AU Pits Clergy Against Clergy To Divide Christians & Conquer
By Roger A. Moran

   What better way to challenge the religious principles and values that
laid the foundation for the rise of the United States than to raise up
"clergy" and "religious" people to challenge those principles and
values? And what better way to undermine the common moral standards that
defined our American culture and produced freedom unparalleled than to
raise up "clergy" and "religious" people to challenge those moral
standards?

   This has been the primary role and effect of the Religious Left which
has become an indispensable tool in advocating the liberal agenda in
America. Nothing has been more effective in creating confusion,
disunity, strife and antagonism within the religious community than the
Religious Left's role as advocates for the "ways of the world" over the
"ways of the Lord."

   Recruiting and enlisting clergy as advocates for the various aspects
of the liberal agenda has become increasingly common and was, in fact, a
consistent theme at this year's Americans United for Separation of
Church and State's National Conference.

   Though Americans United (AU) has had clergy in the forefront of their
organization since its founding in 1947, efforts are now under way to
organize a nation-wide "Clergy Network," recruiting clergy as advocates
for AU's extremist view of a "wall of separation between church and
state." But AU isn't the only liberal organization seeking an appearance
of religious legitimacy for their radical agenda.

   In a recent fund-raising letter of People for the American Way (PAW),
an organization heavily involved with AU, their president writes:

   "And, we're _expanding PEOPLE FOR's clergy network_ in order to
   refute the Religious Right's claim to represent all people of
   faith." (emphasis ours)

   According to the PAW fund-raising letter, the positions supported by
the Religious Right which they intend to refute are:

   "...opposition to educational efforts to prevent AIDS and to cut
   teen pregnancies...prayer in the schools...creationism taught
   along side, or in place of, evolution in science
   classrooms...government-sponsored censorship, new curbs on
   reproductive freedom...[and] the vilification of gays and
   lesbians." (See _Church/State Issues According to Americans
   United_)

   In the abortion arena, the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights
(RCAR) has organized "Clergy for Choice" as a religious challenge to the
pro-life movement. In a recent fund-raising letter, RCAR, another
organization with strong ties to AU, writes:

   "With your support, here's how the Coalition will re-shape the
   religious debate over a woman's right to choose... The role of the
   Coalition's most persuasive volunteers, our "Clergy for Choice" --
   more than 4,000 strong, representing over 25 mainline
   denominations -- will be especially crucial. By speaking out in
   their churches, synagogues, and communities "Clergy for Choice"
   proves that this is not a debate between the "God-fearing" and the
   "godless." (emphasis theirs)
 
   Each of these left-wing organizations, along with many others, have
placed tremendous emphasis on the recruitment of clergy for the purpose
of pitting clergy against clergy on the local level. At the heart of
their strategy is the use of "religion" and "religious" people as a
means of offsetting the effectiveness of religious conservatives -- the
Religious Right. Using "religion" and "religious" people, the Left is
challenging America's traditional moral standards, offering instead an
alternative set of "religious" principles rooted in the theology of the
Religious Left -- namely, "freedom of conscience," "freedom of
expression" and "tolerance."

Religion, Clergy and the Left

   In a manual entitled _How to Win: A Practical Guide To Defeating the
Radical Right in Your Community_, co-produced by AU and approximately 60
other liberal and far-left organizations (including the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force, National Education Association, Zero Population
Growth, Planned Parenthood and People for the American Way), the concept
of using clergy and religious people to challenge and oppose the
Religious Right is portrayed as a prerequisite for success.

   "...Any successful campaign to confront the agenda of the
   Religious Right will need the involvement of at least some
   segments of the local religious community."

   Denying any hostility toward "religion," the _How to Win_ manual
continues:

   "The Religious Right often claims to have "God" on their side...
   They accuse their opponents of being hostile to religion. The
   simplest and most effective way to reveal the falsehood of such
   claims is to have in your coalition active representatives of
   religious communities who oppose the agenda of the religious right
   from a _religious viewpoint_. Representatives of such viewpoints
   clearly illustrate that your side also has moral and value-based
   arguments it can marshal. Inclusion of such individuals or faith
   groups indicates clearly that religious people believe the
   separation of church and state to be good for religion, that
   religious people support gay and lesbian rights, and that
   religious people -- in fact, most mainstream religious
   denominations -- support a woman's right to choose [an abortion]
   for reasons rooted in their faith. _With religious support for your
   cause, you will have come one giant step closer to defeating the
   religious right."_ (emphasis ours)

Americans United's Chapter Training Manual

   The political strategy of recruiting clergy as advocates for the
liberal agenda is also found in AU's Chapter Training Manual. In the
section entitled "Developing the Faith Community," it poses the
questions: "How many clergy members does your chapter have? If the
answer is less than two it's time to get to work developing the faith
communities." Indeed, AU has understood that by pitting clergy against
clergy they could cloud and confuse the issues and weaken religious
opposition to their radical ideas and agenda. The Chapter Training
Manual continues:

   "Another compelling reason for doing faith group outreach is
   that _faith group involvement in church/state separation can change
   the terms of the debate_. It is quite powerful for a clergy person
   to stand before a school board" or for a clergy person (or
   congregants) to testify to state lawmakers"' (emphasis ours)

Clergy Against Clergy: Evolution and Creation
 
  While recruiting clergy as advocates for issues like abortion and
homosexuality has been important to the Left, no part of the liberal
agenda has received as much clergy involvement (nor been as crucial to
the advancement of liberalism) as the application of separation of
church and state to public education. This has been the primary focus of
AU, allowing them to serve as a major umbrella organization for the
Religious and Political Left.

   Creating a virtual monopoly in government education and secularizing
the educational philosophy of government schools has been at the heart
of the liberal agenda, and has been the primary role of AU in advocating
a "wall of separation." Thus, recruiting clergy involvement in public
education -- especially in regard to curriculum content -- has been of
utmost importance. Writing in the "How To Win" manual, Eugenie C. Scott
(Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education and a
member of AU's governing board) urges the recruitment of clergy
involvement in the creation/evolution controversy in public school
curriculum:

   "...It is my job to try to help people keep evolution in the
   curriculum and keep creation science out."

Ms. Scott continues:

   "...What can be done to oppose creationism? Try the following:
   _Work with pro-evolution clergy_: The best kept secret in the
   creation/ evolution controversy is that Catholic and mainline
   Protestant theology has no problem incorporating evolution or
   other scientific ideas. The creation/evolution controversy is not
   one between science and religion, but between biblical literalist
   theology and everyone else." (emphasis theirs)

American United: Rabid Hostility Toward the Religious Right
 
   For AU, the recruiting of liberal clergy has served in another
important way. Because of the AU's rabid hostility toward conservative,
Bible-believing Christianity (the Religious Right), involving liberal
clergy in their organization has prevented in large degree the
appearance of being anti-religious.

   AU's hostile rhetoric toward religious conservatives is so strong
that, in a fund-raising letter mailed repeatedly by AU over the last
year and a half, Executive Director Barry Lynn writes:

   "...Now please understand, Americans United is not against
   religion. Far from it. _Numerous clergy serve as board members and
   advisors_." (emphasis ours)

   The fund-raising letter, which contains a hit list of Religious Right
leaders including James Dobson, Donald Wildmon and Beverly LaHaye,
continues:

   "...As you can see by the enclosed fact sheet, the [Christian]
   Coalition is just one of a score of right-wing religious groups at
   work in politics across the country. I don't know about you, but
   personally I have seen enough, heard enough and read enough about
   the powerful new political influence of the revamped Religious
   Right. There's no point in mincing words: _they must be stopped!_
   And the sooner the better.

   If the Religious Right prevails, they will destroy our wondrous
   American mosaic. They'll thumb their noses at pluralism and stifle
   diversity. They'll inject their own moral code into our personal
   lives. _We cannot -- must not -- let them do that!_" (emphasis
   theirs)

AU and Religious Freedom Diluting the Church
 
   The development of AU's clergy network has to do with the advocating
of separation of church and state as the only means of achieving
religious freedom, a common theme among the ranks of AU. But AU's
concept of religious freedom has little to do with freedom; rather, it
has to do with elevating all "religions" and all "sincerely held
religious beliefs" to equal social standing with that of Christianity.
This is what AU's promotion of "religious pluralism" is about.

   For AU, and the Left in general, the greatest threat to "freedom" in
America is the political opinion stemming from "creedal" Christianity --
Bible-believing Christianity, which focuses on the fundamentals of the
faith. Thus, for AU, America's cultural war is about selling to the
American people a liberal religion where the fundamentals of the faith
-- the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, salvation by grace through
faith, etc. -- are replaced by (or at least made subordinate to) the
fundamentals of liberal religion -- "freedom of conscience" (no matter
how depraved the conscience may be), "freedom of expression" (no matter
how offensive such expression may be), and "tolerance" (a prerequisite
for the advancement of the agenda of the Left).

    Bible-believing Christians are well aware that "religion" (when
rooted in anything other than the Bible as the inspired, inerrant and
infallible Word of God) is nothing more than man's attempt to be
"religious." Such "religion," while nurturing and appeasing the desires
and passions of man's fleshly nature, fails to soothe the guilt that
comes from a refusal to acknowledge and repent of sin. Yet the
promotion, justification and protection of such religion (and the moral
attitudes that flow out of it) are what Americans United and their
advocacy of religious liberty are about.

   In the battle for the hearts and minds of the American people, AU and
their allies on the Left have learned a most invaluable lesson in
political strategy -- that the recruiting of clergy as advocates for
their social positions has allowed them to frame their liberal agenda in
religious terms, and claim "religious conviction" as their motivation.

From: St. Louis MetroVoice, May 1995, Vol. 5, No. 5.