CR Blog: Inside churches, inside ministries, inside politics—if it’s happening, it’s here

Like many Americans on Tuesday, I watched the funeral for Coretta Scott King on television. I felt that taking a few moments in my day to watch the service and remember this woman of great courage and resolve was important.

Much to my disgust, in the midst of the funeral, the Democratic National Convention broke out! Rev. Joe Lowery began his whimsical remarks with rhymes and rhythms and quickly churned into rants and raves about weapons of “mass deception.†With my jaw dropping and eyes now affixed to the television, President Carter began his remarks with the calm tones and ventriloquistic lip movements we have come to expect. However, apparently not wanting to be out done by Rev. Lowery, President Carter unleashed a diatribe of wiretaps and Katrina racial issues. Carter’s bipartisan and ill-timed remarks included: Martin and Coretta King were “violated by government wiretapping and government surveillance†and “the struggle for equal rights is not over. All we have to do is remember the color of the faces in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, those who were most devastated by Katrina.â€

Finally now that the crowd had been whipped into a frenzy, President Clinton and Senator Clinton stood and the former president decided to reenact highlights from the funeral of Senator Paul Wellstone in 2002. In this case, the democrats chose to hold a pep rally for the candidate chosen to replace the recently deceased Senator. Doing his finest to encourage the crowd and all but announcing his wife’s intent to run for the presidency, Mr. Clinton toyed with his audience just enough for the cameras to catch the twinkle in their eyes.

Following these eviscerating remarks against President Bush, perhaps the most honest comment of the day came from President George H.W. Bush when he rose and simply said, “I have never seen anything like this before.†Lost in the course of these combative remarks, were those of our current President whose simple, reflective and non-political speech began with, “I've come today to offer the sympathy of our entire nation at the passing of a woman who worked to make our nation whole.â€

It is now clear to me that the Democrats have sunk to a new low that wherever an audience gathers and cameras are present, they feel as though they must politicize the event. From Katrina to King, and from Alito to Al Queda, the 2006 democratic strategy of attacking the President in a forum in which he simply could not and would not respond is tactic that will not work. Politicizing an event that was a celebration of Mrs. King’s life and somber day of mourning for the family was simply the most disgusting political ploy this country has witnessed in decades.

Shame on you Rev. Lowery! Shame on you President Carter! Shame on you President Clinton! The only thing this funeral-turned Democratic circus was missing was Howard Dean’s screaming!

So You Want A Used Car, an Old Couch or an Escort?

A reader of The Church Report magazine recently sent me an e-mail urging me to visit a website called Craigslist.org. Already having heard of this site, famous for its no frills opportunities to sell everything from used cars to grandma’s old couch and even look for a new job, I was curious to see what the urgency of this reader’s message was.

After surfing the site for just two minutes I quickly discovered the issue. Much to my disgust, Craigslist, 25 percent of which is owned by online auctioneer Ebay, has its very own erotic section, touting the services or escorts!†With a click of my mouse, I was viewing a selection of ads much too lewd and tawdry to publish in my column. I read ad after ad for women offering illicit sexual services for fees and incredibly, most of them posted pictures that would make even their own mothers blush!

Wanting to get to the root of the problem, I contacted Craig Newmark, founder of the now infamous, Craigslist. He responded with a tone that Craigslist does not support prostitution and does not condone such ads on his site. Shortly after, I sent several questions to Mr. Jim Buckmaster, president of Craigslist. While Mr. Buckmaster pointed out that “illegal activities on Craigslist are strictly prohibited†and that community users were prompted to police themselves with a flagging system. Unfortunately, he also had this to say about his erotic page: “advertising escort services it perfectly legal; it is very difficult, if not impossible, to know by reading an ad whether the service being advertised is an escort service or prostitution.â€
Does this seem ridiculous to you? Does this seem like splitting hairs? If it is too difficult to discern, should he even be posting these ads to his web site? My follow up question, that went unanswered was simple, does any type of adverting posted that involves explicit sexual services for money that includes a lewd photo deserve the attention of his business? The countless issues with pornography and online predators is great enough, do we now have to accept that a seemingly innocuous online garage sale now offers sexual services? Having sensed that I struck a nerve, I asked Mr. Buckmaster whether he thought that since his site was not a secure site and children could access it, is this appropriate content? He abruptly changed his focus to the “pandemic of Christian clergy involved in sexual misconduct.†Nice try, Mr. Buckmaster, but that answer is not going to work!

The Internet is a community. Craigslist is a community. There is more smut on the Internet every day, at what point do we all say, enough is enough? At what point do we decide that the issue is not debating the legalities of prostitution versus escort services? I suggest that today is that day. Join me in contacting Craigslist at craig@craigslist.org, and tell them that escorts and prostitutes do not belong on any web site, including Craigslist.