"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ."
Constitution of the United States of America, Amendment 1
Our freedom to practice our religious beliefs as we see fit is under attack by the Religious Right. And, in the bitterest irony, the persons spearheading this attack are doing so in the name of "Religious Freedom." Nothing could be further from the truth! Their stated purpose and intent is to make sure that conservative Christian religious beliefs are codified into law, at the expense of all other citizens who may not believe the same as them. Their attacks are many and extensive, and threaten the very religious tolerance that was the core motivation of our Founding Fathers when the Constitution was first penned. By pushing to get their members elected and appointed to school boards, library boards and local, state and federal government positions, they are trying to impose their restrictive vision on our entire society, even though it is often not shared by the majority of their constituents. Examples from recent news stories are as frequent as they are disturbing:
You'll note that in most of the cases mentioned above, the uncompromising position of those trying to further the Religious Right's agenda resulted in sometimes-lengthy and often-expensive court actions on the part of citizens to block the flagrant actions of appointed officials that, in theory, were supposed to be supporting their desires, not furthering their own agenda. I'm sure the taxpayer's money they wasted in each of these court cases, attempting to thwart the will of those paying their bills, is money that could have been better spent elsewhere!
- Two Religious Right organizations, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and the American Family Association, criticized the television program "Nothing Sacred" and called for boycotts against its advertisers and the network because the program's main character wasn't portrayed as the their idea of a "traditional" priest . . . before the show even aired for the first time! Some of the speakers even admitted they hadn't even viewed the show yet, and were basing their objections on reviews and network advertisements for the show!
- In December 1997, the Lee County, Virginia School Board directed the teaching of an unconstitutional "Bible History" course that purported to use the Bible as though it were a history textbook. The School Board pushed this course on the school over the objections of teachers, school administrators, and parents! A group of parents and other concerned citizens were forced to file a lawsuit in federal court to stop the course, which they eventually won!
- In October 1997, the Loudoun County, Virginia Library Board adopted a policy requiring that "X-Stop" filtering software be installed in all library computers used by both adults and minors. Such software has been found to block access to numerous sites containing mainstream, valuable information. Before this restrictive Internet-use policy was adopted, a less-invasive policy had been proposed that would have required minors to obtain written parental permission before being allowed to use library computers for Internet access without filtering software, and would have permitted adults and parents to decide for themselves and their children whether to choose filtered or unfiltered Internet access, consistent with individual choice and their family values. The Board refused to put this less-restrictive policy proposal to a vote, and subsequently lost a court challenge brought by a broad coalition of citizens who disapproved of their more-restrictive policy.
- In Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, the school board voted 7-1 to pass an anti-gay and anti-National Education Association resolution based on a model circulated by Concerned Women for America. This decision led to 250 middle and high school students marching out of class in protest ,and more than 1,000 Elizabethtown area residents attending the next school board meeting to voice their opposition to the resolution.
- In Oakland, California, the school board refused to allow a Gay students' group to meet in school facilities, even though other student groups, both secular and religious, were allowed to do so. The board's policy, which their own lawyers warned them was in violation of state and federal laws, was overturned in the courts.
Not surprisingly, the Religious Right's overwhelmingly Caucasian make-up and exclusionary message attract many people who are intolerant of diversity in general! As a result, the "religious" objections presented are frequently nothing more than thinly-veiled racism. For example:
- In Volusia County, Florida, parents objected to "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou being read in an eleventh-grade English class, claiming that it promoted extra-marital sex, cohabitation, and homosexuality, and was "anti-religious" (whatever that means!). One objector denied his complaint was racially motivated, but then called the work a "nigger trash book."
- In Hudson, Ohio, a school board member and a resident affiliated with the group Citizens for Excellence in Education objected to the use of the textbook "The American People" to teach an advanced high school history course, saying the book was "too multicultural" and contained too many "details on the difficulties experienced by slaves, indentured servants, immigrants, farmers and industrial workers." One objector said, "There is an overabundant supply of material on women, African Americans and Native Americans."
In other cases, they openly condemn any books that stray from their conservative Christian views, or discuss alternative religious practices:
- In Livingston County, New York, a parent objected to "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle and all other books in the elementary school library that deal with witches, demons, devils, and Halloween, because the books allegedly teach demon-worship and mysticism.
- In Fort Bragg, North Carolina, a parent using materials from the Family Council, an Arkansas affiliate of Focus on the Family, challenged the kindergarten and first-grade counseling and self-esteem program "Pumsy in Pursuit of Excellence" for allegedly being demonic, encouraging hypnotic trances, being anti-God, and distorting reality.
Most disturbingly are the many attempts to legislate conservative religious values:
- Here in Oregon, the voters passed a law authorizing physician-assisted suicide for patients suffering from painful, irreversible conditions. But before the law could be put into practice, a coalition of conservative Christian, Catholic, and Anti-Choice groups banded together and influenced our state Congresscritters to force it back on the ballot, then spent millions of out-of-state dollars to get it repealed. They lost, thank God! However, having been rejected by the obvious will of the people of Oregon, they are now trying to challenge the law in Federal Court, which has so far been unsuccessful. And have enlisted the aid of their pet Congresscritters in other states to pass a federal law to outlaw it. Expect this one to go all the way to the Supreme Court!
- In Georgia, a state Senate bill that would have required all librarians to adopt and implement policies to restrict access to books deemed "harmful" to children under 18 passed the Senate before being killed in committee. Initial language of the bill carried criminal penalties for librarians who housed such "harmful" materials in their collections . . . and contained no definition of "harmful!" I guess "harmful!" is whatever a senator decides it is! No thanks!
- In Tennessee, the state Senate passed a resolution that would "encourage the observance of the Ten Commandments." According to the language of the resolution, this would be accomplished by every citizen in Tennessee teaching this Judeo-Christian set of rules to his/her children, and displaying them in their homes, businesses, schools and places of worship. I imagine the faithful of Buddism and other eastern religions would have had something to say about this one!
Not to be outdone by their state counterparts, our Federal Congresscritters are equally busy trying to subvert our religious freedom:
- The ill-conceived and wholly bogus Communications Decency Act. Need I say more about this one?!
- At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on "Internet Indecency", Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced legislation that would require schools to "limit students' access to indecent material" in order to be eligible for universal service discounts meant to extend that opportunity to every child. His proposed Internet filtering requirement threatened to block parents and teachers from deciding about what information children should have access to, and would put the decision on what content is and is not appropriate in the hands of the federal government! Big Brother indeed! Fortunately, the courts have so far rejected this and similar attempts at government-imposed censorship.
- Some of our Congresscritters are currently working on a Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act (PRRA), and in at least 20 states a proposed "parental rights" amendment to state constitutions is being pushed. The "parental rights" movement owes its rapid rise in part to an organization called Of the People (OTP), which is promoting the deceptively simple Parental Rights Amendment (PRA) in state legislatures. This amendment, reads: "The right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children shall not be infringed." The primary intent of this legislation is clear: to give a parent veto power over public school curricula, regardless of the will of the majority. By giving parents absolute authority over what their children are taught, they hope to strengthen the influence of those who would censor schoolbooks, or seek to control the curricula on ideological or sectarian grounds. The PRA has been introduced in 20 states so far. In Colorado, a Religious Right-supported group called the Colorado Coalition for Parental Responsibility sponsored a statewide A PRA initiative. Fortunately, Colorado voters defeated it. This hasn't reared its ugly head here in Oregon. And if it did it would not likely pass, since all constitutional amendments in this state require a general election. But residents of other states would do well to keep on top of what their state Congresscritters are up to!
- Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Oklahoma, sponsored a misnamed "Religious Freedom Amendment," which would have allowed taxpayer funding of private education, including religious schools, and subject public school children to sectarian prayer. It was a serious attack on the separation of Church and State, and for that reason alone it had little chance of becoming law. But as egregious as the stated intent of this bill was, that was not its primary intent: the Christian Coalition, who conceived of and were strongly lobbying for this bill, knew full well that, regardless of the outcome of a vote in Congress, this bill would have surely be declared Unconstitutional. But they were hoping to be able to force it to a vote, so that the public record of that vote could be publicized and used as a "litmus test" they can use to publicly praise or condemn candidates during future elections. They produced 45 million "voter guides" to publicize it! The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill, and sent it to the full House for vote, where it died. But the Christian Coalition got its vote count none the less! I expect similar bills every election year!
- Another bill, sponsored by Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Georgia, would allow tax-free education savings accounts to finance elementary and secondary education, including tuition at religious and other private schools. Obviously, the only families who could afford to take advantage of this tax break are high-income taxpayers, so if this passes all taxpayers would be subsidizing the sending of "rich kids" to private schools! Talk about a boondoggle for the rich! But the most troubling facet of this proposed law is that, by allowing tax-free savings to be diverted to religious education, the federal government would be effectively helping to fund these religious schools, while having virtually no control over what they teach. Some people might not be concerned because they equate "religious schools" with mainstream Catholic or protestant schools. But there would be nothing to stop White Separatist parents, for instance, from choosing to send their children to a "church" school that teaches racial hatred. If you let your imagination run loose, other similar inappropriate uses for your tax dollars might come to mind!
These are just a few of the many efforts under way all over the country to undermine the religious plurality that has been a hallmark of our society, and replace it with a narrow, conservative "Christians-only" culture that has no tolerance for religious diversity or differences in interpretation.
In his book The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, noted Science Fiction author and visionary Robert A. Heinlien noted that people don't pass laws to stop themselves from doing something they don't believe in. Rather, they pass them to stop others from doing something the law's framers don't believe in, regardless of those others' beliefs. This speaks to the very core of the Religious Right's agenda: they are convinced that they know what is right and best, and want to ensure that you comply with their way of thinking whether it is your belief or not! And that attitude is un-American!
At this point I must state here, for the record, that I myself am a Christian, and that I personally believe to be true many of the beliefs that motivate these groups. But in a country where, by law, a person's religious beliefs are his or her own private business, it is not my place to force others to believe the same as I do! And any attempt, no manner how well meaning, to do so is a violation of the Amendment quoted above! While a member of the US military, I swore an oath before God to protect the Constitution "against all enemies, foreign and domestic." That oath has not been negated by my retirement, and in my opinion anyone trying to subvert the Constitutional rights of our citizens is an enemy of the domestic variety that needs protecting against! Of course, my weapon these days is the electronic "pen", not a gun . . . at least until they try to close my church!
If you are as concerned as I am about the Religious Right's attempt to weaken or eliminate our right of religious freedom, then please check out the People For the American Way. This organization, made up of members espousing diverse religious beliefs, keeps a close watch on the Religious Right's activities.
