U-TurnEditorialPolitics and religion. The First Amendment proscribes establishing a state religion, while protecting the right of citizens to religious worship. When the prohibition against state interference collides with private religious expression, how can both be assured? Decades of impassioned dialogue and legal discourse are being revived by well-meaning people of faith.Some charge that the historic wall of separation between government and religions at best marginalizes, at worst demonizes, religion. Others warn that the disconnection of church and state sacrifices citizens' ethical and moral bearings. Both groups are waging a vigorous campaign to narrow the divide. The Christian Coalition-supported 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act is under fire in the U.S. Supreme Court, where opponents argue that the law dictates government regulation of exercise of religious rights. On another front, the Center for Jewish and Christian Values, a group organized by Jews and funded by evangelical Christians, is promoting religious practice in the public schools. The center has co-opted guidelines written two years ago by an interfaith consortium of organizations, including the American Jewish Congress and Anti-Defamation League, which outline legal limits for religion in the public schools. An AJCongress spokesperson says the guidelines were authored to head off a proposed constitutional amendment on religious equality by heightening understanding of existing religious protections. The center now appears to be subverting that purpose from protection to promotion, proposing that teachers should not only respect the guidelines but pro-actively implement them. Proposed activities include incorporating biblical references in drug and alcohol prevention programs and suggesting that students turn to prayer to avoid self-destructive behavior. Such counsel upsets the delicate balance the Founding Fathers sought to achieve. This U-turn on the long road of religious freedom and equality under the law must be countered with reasoned responses to reverse the trend.
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