
Freedom Writer - March 1996

Religious Right update

Interfaith Alliance forms in Oregon

Portland, Oregon  Oregon religious leaders recently 
announced the formation of a state chapter of the Interfaith 
Alliance (TIA), an organization that provides people 
of faith with a mainstream alternative to the divisiveness 
and intolerance of the extreme Religious Right. Reverend 
Rodney Page, executive director of Ecumenical Ministries 
of Oregon, stated, "We pledge to promote the positive 
role of religion as a healing and constructive force 
in public life, and to challenge those who manipulate 
religion for partisan political gain."

Mainstream religious leaders from across the country 
organized the Interfaith Alliance in 1994 to speak 
out against the divisive use of religion in the public 
sphere, including political campaigns. TIA's goal is 
to ensure that an alternative faith-based voice is 
heard in the public debate. The national grass roots 
movement now encompasses 16 state chapters and over 
20,000 members.

Bishop assails Catholic Alliance

Albany, New York  Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of the 
diocese of Albany, assailed the Christian Coalition's 
new Catholic Alliance. Bishop Hubbard, writing in _The_
Evangelist_, said that he found many aspects of the 
Catholic Alliance literature disturbing. He specifically 
mentioned "the clearly partisan tone of the documents; 
the blatant untruths contained in the voter scorecards; 
and the inference that the Alliance speaks for the 
Holy Father and thus is officially 'Catholic,' and 
the organization's stated purpose of giving 'America's 
50,000,000 Catholics a voice in government.'"

"I am particularly concerned about the organization's 
stated purpose of representing the Catholic community 
before Congress, state legislatures and other governmental 
bodies." Bishop Hubbard continued, "I believe that 
this Alliance will create massive confusion, not only 
among lawmakers in local, state and federal government, 
but also among the Catholic faithful, as to who it 
is that speaks legitimately on matters of public policy 
for the Church in the United States."

Hubbard said the organizational structure of the Roman 
Catholic Church communicates official church positions 
in the name of the bishops, not through Pat Robertson's 
Catholic Alliance. He said that there are issues on 
the Christian Coalition's agenda with which the Catholic 
Bishops agree, such as abortion, and there are issues 
with which they disagree, such as welfare reform and 
the death penalty. He also implied that Robertson's 
group holds a "Christian position" on the balanced 
budget amendment and term limits, issues on which the 
Conference of Bishops holds no position.

"What is interesting, too," Bishop Hubbard said, "what 
is not on the agenda of the Coalition; for example, 
legislation to protect poor children or immigrants."

Long-distance discrimination

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma  LifeLine, a division of AmeriVision 
Communications, Inc., an alternative long-distance 
telephone company, gives 10% of its income to a number 
of Radical Religious Right organizations. The top 13 
groups supported and funded by LifeLine are American 
Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Christian 
Coalition, Rutherford Institute, Moore Foundation, 
Advancing Church Ministries, World Magazine, Reap, 
Oregon Citizens Alliance, Illinois Family Institute 
(Focus on the Family), Indiana Family Institute (Focus 
on the Family), American Center for Law & Justice, 
and "Jay Sekulow Live." Each month AmeriVision gives 
these groups over $274,000, and will distribute $3,300,000 
to them in 1996.

Another group, the Catholic League for Religious and 
Civil Rights, has dropped LifeLine, and is urging other 
Catholics to do the same. LifeLine denied Catholic 
Answers, the largest apologetic and evangelization 
organization in North America, an account because they 
"spread and defend the Roman Catholic Faith."

Persecuted for objecting to Christian film

Rogue River, Oregon  After opposing a Christian film 
that was to be shown at a January PTA meeting in this 
southeastern Oregon town, James and Ann Gold have experienced 
frightening acts of anti-Semitism and a possible attempt 
on their lives. The film they opposed declared that 
the founding fathers intended America to be a Christian 
nation. The Golds objected to the film and threatened 
to "get the entire Jewish community up in arms about 
it."

Since then, the Golds' home has been burglarized, and 
vandalized inside and outside four times with anti-Semitic 
graffiti and other acts of vandalism. Someone called 
several times, yelled "Fuck you!" and hung up. 

Then, on January 15, Ann Gold  a Mormon  suffered 
minor injuries after hitting a tree when brand-new 
brakes failed on her car. Authorities are investigating 
to see if someone tampered with the brakes.

Members of the community have come forward offering 
the Golds support. Mayor Jerry Lausmann of Medford 
offered to let the family stay in an apartment he owns. 
On February 11, the social action committee of Temple 
Emek Shalom, in Ashland, held a rally in support of 
the Golds. Twelve conservative churches in the area 
signed a statement declaring "no more hate."

Also, the FBI is reportedly investigating the incidents; 
and Mayor Lausmann set up a fund totaling almost $6,000 
for anyone furnishing information that leads to the 
arrest and conviction of those responsible for the 
criminal acts.

NPR under fire from Wildmon

Tupelo, Mississippi  After apologizing on the air 
for a comment made by Andrei Codrescu, National Public 
Radio (NPR) is still taking heat from the Religious 
Right. In one of his popular commentaries, heard on 
some 300 public radio stations, Codrescu belittled 
the fundamentalist Christian doctrine of the Rapture, 
the belief that any day now millions of Christians 
will fly into the air to meet Jesus. "The evaporation 
of 4 million who believe in this crap would leave the 
world a better place," Codrescu said.

His comment drew immediate fire from the Rev. Donald 
Wildmon of the American Family Association. Codrescu 
apologized "for the language but not for what I said." 
Nevertheless, Wildmon is demanding that NPR fire Codrescu 
for his comment.

Wildmon said that relatively few people listen to NPR 
and most who do make above average incomes. "This is 
a case of the poor being taxed to provide entertainment 
for the rich," Wildmon said.

The Christian Coalition's Ralph Reed asked for two 
minutes of air time on "All Things Considered" to offer 
an opposing view. NPR turned down his request. The 
Christian Coalition said it will step up lobbying efforts 
to defund NPR, which receives some federal support.

Chaplain's prayer causes dissension

Topeka, Kansas  A guest chaplain's prayer caused an 
uproar in the Kansas House in January. The Rev. Joe 
Wright of Wichita's 2,500-member Central Christian 
Church, offended many of the legislators with a stinging 
prayer.

"We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted 
our values," Wright prayed. "We have endorsed perversion 
and called it an alternative lifestyle. We have exploited 
the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected 
the needy and called it self-preservation. We have 
rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have worshipped 
other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have 
killed the unborn and called it choice. We have shot 
abortionists and called it justifiable."	

One legislator walked out; others sat down in protest. 
"I have never heard, in 10 years, as divisive, sanctimonious, 
self-serving, overbearing a prayer as I heard this 
morning," said Delbert Gross, a Republican legislator.

House minority leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat, 
issued a written statement. The prayer, he wrote, "reflects 
the extreme, radical views that continue to dominate 
the House Republican agenda since right-wing extremists 
seized control of the House Republican caucus last 
year."

The controversy once again brings up the question of 
whether public prayers by chaplains are necessary, 
or even appropriate, at the opening of legislative 
meetings.

Bauer suggests third party

Washington, DC  Gary Bauer, head of the Family Research 
Council, a group affiliated with Focus on the Family, 
lashed out at the Republican Party because he thinks 
the party places economical issues over moral issues. 
He said the GOP has to decide whether moral issues 
or economic issues should be primary.

"It is a major, major battle, not just this year, but 
over the next few years," he said. He warned that conservatives 
will leave the party if it abandons "prolife and profamily" 
issues and go form a new political party. Bauer joins 
a growing list of third-party advocates, including 
Dr. James Dobson and Howard Phillips.

More Christian Coalition lies

Virginia Beach, Virginia  The Rev. Mel White, Pat 
Robertson's former ghostwriter who fell out of favor 
after saying he is gay, recently held a press conference 
in Virginia Beach to confront Robertson for his ongoing 
anti-gay rhetoric to raise funds. Among a film crew, 
White recognized a Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) 
producer. Although welcomed at the event, the man denied 
he was with CBN. But the truth came out when someone 
spotted "Property of CBN" on a videocam tripod.

And Pat Robertson continues to tell tall tales in his 
fundraising letters. In a recent letter to Christian 
Coalition members, Robertson said, "the U.S. government 
still spends tens of millions of dollars on the National 
Endowment for the Arts which makes a point of funding 
anti-Christian and pornographic 'art' projects...projects 
designed specifically to offend and outrage Christians 
and religious people." Robertson also claimed that 
prayer has been "outlawed from our schools."

Back to the  golden age?

Pittsfield, Massachusetts  Radical Religious Right 
leaders, such as the Rev. Jay Grimstead, of the Coalition 
on Revival, want to bring America back to some imaginary 
"Golden Age," often referred to as the 50s.

What were the 50s like, anyway? Editor David Scribner 
recently discovered a revealing article from a 1958 
issue of The Berkshire Eagle. The 38 year-old story 
was based on a press release from the Pittsfield Federation 
of Teachers explaining the problems teachers faced 
in public schools. The list included:

_
Vulgar and obscene language
Indecent or improper dress
Maliciously annoying students who do good work
Formation of infamous clubs
Smoking on school property
Defacing and destruction of school property
Gambling
Use of illegal weapons.
Petting in schools
Insolence and insubordination
Pornographic literature
Physical violence toward teachers
_

Reconstructionist goal for education

Boise, Idaho  Samuel L. Blumenfeld, a Christian Reconstructionist 
writer, outlined the educational goals of the influential 
Reconstructionist movement. His rhetoric is clearly 
aimed at promoting homeschooling.

"The reconstructionist goal," he wrote, "is to restore 
God's sovereignty over family, church, and civil governments, 
and to restore the family's moral and religious responsibility 
for the education of its children. In other words, 
parents have the right to delegate to other godly persons 
the educating of their children, and they retain the 
right to educate their children at home  which is 
now much easier to do than it was in colonial days.

"It is clearly sinful for Christian parents to put 
their children in public schools where the knowledge 
of God is not taught, and where ungodly attitudes are 
inculcated. When Christian parents put their children 
in schools that do not consider themselves to be under 
God's law, they are disobeying a Biblical commandment. 
There is no escaping that judgment. In the Reconstructionist 
view, Christian parents who place their child in a 
public school are committing a sin, not because there 
are no Christian teachers in that school, but because 
that school is not under God's law. As Dr. Rushdoony 
writes: 'To control the future requires control of 
education and of the child. Hence, for Christians to 
tolerate statist education, or to allow their children 
to be trained thereby, means to renounce power in society, 
to renounce their children, and to deny Christ's lordship 
over all of life.'"

Christian youths love their MTV

Colorado Springs, Colorado  _Citizen_, the political 
magazine of the Focus on the Family ministry, published 
an article in its February 19, 1996 issue called "Breaking 
the Culture's Grip." The article lashed out at popular 
magazines, television, and music.

It came down especially hard on MTV, saying "MTV promos, 
cartoons and videos feature homosexual couples...and 
regularly features homosexual cast members...and a 
sexually suggestive game show...as well as New Age, 
liberal dogma."

The most interesting tidbit brought out in the article 
concerned the viewing habits of evangelical Christian 
teenagers. "According to surveys conducted by the Barna 
Research Group [a Christian organization], Christian 
teens are actually more likely to watch MTV than their 
non-Christian counterparts." Why, is anybody's guess.

Coalition rates senators

Virginia Beach, Virginia  The Christian Coalition 
released its "election year kick-off edition" of its 
1996 Congressional Scorecard. "A score of 100% means 
the Congressman supported Christian Coalition's position 
on every vote. A score of 0% means the Congressman 
never supported a Christian Coalition position." 

Only three senators distinguished themselves with a 
0%  rating. They are Senators Moynihan (D-NY), Leahy 
(D-VT), and Murray (D-WA).

Scoring a 100% Christian Coalition rating are Senators 
Murkowski (R-AK), Kyl (R-AZ), McCain (R-AZ), Brown 
(R-CO), Coverdell (R-GA), Craig (R-ID), Kempthorne 
(R-ID), Coats (R-IN), Grassley (R-IA), Dole (R-KS), 
McConnel (R-KY), Abraham (R-MI), Grams (R-MN), Lott 
(R-MS), Ashcroft (R-MO), Burns (R-MT), Smith (R-NH), 
Helms (R-NC), Faircloth (R-NC), Dewine (R-OH), Inhofe 
(R-OK), Nickles (R-OK), Santorum (R-PA), Thurmond (R-SC), 
Pressler (R-SD), Thompson (R-TN), Hutchinson (R-TX), 
Gramm (R-TX), Bennett (R-UT), Hatch (R-UT), and Thomas 
(R-WY).

Ratings were based upon the following litmus tests: 
balanced budget amendment (supports); taxpayer-funded 
abortion (when included in health insurance policies 
for federal workers) (opposes); nomination of Henry 
Foster for surgeon general (opposes); pornography on 
the Internet (includes so-called "indecent" material, 
not just legally obscene material) (opposes); line 
item veto (supports); lifting ban on gays in the military 
(opposes); ban on immigrants with HIV/AIDS virus (supports); 
condoms for children (minors) without parental consent 
(opposes); taxpayer-funded pornography (support for 
the National Endowment for the Arts) (opposes); term 
limits on Congress (supports).

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Freedom Writer / ifas@berkshire.net

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