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1995-06-07
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6KB
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AU's Church and State Journal: A Monthly Dose of Deceit
By Kerry Messer
I first became acquainted with Americans United for Separation of
Church and State (AU) several years ago. It was through their monthly
publication which was sent, in bulk, to my church. I had seen AU's
journal before but had not taken it too seriously. Then, in 1984, I
dedicated my life to the ministry of Salt & Light as the Lord greatly
convicted me of the need for such a ministry in today's church. Soon
afterwards, a well-meaning friend reminded me of this "wonderful
resource." Because of the vision the Lord had given me for Christian
involvement in our contemporary culture, I began reading AU's
literature.
In 1984 I knew the Lord was prodding me to call the church to reclaim
its civic responsibilities in our communities. I didn't know that He was
also going to use my ministry to call on the church to "clean house."
But He did. And, thanks to AU and their ambiguous literature (which God
used to show me how churches are being misled), I quickly came to
understand the ministry to which I was called. Thankfully, our church
canceled its subscription to AU's _Church and State Journal_.
When I began reading AU's publication, I found myself more and more
confused on the great issues of the day. With all the Southern Baptists,
Methodists, Presbyterians, etc., in the forefront of the organization, I
was under the impression that AU was a religious organization dedicated
to preserving my religious liberty in a hostile environment. I later
discovered the reason for my confusion. AU is not a religious
organization. It is rather an umbrella organization of the Religious and
Political Left, where a "wall of separation between church and state" is
advocated as the only means of achieving "religious liberty." The real
confusion is in AU's definition of religious liberty.
AU's ability to advocate their radical agenda by focusing on "religious
liberty" rather than specifically stating their position on important
moral issues has been at the heart of their ability to confuse and
deceive many casual readers of AU's journal. Yet, AU's argument would
be, if our support of religious liberty results in supporting what some
would consider moral depravity, that's the price we must pay for
freedom.
Rather than working to defend my religious freedom, AU has been about
the business of suppressing and isolating Bible-believing Christian
influence from American society. Folks like myself, committed to being
the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world," "must be stopped,"
according to AU. And the organizations supported by conservative
Christians -- from the Christian Coalition to Focus on the Family -- are
considered by AU as "dangerous" enemies of freedom.
AU has used "religious liberty" as the vehicle to carry out their
agenda -- an agenda which is rooted in hostility toward biblical
Christianity. AU's hostility is revealed most clearly in the fact that
for many years the editor of AU's _Church and State Journal_ was a leader
in the American Humanist Association and a signer of the _Humanist
Manifesto II_, one of the best known anti-Christian documents ever
published in America. Currently, AU's associate editor, Rob Boston (who
writes many if not most of the articles appearing in _Church and State
Journal_) is a self-proclaimed secular Humanist. These people have
written the materials which has found its way into churches across
America, convincing Christians of numerous denominations that AU's
concept of "religious liberty" is good for the church.
The extreme liberal nature of AU has been well documented. It took over
two years of research (including attending the fiftieth anniversary
conference of the American Humanist Association in Chicago) before Roger
Moran could fully document the ten signers of the _Humanist Manifestos I
& II_ who have been involved in the development of AU, as well as a
multitude of other very interesting ties and connections between AU and
far left organizations.
Unsuspecting Christians who read AU's _Church and State Journal_ are
often unaware of how radical AU really is. In the area of abortion, many
readers are surprised to find that during the mid-1960s, AU was a leader
in the campaign to abolish what they called "antiquated laws in regard
to abortion." In 1973, AU supported the _Roe v. Wade_ decision, and by
1978 had filed a friend-of-the-court brief stating that the denial of
taxpayer money for "elective abortions" was a violation of both the
Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment. In 1989,
AU filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the pro-abortion
position in the Missouri Webster case, which gave the abortion issue
back to the states by upholding state restrictions on abortion.
Reflecting the views and values of the radical Left, AU argues their
position as one of "religious liberty." Thus, AU supports the teaching
of homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle in our children's schools.
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funding of "art" void of moral
content or that desecrates the name of Christ is no problem for AU; in
fact, they gave their highest award -- the Madison-Jefferson Award -- to
the congressman who led the battle to re-fund the NEA in 1990. (See
_Desecration of Christ_.)
After nearly 50 years of advocating separation of church and state as
the only means for producing religious liberty, AU has become quite
adept at framing social issues and articulating their positions in
public debates. But even more alarming has been their ability to
penetrate multitudes of churches within most denominations. For more
than thirty years, the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), an association
of more than 1,900 Southern Baptist churches, had funded AU. I might add
that AU was exposed and de-funded by the MBC in 1991.
It is this writer's belief that the principles found in the First
Amendment of our Constitution do not drive the agenda of AU. Rather, all
appearances are that AU has a specific agenda. Religious liberty just
happens to be the most logical and convenient vehicle available for the
advancement of that agenda.
From: St. Louis MetroVoice, May 1995, Vol. 5, No. 5.