Newsweek Outs F.C. Episcopal As GOP Lair

The Falls Church Episcopal Church was "outed" as a bastion of Republicans and Bush administration insiders by a Jan. 24, 2005 Newsweek magazine article by Jonathan Darman and Holly Bailey entitled, "Jesus and Jack Daniels."

While naming the Smith Point bar in Georgetown as the Bush crowd's favorite watering hole, it profiles the 271-year-old Falls Church Episcopal as where they congregate on Sundays. "It was during the campaign when I first really came to realize how many Republicans attended the church," it quotes a GOP pollster.

"Worshippers include Bush's former White House counsel and Attorney General designate Alberto Gonzales and CIA Director Porter Goss and his top staff," the article reports. "Conservative press luminaries include former CNN 'Crossfire' host Tucker Carlson and Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard and Fox News. Michael Gerson, the president's speech writer, is close to the rector, the Rev. John Yates."

Yates is quoted, "I pray often for Michael and his staff because they have the president's ear."

Yates is quoted saying his faith and the president's are very similar and that he is "more in sympathy with the policies of President Bush" than those of Democrats.

The article notes that Yates has taken a strong stand against the consecration of an openly-gay bishop by the Episcopal Church. It quotes a parishioner, "Every week, it was 'This is a sin!' I actually pulled them aside and said, 'Hey, this is important, but aren't there other things we can talk about?"