Freedom Writer - February 1995

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Reed masks Coalition's true agenda

Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed recently took the 
American Jewish Congress (AJC) to task for falsely claiming he made 
statements about America being a "Christian nation." Reed repudiated 
statements attributed to him in a _Wall_Street_Journal_ article. 

According to the article, Reed said the goal of the Christian Coalition 
is for Christians "to take back this country one precinct at a time, 
so we will see a country once again governed by Christians...and Christian 
values."

In a letter to Phil Baum, AJC executive director, he said: "As for 
the quotation attributed to me in the July 19 [1994] _Wall_Street_
Journal_, I never made any such remark. During my entire tenure at 
this organization, I have never made a comment that even remotely 
resembled that which has falsely been attributed to me."

Reed's objection was an obvious attempt to obscure the true agenda 
of the Christian Coalition, the organization founded by the Rev. Pat 
Robertson. While Reed may indeed not have ever made such statements, 
his boss, Christian Coalition president, Pat Robertson, did.

In "America at a Crossroads," a 1990 recruiting video produced by 
the Christian Coalition, Robertson and Reed succinctly outlined the 
purpose and agenda of the Christian Coalition. On that tape Robertson 
said: "Christians founded this nation, they built this nation, and 
for three hundred years they governed this nation. We can govern again. 
That's why I founded the Christian Coalition."

Later in the same video, Robertson said: "The mission of the Christian 
Coalition is simple: to mobilize Christians one precinct at a time, 
one community at a time, one state at a time, until once again we 
are the head and not the tail, and at the top rather than the bottom 
of our political system."

Robertson, echoing a similar statement by Ralph Reed, summed up the 
17-minute presentation by stating, "I believe the Christian Coalition 
will be the most powerful political force in America by the end of 
this decade."

The matter came up at a November 29, 1994 meeting in Washington between 
Jewish and conservative Christian leaders. The meeting was called 
partly in response to the Anti-Defamation League's important book, 
_The_Religious_Right:_The_Assault_on_Tolerance_and_Pluralism_in_America_.

Apparently, because he is trying to broaden the appeal of the Christian 
Coalition, Reed distanced himself from the statements. Reed knows 
that the Religious Right cannot win elections by itself. When people 
know the true mission of the Christian Coalition, they will reject 
it as an attempt to Christianize America.

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Copyright 1995 IFAS
The Freedom Writer / ifas@crocker.com

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