Survey Questions Politicians On Jesus

[Mark E. Smith]

Courier-Journal Louisville KY 3/3

Jeff Sharp, county attorney for Barren County, and a church youth group are surveying all Kentucky legislators and legislative candidates with a single question: "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour?"

Fifteen have replied so far -- all answering yes -- but Rep. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, filed a resolution yestreday asking her collegues to disregard the survey and all "theocratic tendencies."

Stein, who is Jewish, called the survey an "intimidating, bullying letter. This is doing what the constitution prohibits, and that is offering a religious test for public officials," she said. "That's the long and short of it."

Sharp disagreed. "Anybody can vote for whoever they want to," he said. "You can't restrict us from participating."

He said he was "shocked that all this is going on over a simple little survey."

Sharp said he sent out the survey Saturday and used his own time and money. He said he had two goals -- to get people thinking about whether to accept Jesus, and to let candidates know "we're watching them and watching their votes on things."

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