09/26/13: E. W. Jackson’s civil capacities

This op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on the date shown.

THE CANDIDATES for lieutenant governor of Virginia squared off in a debate Tuesday evening, offering voters a glimpse of how they would serve. The part-time position has a rather limited role: to preside over the state Senate and to cast a vote in the event of a tie.

There are stark differences of opinion between the two men vying for the position, and when only one has a voting record, we have to look to the words of the other to determine how, if given the opportunity, the other would vote.

Nothing Democratic candidate Ralph Northam said in Tuesday’s debate differed from his state Senate voting record. He’s been a strong advocate of women’s rights, health care, equality and education.

Republican E. W. Jackson has never held elective office, but he has offered his opinion on a wide range of topics. Nearly all of his opinions are rooted in his faith.

The fiery preacher who appears at campaign events — his speech at the Republican convention helped him win the nomination — was not on display Tuesday. In its stead was a relatively calm Jackson. In a quieter way, he reiterated his opposition to abortion, gay marriage and Medicaid expansion.

When confronted with some of his more incendiary statements — calling gays “perverted,” likening Democrats to slave masters, among them — Jackson’s response floored me. It was basically: Ignore all that. I’ll be the lieutenant governor of all people.

Sorry, Mr. Jackson, but you can’t have it both ways.

Reasonable people can disagree, but there is no need to be disagreeable or disrespectful. There is no room in the public discourse for name-calling; leave that to the school children who don’t know any better.

As a preacher, Jackson is no doubt familiar with 1 Corinthians 13:11: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

Jackson made no attempt Tuesday to distance himself from his previous statements; in fact, he cited the First Amendment as his defense. He dug his heels in further by citing part of Article I, Section 16 of the Virginia constitution: “All men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain their opinions in matters of religion, and the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities.”

Of course he has the right to say them. But we have the right to use them as a basis for casting our vote. Asking us to disregard them and, more importantly, to believe that they will not guide him if elected, is ludicrous.

Besides, he’s said as much. In an interview last May, he told The Washington Post that he has “religious values that matter” to him. The issues page on his website, ironically titled “Agenda to Inspire and Unite Virginia,” essentially reiterates his religious-based stances. I’d say that affects his “civil capacities.”

Jackson has said that the Democratic Party’s agenda is “worthy of the Antichrist,” that gays are “very sick people psychologically,” that birth defects are caused because of sin, and just last Sunday, that non-Christians “are engaged in some sort of false religion.” If elected, he’ll have to work with Democrats, gays, people with disabilities and non-Christians in the state Senate.

How, after offending them, does he intend to do that?

Perhaps the preacher needs to reacquaint himself with Luke 6:31: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”