Richmond Times-Dispatch from Richmond, Virginia • 53

ia jslor Sirljmoni) £inu3-Diflpatib Science Politics Neal Peirce Books Editorials Sunday July 27 1936 Religious Right candidates eye seats in House By Marsha Blakemore Media Graeral Nni Service BEECH GROVE Ind Brother Lynch his collar open and shirtsleeves rolled stepped to the front of the open-sided tent lifted his arms and in a clear strong spirited tenor sang would be anything you would have me be after what you did for me on "Cruise the someone exclaimed It was opening night of the annual tent camp meeting of the Independent Nazarene Church in Beech Grove a small enclave surrounded by Indianapolis Brother Don Lynch is associate pastor of the fundamentalist church He did not tell his flock nor did he need tell that he believes God would have him be a member of the US House of Representatives Lynch's sat in a grassy field that slopes to the creek where his church performs baptisms It seemed as far from politics from the corridors of power from the competing voices of Washington as any place can be And yet the Rev Don Lynch who sings the solos who leads the faithful in rousing choruses of mind the hard work I mind the sacrifices I taken a vacation since been on the bench In fact never taken a decent vacation in my whole Spottswood Robinson III cided if I wanted to make a difference in America I must be willing to do something I really feel as if direction in my life is toward this Lynch is the latest and perhaps the most striking example of a growing political movement by conservative evangelical Christians that has stunned Republican regulars puzzled Democrats and turned about a dozen congressional races around the country into tests of religious clout While national attention has focused on the political activism of television evangelist Pat Robertson who has been drawing Christians into the political process in preparation for his likely presidential bid evangelical candidates in about 10 states have been quietly turning out mar gins of victory in Republican congressional primaries Among evangelical candidates for Congress this year are Rob Scribner a lay minister In the Church iff the Four-Square Gospel in Los Angeles who says God called him to run against Democrat Rep Mel Levine In a controversial letter Scribner Mid that Levine who is Jewish is opposed to nearly everything the Lord's church stands for in this In Georgia the Rev Joseph More-craft a Presbyterian minister and member of the John Birch Society vowed not to campaign on Sundays saying want to jeopardize In Dallas congressional candidate Tom Carter a public relations man has lambasted the Democratic incumbent Hying don't want a congressman who is rated zero by Christian Voice for his opposition to family and moral He has accused Rep John Bryant of being a big-spending liberal who is soft on communism An estimated 40 million to 60 million people of voting age are evangelical Christians generally defined as those who believe the Bible to be literally and absolutely true The Republican Party began wooing these potential voters following their disillusionment with Jimmy Carter in the late 1070s and included many of their conservative positions in the 1984 party platform This year candidates from the Religious Right are demonstrating their ability to win low-turnout primaries sometimes beating mainstream candidates endorsed by the GOP question is where do moderate Republicans go? said Mark Johnson a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is not Just Pat Robertson This is down to the House level Continued on page 2 col 1 Staff photo by Clement Britt A life on the cutting edge who lays on hands to heal the sick is the Republican candidate for Congress from the 2nd District of Indiana time we the people stood up for what's a white-haired visiting preacher named Brother Stafford declared someone murmured Brother Stafford launched into a sermon that condemned sin cigarettes and drugs and wound up with a lesson about children who came home from the state university and ridiculed their parents for not owning a television may be Stafford said suddenly quiet against the sound of cars rushing past may be outnumbered But going to go the old ways and stand by the Old Rugged Cross Don't let the devil defeat That is the kind of conviction that Lynch a third-generation preacher was raised on It is also the conviction that has brought him against the odds within sight of the CapitoL "I've given my life to preaching since I was 15" Lynch 31 said over a cup of decaf after the service de Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals It is only one of 12 circuit courts directly beneath the US Supreme Court in the federal Judicial system Yet Robinson's 11-judge court is often called the second most important because it hears most major cases involving the federal government either directly or on appeal He has been its chief for more than five years But federal law mandates that Robinson who turned 70 yesterday step down When he returns to work tomorrow Patricia Wald will be chief and Robinson Just another judge on the court to which he was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 Robinson recently talked about By Ray McAllister Ttmee-Dispateh staff writer I came out of law school I had planned to return to Richmond My father was a lawyer I thought that I would sit down in a nice quiet practice of law with him for the rest of my Judge Spottswood Robinson III smiled slightly it Just didn't turn out that Indeed it didn't A few things got in the way A law career that included some of the country's most important civil rights cases A law school deanship A federal district court judgeship A federal circuit court Judgeship And finally the chief judgeship of the District of his half-century career much of it spent on the cutting edge of American law The three-hour interview touched often on his roots in Richmond Though some Richmond peers notably Oliver Hill and Samuel Tucker found motivation for later civil rights battles in childhood racism Robinson seems not to have family was not by any means well-to-do but even through the Depression years we managed to be comfortable he began by way of explanation grew up in Richmond folly cognizant when I became old enough to recognize what segregation and discrimination were in those days But I did nothing of an active fashion with respect to What strikes a listener is Robinson's meticulous speech He carefully very carefully measures his words in describing himself Moreover he uses careful words Though his deeds have helped shape recent American history neither his words nor their delivery are inspiring He is a careful man US Supreme Court Justice Thur-good Marshall who once handled NAACP cases with Robinson has said of him a perfectionist his biggest Robinson figures he has found a way to keep from driving himself crazy though has kept me from Worry-Continued on page 3 col 1 At 60 still a revolutionary For all the veneration he inspires there is a surprising degree of informality in the way Cubans relate to Castro lb Cubans he is simply Personal adulation he insists holds little appeal for him will not see a statue of me anywhere nor a school with my name nor a street nor a little town nor any type of personality cult because we have not taught our people to believe but to he has Hid When Castro reached the Sierra Maestros in late 1956 to begin his struggle he had only a dozen men and seven rifles His predictions of victory were derided by his companions yet the conquest wu his in just two years Six months before his forces entered Havana on New Year's Day 1959 ousting the discredited and demoralized dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista Castro aheady had begun plotting against his big neighbor to the north telling a confidant in a private memo: this war is over a much wider and bigger war will begin for me the war that I am going to wage against them the United States I realize that that is going to be my true He has kept his word Aside from the Soviet Union no country has given the United States more problems over an extended period than has Cuba Attempts by successive American presidents to get tough with Castro generally have failed and had the effect of consolidating his power The revolutionary fervor Castro has been able to maintain is attributable in part to the existence of a neighbor that is both militarily powerful and unswervingly hostile Politically he has profited from having a nearby By George Gedda Associated Pros writer HAVANA On the spur of the moment one evening Fidel Castro decided he wanted a big send-bff in the morning for his distinguished visitor Rajiv Gandhi prime minister of India Rounding up half a million people on sHbrt notice is no small task But it took only a snap of fingers By dawi Havana was abuzz with activity in preparation for Gandhi's mid-morning departure Organizations were alerted and buses used by commuters were mobilized Half a million cheering Cubans saw the Indian leader off that day in 1985 A Western diplomat here recalls it as an example of how Fidel Castro 27 years after seizing power and nearing age 60 remains very much in control in Cuba The young guerrilla who came down from the Sierra Maestra Mountains to overthrow a dictator has outlasted almost every world leader in power at the time His beard is flecked with gray but Castro still appears youthful and vigorous somewhat slimmer than a few years ago He still Inspires awe and respect or fear and loathing among his countrymen and others who have been touched for better or worse by his rule The devotion of his followers is akin to reverence lb them the policies set down by the state carry the same weight as papal decrees do for Roman Catholics On the international stage Castro is as defiant as he was a generation ago when he led a devoutly anti-communist country into the Soviet bloc right under Uncle nose and got away with it Cuba has always been too small a stage for Castro He views his revolution as being in the vanguard of an anti-American movement that one day will sweep the Third World In the 1960s he sponsored efforts to export his revolution to Latin America through guerrilla warfare In the 1970s he turned his attention to Africa deploying tens of thouunds of his troops in ideologically like-minded countries there Now he exhorts Latin American nations as a means of achieving to repudiate their 6360 billion debt burden most of It owed to US creditors Other Latin leaders are content to shun foreign involvements but Castro seems to relish them constantly seeking ways to make Influence felt Few heads of government have left a stamp as indelible as the one Castro has left and continues to leave on Cuba When he took power it wu though Cuba wu starting all over again He nationalized businesses shut down the independent press forced a million of his countrymen into exile and shunned the United States while embracing the Soviet Union He closed church schools expelled foreign priests banned strikes jailed thouunds for political opposition suppressed free debate abolished traditional holidays and created others formed neighborhood snooping organizations and through erratic economic policies brought on all sorts of shortages On the other hand he educated the illiterate built schools where none existed before provided medical care to a degree rarely seen in the Third World became a hero to previously neglected peas- Continued on page 3 col 1 Associated Press Fidel Castro has outlasted most world leaders since 1 959 1 PRINTED CSLOR.