Elizabeth Dole Appears at Crusade

Elizabeth Dole exhorted a supportive crowd of 23,000 Christians on Friday to defend religious freedom everywhere so there is “no longer an open season on Christians abroad.”

The former U.S. secretary of transportation and wife of Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole told the crowd at Anaheim Stadium for the Harvest Crusade that they had an obligation to ensure that “whether Christian, Jew or Muslim, freedom of religion must be respected.”

Earlier in the day, Dole visited Acacia Adult Day Services, a senior center in Garden Grove.

The four-day Harvest Crusade, presented each year since 1990 by the Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, drew more than 63,000 people when it opened on the Fourth of July with music, sermons and fireworks.

Although Dole is on leave from her job as president of the American Red Cross to campaign for her husband, organizers of the Harvest Crusade insisted that politics is not part of the Crusade’s agenda.

“This is not to look at any particular political platform,” said Greg Laurie, pastor of the Riverside church. “Really, the essence and thrust of the event is the need for America to turn back to God.”

Dole gave an account of her “commitment to Christ,” saying it is a “high and difficult calling and one in which I will struggle” to achieve.

Part rock concert and part old-fashioned Bible school, the Harvest Crusade attracted 320,000 people last year, including 55,000 who were 18 years old or younger during youth night. Today’s Harvest Youth Jam will feature groups such as the Harvest Youth Praise Band.

Sunday’s lineup will include eight-time Grammy winner CeCe Winans and Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham who describes himself as a “rebel with a cause.”