The chief spokesman for the White House has deflected a pointed question about the pro-life protests encompassing Notre Dame because of the institution's plans to honor the pro-abortion President Obama, insisting that the right to protests is "enshrined" in the Constitution.
The question came from Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House.
"Ambassador Alan Keyes, who ran against the president, was arrested on the campus of Notre Dame and jailed for peaceably demonstrating. Does the president believe that this is either an example of academic freedom or a good illustration of First Amendment freedom of speech?" he asked.
Responded Gibbs, "Well, I long ago stopped trying to speak for the actions of Alan Keyes. I think…"
"I asked you about the president, what is his reaction?" asked Kinsolving.
Gibbs, a second time, went on a tangent. "Look, if people want to peaceably demonstrate I think…"
"They should be allowed, shouldn't they?" asked Kinsolving.
"The president would believe that those rights are strongly protected and enshrined in the First Amendment of our Constitution. And if Ambassador Keyes wants to do that, then…," said Gibbs.
Randall Terry (left) and Alan Keyes (right) amid protesters outside the entrance to Notre Dame |
As WND reported, Keyes was arrested, along with 21 others, on charges of trespassing while he was protesting against Obama's abortion record at the University of Notre Dame, which invited Obama to speak at its May 17 commencement.
He later was released after an anonymous person donated bond money.
"It was weird, because I said, 'I don't want to leave; I didn't post any bond,'" Keyes told WND. "But the police wouldn't let me stay. I asked them, 'Has anyone ever been re-arrested for resisting expulsion?' They laughed, for they had never heard anything like that. It didn't seem like the appropriate time to be engaging in civil disobedience."
Keyes was quick to point out, however, that he sees his arrest not as a matter of defying the civil authorities, but as an act of obeying God.
"I do not see any issue that I have with civil authority, and therefore no civil disobedience is involved," Keyes told WND. "The civil authorities are acting on behest of a private party, in this case Father Jenkins, president of Notre Dame. When I set foot on Notre Dame's campus, I am, in fact, on Notre Dame's property, but that property is also part – according to its own statement – of the community of my faith. So what goes on between myself and Notre Dame is then subject to the laws that govern the community of our faith; and those are not the civil laws, but the laws of God."
"It is not disobedience," Keyes continued. "I am obeying the church's teaching and the laws of God. Father Jenkins, in issuing the order he issued, acted unlawfully. When I act according to God's will, and someone moves against me in that context, they go against the will of God, they are unlawful, and unlawful orders do not have to be obeyed.
"There was no civil disobedience going on; there was obedience going on," Keyes insisted. "And obedience is what this is all about – obedience to the law of God."
Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, who made headlines last week after he was also arrested on the Notre Dame campus, told WND earlier that the protests have given pro-life activists "a fresh line of defense to regroup."
Terry is promoting a website called StopObamaNotreDame.com so others may join the protests.
"My goal, and my challenge to everyone, is to create such a political mud pit here that Obama chooses to not walk through it in order to speak," Terry said. "The only way that's going to happen is by massive social tension on the ground. That's why these arrests are going to be so critical."
Gibbs did not allow Kinsolving to ask a second question.
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