Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s latest ad trying to trick voters into thinking Kay Hagan is an atheist has her disiblefollowing her predecessor into the gutter. This ad would not have surprised me had it been run by the late Sen. Jesse Helms. Until now, I thought Dole had more class than that.
Ed Odom Jr.
Raleigh
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The latest attack ad from the Dole campaign is contemptible, and Elizabeth Dole’s refusal to pull this ad is arrogant and self-righteous.
Do atheists have no civil liberties in our country? Should they be banished as undesirable aliens? Many of the Founding Fathers and leading citizens in that period were Deists, whose creed certainly did not conform to the tenants of traditional Christianity.
How can Dole be sure that she has never been in the same room with people whose religious views were nonconformist and untraditional? Does she require that people subscribe to her political philosophy and religious views before she agrees to meet with them or accept their support?
Hagan has never made an issue of her religious views, but now we know that she is an elder and Sunday School teacher in First Presbyterian Church, Greensboro. Dole’s religious views and affiliations are still unknown to many of us. Is she a member of a church in D.C. where she lives? Does she attend worship regularly? Has she accepted significant responsibilities in the life of any congregation?
There is so little time to rectify this sordid episode, and even if Dole wins, will she be proud that she stooped so low?
Thomas K. Spence Jr.
Sanford
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How sad to see Elizabeth Dole disgrace herself and sully her own reputation by broadcasting a scurrilous ad attacking Kay Hagan’s religious faith. Dole and her campaign staff should be ashamed of themselves.
Dale Roberts
Asheville
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Elizabeth Dole crossed the line in her attack and should be defeated soundly. Many are sick and tired of persons saying outrageous things in the hope of just a few more votes. Dole should apologize.
Alvin Hickman
Wilson
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Liddy Dole must be going senile to think that North Carolina voters would believe the blatant lies and exaggerations in her new attack ad. The ad, accusing Kay Hagan of making “secret promises” in “secret meetings” with a secular organization just reminds me that she inherited her seat from Sen. Jesse Helms. Even Helms’ old advisers are saying that this ad crosses the line by a county mile.
It further appalls me that the ad incorporates a woman impersonating Hagan saying ominously “There is no God.” So we have a faux Hagan saying things that Hagan never actually said? At “secret meetings” that never actually occurred?
The truth is this: Hagan is a good Christian woman who has made her faith a central part of her life. She taught Sunday School, has been a church elder these last 10 years and raised her family in the church. To a woman of such deep faith this is a terrible and personal accusation.
I think that Hagan put it best when she admonished Dole for her desperate attacks and for “bearing false witness against a fellow Christian.”
Laura Shaffer
Chapel Hill
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An unaffiliated voter, I am loyal to no party and had planned not to write a letter this election season, but I simply must record my outrage at Elizabeth Dole’s despicable ad attempting to question Kay Hagan’s personal creed by innuendo.
What right does an elected official have to judge or snoop into any citizen’s personal belief system? Does Dole see fit to represent only Christians in North Carolina, thereby dismissing all those who have other faiths or philosophies, who, by the way, all pay her salary and fringe benefits? It was for good reason that our country was founded on a principle of separation of church and state, by which the word “godless” is most appropriate.
One would expect greater maturity from Dole and that she would concentrate on the truly essential issues at hand, like our veterans’ hospitals, economy and health care. Sadly, she has demonstrated a pathetic, juvenile attempt to divert the voters’ attention away from her embarrassingly ineffective record as senator.
Nell Steelman Whitlock
Raleigh
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Where does it say that all candidates for public office must be Christian? Atheists and agnostics are intelligent, thoughtful, considerate, honest, respectful, pay their taxes and are as “good Americans” as any Bible thumper I know. What happened to freedom of religion?
Charles Stewart
Raleigh
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Elizabeth Dole’s attacks on Kay Hagan for her religious beliefs, lack thereof or the beliefs of people Hagan may have associated with are reprehensible and would be just as reprehensible even if they were accurate.
Hagan’s response — using her religion to defend herself — is spineless. Both candidates’ actions contribute to the frightening direction in which Christian religious extremists want to take this country: from democracy to theocracy.
A candidate’s religion should be off-limits, because there is no reason that an atheist, Muslim, Jew or other person might not be as good a leader as a Christian. If 9/11 taught us nothing else, it should have taught us that this very sort of religious intolerance is profoundly dangerous.
Kate Clarkson
Wake Forest
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The real issue with Elizabeth Dole’s ad accusing Kay Hagan of “godlessness” is a simple fact: Our senators are elected to represent all North Carolina citizens, not just Christians. In fact, everyone elected to represent us is responsible to Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and atheists and agnostics, and whatever else.
Dole has shown in this ad that she has no respect for a fair number of her constituents and is not fit to serve on our behalf.
Vicki Boyer
Carrboro
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Those pushing religion into political ads should remember what the old English poet, Lord Byron, pretty much said: Ain’t nothing so much calms the spirit as moonshine and true religion — or in excess, makes it rage.
Douglas Johnston
Raleigh
