ADL to Falwell: Retract Call to ’Vote Christian’

NEW YORK, Aug. 8 -- The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) strongly criticized the recent appeal by Rev. Jerry Falwell for his constituency to “vote Christian in 2008” and urged him to retract his “divisive and un-American” call to action.

In a mass fund-raising letter, Rev. Falwell wrote that he sought “to utilize the momentum of the sweeping conservative mandate of the November 2, 2004, elections to maintain a faith and values ’revolution’ of voters who will continue to go to the polls to ’vote Christian’ and call America back to God.” Falwell included in his letter to supporters a car sticker that reads, “I Vote Christian.”

“Reverend Falwell’s recent statements are directly at odds with the American ideal and should be rejected,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. “Understanding the danger of combining religion and politics, our Founding Fathers wisely created a political system based on individual merit and religious inclusiveness.”

Mr. Foxman said that Rev. Falwell “should retract his divisive and un-American call to action. Appeals to voters should not be on the basis of religion, nor should a candidate’s religious beliefs be a litmus test for public office.”

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The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

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