The following editorial was run in the Philadelphia Inquirer Feb 28. If you would like to send it out on your network please feel free to do so.

FAX: FOR OPINION PAGE EDITOR
To: The Editor
From: Rev. James W. Watkins
Re: Following Editorial For Consideration As An Op-Ed
See: http://www.mainstreamop.org

NOBODY IS MUFFLING RELIGION IN AMERICA
Rev. James W. Watkins

A letter to the editor in my local paper prompted me to phone a neighboring pastor. Amid his rolling phrasing regarding the deleterious influence of Liberals and the ACLU, he wrote, "We have allowed the First Amendment to become a muffler for the moral voice that should be our moral rudder, the church." I told him that, "Having been a pastor for twenty-eight years in six churches, I can honestly say that never have I felt muffled by the First Amendment on any issue." I said, "Quite the contrary is true." After a long conversation, I was again struck by the different visions of reality that divide the Religious Right from Mainstream religious culture.

The First Amendment protects the right of every American to both speak and write their consciences. It specifically guards our religious rights, stating that: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or preventing the free exercise thereof." Still, some repeatedly claim that government is somehow generally trying to stifle the free exercise of religion.

Radio, TV and the Internet are full of religious expression. American houses of worship are the single largest nonprofit enterprise in our society. An array of voluntary religious activity is not only permissible but "protected" in public schools, in work places, and in government offices. Yes, there are things nonprofit groups should not do. But those things, "like partisan political campaigning," apply to all nonprofit organizations generally. These regulations are not aimed only at churches.

Churches regularly speak out on what they regard as moral issues. Daily we can hear religious voices freely addressing pornography, gambling, abortion, homosexuality, hunger and a host of other moral issues. Exactly where is the limitation? Where is the muffling?

Let me offer five reasons why I believe we hear charges of supposed muffling of religion by government from the Religious Right.

First, the notion of "official government neutrality in matters of religion" is often wrongly interpreted as anti-religious. Government should not promote any specific set of religious ideas. Neutrality is the ideal and it is not persecution. Religious Right partisans ask government for preferential treatment for their specific spin on Christian doctrine. When they do not receive it, they talk as if the government is anti-religious.

Second, many on the Religious Right believe that "true Christianity will always be persecuted." Finding persecution everywhere helps validate the correctness of their faith. This is a matter of their theological perception and not necessarily objective reality.

Third, the fundamental/charismatic wing of the church, being political neophytes, usually confuses political "opposition" with "persecution." Politics, by its nature, is an arena of conflict. The Religious Right wraps its religious faith around its politics. Then if you disagree with their politics, they claim you have attacked their faith.

Fourth, the Religious Right intentionally produces disinformation as a means of gaining public support. A large percentage of the American public has been erroneously left with the impression, for example, that it is illegal for a child to pray privately in a public school.

Fifth, for many in the Religious Right, their spin on the Christian message is so urgent that its delivery by any means is appropriate. For them, public schools are places to proselytize. Rules against proselytizing (usually anti-harassment regulations) are wrongly characterized as "unfair limitations on religious speech."

As I talked with my neighboring pastor, I asked him if he understood that citizens whose beliefs differed from his still had every right to expect that their children not be evangelized as an official part of their public school day? His response was: "Saving children from a Devil's Hell is more important than any set of government rules!" It occurred to me that as long as he has that attitude, this kind of conflict will continue and he will continue to mis-characterize the conflict as government's attempt to muffle religious faith.

Mainstream Americans should understand--Partisans of the Religious Right feel fully justified in claiming that, if their religious point of view is not preferred by Government, then they are being persecuted. Religious Right leaders routinely precipitate and exaggerate the very situations they then point to as "religious persecution." This often paranoid vision of reality is the motivation behind such proposals as Congressman Ernest Istook's (R-OK) so-called "Religious Freedom Amendment."

America is the most religiously observant nation in the Western world. It is also one of the most religiously diverse cultures in history. Our First Amendment and church/state separation have served us well. Neither attempt to muffle religion. They are blessings, not curses and need no fundamental changes.

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Rev. James W. Watkins has been pastor of Old South Church, United Church of Christ, Kirtland, OH, since November of 1993. Over a 28-year ministerial career, Rev. Watkins has been pastor of six churches (four of which were Southern Baptist). In addition to his pastoral work, Rev. Watkins is an author, educator, and community activist.