[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 80 (Wednesday, June 22, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 22, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
    SPECIAL ORDER DIALOG INVITED ON CHRISTIAN COALITION AND SPECIAL 
                            INTEREST ISSUES

  (Mr. GINGRICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, I read with great interest the comments of 
the gentleman from California to the National Press Club yesterday, 
with his answers to various questions, and I have a proposition for 
him.
  I think that we should take 2 hours, maybe 1 night this week or next 
week, on special orders, and not have a debate but have a dialog. Is it 
appropriate, for example, for gay rights activists to be publicly in 
public life and to be at the Democratic National Convention and to 
speak, and is it appropriate for people in the Christian Coalition to 
be in public life and to be at the Republican Convention to speak?
  Is there some magic defining line at which point if you actually go 
to church or synagogue regularly you are dangerous and you should not 
be allowed in public life?
  I think if we could have not a debate but simply a dialog about the 
legitimacy of those who are concerned about and take religion seriously 
and being in public life, that it would be healthier for the country, 
and if the gentleman is being misdescribed, certainly if we had 2 hours 
and we yielded to each other generously, at the end of that time I 
think he would have adequately gotten across the distinctions between 
what he is afraid of and what he is not afraid of, and why he somehow 
seems to keep mentioning Christian activists as the people who scare 
him and does not mention any other kind of activists whom other 
Americans might find far more frightening.
  Mr. Speaker, I would certainly extend to my friend the opportunity at 
his convenience to have that kind of dialog.

                          ____________________