-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.zolatimes.com/V2.44/pageone.html <A HREF="http://www.zolatimes.com/V2.44/pageone.html">Laissez Faire City Times - Volume 2 Issue 44</A> The Laissez Faire City Times December 28, 1998 - Volume 2, Issue 44 Editor & Chief: Emile Zola ----- Religious Right, Religious Rights: an interview with Americans United by Alberto Mingardi "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . ": This is the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which provides for the separation of Church and State, and hence for School and State. In the opinion of members of Americans United for Separation of State and School (AU) today the First Amendment is under threat as never before. Instead, for AU, "today, powerful religious leaders and misguided politicians have joined forces to undercut the First Amendment. Since 1947, Americans United has worked to protect the constitutional principle of church- state separation, a vital cornerstone of religious liberty. Americans of many faiths and political viewpoints, individuals from all walks of life, have come together to defend freedoms. Mandatory prayer in public schools, tax dollars for parochial schools, government intrusion into religious affairs and meddling in partisan politics by religious groups are among the troubling issues that threaten the protective wall between church and state." Americans United has more than 50,000 members-- 50,000 persons whose ideas, in my humble opinion, are maybe a bit confused. Reading AU's Private School Vouchers: Myth vs. Fact in fact you can find both libertarian-leaning objections to "vouchers", such as "If the government underwrites private schools financially, it has a right and a responsibility to ensure that the funds are being spent for sound educational services. Greater government scrutiny of private education will be necessary. Vouchers open the door to extensive state regulation of private schools . . ." and statist objections, such as "The driving forces behind vouchers are not parents, but sectarian school lobbies and political fringe groups such as the Libertarian Party." The general feeling is of a liberal (in the American sense of the word) group with secular roots, whose principal concern is about religious tolerance. A libertarian purpose for a less statist 1999 would be to help such persons to understand that the fight for preserving tolerance would be ineffective given that the overseer--the State--is the real enemy of tolerance. To discuss these issues with Americans United, The Laissez Faire City Times interviewed AU's Assistant Director of Communications, Rob Boston . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What are the real dangers for the First Amendment in the US now? Last year Religious Right groups attempted to amend the U.S. Constitution by adding a so-called "Religious Freedom Amendment" that would have removed the principle of separation of church and state. This effort was not successful. We expect to see another attempt in 1999, although this one too will probably fail. What are your positions about school vouchers and generally the school system? Americans United strongly opposes private school vouchers. We believe that religious schools should be supported by the faiths that own and operate them. Forcing the taxpayer at large to support religious schools is in effect taxing them to pay for religion. Church taxes are unacceptable to most Americans. Plus, religious schools are not required to educate all children, as public schools are. As long as they can discriminate in admissions, they should get no public support. Finally, we believe that extending taxpayer aid to religious schools will lead to eventual government regulation of those schools (in America, the government always regulates what it subsidizes), leading private schools to lose their independence. But the Religious Right isn't the only sponsor of vouchers. How do You explain the support to this campaign from non-Christian people like the Nobel- Prize winner Milton Friedman? Secular conservatives [Mingardi's note: to call Milton Friedman a "conservative" is something like calling John Kenneth Galbraith a revolutionary] like Friedman pioneered the voucher concept. Religious Right activists actually came to the idea late. Many of them opposed vouchers for a long time (and some still do) fearing that taking government aid would open them up to extensive regulations from the state. What does the Religious Right in your opinion represent for the whole Right and the GOP in the US? The Religious Right is attempting to take over the Republican Party. They want the power to cleanse the party of all moderates and individuals who favor positions like legal abortion and gay rights. Their views are extreme and intolerant and represent a threat to the freedoms of all Americans. Religious Right activists believe that only their religious view--fundamentalist Christianity--is correct and therefore it should receive support from the government. This runs counter to the tradition of religious liberty that was part of the reason for the founding of the United States. We were designed to be a nation that welcomes all religious faiths, not a country with an established church or where members of certain faiths receive more rights than others. Some people (including a lot of libertarians, and including the interviewer) say that the reasons to separate State and Church are the same as those for separating School and State. Do you have any comment on this? We have no objection to people sending their children to private religious schools. In fact, we believe they have a constitutional right to do so. However, they do not have the right to expect others to pay for it. As long as there is a public school system in the United States, we believe it should be free from denominational control and taxpayer supported. Private religious schools will have to find their own means of support. We've spoken about two things: State and Church. Please define what the 'State' means for AU supporters, and what they want for the US: a return to all the Bill of Rights, or only a better application of the First Amendment? "State" for our members equals any unit of government--local, state or federal. We believe government at all levels must refrain from endorsing, supporting or entangling itself with religion. As for what our members want, it's simple: To maintain the separation of church and state that has served our country so well. We are determined to protect this important principle from unprincipled attacks by the Religious Right and others. -30- from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 2, No 44, December 28, 1998 ----- The Laissez Faire City Times is a private newspaper. Although it is published by a corporation domiciled within the sovereign domain of Laissez Faire City, it is not an "official organ" of the city or its founding trust. Just as the New York Times is unaffiliated with the city of New York, the City Times is only one of what may be several news publications located in, or domiciled at, Laissez Faire City proper. For information about LFC, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Published by Laissez Faire City Netcasting Group, Inc. Copyright 1998 - Trademark Registered with LFC Public Registrar All Rights Reserved ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. 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