Remarks stir flap over faith at Capitol

God is disgusted with California legislators – at least some of them, according to an evangelical chaplain who ruffled feathers this week in the same Capitol where he leads Bible studies for lawmakers.

Ralph Drollinger, who played basketball at UCLA in the 1970s and now heads Capitol Ministries, criticized lawmakers who participate in a separate fellowship group that embraces people of all faiths without insisting that they accept Jesus Christ as Messiah.

"Although they are pleasant men in their personal demeanor, their group is more than disgusting to our Lord and Savior," Drollinger wrote on the Capitol Ministries' Web site.

Drollinger, who has conducted Capitol Bible sessions for more than a decade, receives no compensation from the state. He is paid $120,000 annually by the nonprofit Capitol Ministries for evangelizing to politicians nationwide, records show.

Sen. Darrell Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat who will serve as Senate president pro tem next year, called Drollinger's statements "intolerant," "troubling" and "deplorable."

"I think it's important that those of us who find those comments offensive speak loud and clear about it," Steinberg said.

Steinberg said Drollinger has a right to free speech, but inside the Capitol – which he called the "public square" – people should respect differing views.

"There's just no place in civil society for intolerance of someone's different beliefs," Steinberg said. "It's the beauty of this country, that people have the right to practice their own faith."

Drollinger's message, also expressed in last week's Capitol Bible study session, is that religion has strict lines of right and wrong – and "progressive religious tolerance" offends God and harms its practitioners.

"What the fellowship group offers is Jesus of Nazareth, a good moral teacher who loves everyone without distinction," Drollinger wrote on his Web site. "This is a deadly lie.

"There is no true fellowship without first being reconciled to God," he wrote, defining reconciliation as "repentance from sin and faith in God through the work of Jesus Christ the Messiah."

Drollinger, in his Capitol Bible session last week, indicated that he is prepared to suffer for proclaiming what he views as God's truth.

"In meetings around (the Capitol), it is more than occasionally implied that those who are accepting of all religions are more commendable than someone like me who is not," read his Bible study text.

Drollinger's weekly Capitol sessions are attended by about a half-dozen lawmakers and are sponsored by Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines, who declined to comment Tuesday.

Drollinger, through an aide, declined to elaborate on his written comments.

Assemblyman Rick Keene, a Chico Republican who sponsors the fellowship group criticized by Drollinger, said simply that "we feel that we're doing what God wants us to do – and I'm sure he does, too."

Keene, a Protestant, said the fellowship group also meets in the Capitol and is committed to "gathering together around Jesus Christ" to pray and study Scripture.

"I don't have any critical thoughts of him," Keene said of Drollinger, who angered some legislators several years ago by calling Catholicism a "false religion" and by saying that it is sinful for a woman lawmaker to be away from her children four days a week while in Sacramento.

Drollinger began leading faith-based sessions at the Capitol in the late 1990s, but for decades before that legislators gathered for prayer and religious devotion.

Former Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Roseville, remembers that members of Drollinger's group split and created the fellowship sessions partly because they preferred informality to structured Bible tutoring.

Leslie, like Drollinger, is an evangelical Christian who says "my interpretation of the Bible and Ralph's (interpretation) are probably identical." But Leslie disagrees with his notion of intolerance.

"There's a path to Christ, and each person has their own path," said Leslie, who served as a longtime leader of the fellowship group.

"There have been a number of legislators who have come in with different personal problems, marital problems, family problems, and they've found Christ," he said of the informal gatherings. "And that's wonderful. They weren't about to sit in lecture mode."

Steinberg, who is Jewish, said many people of his faith would be offended by Drollinger's statement that anyone who does not accept Jesus as Messiah is disgusting to God.

"The Jewish religion recognizes Jesus Christ as a great prophet and rabbi, but not in the same way Christianity does," he said. Steinberg said he found Drollinger's remarks "highly offensive."

The Rev. James Richardson, an Episcopalian who serves as Senate chaplain, said Drollinger's beliefs "represent only one segment of religious thought" and "there are other ways to be Christian."

"I deeply respect his fervent beliefs," Richardson said. "But I also respect the many different people in our Capitol. And all of us would do well to listen to each other once in a while, and not just draw hasty conclusions."

About the writer:

• Call Jim Sanders, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5538.