A 24-hour prayer chain has been launched as Christian groups rally to
support former Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft's nomination for attorney
general. Liberal groups alarmed by his conservative Christian background are
making an all-out effort to prevent his confirmation.
Restoring the Gates, a Missouri-based prayer ministry, has organized a
round-the-clock prayer effort through the end of the confirmation hearing,
due to begin next Tuesday. Leaders said that Ashcroft, a two-term Missouri
governor, was "a devout man of God, highly principled," who had shown
"impeccable behavior and character."
In his BreakPoint radio commentary, Prison Fellowship founder Charles
Colson said that the opposition to Ashcroft was based on the fact that he
"is an evangelical and is not bashful about his beliefs. He believes in the
Bible, he's outspokenly pro-life, and he's opposed to the gay rights
agenda."
Newspapers today carried an Associated Press report telling how Ashcroft
was anointed by oil before each of his gubernatorial terms, and compared his
political victories and defeats to resurrections and crucifixions. The
report said that in his 1998 autobiography John Ashcroft wrote it was
against his religion to impose religion on people, but "I also believe that
I need to invite God's presence into whatever I'm doing, including the world
of politics."