Ashcroft Calls for Reconciliation

U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft used an appearance Sunday at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove to issue a national call for personal reconciliation, forgiveness and healing.

“We need to treat each other with respect and not operate with prejudice or disdain for one another,” the nation’s highest-ranking law enforcement official told the Rev. Robert H. Schuller and several thousand people at one of two morning services at which he spoke.

Schuller went straight to the controversy that surrounded President Bush’s nomination of Ashcroft as attorney general. Opponents branded the former U.S. senator from Missouri as a right-wing ideologue who would turn back the clock on such issues as civil rights.

During his confirmation hearings in January, Ashcroft was criticized for his Senate voting record on abortion rights, gun control and other issues. Schuller asked Ashcroft how he handled the criticism.

“I always thought that if I was accused of being a strong Christian, there was enough evidence to convict me,” Ashcroft said.

Schuller asked the attorney general what lessons he learned growing up as the son of a Pentecostal preacher.

Ashcroft responded that “the purpose of religion is reconciliation. Whenever you see healing and forgiveness, that’s the most joyful time.” He also said his faith is not something he wants to force on someone else. “Faith cometh by hearing, not by having someone trying to beat it into you.”