Religion Briefs : Republicans Accused of ‘Christian-Bashing’

WASHINGTON — A leader of the religious right, citing a joke Vice President George Bush told about Oral Roberts, says that Republicans are engaging in “Christian-bashing” and may drive conservative evangelicals to desert the GOP and form a third party.

“It’s a bunch of baloney,” retorted a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, when asked about the accusation.

The Bush joke was one of several incidents singled out by Robert Grant, chairman of Christian Voice, in a report called “Crisis in the GOP.”

Grant wrote that in March “the conservative evangelical group was outraged when Vice President Bush referred to the Lord’s name in a trite and disrespectful manner, when joking about Oral Roberts’ claim that God will ‘call him home’ if he did not raise $8 million.”

“Bush reportedly said that a new fundamentalist group had been formed called ‘LORD,’ which he said stands for ‘Let Oral Roberts Die.’ ”

Gayle Fisher, an aide to Bush, said the vice president was at a closed fund-raiser in Michigan and repeated a joke he had heard. “There was no malicious or harmful intent,” she said.