-Caveat Lector-
from: AMERICAN ATHEISTS
subject: AANEWS for June 2, 1999
A M E R I C A N A T H E I S T S
AANEWS
#580 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6/2/99
http://www.atheists.org
ftp.atheists.org/pub/atheists/
http://www.americanatheist.org
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A Service of AMERICAN ATHEISTS
"Leading The Way For Atheist Civil Rights
And The Separation Of State and Church"
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In This Issue...
* Another blow to voucher programs
* Robertson "clears deck" at Christian Coalition
* Resources
* About this list...
APPEALS COURT: VOUCHERS NOT FOR RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS
The use of public vouchers for tuition at parochial and other
religious schools would violate the First Amendment separation of
church and state, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
ruled last week. The decision by a three judge panel was announced
yesterday; it involved a ruling in a Maine case where five Roman
Catholic families had sued the state department of education,
challenging the exclusion of religious schools from a public voucher
program. Under the Maine voucher system which covers an estimated
14,000 students, families are subsidized for sending their children to
private schools when there is not a public school in the area. The
vouchers, though, can only be used at nonsectarian schools.
Plaintiffs had argued that this violated their freedom of religion.
Chief Judge Juan Torruella wrote that, "Writ simple, the state cannot
be in the business of directly supporting religious schools." He
described any payments made by a state to religious schools a "quantum
leap" in legal judgment, adding, "Creating such a breach in the wall
separating the state from secular establishments is a task best left
for the Supreme Court to undertake..."
The ruling comes one month after Maine's Supreme Judicial Court
rejected an appeal by a group of families who also challenged the
restriction on the voucher program. In that 5-1 decision, justices
ruled that "Choice alone cannot overcome the fact that the tuition
program would directly pay religious schools for programs that include
and advance religion ... None of the Supreme Court's decisions to
date have ever intimated that such direct subsidies of religious
schools could survive an Establishment Clause challenge..."
"While it may be possible for the Legislature to craft a program that
would allow parents greater flexibility in choosing private schools
for their children, the current program could not be easily tailed to
include religious schools without addressing significant problems of
entanglement or the advancement of religion..."
Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice had represented
the families in the Circuit Court case. Jay Sekulow, ACLJ chief
counsel, said that he was disappointed by the decision, but not
surprised. "What the Court of Appeals has done is basically treat
religious people as if they're subversive to the American public. It
is penalizing religious people and religious values..." Sekulow added
that his group intends to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Groups opposing school vouchers, though, praised the decision. A
spokesman for American United for the Separation of Church and State
described the ruling as "monumental." Michael Simpson of the National
Education Association also hailed the ruling, opining "This court got
it right. Here we have a federal court who is more experienced in
constitutional law matters that reads the law the right way..."
Simpson added that the case will help to establish a binding legal
precedent, and, "We think that decision puts the kibosh on religious
school voucher efforts" in the five states covered by the Circuit
Court. They include Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island
and the territory of Puerto Rico.
This latest decision in the spreading legal war over voucher programs
puts even more pressure on the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the
issue and resolve the complex constitutional questions involved.
State supreme courts in Arizona, Ohio and Wisconsin have weighed in on
this issue, all ruling favorably on voucher and other tuition credits
for religious schools.
**
TATE DEMOTED, ROBERTSON TAKES CONTROL IN LATEST
CHRISTIAN COALITION SHAKEUP
First it was Ralph Reed. Then Don Hodel left. Now, Randy Tate is
being demoted as Executive Director, and is moving into smaller
quarters in a Washington, D.C. office.
It's all part of a shakeup going on at the Christian Coalition, and it
has some observers wondering if the powerful religious right political
advocacy group can survive.
News reports, including a story in today's Virginian-Pilot newspaper,
confirm that the Coalition is in the midst of a significant
restructuring, with founder Pat Robertson once again taking center
stage. Robertson founded the group in 1988, but soon turned it over
to political operative Ralph Reed who transformed it into one of the
savviest and most effective action committees inside the Washington,
D.C. beltway. The Coalition reached its peak in the 1996 elections,
delivering control of both ends of Capitol Hill to the Republican
Party, and introducing its "Contract With the American Family." A
year later, though, just when the CC juggernaut seemed unstoppable,
Reed suddenly announced that he was resigning his post and heading to
Atlanta, GA. to open his own political consulting firm.
Since then, the Coalition has still managed to be a major player on
the political scene. Reed was replaced by former Reagan
administration executive Don Hodel who took over as President, and
former Congressman Randy Tate who stepped in to serve as Executive
Director. Hodel has departed along with other senior staff members,
though, including National Field Director Dave Welch, Operations
Director Charles Cunningham, and Communications Director Arne Owens.
The Coalition has also cut back on several programs including its
much-touted Samaritan outreach to aid inner cities, and it spun off an
affiliate group known as the Catholic Alliance.
Under the new arrangement reports writer Liz Sabo, Robertson will take
the helm as President with a series of vice presidents who will report
directly to him. Some operations will be combined, as in the case of
Roberta Combs, the CC South Carolina director. She will step in as
the new Executive Vice President of Field Operations.
Why the big changes? Sabo cites Robertson's disenchantment with
Washington's handling of events in the wake of the April massacre at
Columbine High School. CC spokesperson Molly Clatworthy told the
Pilot, "No one was addressing moral decay, and this is his
(Robertson's) way of answering that call." The televangelist and host
of the TV "700 Club" program wants "to put additional firepower in
Washington," she noted, adding that Robertson will "oversee the
organization and address broader cultural issues..."
There are also reports that state directors of the Coalition are
leaving, something that prompted University of Akron professor John
Green to observe that Robertson "is clearing the deck... He's also
arranging it so he's at the center." An unidentified source in or
close to the Christian Coalition told Sabo that all of this betrays
"internal disorder."
But other reports of the Christian Coalition's demise have been
premature. The Pilot article notes that revenues for the group have
declined from $26 million in 1996 to $17 million in 1997. This is a
financial drop in the bucket for Robertson, though, who has embarked
on a series of global financial deals that are potentially "worth
billions" according to financial sources, and include an internet and
telephone bank in partnership with the Bank of Scotland. In early
March, Robertson -- flanked by a number of now-departed officials
including Chuck Cunningham -- announced an ambitious fund raising
drive to raise $21 million for the Coalition for use in the year 2000
elections. Robertson described the campaign as "the most massive
effort to mobilize the grass roots in our history," as well as "the
largest voter education effort in the history of our organization, and
possibly in the history of grassroots politics..."
Even then, however, there was buzz inside the D.C. media that a
shakeup was coming within the Coalition. At the time, Robertson
dismissed such reports as "no big deal."
"This organization will continue to be a permanent fixture on the
American scene," he added.
In addition to money, though, Robertson still has access to some of
the nation's top political talent as well as plenty of friends on
Capitol Hill. Dr. Green described Roberta Combs as one of the five
best operatives in the country, noting "She's very tested and can
really get things done ... She's a lot like Ralph Reed, but more
steeped in the movement.
While the coalition has fallen short on some national political goals,
it continues to have good, at times even breathtaking success at the
state and local level. The group has helped to pass legislation
against late-term abortions in over two dozen states, and ramroded
parental consent laws in 40 states. Outgoing Director Randy Tate
notes that according to a February survey by the liberal Center for
Gender Equality, 41% of American women surveyed say that they agree
with the Christian Coalition's agenda. He added that Fortune magazine
considers the CC as the seventh most influential political lobbying
group in Washington.
But the success of the Coalition seems to depend on Robertson managing
to restrain himself and take a back seat. The group was considered
non-mainstream until the youthful Reed stepped in to build the
organization into a major force within the Republican Party. Reed
became known on the talk-show and lecture circuit as a slick,
articulate spokesman for "people of faith," while Robertson continued
to make on-air verbal blunders about homosexuals, Satanism and his
alleged ability to control the weather by prayer. The future of the
Christian Coalition may well depend on how much authority Robertson is
willing to delegate, and whether he will permit his more politically
astute aides to polish and moderate a shrill, religious right message.
**
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