U.S. ‘on God’s Side’ in Mideast, Quayle Says in Garden Grove

Invoking the names of history’s great philosophers, Vice President Dan Quayle told a prayer service at the Crystal Cathedral here Thursday that the war in the Middle East is just and that America is “on God’s side.”

“From the most thoughtful opinions on what is a just war, a consensus emerges,” Quayle said in a brief speech to about 2,200 parishioners. “St. Thomas Aquinas said: ‘In order for a war to be just . . . there must be an advancement of good and avoidance of evil.’

“Judging by these criteria, Operation Desert Storm truly is a just war. We do seek the advancement of good.”

In an hourlong ceremony focused on themes of religion and patriotism, Quayle stood on a stage bedecked with nine standing American flags and another that hung vertically more than eight stories from the ceiling.

A Marine Corps color guard opened the service after a blessing from an Air Force chaplain in uniform.

The vice president was introduced by the Crystal Cathedral’s the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, who told the congregation that President Bush called him shortly before the war started with a request that he “tell people to pray.”

Schuller said he responded with a program called Operation Desert Prayer. Since war began, Schuller said, the church has held a prayer service every day at noon, and its chapel has been open 24 hours a day.

During the Thursday service, a troop of Boy Scouts passed out yellow “prayer slips” to the parishioners, each printed with the name of a U.S. soldier killed or missing in the Persian Gulf and the notation “Please pray for . . . “

“I am one who does believe in the power of prayer,” said Quayle, whose video image was simultaneously broadcast on a scoreboard-size TV screen near the stage. “God listens, God understands and God answers.”

The vice president said President Bush studied his own religious principles before he decided to attack Iraq.

“For a man like George Bush, a man of deep religious convictions, to decide to go to war was certainly not easy--nor should it be,” Quayle said. “. . . President George Bush did everything in his power to have peace, not war.”

Finally, Quayle was optimistic about the outcome of the conflict: “In the end, good shall triumph, and evil shall and will fail. I am firmly convinced, as is the President, that the result of this conflict will be . . . a lasting peace.”

The service, which is scheduled to be broadcast around the world within the next 10 days on Schuller’s “Hour of Power” program, included several hymns, including a children’s choir singing, “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”

Streams of churchgoers, tourists and Scouts arrived at the Crystal Cathedral hours before the prayer service began at noon. Many wore yellow ribbons, and some carried small U.S. flags.

Security was heavy but low profile. About a dozen Secret Service agents guarded the stage, with others scattered through the crowd and balconies. The churchgoers were also directed through metal detectors, and guards searched handbags.

Chuck Trout, a Santa Ana businessman, was at the church at 10 a.m. His daughter, Lisa, 28, is en route to Saudi Arabia as a National Guard medic. As Trout waited to enter, he showed off wedding pictures of his daughter from his wallet.

Trout admitted that he fears for his daughter’s safety but said that he stands by the President’s Gulf policy.

“It’s my faith that’s keeping me going,” said Trout, a Korean War Army veteran who received two Bronze Stars for valor. “I guess I never expected my own daughter to be in a war. Nobody does. But she’s doing it for her country.”

Joseph and Myra Patanian, tourists from Albany, N.Y., had no idea that the vice president was visiting the cathedral when they strolled into the church complex. They simply planned to visit for fun.

“What a pleasant surprise,” Patanian said, fiddling with an instant camera. “It’s something to tell the folks back home in the morning.”

Patanian, owner of a dry-cleaning business, said two of his employees have husbands stationed at the Gulf.

“I see how the war is affecting them, both in and out of work, and it’s a shame,” Patanian said. “It’s up to us to pray for them.”

Todd Shroy, 16, visited the cathedral with the 14-member Calvary Chapel High School jazz band. Wearing a baseball jacket and shiny black boots, Shroy said the vice president’s visit was a “highlight.”

“I’ve never seen anyone as important as the vice president,” Shroy said. “It’s so cool.”

Shroy said the war has affected his classes and even jazz practice.

“Sometimes, we practice and talk and laugh,” he said, “but every once in a while we start thinking about the war. Then it gets really scary.”

Cynthia and Allen Tapang brought their youngest children to the service to see Quayle. As their 18-month-old boy slept on her shoulders, Cynthia Tapang said she had come to hear Quayle give a message of hope.

“I have friends whose husbands are in the Gulf, and they wait for them to come back,” she said. “It’s been agonizing for them. Maybe the vice president can say something that gives us a feeling of support and patience.”