Here in Virginia, the Republican party decided this year to forgo a primary to select its candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. (Virginia and New Jersey are the only states that hold off-off year elections for statewide office.)
Instead the state GOP held a convention at which a long-shot candidate for lieutenant governor, an African-American minister and attorney named E.W. Jackson, gave a rousing speech and received the nomination.
Some of the Republicans who nominated him may be having second thoughts as Jackson’s record of over-the-top statements, especially about homosexuals, has come to light.
Virginia’s Republican chairman was forced to say he disagreed with Jackson’s assertion that the Democratic party is “anti-God” and that being a Democrat is incompatible with being a Christian.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli also sought to put distance between himself and Jackson, but in a private conference call he affirmed support for his fellow Republican.
In a radio interview, Jackson said:
As I watched the Democrat Party continue to go down this road of moral relativism, cultural relativism, I think when it declared same-sex marriage to be an official part of its party platform I realized that they had really crossed the Rubicon, it was a step too far, it was clear they were going in an anti-God, anti-Christian, anti-family, anti-life, and even anti-Israel direction and that this was no longer a party that any Christian could be associated with.
What struck me about that sentence was the “even anti-Israel” part. It’s a reminder once again of the difference between Israel as imagined and idealized by the Christian Right in America and Israel as it exists in reality.
Jackson would undoubtedly be disappointed to learn that while same-sex marriages (or civil marriages of any kind) cannot be performed in Israel, “if a couple are married abroad, they can register at the Administration of Population and Immigration, and gain access to almost all marriage benefits through a cohabitation agreement.”
A majority of Israelis support marriage rights for gay couples, as do most of the country’s main political parties.