don't know what the voter turn out was in Dover, but in an off-year election I doubt it was more than 20%. Normally voter turn out in such elections is around 7% - 13% but with this hot issue they may have got as many as 20%.

Off-year elections are good for those that are politically organized. I have been involved with a few campaigns for special or off-year elections. These are the elections where the most organized, which is often the best financed, wins.

It would be intesting to see just how much money was spent by the various canidates in these races. This is important becuase the average registared voter doesn't get out and vote in an off-year election. Someone needs to call him or her. Or send him or her a letter. Someone needs to get them out to vote.

I helped a senator get elected once in a special election. We were quite organized and won easily. In the general election we ran against the same canidate we had already defeated and he easily beat us in the general election.

Here in Texas school board elections are held in the Spring. I hate that. That allows the canidates with the most money to win. They should be held in Novemeber during regular election years. That would dramatically decrease the influence of money.

In this past election, here in Texas, gay rights groups moved large numbers of gays into Texas 30 days before the election so they could vote against the ammendment to ban gay marriage. This is typical of a well-organized political machine.

My point is that Pat Robertson shouldn't have been so quick to condemn the city of Dover. With over 50% of Americans polled saying they want Intelligent Design taught in the classroom, this is likley just an example of a well-organized political machine being victorous.

[Ron Lambert]

If people do not vote, they are still responsible for what the few who did vote decided. You cannot avoid your moral responsibility by staying away from the polls. If something wrong was approved in an election, then those who did not vote let it happen, and are fully as deserving of punishment as anyone else. If I lived in Dover I would move out, and shake the dust off my shoes as I left.