LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Profile |
by Fay Jacobs |
Nationally Known Church-State Expert to Speak at Lewes Public Library
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, expert on church-state relations, is coming to the Lewes Library on Saturday, May 3 in a program co-sponsored by CAMP Rehoboth. As Letters Feature Editor, I recently had the opportunity to ask Rev. Lynn some questions about this important topic. FJ: Recently, Alabama declared that the United States was a "Christian Nation." What steps can your organization take to rebut this assertion? Rev. Lynn: Legislators in Alabama really need to restudy American history. If they did, they would learn that the U.S. Constitution contains no references to God, Jesus or Christianity and contains a provision barring religious qualifications for public office. In addition, the fifth Congress unanimously passed the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797 to explain to Islamic countries that "...the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion". They would also learn that many efforts to add a "Christianity-is-the-national-religion" amendment to the Constitution have failed to come close to passage in Congress. FJ: Does it surprise you that in 2008 a declaration like that can be made? Rev. Lynn: This is not completely surprising, unfortunately, because in one recent poll 55 percent of the American people said they believed this is a "Christian nation" and Senator John McCain has expressed the same sentiment. Our public schools need to do a better job informing students about constitutional issues. Needless to say, once you leave school it is hard to learn anything accurate about our history from, say, Sean Hannity or Ann Coulter constantly blathering on television. FJ: Recently, HBO aired a series on John Adams. It brought to life very basic discussions of the separation of church and state relative to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. While the concept was written into the documents, there was dissent. Do you think the separation is stronger today than 200 years ago or weaker? Rev. Lynn: I think separation of church and state is much stronger now than at the beginning of our nation. For starters the prohibition against promoting religion in the First Amendment now applies not only to Congress but to states and local governments as well because we passed the Fourteenth Amendment after the Civil War. Another factor is that as we find 2,000 different religions here and another 20 million non-believers, freethinkers, and atheists, more people get to see the genuine diversity that exists here and to understand that we are all in this together. Having said this, the last 20 years have seen some bad individual Supreme Court decisions which have changed the trend toward greater religious freedom through the legal system which began in the l960s. FJ: In this heated election season, how does your organization view church politicking? How can AU work to prevent such actions? Rev. Lynn: In a completely non-partisan fashion, Americans United works hard to tell religious institutions that they are barred by the tax code from doing anything to "support or oppose any candidate for public office." This means no money transfers to candidates and no endorsements using the pulpit or church letterhead. It also means that literature promoting specific candidates cannot be distributed by a church or synagogue. When we believe that unlawful candidate assistance has come from a religious group we report it to the IRS and ask them to investigate. This can lead to sanctions up to and including the revoking of a group's valuable tax-exempt status. Personally, when I go to church it's fine to smell incense in the air, but I don't want to smell cigar smoke coming up from the basement when the church leadership is holding a meeting to decide what candidates to support. FJ: While the religious right did not play a visible role in the presumptive nomination of John McCain, do you think they are still a powerful political force? Rev. Lynn: The Religious Right is not dead. Don't let the pundits tell you otherwise. Here is some evidence: Most of the top Religious Right groups took in more money in their last reporting year than the year beforenot the trajectory of a dying movement. It is also informative to note that the "dream" candidate of the Right, former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, won seven state caucuses and primaries and 30 percent of the Republican vote in Texas. He's the candidate who suggested that we "change" the Constitution to reflect God's law because that was a lot easier than changing God's law. Some of the so-called "new" evangelical leaders like Jim Wallis are just about as bad on women's rights and GLBT issues as the late Jerry Falwell. FJ: I understand that one religious leader called for his flock to pray for your death after a controversy that erupted around the candidacy of Mike Huckabee. Can your organization actually reason with these haters? Rev. Lynn: Pastor Wiley Drake in Orange County, Calif., has been urging that "imprecatory prayers" be used against me for some time. These are essentially "curses" designed to lead to death. You can't really reason with these people, but you can expose them as the belligerent extremists that they are. Frankly, this is a time when we need to make sure that the middle of America understands that the separation of church and state is the principle that guarantees real religious freedom for believers and non-believers alike. FJ: What role did your organization play in fighting the Federal Marriage Amendment on Capitol Hill? Rev. Lynn: The Federal Marriage Amendment was a disgraceful effort to write bigotry into the United States Constitution. Aside from its obvious discriminatory impact, Americans United felt that it also discriminated on religious grounds. Many of us in the clergy do not feel that when we perform a same-sex marriage under the practices of our denomination the state has the right to tell us our theology and rituals "don't count" and that such a ceremony will not be recognized. Anybody who looks at the debate over this Amendment will see that its advocates are always talking about "preserving the sacrament of marriage" (a theological point) and labeling marriage as "sacred." When they enter this arena of argument they are in constitutional quicksand. I am happy that Americans United was able to play a significant leadership role in the defeat of this abominable idea. Rev. Lynn, Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, will speak at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 at the Lewes Public Library, on the topic of "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Separation of Church and State...But Were Afraid to Ask." This event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Coalition for Tolerance & Justice of Sussex County and co-sponsored by many other non-profit organizations, including CAMP Rehoboth. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 18, No.04 May 02, 2008 |