ROGER SIMON COLUMN
FOR JULY 13, 2005
WASHINGTON - - When you think about Christian conservatives, you think of the many battles they fight: opposition to abortion, opposition to gay marriage, and opposition to the teaching of evolution as fact to name just a few.
Now, they have a new cause: opposition to smoking.
A key figure in the national movement turns out to be an activist often associated with progressive public health causes, Vincent DeMarco, who led successful campaigns in his home state of Maryland to get the legislature to adopt handgun control measures as well as raise the tax on cigarettes.
"The faith community played such a central role in our gun control work, that I thought maybe we could do the same with tobacco," DeMarco says.
DeMarco is the coordinator of Faith United Against Tobacco, and a consultant with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, both groups working to prevent teen smoking and to get Congress to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco.
A bill giving the FDA that power passed the Senate, but has been languishing in the House. (The Supreme Court has ruled that the FDA cannot simply assume the power on its own.)
On Wednesday (July 13) faith leaders of a wide variety, including liberals and non-Christians, met in House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's district on the outskirts of Houston to urge him to back the legislation. DeLay knows well that people of faith have become a powerful force in American politics.
Southern Baptists, who number about 16 million and often champion conservative causes, adopted a resolution last month at their 2005 Southern Baptist Convention to "add our efforts…to work to reduce tobacco use, especially among teenagers."
For some, the anti-tobacco campaign has a scriptural foundation in the teachings of Paul in 1 Corinthians (6:19-20):"Or do you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit…?"
And the Southern Baptist Convention resolution included the clauses: "Whereas, being created in the image of God endows humans with great dignity and inestimable worth…be it resolved that we encourage our churches to redouble their efforts to educate our youth about the dangers of tobacco use….
The faith leaders meeting outside Houston on Wednesday assembled 1,200 pairs of shoes to represent what they say is "the number of Americans who die each day from tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke."
The group will meet again in August to plot further strategy and determine how best to pressure DeLay into supporting the bill.
"The most interesting thing is how this issue has united the faith community," DeMarco says. "From left to right, they want to prevent tobacco addiction particularly among children and are willing to fight for it like David fought Goliath ."
Posted by rsimon at July 13, 2005 03:45 PM