LIBERTY BRIEFS

Congressional Religious Makeup
According to the Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, 150 Catholics, 72 Baptists, and 65 Methodists were present when the 107th Congress convened in January. Thirty-seven Jews, 15 Mormons, and six members of Eastern Orthodox churches made up the balance of those who responded to a question about their religious preference. Republicans are overwhelmingly Protestant with 190 members; 59 Republicans are Catholic. Democrats claim 122 Protestant members and 91 Catholic. Thirty-three Democrats and three Republicans are Jewish. If the numbers don’t add up, we must assume that some members claim no religious affiliation at all.
—Religion and Ethics Newsweekly,
Jan. 5, 2001.

A Voucher by Any Other Name
According to an article in the Education Week, when President George W. Bush first introduced Rod Paige, his nominee for education secretary, at a December 29, 2000, televised press conference, he said Paige “believes parents ought to be trusted in making decisions for their children.” Although the then president-elect never used the word voucher, most people knew what he was talking about. From the beginning Bush and his supporters have carefully avoided using the V word. They prefer parental choice. When Superintendent Paige introduced a 1996 voucher-like program into the Houston Independent Public School District, he called it “educational contracting.”
The Houston program does differ from the other voucher programs in that it doesn’t allow religious schools to serve as alternatives. And Paige wisely avoids questions of charges of upholding the constitutional prohibition on a government establishment of religion. But according to critics, including the president of the Houston Council of PTAs, “it all boils down to vouchers.”
—Education Week, Jan. 10, 2001.

Office of Charitable Choice
His second week in office President George W. Bush switched his focus from education to charitable choice. He announced he would submit a proposal to give religious institutions such as churches, synagogues, and mosques billions of dollars over the next 10 years to provide services such as drug treatment, after-school programs, and prison ministries. He also announced the establishment of an office that will promote the integration of religious groups into federally financed social services, according to The New York Times. The office is headed by John J. DiIulio Jr., a University of Pennsylvania political science professor, a Catholic who identifies himself as a New Democrat.
Although religious groups would have to bid for providing services, the plans have caused some concerns. Critics fear that Bush is chipping away at the wall between church and state with the proposal. Faith-based groups fear the strings that may be attached to the money.
The article did note that Mr. Bush has said some of the groups with the best results for rehabilitating prisoners or fighting drug abuse are ones that take religious and spiritual approaches. He has also said the government should not hesitate to give money to these groups, as long as secular groups that provide similar services are also available.
—The New York Times, Jan. 29, 2001.
Ecumenical Protest?
An assortment of religious denominations including Baptists, Catholics, Jews, Lutherans, Presbyterians, United Methodists, and Seventh-day Adventists filed briefs supporting members of a Massachusetts Mormon church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in a local zoning battle, according to the Boston Globe.
Neighbors of the Mormon Temple, which opened last October in Belmont, Massachusetts, wanted the 70,000-square-foot structure removed. They argued in court that allowing the building in a residential neighborhood, despite zoning rules that would have prohibited other buildings of similar size, violated a constitutional prohibition against the government establishment of religion.
They also argued that the Dover Amendment, a 1950 Massachusetts provision that limits local governments from restricting land use by religious and educational institutions, gives these institutions an unfair advantage in zoning matters. Both the U. S. district court and the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit rejected the argument. The U. S. Supreme Court rubber-stamped these decisions by refusing to take the case.
Still the neighbors haven’t given up their fight, according to the Globe. They are arguing now that the 67-foot steeple and 12-foot statue of an angel the Mormons want to build atop the 60-foot-tall building is too high. The temple occupies nine acres at the top of Belmont Hill. So far, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge has sided with the neighbors. After the Mormons appeal, the case goes to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Attempts to modify the Dover Amendment have all been thwarted in the past. The religious groups involved will carefully track two new pieces of legislation to do so.
The article quotes one church leader saying, “Churches have a right to control their own property.”
Indeed
—Boston Globe, Jan. 9, 2001.

Religious Gold
Several religious leaders were awarded medals by the U. S. House and Senate and by outgoing president Bill Clinton in January. House speaker Dennis Hastert and a delegation from Congress traveled to Rome to present the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor Congress awards, to Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. Clinton awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to a another Catholic, a Jew, and a Protestant. The medals, which honor outstanding deeds of service to the nation, were awarded to Sister Carol Coston, founder of Network, a Catholic social justice lobbying group; Rabbi Arthur Schneier, founder and president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, an international religious freedom and human rights organization; and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, who helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization.
—Religion and Ethics Newsweekly,
Jan. 13, 2001.



How We Think
Although religion and politics are controversial and topics to be avoided in polite conversation, they are increasingly linked in our public dialogue, according to a study by Public Agenda, a New York City-based nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research and citizen education organization. The study, titled For Goodness’ Sake, sends clear messages about several areas, but also underscores the ambiguity Americans sometimes feel when religion and politics intersect. Some of the findings:
•Religion is seen as an antidote to the moral decline of the nation. Social problems could be mitigated if people were more religious.
•Religious tolerance is an important and expected part of life and should be reflected in our conduct.
•Political leaders should be more religious as individuals because it reflects on their characters, but it is wrong to consider a candidate’s religious affiliation when voting. In turn, a devout politician may need to make pragmatic compromises on divisive issues. Politicians who wear their religion on their sleeve are viewed with suspicion.
The study also found that people responded differently according to their religion or lack of it. Jewish and nonreligious Americans are much more unnerved by the prospect of mixing religion and politics. Evangelicals are much more likely to believe devout politicians would craft better policies and would be less willing to compromise on key issues. While 80 percent of Jews say they still have to be vigilant against anti-Semitism, more than two-thirds of evangelicals say there “is a lot of prejudice against them.”
On the issue of school prayer, most Americans think the nation has gone too far in removing religion from public schools, but only 6 percent call for school prayer tailored to the Christian majority. They feel that students of different faiths might feel isolated and their parents’ rights infringed upon with this type of prayer. A suggested compromise for all is a moment of silence.
–For Goodness’ Sake; www.publicagenda.org

Having It Both Ways
Can a man of faith serve both God and country and keep them apart? That was at the center of the debate about whether Missouri governor John Ashcroft was fit to serve as attorney general of the United States.
Ashcroft had been quoted as saying in a 1998 speech to a civic group in Detroit, “We must embrace the power of faith, but we must never confuse politics and piety.” Time will tell if he is someone who will be diligent in defending the wall of separation between church and state. Stay tuned.