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April 21, 2000/16 Nisan 5760, Vol. 52, No.33
Falwell back in political arena
SHARON SAMBER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - The Rev. Jerry Falwell has injected himself into the political arena again.
Heading up a voter registration drive dubbed "People of Faith 2000," Falwell and other Christian leaders say they want to bring moral values back to America and register millions of new voters in time for the elections in November.
"This is purely a campaign that hopefully will bridge all ethnic and religious groups," he said last Friday as he announced the launch of the Web site peopleoffaith2000.com.
While some Jews and evangelical Christians have formed alliances in recent years, many Jews still regard the influence of the religious right in politics warily.
But Jewish groups do not sound overly concerned about Falwell's latest political foray.
Jews probably still have "negative vibes" about Falwell, said Marc Stern, the co-director of the American Jewish Congress' legal department. But, he said, the registration drive doesn't seem to be any different from other such drives.
"If the JCC runs a voter registration drive, it's not getting at the public at large, and you know what the demographics of the Jewish community are," Stern said, referring to the liberal views of a majority of Jews.
Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said he sees no problem with Falwell's drive - nor does he think there will be any negative reaction from Jewish Republicans.
There are registration drives among liberal constituencies, Brooks says, and the people who disagree with Falwell's project do so because they disagree with his views, but then sanction similar registration drives for their own purposes.
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a religious liberty watchdog group, charges that Falwell's project is partisan and therefore violates voter registration laws. Churches and other nonprofit organizations are allowed to conduct voter registration drives provided they are nonpartisan.
Americans United has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service asking it to investigate the drive.
Last year, Falwell caused some friction between Christian conservatives and Jews when he said the Antichrist, a figure Christians believe will rise and spread universal evil before the second coming of Jesus, is Jewish.
Falwell later apologized for making the statement.
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