ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 15, 1996 TAG: 9608150071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Above
WHEN THE CHRISTIAN COALITION gathered its followers, the paramount issue was clear: Abortion.
From the corner of his eye, 5-year-old Nathan Wolfe caught sight of a picture of a shattered, bloody body, the lips purple, the hair matted in dried fluids, plastered on an eight-foot poster board reading: "This is not a choice."
"What's that?" he asked his grandmother, Joan Wolfe, tugging at her leg.
She kneeled down and turned Nathaniel's head back to the looming photograph. "That's an abortion," she said. "That is what happens to all the little babies that get killed because people don't care about them."
Joan Wolfe was among 2,500 religious conservatives who came to a Christian Coalition rally Wednesday morning at Balboa Park. Although the coalition has been trying to broaden its agenda this year to include economic issues, the speeches and the comments of the crowd made it clear that restricting abortions is the engine that keeps the group roaring.
"Let me say, so there can be no doubt, the Republican Party is a pro-life party," executive director Ralph Reed told a cheering crowd waving American flags and red, white and blue placards reading "Pro Life, Pro Family."
"We exclude no one," Reed said. "But lest there be any doubt, we will never walk away from the sanctity of life within the mother's womb."
The two-hour Faith and Freedom rally was organized to showcase the coalition's clout on the heels of its victory last week in stopping efforts to weaken the anti-abortion plank of the GOP's national platform.
Speakers included House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Vice President Dan Quayle, coalition founder Pat Robertson and Joanne Kemp, the wife of GOP vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp. Conservative luminaries such as Jerry Falwell and Phyllis Schlafly sat in the first row with an assortment of conservative governors and congressmen.
Outside the tree-lined amphitheater were dozens of protesters. They included transvestites and gay groups who argued that the coalition is homophobic, abortion rights proponents who accused the organization of trying to tell others how to live their lives, and some anti-abortion activists who said the coalition has compromised its religious values to gain political clout.
Robertson shook his head from the podium and bemoaned what he called a "shocking loss of values" over the last 40 years.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have watched with amazement the little-by-little assault by the left-wing forces such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Organization of Women," he said. "This left-wing radical coalition has battered down the sacred walls of the family. ... Its legacy is that 34 million abortions have been performed since 1973, one-third of all births are out of wedlock, drugs are rampant, crime is all around and so are sexually transmitted diseases."
Robertson urged his supporters to back Republican proposals to cut taxes but warned them not to lose their focus on social issues. "Our problem is that America just doesn't have a fiscal crisis, it has a moral crisis and we need moral solutions.
"We're not going to rest until once again we are proud of the occupants of the White House and not ashamed; ... to when the Statue of Liberty can stand proud once again and not with the stain that a certain person from Arkansas has put on it."
Robertson was preaching to the choir.
"We need to bring God back into the civic arena," said Sandy Hutchinson, a San Diego homemaker. "If we don't put God in our lives, it's at our own peril. Immorality will reign."
Many in the crowd cited a host of issues that are important to them this fall: voluntary public prayer in school, public assistance to attend private schools and tax cuts. But most of those concerns paled in comparison to abortion.
"You can be right on all those issues, but if you're wrong on abortion, I'll never support you as a candidate," said Kevin L. Mackey, a preacher from Hico, Texas, and a delegate to the convention. "Abortion is the central issue. It defines us as a people."
Joan Wolfe said she was pleased her grandson saw the poster of the mangled fetus. "His mom's a single mom and I'm so glad she made the decision not to kill him before he was born," she said. "I want him to see what happens to babies that no one loves."
Most of those interviewed were quick to express dislike for President Clinton, questioning his marital fidelity and criticizing him for supporting abortion rights and easing entrance restrictions on gays in the military.
They were not as quick, however, to express enthusiasm for Bob Dole, who will become the official Republican nominee tonight.
Many said they were concerned by Dole's unsuccessful efforts earlier this month to dilute the GOP's anti-abortion plank with a clause expressing tolerance for those with dissenting points of view.
"It was just frustrating to see Dole waffling and playing politics with the issue," said John Henkel, a San Diego lawyer. "I'll support him because he's still 100 times better than Clinton, but I'm hoping he'll grow on me."
The chants of protestors outside the amphitheater occasionally rose above the sound of the speeches within. Mary Kreonki of San Diego stood on the street in a tie-died jumper carrying a placard bearing a swastika, with words beneath it reading "Ralph Reed, America's finest Hitler."
"If men could get pregnant, they'd make abortion a sacrament," she said.
A few yards away, 25-year-old Charles Lowers was leaning on a four-foot picture of an aborted fetus's skull clenched in a pair of forceps.
"This is what's happening, this is the truth," Lowers said. "As long as this is happening, no one should be declaring a success."
Staff writer Robert Little contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: HUY NGUYEN Landmark News Service. "We exclude no one.by CNBBut lest there be any doubt, we will never walk away from the
sanctity of life within the mother's womb," said Christian Coalition
leader Ralph Reed. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENT