Should Churches Shelter Illegal

- 5

t _..,... ,. z ,4 ,,•;.i 1 - ... ti,H,,,,te: f ,,tt ti t • 4-, : . .!• 4 f il :e: 11 -,,c,*, 2 fl:t=" 4 4;4', s A 'i "fi l..i ffeir 11 4# 1, i, t'

! 1; t:''' i51 1:a I ti e, Ic*,f4f1 It ti , r ii : 0 ,, i r t if I , . , 4 'A. , it it t i ii I 1 ti f 01 .!°.14 ,lf f 5. ' ' r''1,1-f,4,e. " e rt ' .''' if, • 1 . el: .4 f °, i r'' 1#' i : ,i I ; t''',i,'' ,-.. :.,....., -;` ,. , • . , • ,41 f e1 • 4f ' t t k

...tt. :',

4 LIBERTY May/June, 1985

The Year We Hid Our RELIGIOX

BY PAT ARNOW

o my sister and me, transferring to a Virginia high school spelled adventure. We were early teens who had never strayed far from Chicago. In our North Side melting-pot neighborhood we had walked to school or taken city buses on cold days. On our way to Prince George County High School we rode the school bus through a countryside of rolling hills. Classmates and teachers seemed friendlier and more helpful than their Chicago counterparts—though their Southern accents sometimes needed an interpreter. With the innocence of youth we didn't see ourselves as the "foreigners." There was a darker side to our new world, however—one that has shaped my appreciation for separation of church and state—especially in the classroom. Every morning the principal, after reading announcements over the loudspeaker, said a prayer while students dutifully bowed their heads over their desks. The prayer wasn't long. I don't remember the themes. I do remember how the daily ordeal ended. The principal always said, "In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." I didn't know what to do. As a Jew, I prayed straight to God, not in anyone else's name. To accept the prayer as mine was more of a sin, according to what I had been taught, than not praying at all. My sister and I talked it over. She was as upset about the prayers as I was. But we didn't see a solution. We would have jumped in front of our school bus sooner than ask to be excused. We wouldn't have considered asking that the final phrase be changed to encompass a God that was ours as well as theirs. We could do nothing. We had gone from a public school in Chicago, where more than half the students were Jewish and no religion was the least bit odd, to a school where we were the only non-Christians. We agreed to keep our religion to ourselves. During that year neither of us told a single person that we were Jewish. I don't think we were cowardly. We were simply children. "Jesus Christ our Lord" coming over the loudspeaker every morning didn't leave room for any other belief being normal. It built a wall, with my sister and me standing on the outside. The problem, ultimately, with prayer in public schools is that it excludes some of us. When an authority figure recites prayers the minority become freaks. Parents may argue that their freedom to practice their religion is thus enhanced. But prayer can't be put in the school without restraining the religious freedom of others. Freedom of religion is most important when we find ourselves in the minority, not when we are a confident majority. I didn't know, in 1962, that those daily prayers were part of a national controversy. I thought of school prayer as my personal problem, an unchangeable institution I could do nothing about. By the time the Supreme Court ruled against the practice, my sister and I were back in prayerless Chicago. But I remember hearing about the decision and feeling relieved. No other children would be subjected to the em- barrassment and humiliation that my sister and I had endured. Pat Arnow is a free-lance writer living in Johnson City, Tennessee.

LIBERTY IS PUBLISHED BIMONTHLY AND COPYRIGHTED 0 1985 BY THE REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSN., 55 WEST OAK RIDGE DRIVE, HAGERSTOWN, MARYLAND 21740. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: US56.25 PER YEAR. SINGLE COPY: USS1.25. PRICE MAY VARY WHERE NATIONAL CURRENCIES ARE DIFFERENT. VOL. 80. NO. 3. MAY-JUNE, 1985. POSTMASTER: ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED.

COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY TOM RADCLIFFE, INSIDE PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHEN WEBER 3 We Were The Different

BY DENNIS A. BARI OW LIBERTY May/June, 1985

ith all the talk of putting God back into our schools, I often think of my own experience 25 years ago in a Glendale, elementary school. My first understanding of how dif- ferently Americans view their obligations to God came in my classroom. Today, as a parent and an attorney, I ponder whether the law should encourage highlighting religious peculiarities in a public school. The first crisis—and it was that for the student involved—came during the daily flag salute. One boy did not participate. Sometimes he would stand, hands at his side; or he would sit, silently, as we pledged allegiance to the flag and our country. We learned he was a Jehovah's Witness, who believed saluting the flag is idolatry. By a decision of the Supreme Court, he could refuse to com- promise his conscience by joining us in this exercise. We didn't think of his con- science, however; we thought of his difference. He was not like us. After flag salute we were told to pray silently. We would obediently bow our heads—and often peek, if only to see whether anyone else was peeking. I was raised in a devout Mormon family, and we prayed often, both together and individually. I also prayed on my own in school, silently, when faced with problems. But the organized silent prayer conducted by the teacher made me uncomfortable. That belonged in church. I found it especially disconcerting when I would pray, only to have my conversation with God interrupted by the teacher's "Time's up!" This left me unfulfilled. But neither the flag salute nor the silent prayer made me feel different. The released-time religious instruction did. This opportunity is authorized even now by California law (California Education Code, No. 46014), which provides that students may be excused from the school day four hours each month to participate in religious instruction off the school grounds. I sat in the classroom as the leaders of various religious groups came to lead their young charges to the appointed sites for religious training. The Protestants, Catholics, , and Christian Scientists all filed out. The largest group was always the Protestants. As a Mormon, I still didn't identify with the Protestants, although I held many similar beliefs; and anyway, we had our own weekly meetings after school. When they had left, I and a few others remained. Now we were the different ones. I have no quarrel with the concept of released time. It's a minor enough governmental accommodation of religion to allow churches time during the week to instill religious and moral values into their young people away from the school. What does concern me, however, is what those of us who remained were required to endure. It was obvious that the teachers designated to supervise us wanted everyone involved in the program, leaving them with free time. To encourage our participation, we who remained were not allowed activities which might have been enjoyable or even beneficial. On the contrary, we were required to spend the time hand-copying directly from textbooks. When the other students returned, the pages we had so painstakingly copied were openly discarded so that we could see how useless our activity had been. By this action the school encouraged impressionable children to participate in a religious activity. Some would contend that released-time religious instruction would have been good for me and the others who didn't participate. That very well may be true, but it is a decision that must be left to the child and his parents. A state institution cannot be allowed to make that decision for us. My experience in Glendale has reinforced my conviction that religious training has no place in a public school. To argue that elementary school students can choose not to participate is a fallacy. There is always pressure—from teachers, or more important, from other students—to participate in an activity that is contrary to, or at least not in keeping with, the personal beliefs of the student's family. Our society should not purposely put young children in the position of choosing in the name of religion between peer acceptance and family beliefs.

Dennis A. Barlow is an attorney living in Marysville, California.

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHEN WEBER 5 LIBERTY R F

This refugee family from had to flee because they aided anti- government forces fighting oppression. A Quaker meeting house in Cincinnati, Ohio is providing sanctuary for them.

6 MaylJune, 1985

Sheltering Illegal ALIENS What the churches and the government have to say about the concept of sanctuary.

Bl CLIFFORD GOLDSTEIN

II undreds of pastors, priests, and rabbis could soon be holding services from behind bars because they are harboring illegal aliens. Those who harbor the aliens claim to be saving political refu- gees from persecution, even death. Whatever the merits of their claim, church and state are heading for a nasty clash that could pit Bibles against law- books. In January, after a ten-month inves- tigation by the government, 16 people in Arizona—preachers, priests, nuns, and layworkers—were arrested on 71 counts of conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States. Twenty-five others, from churches all over the country, were named as unindicted coconspirators. A week later more than 60 aliens were also arrested. "We have expected this for a long time," said Pastor John Fife, one of those indicted. The trouble began in 1980, when a friend of Quaker Jim Corbett picked up a Salva- doran hitchhiker. Later, when Corbett discovered that the Salvadoran had been apprehended by U.S. authorities and was "in danger of being killed if sent back," he started smuggling Salvadorans into the

Clifford Goldstein is a staff writer for LIBERTY.

PHOTOGRAPH BY AP WIDE WORLD PHOTOS 7 LIBERTY E F

country in his pickup truck. Corbett kept probation from her previous conviction, President looked into conditions in El them at his home, but when quarters was found guilty of conspiracy to transport Salvador. The bill never left committee. In cramped he sought help from Pastor John illegal aliens. She received a 179-day prison 1984 Congress passed a nonbinding resolu- Fife, of South Side Presbyterian church of sentence, but was released pending appeal. tion asking the government to grant Tucson. On March 24, 1981, Fife and his The defendants claimed that the aliens "extended voluntary departure" (EVD) for congregation declared their church a "sanc- were not "economic refugees," as the Salvadorans, as it grants it to Poles, tuary" for illegal Salvadoran and Guate- Reagan Administration says, but political Afghans, Ugandans, and Ethiopians. malan aliens. refugees with the right of asylum. The Though EVD would halt deportations, the Corbett never intended to start a national government disagrees. government has refused. movement, though he has done just that.' "They are coming here through Mexico, "Circumstances do not warrant a grant- Since South Side's announcement, more where they have a safe haven," Verne ing of 'extended voluntary departure' to El than 200 U.S. churches and synagogues Jervis, a spokesman for the Immigration Salvadorans . . . in the United States have declared themselves sanctuaries for and Naturalization Service (INS), told illegally," Attorney General William illegal aliens from El Salvador and Guate- LIBERTY. "The United States and the French Smith wrote to congressmen seeking mala. "And for every church that makes United Nations have funds for them there. If the EVD. While admitting that El Salvador public declaration," said Phil Wheaton, it's persecution they're fleeing, why don't has serious problems with the war, he staff coordinator for the District of Colum- they remain in Mexico?" asserted that the "risk to general citizenry bia Metropolitan Sanctuary Committee, Pastor John Steinbruck, of Luther Place from civil disturbances is not prevalent "there are ten endorsing congregations." Memorial church in Washington, D.C., throughout the country, and in some areas Endorsements have come from the which has helped five illegal Salvadorans, the risk has diminished." American Friends Service Committee, the says that racism is involved. "If they were Perhaps the "general citizenry" is not Conservative Rabbinical Assembly, the blond-haired, blue-eyed Icelandic imperiled, but what about the deported General Assembly of the United Presbyte- Lutherans," he said, "they would be Salvadorans? rian Church in the U.S.A., the United allowed to stay." "We're not going to help send people Methodist Board of Churches, the Ameri- Others believe it's political. "The Rea- back for the Salvadoran Government to can Baptist Church, the Church of the gan Administration," said a Boston Globe shoot with American weapons," said Ralph Brethren, and Unitarians, as well as from editorial (March 17, 1984), "has been Watkins, of the Church of the Brethren. Catholic, Mennonite, and Episcopalian reluctant to grant asylum to Salvadorans "People have been killed as warnings. congregations. because that would be an embarrassing Their neighbors flee to the United States, "We are prepared to defend the sanctuary acknowledgment that the U.S.-supported but the INS tells them to return because movement in court," says Phil Wheaton. regime is repressive." maybe the army won't come back." He claims that six different defense cases Jervis retorts, "There is no Afghan, no John Steinbruck said that the five Salva- are being prepared. Wheaton believes that China, no El Salvador policy. It's an overall dorans his church has helped were all in those harboring aliens from El Salvador are policy made on an individual, case-by-case danger. "At least two of them were warned not breaking the law, because of the UN basis." 'that death squads had come to their homes Refugee Convention and Protocol, ratified INS figures show that in fiscal 1984, when they weren't there." by the Senate in 1968, which outlaws the 13,000 Salvadorans were deported, while In a report submitted in September, 1984, return of refugees to any country where they 329 were granted asylum. In the same year, the American Civil Liberties Union claimed fear persecution; and the 1980 Refugee Act, 289 Afghans were deported, while 189 were that about 160 deportees had been either which says that aliens have the right to granted asylum. The discrepancy, the INS killed or persecuted by the Salvadoran remain in the United States if they have a claims, does not reflect bias. Because El Government.' "well-founded fear of persecution." Salvador is a war-torn, impoverished "Obviously, we do not believe these According to Wheaton, "We stand on legal nation, says the INS, hundreds of thousands claims," Abrams said to a House commit- ground." have come to the United States for eco- tee investigating the Salvadoran situation, A few courts disagreed. nomic opportunity, not political freedom. "or we would not deport these people." In June, 1984, in the first case of a According to Elliott Abrams, assistant In response to the charges, Washington sanctuary worker arrested, tried, and con- secretary of state, "the increased violence asked the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador to victed, Stacy Merkt, 29, received two in El Salvador prevalent since 1980 no interview deportees. Of the 482 to be years' probation and a suspended 90-day doubt increased the incentives to leave the investigated, the embassy was able to sentence for transporting three illegal Sal- country, as have the economic difficulties, contact only half. According to the State vadorans. She could have received 15 which the war has only worsened."' The Department, "no evidence of mistreat- years. figures, Abrams said, "simply reflect the ment" was found. In February, 1985, Roman Catholic facts that asylum applicants must meet the The ACLU rejected the survey as "care- layworker Jack Elder, 41, was found guilty legal standards in order to be granted lessly conducted, with no attention to detail, of assisting Salvadoran refugees to enter the asylum." reliability, or personal security, and its United States illegally. He was sentenced to On November 17, 1984, Senator Dennis findings, or lack of them, can be granted 150 days in a halfway house. In the same DeConcini (D-Ariz.) introduced a bill to little credence."' trial, codefendant Stacy Merkt, already on halt deportations for three years while the "It is noteworthy that these accusations

8 MaylJune, 1985

which are lodged by some American activist groups critical of United States policy in El Salvador find no echo . . . in complaints from Salvadoran human-rights groups," Young Guatemalan refugees, masked to Abrams said. He claims that officials of the protect family and friends left behind, Tutela Legal, a human-rights office of the worship at the Inter-American Symposium on archdiocese of El Salvador, report no Sanctuary held at Temple Emanu-El, in persecution of deportees. Tucson, Arizona, January 24, 1985. Obviously, those aiding aliens don't believe the U.S. Government, and the movement has burgeoned since Jim Cor- bett's friend picked up the illegal immi- grant. Organizers say that 50,000 Ameri- cans have helped 2,000 to 3,000 Central Americans find haven in the United States (an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 undocu- mented Salvadorans and Guatemalans already live here). Volunteers pick up refugees at the border and then, via a vast informal "underground railroad," trans- port them to a church or a safe house. The people are fed, clothed, given medical attention, and sometimes jobs. The Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ in Chicago has harbored illegal aliens in two rooms above the church gymnasium. "Someone is always present to protect the refugees from possible arrest," explained Pastor David Chevrier. Casa Romero in San Benito, Texas, a temporary shelter for refugees, was named after Catholic Bishop Oscar Romero, killed by right-wing assassins in San Salvador. The casa, once a bar, now is a refuge for new arrivals, some still wet from swimming the Rio Grande. Luther Place Memorial church gives refugees "everything a human being needs," including dental care. "Offering refuge to the sojourner," said Pastor Stein- bruck, "is the highest mitzvah." Not everyone agrees—and the movement has caused a split within three Lutheran bodies planning to unite by 1988. Although the Roman Catholic hierarchy has not approved the sanctuary movement and has advised against breaking the law, a number of Catholic churches have become sanc- tuaries, some with approval of the local archbishop. Two United Methodist agen- cies that usually take similar positions disagreed about the harboring of illegal aliens. In McAllen, Texas, an ecumenical group of congregations, called the Border Associ- ation for Refugees from Central America, was formed to "legally" help the Salva- dorans in the United States. Avoiding "the

PHOTOGRAPH BY RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE 9 LIBERTY

semblance of illegal activities or confronta- Prior to the mass arrests in January, the Constantine's Edict of Toleration, A.D. s tional demonstration," they have arranged sanctuary workers feared that once the 1984 313, opened the doors of Christian churches the release of Salvadorans from jail, pro- elections were over, the government would as sanctuary. The use grew until "the right vided them with legal advice, and placed strike. They were right. And with a penalty of church asylum came to be firmly them in homes as they await deportation of up to 15 years in a federal penitentiary, established in Europe as a Christian cus- hearings. they should fear. tom." ' But this route is what the sanctuary "Now that the elections are over and the For centuries thousands found protection workers say they can't take because many of candidates are no longer running on God, within the church walls of medieval En- the Salvadorans are deported anyway. motherhood, and apple pie, they can attack gland, but this practice caused "a perpetual "There has been a long effort to use every the churches," says Rev. Fife. conflict between the state and the church," lawful means to protect Salvadoran refu- But thousands are helping anyway. And especially when church asylum became "a gees," said Watkins. "The government has as the movement grows, so does contro- great abuse and clog on justice in En- gland."' Kings and popes enacted numer- ous laws restricting sanctuary. Under Henry Questions basic to the sanctuary issue are: Do we treat refugees from various VIII a decree ordered that those who sought countries equally? Or do we give preference to those from regimes we asylum "were to be branded by the coroner dislike, such as Poland and Afghanistan? Are refugees from Central America with a hot iron upon the brawn of the thumb really political refugees? Or are they simply seeking the better life? Assuming the of the right hand with the sign of the letter former, how many can we take in? Assuming the latter, they must, of course, take A." io By 1697, as the Reformation their turn and enter as immigrants. Whatever our attitude toward sanctuary, the squeezed many ecclesiastical errors out of movement is forcing us to confront these questions. England, the practice ended. Whatever the Biblical or historical paral- 1 lels, one difference stands out. In times tried to resist, so we had to draw the line. versy, especially within the churches. Are past, once someone was inside the sanctu- But we have warned our people that what they justified in breaking laws, especially in ary walls, he was generally safe. In the they are doing is illegal and they could go to a democracy where laws can be changed United States, though INS policy is not to jail." through the political process? Is harboring enter churches, it can with proper warrants. Despite the dangers, Sharon Kirmeyer, illegal aliens in accord with the church's Perhaps the government prerogative is of the Adelphi Friends Meeting in Mary- mission? While Biblical and historical advantageous. Describing the war between land, said her congregation has helped more parallels exist, are they applicable to the the Argives and the Spartans, the sixth book than 50 undocumented aliens. "This is not a present sanctuary movement? of Herodotus tells about Argive soldiers social protest against what is happening in "The sanctuary movement is rooted in who took refuge in a temple. Cleomenes, Central America," she said. "It is simply the Biblical idea of cities of refuge," said the Spartan king, unable to enter following the commands to feed the hungry Watkins. "People in danger need our help." the sacred place—burnt it down." and shelter the naked." Most temples among the Greeks, includ- Though the majority in the movement are ing the temple of Athena on the Acropolis, REFERENCES in for humanitarian purposes, others are were inviolable sanctuaries. Those who ' Jim Jones, "Sanctuary Worker Never overtly in for political reasons. took refuge at altars or sacred places were Intended to Start National Movement," Reli- "One of our goals is to end U.S. considered under divine protection and gious News Service, July 23, 1984, p. 1. intervention in Central America," said Lee were not allowed to be molested or appre- 2 Statement by Elliot Abrams, assistant secre- Holstein, of the Chicago Religious Task hended. They could be starved out, how- tary of state, before the House Committee on Force, an ecumenical organization involved ever—which frequently happened. Rules, June 20, 1984. in aiding refugees. Romulus, legendary founder of Rome, 3 American Civil Liberties Union Fund, "The "Since foreign policy is the principal allegedly made the Palatine Hill an asylum Fates of Salvadorans Expelled From the United motivation of the proponents of the sanctu- for fugitives and refugees. According to States, Sept. 5, 1984. 4 Ibid., p. 9. ary movement," an INS document asserts, Plutarch, "as soon as the foundation of the 5 Roy Howard Beck, "Valley People Aid "their alleged 'humanitarian' motives must city was laid they opened a place of refuge Salvadorans Legally," The United Methodists be questioned." for fugitives, which they called the temple Reporter, June 11, 1983, p. 9. Despite the movement's need for ano- of the Asylaean god. Here they received all 6 Plutarch, Romulus, p. 16. nymity, it can be blatantly public and that came, and would neither deliver up the 7 Norman Trenholme, The Right of Sanctuary political. Three times "caravans" with slave to his master, the debtor to his in England, The University of Missouri Studies, refugees have traveled across the United creditor, or the murderer to the magistrate; vol. 1, No. 5 (Columbia, Mo.: University of States to publicize the plight of the refugees. declaring that they were directed by the Missouri Press, 1903), p. 306. The South Side congregation has a large oracle of Apollo to preserve the asylum for 8 Charles Cox, Sanctuary and Sanctuary- Seekers sign in Spanish:"This is a sanctuary for ref- (London: George Allen and Son, 1911), all violations." 6 Under the Roman Empire, p. 17. ugees from Central America." Pastor Fife slaves, criminals, and fugitives could claim 9 Ibid., p. 7. wants publicity because that makes it more sanctuary merely by clinging to a bust, a I° Ibid. difficult for the INS to move against them. statue, or even a picture of the Caesars. " Herodotus, Book VI, chap. 80.

10 May/June, 1985 E

or nearly three years in the early within his own country and a Salvadoran There were, of course, political refugees 1960s I worked in a hospital near seeking asylum in Chicago, U.S.A., seems in Biblical times. When the Assyrians La Trinidad, Nicaragua. On the self-evident. conquered and destroyed Samaria in 722 mesa overlooking thd village was An equally important problem in seeking }Lc., many Israelites fled south into Judah. San Francisco, considered by most precedent is the function the cities of refuge In 586 a .c. , when King Nebuchadnezzar, of Nicaraguans to be home to the most served in ancient . A crime—and one Babylon, conquered and destroyed Jerusa- IFbackward people in the country. crime only—is identified as reason for lem, many residents of Judah escaped The area in northern Nicaragua could sanctuary—manslaughter, inadvertently deportation to Babylon by fleeing to Egypt, hardly be called a haven of peace and killing someone. (Given the same charge, a where they sought refuge. prosperity. The recent revolution started in refugee would not be admitted into the Individual cases are recorded. An exam- Matagalpa, 20 miles east of La Trinidad, United States.) The Israelite who fled to a ple is Jeroboam—later the first king of the and ended in Este11, 20 miles northwest of city of refugee was guilty. His flight was northern kingdom—who fled to Egypt until after Solomon's death because Solomon regarded him as a political rival to be eliminated (see 1 Kings 11:40). The Bible also records cases in which Ras OF REFINE iAm St ILA people took refuge in foreign lands for economic or health reasons. The book of Ruth tells of Naomi and her family taking Are they a Biblical warrant for giving sanctuary to illegal aliens? refuge east of the Dead Sea in Moab because of drought and famine. Two patriarchs— Abraham and Jacob with his sons—took 1 refuge in Egypt during drought and famine La Trinidad. Within San Francisco itself admission of guilt. (see Genesis 12 and 46). feuding families had carried on their own Biblical case history offers examples. If These cases can be compared to refugees guerrilla warfare for generations. I looked two men were cutting wood, for example, from Central America—people dislodged out my office window one morning to see and one's axhead slipped off, killing the from their homelands by the conflicting two heavily armed groups approaching on other, the killer could flee to a city of refuge winds of politics and war or by hunger and the Pan-American Highway, which ran past (Deuteronomy 19:5). This case law is poverty. the hospital. The first group carried a derived from the principle that " 'if any one To summarize: Cities of refuge were for casket, result of another outbreak of bad kills his neighbor unintentionally without citizens, not aliens (and certainly not illegal blood between families. An armed truce having been at enmity with him in time aliens); they were a Biblical prescription for prevailed while the victim was interred in past' " (verse 4, R.S.V.),* he can seek a society practicing blood feuds; they were the local cemetery. shelter in a city of refuge. for the innocent perpetrator of a killing Today, from Nicaragua, El Salvador, and What of the murderer who sought to and not for one seeking economic better- other areas, refugees seek their own "armed escape the consequences of his act by ment. truce," or sanctuary, in the United States. fleeing to a city of refuge? His case also is The refugees from Central America and Whether for revolution, blood feud, natural covered by Biblical legislation. Having elsewhere are not victims of, or participants disaster, or other cause, mankind has made determined premeditation, the elders of the in, an ongoing feud of blood vengeance. provision for sanctuary. American law also city in which the crime occurred were to They are persons involved in political accommodates refugees under clearly extradite the murderer to meet his just controversies (who may legally be accorded defined circumstances. A number of punishment (see verses 11, 12). The same refuge in the United States if their return churches and synagogues, however, citing law says all Israel would be held guilty of could result in prison or death) or military Biblical precedent, have opened their shedding innocent blood if they let the disruption of their homes and families, or churches to aliens inadmissible through guilty go free (see verse 13). are victims of poverty. customary channels of immigration. Does By Biblical law the manslayer could To aid and comfort refugees from any the precedent they refer to—the cities of leave the city of refuge freely after the death circumstance may be a charitable and refuge established in ancient Canaan—pro- of the high priest who had officiated in the humanitarian act. But let us not draw false vide theological justification for their shel- Temple when the crime occurred (Numbers analogies from the Biblical cities tering modern refugees? 35:28, 32). At the same time, any legal of refuge to justify doing so. The cities of refuge were located in the claim from the preceding era was erased— refugee's own country. There were six, an excellent preventative for an ongoing William H. Shea is professor of Old three on each side of the Jordan, located in blood feud. Testament history at Andrews University the southern, central, and northern parts of Other distinctions between the cities of Theological Seminary in Berrien Springs, the country. This distribution meant that no refuge and modem sanctuary concepts Michigan. Israelite had to travel more than 30 miles to could be noted (such as the Levitical status reach the nearest city. The distinction of the cities of refuge), but the points to be * From the Revised Standard Version of the between an Israelite seeking sanctuary made are insignificant. Bible, copyrighted 1946, 1952 1971, 1973.

11

LIBERTY R F

Refugees—The Strangers At Our DOORS Are we our brothers' keepers?

BY HENRY N. FERGUSON

arida Alunadi's dark eyes filled with tears as she told of sustained cruelty, searing pain, and the agony of hopelessness. The slight 22-year-old's troubles began on a morning in April, 1981. IF A medical student in the Afghan capital, Kabul, she was caught carrying an antigovernment leaflet. "Where had it been printed?" her captors demanded. Who was involved in its distribution? So began a four-month ordeal at the headquarters of Khad, the secret police in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. For a week Miss Ahmadi was denied sleep, for two weeks she was forced to stand. Still defiant, she was taken to a torture chamber. "The place was awash with blood," Farida remembers with a shudder. "They forced me to watch as a young man's eyes were torn from their

Henry N. Ferguson is a professional writer and photographer residing in Kerrville, Texas.

12 PHOTOGRAPH BY TOM RADCLIFFE May/June, 1985

Nhi and Hy Phan escaped from Vietnam in 1980 crowded on a 30-foot vessel with 89 other "boat people." Having escaped five pirate attacks, they arrived three days later in Tailand's Songkhla refugee camp. There they met Debi and Steve Standi- ford (above), Washington, D.C. attorneys who were teaching English at the Chil- dren's Center. The four returned to the United States where they have formed a family. Nhi (far left) is a freshman at St. Andrews Presbyterian College. Hy (second from right), who graduated at the top of his high school class, was admitted to the Univer- sity of Virginia last fall under the "Echols Scholars" program.

13 LIBERTY E

sockets. They tossed the eyeballs onto the bombarded with illegal aliens from 60 invasion. I was called back to my former table in front of me and warned, 'We'll do countries, with an estimated 2 million from post and ordered to help organize the this to you if you don't confess.' " Mexico alone. In a population of 230 Patriotic Front to justify what was going on But she didn't confess, and her tortures million, this country harbors more than 6 in my country. I could not say No if I valued only strengthened her resolve. Finally million illegal aliens—one third of the total my life, so I knew it was time to leave my released, she made her way to Pakistan as a refugee population. homeland. refugee. But the memories haunt her still, A quarter of a million European refugees "By night my family and I boarded a and she awakens shrieking and covered with have come from Soviet bloc nations such as cargo truck going southwest from Kabul. sweat. Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Roma- We hid in a small town near the border of Torture for political or religious reasons nia, Yugoslavia, East Germany, and the Pakistan. I grew a beard, and we donned the is not unusual in today's troubled world. USSR itself. clothes of the peasants of the area. If the Amnesty International reports that half the The numbers, though terrifying, don't soldiers or the Russians should recognize countries of the world jail people for begin to portray the human tragedy. There is us, we would be shot. Finally, we rode a political or religious beliefs. Torture, sum- no more poignant symbol of the refugees' cart behind a tractor to an isolated area along mary trials, and execution are not uncom- misery than the Vietnamese boat people. the border and then hiked into Pakistan with mon, the organization says. During the first six months of 1981, more whatever we could carry." Often in the dark of night, taking only than half the 664 boats bound for Thailand The perils of the boat people leaving what they can carry, these unfortunates slip and Malaysia from Vietnam were attacked Vietnam continue. People cram their fami- away. They depart in shock and despair, at sea, mostly by Thai pirates. Four hundred lies into small boats for risk-filled odysseys driven from their homes by politics, reli- and thirty-three people were killed and 223 across hundreds of miles of ocean. Subject gion, or race; by bombings and invasions, young women abducted and raped. to engine breakdowns and starvation, by earthquakes, flood, or drought. They go, Today's refugees number more than at besieged by tropical storms, attacked by desperate for a better life—or even a chance any other time in modern history. What's it vicious pirates, many boat people fail to to survive. like to be one of them? A letter published by reach asylum. More than 600,000 have fled In need of food, shelter, and a ray of the Hong Kong Christian Service recounts Vietnam since April, 1975. hope, the world's refugees are a human time the problems of camp dwellers in that Arthur Jones, writing in the National bomb, beyond the capacity of most nations city. Catholic Reporter, tells of one incident: to care for. Some refugees have languished "To understand us," explains a refugee, "Theodore Schweitzer, an official for the in camps for a generation. Today, the "you must know that we live in large United Nations High commissioner for refugee population exceeds 17 million. dormitories, with bunks two or three levels Refugees (UNHCR), was searching for Kra Almost half-7,250,000—are from Af- high. There is no privacy without cutting off Island off the coast of Thailand where he ghanistan, Cambodia, and Laos. The next- all air circulation. And that is only visual had heard boat people were trapped. He largest number, 4,045,000, comes from privacy. The condition of the toilets is found the island at three o'clock one Africa—principally from Ethiopia and sometimes appalling, and a hot shower is morning. Zimbabwe. Palestinians comprise 1.9 mil- nonexistent. Kindhearted people and chari- "There were fires on the beaches, and he lion, with Latin America contributing more table agencies provide programs for the could hear screams coming from many than 1 million, including the 665,000 children, but this is not giving them directions. He anchored and went ashore. A Cubans who have sought asylum in the education. man's body was hanging from a tree; United States. "There are other things: like the terrible another body was burning in one of the Though the United States continues to feeling of helplessness one has from being beach fires. He moved away quickly from lead the world in accepting refugees and unable to help loved ones still in Vietnam. that section to explore the island, barely half funding their programs, in recent years the And the feeling of depression when you go a kilometer square, and met Vietnamese government has decreased the quotas of month after month without hearing from the who spoke English. They told him they had refugees allowed in the country. "I think country of your choice for resettlement. landed on the island 19 days earlier. Pirates that the bulk of the world views the United And the feeling of frustration when you are had immediately invaded the island and States as having backed off on international turned down by that same country. And the repeatedly raped all the women and young refugee protection issues," said Roger continuing fear that nations will tire of girls, murdered any of the men who Winter, director of the U.S. Committee for helping. And the grief you suffer because of attempted to fight them, and had stolen Refugees, a nonprofit group that publishes uncertainty about whether loved ones are everything the boat people possessed. an annual survey on refugees. In 1980 and dead or alive." Throughout the day and succeeding days, 1981, the ceiling for refugee admission in Almost 2 million people have fled Af- more pirates came and went. Young girls the United States was in excess of 200,000 ghanistan in the past three years. Leaving who had been raped the first day had tried to for each year. By 1984, the recommended the land of one's birth is a traumatic hide. One girl hid in some long grass. The ceiling was 72,000. According to Winter, decision. Yet, not to do so may mean death. pirates set fire to the field to burn her out, but as the United States increases restrictions, Here is the story of one Afghan family: she refused to come out and was badly other resettlement nations will do the same, "I was a government official for many burned. Another group of young girls fled to and more refugees are left homeless. years. After the 1978 coup, I was reassigned a cave in which water at high tide came up to Despite the quotas, the United States is to be a tax collector. Then the Russian their necks. After 19 days of hiding in the

14 May/June, 1985

cave the flesh on their legs had been eaten by have sponsored families. They arrange ye have done it unto me" (Matthew sea crabs. housing, language instruction, jobs, medi- 25:35-40). "During 28 trips Schweitzer made to cal care, schooling for the children and The late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had Kra, he rescued more than 1,200 boat adults—in short, seek to make the refugees a dream with which all oppressed people people." self-sufficient. can identify. It was that all of God's Today the job of saving refugees who In some areas, even governments are children, black and white, Jew and Gentile, land on Kra is being handled by seven men overwhelmed. Somalia, Djibouti, and Protestant and Catholic, will someday be of the Royal Thai navy. They are stationed Sudan are examples. Somalia has one able to join hands and declare that they are on the tiny island for two-week shifts. When refugee for every three citizens. "Free at last!" a Vietnamese boat arrives, they radio their The plight of world refugees is not a The remainder of this century will be, in headquarters to contact UNHCR. This twentieth-century phenomenon. They have the opinion of many experts, one of turmoil organization then charters a fishing boat to been with us always. Moses led Israelite between the "haves" and the "have nots." pick up the refugees. slaves from Egypt. As a child, Jesus was a An untold number of the homeless and the Boat people arriving in America face a refugee. His parents fled with Him to Egypt poor will knock at our doors. Will we turn new set of problems, including cultural, after King Herod ordered all babies in them away? Will we invite them in? religious, and language barriers. Some have Bethlehem killed. The refugees offer us opportunity for a never seen a time clock or a telephone, do once expressed God's blessing on magnificent demonstration of Christian not know how to drive a car, have no idea those who minister to the oppressed: "If love, compassion, and understanding. How what an income tax form is or how to fill it you put an end to oppression, to every we face up to the challenge may determine out, and do not know how to buy groceries gesture of contempt and to every evil word; whether the world is thrust into chaos or at the local supermarket. Part of our if you give food to the hungry and satisfy enters the new century riding a spirit of challenge is simply to have patience as those who are in need, then the darkness hope, determination, and optimism the refugees adjust to their new environ- around you will turn to the brightness of for the future of all mankind. ment. noon" (Isaiah 58:9, 10, T.E.V.).* Who actually takes care of these dispos- Christians have a special calling to help * Bible texts credited to T.E.V. are from the sessed people? Where they must be housed the homeless and the needy. Jesus reminded Good News Bible—Old Testament: Copyright © in camps, the task is too great for any except his disciples: "I was a stranger, and ye took American Bible Society 1976; New Testament: government agencies to handle. But in me in. . . . Inasmuch as ye have done it unto Copyright © American Bible Society 1966, many countries church and civic groups one of the least of these my brethren, 1971, 1976. iiiitiarOMERE

Reach out in love through church, government, or private agencies to provide necessities for those who have fled their countries. Help make their new country "home" by working with Christian councils and joint refugee committees. Contact one of the following: For information on refugees resettled in Israel: For information on world refugees: HIAS, Inc. Office of Refugee Concerns 200 Park Avenue South United Methodist Committee on Relief New York, New York 10003 475 Riverside Drive For information on Palestinian refugees: New York, New York 10115 United Nations Church World Service Public Inquiries Unit 475 Riverside Drive Room GA 57 New York, New York 10115 New York, New York 10017

I5 LIBERTY

ne question raised in the 1984 Pres- idential campaign long outlasts a political season: What is the proper relationship between church and state, between religious values and national decisions? The issue is as old as the first origins of faith and government; it is central to our Constitution and our Bill of Rights; and in the past decade, it has become increasingly relevant to our public debate as religious leaders have increasingly spoken about public policy. In short, the issue is not new, but it GATES achieved a new urgency in the 1984 campaign. For now we seem more and more distant from the hope which I expressed a year ago, in a speech at Liberty Baptist Oitr polit (II process is College, for "an America where the power of faith will always burn brightly—but of where no modern of any kind properly an area disagreement will ever light the fires of fear, coercion, or angry division." clnlorrg people Of goodwill, To stay the hand of mutual intolerance requires first of all recognition that our but it is not an arena of combat political process is properly an area of disagreement among people of good will, but it is not an arena of combat between the between the forces of light and forces of light and the forces of darkness. The choice we face is between Democrats the forces of darkness. and Republicans. In a pluralistic society, a religious person must be careful in dealing in the Word of the s i r Lord, mindful of the scriptural warning: "Judge not, that ye be not judged." For example, the most religious of individuals can and should ask whether a child in a classroom could resist the pressure, unspo- ken but undeniable, to join in a specified period of supposedly voluntary prayer. As John Rawls has argued, Liberty and Law demand that we put ourselves in the other person's place. How would a fundamental- ist react if his children attended a public school where classes began each day with a voluntary prayer composed by a Unitarian, who believed in a very different kind of God? I think he would discover new virtue in the cause of civil liberties. Once support or opposition to school prayer becomes a religious test for public office, every political issue can soon become a question of faith. At the Republi- can Convention, a delegate graphically if unintentionally conveyed the threat. She was wearing two campaign buttons on her hat. One read: "Christians for Reagan." The other said: "Cut all nondefense spend- ing now." Do we really want to contend over whether God favors the abolition of the Department of Education or the passage of a balanced-budget constitutional amend- ment? Frankly, I believe that God has more important things to do—and that to invoke •. divine sanction in such a debate not only • .: debases the public dialogue but inevitably degrades religion itself.

16 MaylJune, 1985

One of the clearest warnings of history, a Some critics respond by claiming that only in the depths of each individual warning that led our founders to the First many of those who profess this view are conscience. There is a logical line of Amendment, is that if religious differences inconsistent—that we deny the church the separation between private morality and become central to society, they too easily chance to address abortion as a matter of public policy, and it is the line between the become religious wars. Great Britain per- public policy, while permitting and even rule of government and the role of individ- secuted Quakers, Puritans, Catholics, and promoting religious activism on issues like ual rights. at one time even Anglicans. Jews have been nuclear arms. But the distinction is appro- No line can be perfect; no wall of reviled and exiled—and oppressed every- priate because it relates once again to the separation between church and state will be where. And so the first Americans created a proper role of government. Issues like without gates. But the foundation of our system where religion was free of the nuclear arms are inherently public in nature; pluralism is that government will never state—and there was no state religion. we must decide them together as a nation; determine which religion is right; and Those who would move in the other and here, religion and religious values must religion will not put its imprimatur on some direction, even a little, should remember appeal to our common conscience and to the politicians, while damning others because how slippery the slope can become. Thomas decision of government itself. The church of their political views. A Presidential More, that most decent of men who was can persuade an individual not to have an campaign is a race for the White House, not martyred when his own society changed abortion; but the church cannot persuade an for the mandate of heaven. from one intolerance to another, could write individual to restrain the nuclear arms race. Above all else, we must treat one another approvingly of the most terrible persecu- By its very nature, this is a choice that with that civility that alone makes America tions of his day that "the burning of heretics belongs to the state—and not to the differ- safe for both democracy and diversity. No is lawful, necessary, and well done, and— ent, independent judgments of each citizen. matter how strong our own faith, when we the clergy doth not procure it, but only the To give effect to the moral values of their are engaged in the public dialogue, we good and public provision of the tempo- creed, rabbis, Catholic bishops, and Protes- cannot claim a monopoly on truth or the rality." tant ministers such as Billy Graham have infallibility of our vision. There could be no more powerful proof every right to stand for the nuclear freeze It was wrong when part of an audience at that temporality should be separated from as a public choice of our whole society, Harvard sought to shout down Jerry Fal- spirituality—that church and state do not and Jerry Falwell has every right to stand well. And it was equally wrong when a exist in artificial isolation, but the one must against it. Reagan campaign official said: "You can't never become the arm of the other. Finally, we also hear the objection, in a kick religion the way Mondale is [doing]." I do not mean that faith must be silent—or recent statement from the Catholic bishops, The Democratic nominee was not kicking that anyone of moral conviction, even that it is "not logically tenable" to separate religion, but insisting that we must not kick someone outside any traditional faith, can "personal morality and public policy." But away the safeguards of the First Amend- be quiet—in the face of ethical issues. this cannot mean that every moral command ment. Church leaders have the obligation to speak should be written into law—that Catholics I want to end on a personal note. For me then, for that is their vocation. But religion in America should seek to make birth and for my family, as for so many others, has no right to harness government to control illegal; that Orthodox Jews should prayer and religion have been a vital force, a impose a single view in areas where seek to ban business on the Sabbath; that sustaining presence in the most difficult government should not intervene at all. In Fundamentalists should try to forbid the hours. I treasure my faith, and I love my short, much of the current discussion misses teaching of evolution in public schools. We country. And I have seen in my life the pain the essential point. What is at stake is not a cannot let this pluralistic society descend and the danger that can come from intoler- limit on religious expression, but the limits into a collection of competing and embit- ance and religious animosity. Twenty-four on public action itself. tered groups. We cannot be secure in our years ago my brother was preparing to speak Religious leaders may say anything they freedom if government becomes an agent of about religion and politics to the Greater feel bound in conscience to say, but they religion—ready to transgress the limits of Houston Ministerial Association. He won- may not ask government to do something public authority for the sake of a religious dered as he prepared whether he had lost the that it cannot do under the constitution or the commandment, no matter how fervently it 1960 Presidential campaign long before it social contract of a pluralistic society. is felt. We cannot be a tolerant country if began, on the day he was baptized. Where decisions are inherently individual churches bless some candidates as God's He asked the Houston ministers to stand ones or in cases where we are deeply candidates and brand others as ungodly or with him against "any religious test for divided about whether they are, people of immoral. public office." We need to hear his words faith should not invoke the power of the The culmination of such intolerance is once again: "I believe in an America that is state to decide what everyone can believe or hatred and even the cursing of entire officially neither Catholic, Protestant, nor think or read or do. In such cases the proper religions. We saw the grim specter of Jewish . . . where no religious body seeks to role of religion is to appeal to the free anti-Semitism raised in the campaign. impose its will upon the general populace conscience of each person, not the coercive There is no religious or moral value in . . . and where religious liberty is so rule of secular law. incitements to anti-Semitism or anti-Cathol- indivisible that an act against one church is Archbishop O'Connor surely has every icism, or in smears against any faith. treated as an act against all." constitutional right, and according to his Every creed has a mandate to preach and In 1984 let us reaffirm that guiding faith a religious duty, to speak against to teach, to transform hearts and to win principle. Let us seek an America where all abortion. And just as surely Geraldine souls. But there is an essential difference— the different streams of conscience, of Ferraro and Mario Cuomo are equally right which we must not blur—between coercion belief and dissent, will join into a powerful that faithful Catholics, serving in public and conversion, between bigotry and belief. current of tolerance that can take us forward office, can agree with his morality without In sum, personal choices may be ques- together—one people of many faiths, seeking to impose it across the board, tions for public debate, but in the end the "with liberty and justice for all." without seeking to deny the freedom of answers cannot be matters for public deci others to control the uniquely personal parts sion. The issues should be discussed before Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) has served of their own lives. the widest audience, but they can be settled 22 years in the United States Senate.

ILLUSTRATED BY JEFFREY SEVER 17 'm tired of being told I can't be a Christian unless I'm in agreement with the Moral Majority. I'm worn out with groups that denounce me as godless because o political beliefs differ. I'm exhausted with explaining / that I attempt to follow the golden rule and believe in live and let live. I'm sick of feminism and being conside mutually exclusive. I'm disgusted that I must explain that I can be both Christian and politically left of President Reagan. I resent "Christianity" being equated with the right wing. I'm indignant that God's name is being used to sanctify everything from strip mining to nuclear weapons, from corporal punishment to book burning. The Ten Commandments played a prominent part in my adolescent life. I wasn't allowed to choose those I woul follow and those I would leave out. The third commandme was no exception. The Lord's name passed my lips only in an ecclesiastical context. But neither my parents nor my Sunday school teacher warned me that using God's name to BY PATRICIA GLENN discriminate, abuse, and even murder other people trans- gressed a deeper dimension of the commandment. Others still haven't learned. The Irish continue to practice mayhem on each other in the name of God.

18 ILLUSTRATION BY JEFFREY DEVER MaylJune, 1985

The Republic of South Africa tells us is a blessing rests on their political ideology, when they're "God-given plan." certain His will and their dogma are the same, they aren't Iran executes thousands in Allah's name. obliged to tolerate differing opinions. Even the United States is suffering from the "God is on Yes, Fm indignant. our side" mentality. The American Nazi Party and the Ku But most of all, frightened. People with "God is on our Klux Klan spout Scripture quotations and racism with equal side" mentality seem most likely candidates for producing a enthusiasm. The Christian Right uses the Scriptures to add civil religion—based, of course, on the majority consen- credence to its ideology. And the liberty Left finds verses to sus—or even for pushing a doomsday button. justify its agenda of imperatives. Jesus spoke wisdom. Never did He sanction racial, Why the emphasis on "Thus saith the Lord"? . political, sexual, or religious discrimination. Never did He The agonies of our age seeming to demand more than authorize us to abuse others because of their spiritual mankind has to offer. beliefs. The mushroom cloud that overshadows our days. He did tell us not to judge others and not to hate our Pollution of earth and environment and sky. neighbors. He said something about the one without sin The perplexing moral frontiers of biological advance, casting the first stone. abortion, euthanasia. Mother used to say, -Even the devil can quote Scrip- Write in your own. ture." So when a group cloaked in religious garb and catering to You won't have to listen hard to hear him citing verses fear appears, people flock to it—as to the Christian Right, from the one Book he has found too useful to burn. which tells us God is conservative, fundamentalist, Protes- But don't ask me to join you. tant, and a white male. I'm tired of listening. Nothing is permitted to get in the way of the accredited theology. Patricia Glenn is a free-lance writer living in Florence, Not even religious liberty. When people believe God's Alabama.

19 LIBERTY

The Presbyterian Contribution to RELIGIOUS LIBERTY BY L. JOHN VAN TIL

John Witherspoon (1723-1794), Scottish-born educator, patriot, and author of religious and political writings, was the only active clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence.

In the kingdom of Christ only the early period, I'll retain the use of presbyterianism for that period of development beginning with the Reformation. heart and conscience stand between The single most important contribution of Presbyterians to the individual and God. development of religious liberty was restoration of con- science to significance in Reformation theology. This t would be an exercise in religious chauvinism to claim occurred during the first half of the seventeenth century in that presbyterianism was the most important contribu- England, having its greatest appreciation among the divines or to the development of religious liberty. But it made of the Westminster Assembly. As a matter of fact, a significant contribution. Perhaps even a most conscience was so important in their thinking and writing that significant one, if we use presbyterianism to refer to that it is not too much to call theirs a theology of conscience. It long tradition of Biblical theology that began with Their emphasis was not a concoction developed for the the New Testament churches. demands of their time; on the contrary, it was a restatement of But Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, and others may New Testament principles. relax; though I'll examine the roots of religious liberty in that We may view the contributions of Presbyterians and

20 PHOTOGRAPH BY PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY MaylJune, 1985 presbyterianism to religious liberty in three stages: Biblical Definition and understanding of this new kingdom became origins, Reformation revival of conscience, and finally, clearer with the arrival of Paul. He reiterated Christ's acceptance and development in America. In this article I'll teaching that integrity depends upon the condition of one's examine the Biblical origins. heart, that out of it are the issues of life. Freedom, he said, consists in loving one's neighbor, doing justice, loving The Ancient World righteousness, and whatever else proceeds from a pure In the ancient world, religious liberty did not exist. heart. Typically, the Romans' object of loyalty in both religious This new commandment was difficult to live with because and political matters was the emperor, from whom flowed it provided unprecedented freedom and liberty and at the authority. In one respect, ancient Hebrew practice was not same time called for a high degree of responsibility. Paul much different, for theirs was a theocracy, God being the pointed out, however, that the newly freed Christian was not object of religious and political loyalty. Roman conquest did left without means to exercise his freedom in an orderly not seriously challenge Jewish practice so long as the people manner. Conscience was the device that helped in the paid their taxes to Rome. Moreover, the character of Jewish ordering of a person's freedom and responsibility. practice precluded individuals exercising liberty in religious matters, for the heart of Old Testament religion was The Concept of Conscience corporate performance of physical rituals as prescribed in the The appearance of the concept of conscience in Paul's ceremonial, judicial, and moral codes. letters requires some comment, especially since Christ did The advent of Christianity radically altered the pattern of not use the word. Christ spoke and wrote in the context of Roman and Hebrew religious practice, laying the foundation Jewish traditions; when He talked about "heart," He used a for religious liberty. Much of the New Testament is the story word familiar to that tradition. Paul, on the other hand, of how the Hebrews, and to a lesser extent the Hellenistic operated in the context of Greek culture, though he used world, adjusted to the demands of Christianity's new many words, including heart, that came from the Jewish approach to religion. The truly radical character of tradition. Paul followed Christ in preaching the need for Christianity appears most strikingly in the teachings and conversion and redirection of self from within, that is, from works of Christ, as might be expected, and in the teachings of the heart. Paul. Scholars have pointed out that Hellenistic culture knew Salvation in Jesus Christ is the gospel message; but and used a concept called conscience for several centuries another part of that message is often neglected. From the before Christ. It was a common concept by the time Paul was Jewish Christian's point of view, the believer was freed from educated, but it was a concept developed in the Stoic the law. That did not mean freedom from all law; rather, it tradition. Its meaning was similar to the meaning of heart of meant freedom from the old laws that governed external which Christ and Paul spoke. Naturally, therefore, some new behavior. Man was not left lawless by this new freedom; he Christians adopted the Hellenistic word conscience when was given a new law by Christ Himself. What that law is and describing the root of their new freedom. Paul was faced with how it works was difficult for even the disciples to this definition in a discussion with some Corinthians. understand. Recognizing this, Jesus patiently explained and They had said they had a good conscience when they illustrated its meaning. violated the old Jewish law about eating meat that had been Pharisees flaunted their flawless performance of the law, offered to idols. Paul acknowledged conscience as a only to be rebuked by Jesus. A rich ruler told Him that he had legitimate concept, but said, in effect, If you want to talk lived up to the law all his life, but Jesus said that he was not about conscience you must be sure that you understand it justified until he changed his heart and placed love for his correctly. His definition emerged clearly, especially when neighbor above his wealth. On another occasion some contrasted with a typical Stoic one. legalists pointed out that a certain woman had violated the For him conscience was a special device or faculty placed law of adultery; Jesus tried to awaken their hearts by in man for the purpose of regulating moral conduct. It challenging them to cast stones at her only if they were appears that he did not understand it to be the same device guiltless. designated by heart, though its quality and dependability were directly related to the condition of the heart. One could The Difficult Kingdom have a good conscience if he had a pure heart—good in the The meaning of freedom from the old laws came out most sense of "reliable." On the other hand, Paul taught that clearly in Jesus' teachings about the kingdom. To Him it was conscience was not subject to the willing self in the ordinary a community of those who had put behind all worldly day-to-day affairs of life. Conscience stood between self and encumberances, including the mass of social custom grown God, bearing witness to thoughts, and to actions either up around the old laws. People were in the kingdom not performed or proposed. because they were of the Jewish nation; persons entered the kingdom one by one as they chose to follow Him. The new Dr. L. John Van Til is professor of history and coordinator of kingdom of which Christ spoke was spiritual, a reflection of the Keystone Curriculum at Grove City College, Grove City, the heart of every person who entered. This kind of kingdom . was difficult to accept. Only after Christ's death, resurrec- tion, and ascension, did His disciples begin to understand * First in a series on the contribution various churches have made to what He meant. religious freedom.

21 LIBERTY

Paul did not view the judgment of conscience as final, as which was his and to God that which was His probably made Stoics taught. For them, conscience was consulted at day's little sense until after the disciples realized that Christ was end, and where it judged an act improper, restitution was preaching a spiritual kingdom. In time, however, this required. The Stoic began the next day with a clean slate and kingdom concept became the basis from which the prevailing repeated the process of examination at its end. Conscience Roman system was challenged. was also the final judge of moral action for the Stoic. That Implicit in the teachings of Jesus and Paul is the claim that was not an acceptable view for Paul. Knowing that he had a Christians have the right to practice their religion without pure heart, he was willing to depend upon his conscience as a interference from civil authorities. Life in the new kingdom guide in exercising his Christian freedom and liberty. All of Christ requires separation of political allegiance from conscientious action, however, had to stand the test of one's spiritual and religious allegiance. Christ's judgment at the end-time. Finally, Paul noted that a The radical character of this demand for religious liberty is person's conscience is not subject to any man, for it stands recorded in the stories of early Christians. Many suffered not only above a particular person, but beyond the reach of all torture, persecution, and death because they tenaciously other men as well. claimed the right to give their religious allegiance to Jesus Christ. A Radical Claim Historians have often noted that religious liberty became The believer's emancipation from the old system of institutional with Constantine's edict in the fourth century, prescribed conduct and the elevation of the heart and but that is not entirely accurate. It is true that Christianity was conscience as the standard for conduct had dramatic recognized as an acceptable religion in that edict. The implications for existing social and political institutions. The following centuries reveal, however, that the Biblical new standard of authority set down by Christ and followed by system of religious liberty, the system of Christ and Paul challenged the prevailing Roman concepts of allegiance Paul, all but vanished between the third and sixteenth and authority. Christ's injunction to render to Caesar that centuries.

A Lying "0 blessed Jesus, what a generation of The judge in this case, which is famous vipers we live among," the judge goes on. enough but which is little remembered now, Presbyterian The witness, not overly encouraged by a mere 299 years later, was not some the judge, says, obscure temporary judge in the boondocks, "I cannot tell what to say, my lord." but the lord chief justice of England— The judge swears and reflects. George Jeffreys. KNAVE "Was there ever such an impudent Jeffreys, who could "smell a Presbyte- rascal? Hold the candle to him that we may rian 40 miles," did yeoman work for his see his brazen face. See that an information king, James II, a Roman Catholic, who BY HENRY MITCHELL for perjury be preferred against this fel- gave Jeffreys a peerage. low." Two good-looking brothers named Having got rid of that witness, the court Hewling were brought before Jeffreys. got on with its business of ordering a There was sentiment to save them, since it is woman, Alice Lisle, burned to death. She one thing to execute some old bag but was a Presbyterian or something of that another to execute teenaged lads of good efferson among other earlier Ameri- kind. family. cans was peculiarly sensitive on the She told the court that she had sheltered in "You have a grandfather who deserves to issue of church and state and issued many her house two men after the battle of be hanged as richly as you," the judge warnings. But without further prelude, let Sedgemoor, true, but she did not know they observed. (The grandfather, a leading mer- us look into a courtroom relevant to were rebels. One of them she knew was a chant of London and head of the London religious enthusiasm. The defense witness clergyman and "a man of peace." Baptists, was not on trial, but the chief is briefly silent, and the judge speaks: She just gave them a place to sleep and justice thought he might as well mention "Oh, how the truth is, to come out of a some food when they banged on her door. him anyway.) The youths were killed. lying Presbyterian knave." "But I will tell you," said the judge, In his history of England, from which The witness, alarmed, looks blank. "there is not one of those lying, sniveling, these quotations are lifted for the interest of "Was there ever [the judge emits an oath canting Presbyterians but in one way or Baptists, Presbyterians, Catholics, and at this point] such a villain on the face of the another had a hand in the rebellion. nonestablishment types in general, Macau- earth? Dost thou believe there is a God? Presbytery has all manner of villainy in it. lay adds that Jeffreys (before going to work Dost thou believe in hellfire? Of all the Show me a Presbyterian and I'll show thee a for the new Catholic king) delighted in the witnesses that I ever met with, I never saw lying knave." judicial slaughter of Catholics. thy like. After he ordered her burnt alive, the "He always appeared to be in a higher "I hope, gentlemen of the jury, that you clergy of Winchester Cathedral (who were state of exhilaration when he explained to take notice of the horrible carriage of this not Presbyterian, but Anglican) remon- popish priests that they were to be cut down fellow. How can one help abhorring both strated, and the judge did not wish to tangle alive and were to see their own bowels these men and their religion? A Turk is a with such respectable folk. He reduced the burned, than when he passed ordinary saint to such a fellow as this. A pagan would penalty from burning to beheading, a sentences of death." be ashamed of such villainy. sentence carried out at Winchester. Nothing like burning a few Catholic guts

22 MaylJune, 1985

An Unhappy Chapter God in creation order. In short, the blessings that Christ had Following Constantine, the church in Rome gained promised to those who sought first the kingdom could not be influence until it dominated the Western Christian world. Its enjoyed as long as the Church of Rome continued to assert ascendancy is one of the less happy chapters in Christian itself as the source of authority and object of allegiance in church history. However, it is one vital to development of religious affairs. religious liberty, because growth of the medieval Roman Church was at the expense of the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Perverted Relations In that kingdom only the heart and conscience stand Another legacy of the imposition of the church as authority between the individual and God. In Roman Church teachings in religious matters was a perversion of church-state the church stood between the individual and God—the relations. Christ had taught that each of these institutions had confessional being the instrument of separation. The its own sphere of competence and sovereignty; at least that priesthood of all believers was an alien concept to Rome, has been the Reformation interpretation of the "render to priestly functions being performed only by specially trained Caesar" passage. The medieval church's claim that it was clergy. This injection of an institution in place of heart and the superior, if not supreme, expression of revelation in the conscience served to reduce liberty of conscience and world forced it to claim also that it had authority over civil religious liberty to minimal proportions, if it did not snuff out governments. This usurpation precluded civil governments liberty altogether. from performing their ordained duties. Much of medieval The reduction, if not actual eradication, of religious liberty history consists of church and civil government squabbles in medieval Roman Christianity curtailed growth of the over jurisdiction. kingdom of Christ. Christians could not fulfill their The coming of the Protestant Reformation signaled a commission to teach in Christian freedom and creativity. revival of liberty of conscience, and therefore religious Since the church was the authority over, or in place of, liberty. To that chapter of religious liberty conscience, Christians were not free to explore the truth of and the Presbyterian contribution I will turn next.

to bring good color to the cheeks, except It's true, Jefferson said in his "Notes on the There is the argument that we do not send burning a few Presbyterians or Baptists. Or State of Virginia," that it was once Virginia an ambassador to the Roman Catholic homosexuals or abortionists or whatever law that a Quaker could not live in the state. Church, but to the Vatican State. else is seen to be evil. He'd be jailed until he was ready to leave, It's not a church, you see, but a force in Jeffreys did not get to butcher many and if he came back three times he'd be world affairs. Before whom Hitler and Quakers. The king considered them harm- killed. The main reason people were not Stalin trembled, you recall. less, but this did not impede the campaign executed in Virginia for religion was that Besides, until we establish full diplo- against assorted other Protestants. there was only one faith. matic presence, our man at the Vatican gets It is now thought the chief justice was not Anglicans, however, became lax, since no respect. Real ambassadors from other a good man. 0 wind of fashion! Once his they ran everything, and eventually the countries go ahead of him at receptions and courtroom was full of sobs for a man being other opinions crept in. By 1776 two thirds gobble up all the cucumber sandwiches condemned. The chief justice called the of the people in Virginia were dissenters while he's still arguing with the hall porter spectators "sniveling calves." Once a from the Episcopal Church, Jefferson said. to get in. young woman fell on her knees for the life Before anybody got round to tending to Of course, in a non-Roman way, the of her sweetheart, but she was dismissed these dissenters, however, the church was institution of the prayer breakfast has with an oath "so hideous" that Macaulay disestablished. become familiar to America. It is a grand declined to print it. Although things looked fine for freedom forum for a President to pietate for the Another woman who for all we know was of religion in his day ("I doubt whether the cameras and for the breakfasters to drool at not even a Presbyterian, Baptist, or Catholic people of this country would suffer an their closeness to power. The breakfasts was ordered to be whipped through the execution for heresy or a three-year's under Nixon and Carter were enough to streets, a disagreeable business, but the imprisonment for not comprehending the curdle cream, some Christians thought, if I chief justice always tried to lighten things: mysteries of the Trinity"), still the day may testify to my own experiences at some "Hangman, I charge you to pay particu- could come when crimes were once again of them. lar attention to this lady. Scourge her committed to help God, Jefferson feared: We are well past Jefferson now. It may be soundly, man. Scourge her till the blood "The spirit of the times may alter—will quite a little jog back to him too. Of course, runs down. It is , a cold time for alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our there is the shortcut via Jeffreys. Nothing madam to strip in! See that you warm her people careless. . . . They will be forgotten, beats a really lively chief justice for shoulders thoroughly." therefore, and their rights disregarded." straightening a country out and clearing its These excesses of zeal in the chief justice We have come a way since Jefferson. thinking. Such a country shapes up quickly. sprang from religious enthusiasm, of You can hardly imagine him buddy-buddy England did after Jeffreys. Mind you, some course. Extremism in the cause of virtue is with Billy Graham like some recent Presi- of the spectacle of Olde England was lost. sometimes thought to be no vice. dents or cozying up to Jerry Falwell, partly After 1685 they stopped burning I hate to leave the Quakers out. Thomas because he had a taste for brains and ladies. Jefferson noted that in Virginia there had brilliance and partly because he thought a been no religious persecution to speak of nation had problems enough without the Henry Mitchell is a columnist for the since everybody who came in 1607 was President scratching backs with sectarian Washington Post. Copyright 1984, The Anglican. Puritans did not venture there. heroes. Washington Post.

23

LIBERTY MaylJune, 1985 ver since the apostle John wrote blood of Zacharias son of Barachias whom name, didn't we cast out devils in your that "antichrist shall come" (1 ye slew between the temple and the altar.... name, and do many great things in your John 2:18), Christians have O , Jerusalem, thou that killeth name?" Then I shall tell them plainly, "I speculated about its identity. the prophets . . . " (Matthew 23:31-37). have never known you. Go away from me, The early church thought it was Israel's history proves the truth of Jesus' you have worked on the side of evil!" ' " 1:4 the Romans. The medievals words. Many of the prophets "were stoned, (Matthew 7:21-23, Phillips).* feared tha antichrist was the Hussites, the . . . were sawn asunder, . . . were slain with This warning was not addressed to Wycliffites, the Ottoman Turks, or the the sword" (Hebrews 11:37)—by the Isra- secular humanists, Communists, Henry Jews. Luther and the Protestant Reformers elites themselves! Jesus warned that their Kissinger, or the Trilateral Commission; named papal Rome as antichrist. Spanish treachery would continue—and it did. They they do not cast out demons in Christ's Jesuit Francisco Ribera rid papal Rome of killed Him, too. name. Christians do. And Jesus says that the stigma by identifying antichrist as a still These crimes were not committed by many of them are not with Him. "He that is unknown end-time personage or power, a sun-worshiping Babylonians, child-sacri- not with me," He adds, "is against me" scenario bought by today's evangelical ficing Moabites, or heathen idolaters—but (chapter 12:30). world. Current speculations about antichrist by God's own people! Of course, not all Christians will align encompass Henry Kissinger, secular And what of the Christian church as it with antichrist, just as all Jews did not kill humanism, Communism, the Trilateral carried the gospel to the world? After a few Christ. Is there a litmus test to tell who'll be Commission, the Illuminati, Guru Maharaj centuries the church and paganism, like an on whose side? Ji, Germany, militant Islam, Ronald Rea- innocent youth and a prostitute, united. For God describes His remnant and their gan, the European Common Market, and more than a thousand years the great truths characteristics as they will be seen at the even a computer in Belgium. of salvation were repressed by the ones height of antichrist's reign: "And the Though history shows that God's people commissioned to preach them. Meanwhile dragon [Satan] was wroth with the woman have suffered from outside oppressors— those who adhered to the Bible were [the church], and went to make war with the such as Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, accused of heresy, blasphemy, and sedition; remnant of her seed [the last-day faithful], and Romans—some believe that the anti- they were hunted, branded, exiled, and which keep the commandments of God, and christ will rise from within Christendom slain—all in the name of Jesus. have the testimony of Jesus" (Revelation itself! Daniel, writing about this antichrist 12:17). And with good reason. Indeed, the word power almost a thousand years before it Again, "the Revelation of Jesus Christ" antichrist may mean not only "against existed, warned that it would make "war (chapter 1:1) reveals the last-day faithful in Christ" but "in the place of Christ." Thus with the saints" (Daniel 7:21). John the direct contrast to those who receive the the apostle Paul warns that antichrist revelator in the first century repeated the antichrist's mark (chapter 14:9-11): "Here "opposeth and exalteth himself above all same warning about the same power: "And is the patience [or endurance] of the saints: that is called God, or that is worshipped; so it was given unto him to make war with the here are they that keep the commandments that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, saints, and to overcome them" (Revelation of God, and the faith of Jesus" (verse 12). shewing himself that He is God" (2 13:7). The marks of antichrist's followers are Thessalonians 2:4). This power does not This persecuting power was not the plain: openly defy God; instead, antichrist pur- Ottoman Turks from the south, Attila the They will persecute the followers of ports to speak for God and take His Hun from the east, or Vikings from the Christ. prerogatives. north—it was the church! They will disobey the commandments of While Christians disagree over the iden- Today Christians assume that antichrist God. tity of antichrist, all agree that ancient Israel will arise outside the stained-glass windows They will lack the testimony of Jesus was the true church of the Old Testament. of their sanctuaries, but historically the (called in Revelation 19:10 "the spirit of Yet read what Jesus said of it: danger has arisen from the pew and pulpit prophecy"). "Wherefore ye be witnesses unto your- within. Those commissioned to spread the They will not endure. selves, that ye are the children of them gospel will once again be the very ones who They will not have faith. which killed the prophets. . . . I send unto in the name of God suppress it. If these marks characterize you, beware! you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: Jesus warned that " 'it is not everyone Heed the adage "We have met and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; who keeps saying to me "Lord, Lord" who the enemy—and he is us."—C.G. and some of them shall ye scourge in your will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the synagogues, and persecute them from city man who actually does my Heavenly * From J. B. Phillips: The New Testament in to city: that upon you may come all the Father's will. Modern English, Revised Edition. © J. B. righteous blood shed upon the earth, from "'In "that day" many will say to me, Phillips 1958,1960,1972. Used by permission of the blood of righteous Abel unto the "Lord, Lord, didn't we preach in your Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. 11

ILLUSTRATION BY DEAN WILLIAMS 25 LIBERTY

The main focus of the religious Right has other religious Right party activists been the so-called social issues such as deplored the telephone calls and said they Issues prayer in public schools, abortion, and were not reflective of the broader Christian opposition to homosexual rights. effort. Last summer, however, the leading role Now, in an attempt to encourage wider of television preachers at the Republican fundamentalist activity in party politics, Religious Right Sets Up Shop to National Convention provided one of the religious Right groups say they will begin to Take Over GOP and Name first clear indications of a new political promote nationwide what they call the status for the religious Right. During the Texas Plan, based on a recent successful Top-Level Appointees 1984 campaign, by most accounts, the fundamentalist drive in that state. A coalition of fundamentalist Christians movement was much more effective than The Texas strategy was led by Ray Allen, in Texas—many of them new to politics— before in registering voters, mobilizing of the Granbury, Texas-based American have staged a virtual takeover of the state's volunteers, and influencing the Republican Christian Voice Foundation (an affiliate of Republican Party. Party at both local and national levels. Christian Voice). Under his leadership a The Texas Plan, as it is called, is one The formation of ACTV (pronounced coalition that included fundamentalists, element of a highly ambitious postelection "active"), the largest umbrella group to "pro-family," and antiabortion groups agenda being undertaken by the religious appear on the religious Right, has also given sponsored seminars throughout the state on Right. This conservative religious/political the movement some degree of unity, which how to gain influence in political parties. coalition, which emerged five years ago and it lacked in the past. Its executive board One of these groups, sponsored by Bob has gained renewed strength, has openly reads like a who's who of electronic church Tilton, head of Word of Faith Church, in voiced its intention to take over the Republi- personalities—including Falwell, James Dallas, drew 1,000 pastors last year, can Party and to name appointees to Robison, Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson, according to Mr. Allen. high-level posts in the Reagan Administra- and Rex Humbard. It includes, as well, "The net effect was that Christians tion. leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention gained a dominant influence in the state "If we get organized we could very well and Assemblies of God. They represent Republican Party," said Mr. Allen, who determine the next [presidential] nominee constituencies long at odds with one another also directs the ACTV operation in Texas. of the Republican Party. We certainly over theological doctrine, and the television "We also did voter registration aggres- believe that," said Gary Jarmin, legislative preachers have also bitterly competed with sively in churches. Many pastors gave out director of the fundamentalist lobby Chris- one another for television viewers. registration forms in church and asked tian Voice, and national field director of the A key priority for the group will be the people to return them in the collection American Coalition for Traditional Values formation of more than 300 chapters across baskets," Mr. Allen continued. "One (ACTV), a recently formed umbrella group the country to do lobbying on local and pastor in Lubbock registered over 5,000 of evangelical and fundamentalist leaders. national issues and gear up for voter people. He'd go on the radio and say, Meeting behind closed doors, the coali- registration, said Mr. Doner, of the ACTV `Christians, get ready to vote.' " tion also decided to press for the appoint- board, and executive director of Christian One Republican Congressman, Richard ment of supporters of the religious Right's Voice. ACTV reports that it registered Armey, an economics professor who cam- conservative agenda to "at least two" U.S. "more than a million" new Christian voters paigned on a platform of abolishing food Cabinet positions, said Colonel Doner, a during the election season (even though it stamps and phasing out Social Security, has board member who attended the meeting. had initially set 2.5 million as a goal), and openly attributed his narrow upset victory to He said they are seeking this in return for the that 35,000 "Bible-believing churches" the work of the religious Right. He said his help given by religious Right forces to Mr. took part in the effort. win over incumbent conservative Democrat Reagan in the recent election. Christian Voice, which is known pri- Tom Vandergriff was partly because of the "This is patronage. Let's face it," said marily for its distribution of millions of 160,000 Christian Voice "report cards" Mr. Jarmin. The White House has "moral report cards" of candidates for that saturated the Congressional district. He apparently felt the pressure from the reli- public office, says one of its priorities will also was aided by the new conservative gious Right. In a highly unusual procedure, be to help local conservative Christian Christian voters who, according to Republi- the administration recently sent the two top coalitions gain control of Republican Party can Party officials, accounted for most of contenders for the post of Education secre- organizations. the estimated 400,000 new Republican tary to be interviewed at a weekly gathering During the past campaign year, in Demo- voters in the state. of 45 representatives of religious Right and cratic Presidential nominee Walter Mon- "Our agenda is to export this model," conservative groups in Washington. dale's home state, a loose coalition of said Mr. Allen, who plans to move to While claiming credit for the defeats of conservative Christian activists took over Washington to head up the Christian Voice several liberal Democratic Senators in about half of Minnesota's Independent- drive. He will be joined by ACTV's 1980, leaders of the movement acknowl- Republican Party. Some of the activists then author-evangelist chairman, Tim LaHaye, edge now that they had only a marginal proceeded to telephone other delegates to who is also moving the ACTV operation overall impact on the elections then and did the state convention and ask if they had and his other groups from San Diego to the not have many supporters in the grass roots. "taken Jesus into their hearts." However, capital. Joining the move will be Christian

26 May/June, 1985

Voice itself, which is leaving its headquar- beliefs on the government. It is a quiet evangelicals who want to serve in govern- ters in Pacific Grove, California. revolution, exposing the Reagan Adminis- ment, especially for politically appointed Mr. Doner said the group plans to hire tration's vision of the relationship between positions, and see if we can rifle-shoot them full-time directors in at least 12 states and church and state, a vision that differs in with a recommendation when an opening train them to do what Mr. Allen did in fundamentally from that of its predecessors comes up." Texas. "We're going to teach them how to and our Founding Fathers. In criticizing this "talent bank," Rep. form party caucuses, how to get elected as The only well-publicized battle of this Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.) argued that delegates, and how to pass resolutions on quiet revolution was over erection of a "one of the pillars in a democracy is that issues at party conventions. In the short Nativity scene, the first in 11 years, on the religion doesn't matter. It's personal." term, we'll teach them how to win elections Ellipse, as part of the federally sponsored These Reagan appointees are only for pro-Christian candidates," Mr. Allen Pageant of Peace. Although the Supreme reflecting, and carrying out, the ideology of said. Court this term will decide the constitution- an administration that is at best insensitive, And at the 1988 Republican National ality of a Nativity scene on public land, the and at worst outright hostile, to religious Convention, Mr. Jarmin predicted, administration rushed to erect the crèche in minorities. "Between one third and one half of the 1984. The President's annual appearance at the delegates will be brought in through our Other but less visible breaches in the wall National Religious Broadcasters Confer- network." of separation map out a disturbing pattern. ence Prayer Breakfast, and his citing a The reason why fundamentalist activists In January the Department of Health and passage from the New Testament to justify have happened to choose the Republican Human Services distributed church ser- his military buildup or social policy budget Party as their focus is that the Democrats mons, written by a government official, for cuts, might not be nearly as disturbing to have "thrown conservative evangelicals out use by local religious leaders. One sermon those who support a firm and high wall of on their ears" by rejecting their positions on read in part, "Let us open our minds and our separation if they were isolated instances. the issues, Mr. Allen said. hearts to our Christian and community However, taken together, his statements Those outside the religious Right, responsibility." and the seemingly de minimus incidents including critics, have mixed assessments A similar abuse of federal authority came have a powerful cumulative impact. of whether the movement can achieve their out of the Department of Education this Since all branches of government place aims. They say the religious Right has, in year. Its regional representative in Denver high priority on community reaction, the more than four years, failed to win any mailed a 12-page speech—written by challenge to religious liberty is clear—its major victories on its issues in Congress. Robert J. Billings, former Moral Majority defenders must speak out whenever and Others believe that the coalition is capa- leader and now the Department of Educa- wherever the First Amendment is abused. ble of exerting major influence over the tion's director of regional liaison—to pri- The Supreme Court, for example, sanc- Republican Party. Michael Hudson is a vate and parochial school officials. In it tioned a government-sponsored Nativity member of the Texas chapter of People for Billings extolled Christian schools and scene on private land, relying on the finding the American Way, a leading liberal critic decried legal actions against them. He that the crèche had been "marked by no of the religious Right. As one who has seen lamented that "godlessness is now control- apparent dissension" and that the display what was done in Texas, he said, "I don't ling every aspect of our society. had had "a calm history." This should think this is pie in the sky at all. . . . In "How can these things be happening in never be said again. effect, the religious Right controls the America, this land of freedom, this Chris- Though religious minorities and those Republican Party in Texas. There is no tian nation?" he asked. who fight for their rights may be unsuc- question that they could do the same Following the American Jewish Con- cessful in challenging erection of a crèche elsewhere." gress's complaint that the mailing was on public property, precluding government "insulting to those Americans who are not from mailing church sermons, or hindering Christian but who are neither less patriotic preferential hiring of evangelicals for fed- nor less moral than their Christian coun- eral positions, voices of protest must be trymen," the department issued a formal heard. The price of silence could be victory Perspective apology. for those leading this quiet revolution to A third example: Herbert E. Ellingwood, "Christianize America."—Marc A. Pearl President Reagan's appointed chairman of and Mark Pelavin, American Jewish the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, is A Quiet Revolution Congress. accused of having solicited résumés through In his February 6, 1985, State of the the American Coalition for Traditional Union address President Reagan called for Values (ACTV), an umbrella organization "a second American revolution." How- for the religious Right's political interests. ever, another revolution, less publicized, Gary Jarmin, ACTV field staff director and began soon after his reelection and is being now Christian Voice director of government conducted by administration-appointed operations, described the program: "We ideologues seeking to impose their religious [ACTV] try to compile [lists of] qualified

27 LIBERTY

tion of church and state (see Mark 12:17). adverse to giving him a vote of confidence He taught that there is an opposing differ- as a teacher? ence between religion and politics. From I think their negative vote was a reflection Letters this premise, the First Amendment was of their view that he was too far removed adopted into the Constitution, guaranteeing from reality to be able to direct young us religious freedom. people along objective paths. Whether they As director of religious and civil liberties, were right or wrong is not the issue. The Mr. Kelley should realize that there is no issue is whether this view is a reflection of theological mandate for meddling in poli- religious prejudice. If it is, it is surely not "Sikhing Trouble in Oregon" tics. It is unquestionably contrary to Chris- conscious prejudice. They are not judging tian teaching. Kelley's reasoning opens the I was relieved to note that your article the man's right to hold and to express way for men like Jerry Falwell to influence dealing with religious dress in schools religious views different from their own, legislative bodies to make laws that (November-December) treated the subject but his ability to define reality. That that undoubtedly will erode the Constitution. fairly. All too often we as Christians forget ability is colored by his religious outlook History has taught us, the hard way, that merely muddies the waters. I would rather Christ's example and ridicule other reli- religion and politics don't mix. that he be reinstated than that it be perceived gions. Your article was refreshing to read. JOHN BELL that we have religious bigots running our Arcadia, Florida LOIS L. MURPHY faculties, but bigotry is too unfair a charge Weimar, California here. G. MERLE BERGMAN, Attorney When I joined the ACLU 40 years ago, it "The Professor Who Lost His Los Angeles, California was an instrument for the protection of Job" minorities. I believed its goals were to LIBERTY seems to have a knack for preserve for each individual the dignity of posing very difficult moral and ethical "Churches Without God" thinking, speaking, dressing, worshiping, problems. It has done it again (in the as that person might see fit. I believed the The Washington State Penitentiary at January-February issue) with the case of ACLU worked to protect the individual Walla Walla is an emotionally, physically, Jerry Bergman (no relation), who was from government interference with such and spiritually isolating prison. This isola- denied tenure by a negative vote of his peers thought, speech, et cetera. tion is compounded by the location of the and by the decision of the provost of Now, more and more, the ACLU joins prison in southeastern Washington's semi- Bowling Green State University. with the state to require right thinking, right arid farm basin, far from the metropolitan I am aghast at the suggestion that this beliefs, and right dress. cities where the majority of the inmates denial was because of his religious views, as I see no present danger to anyone in once resided. expressed in his writings on the subject. permitting a schoolteacher to wear a turban As described in the article by Lones B. Obviously nothing could be further from if she believes that is a requirement of her Seiber, Jr. (November-December), the vast American tradition and constitutional prin- religion. The clear and present danger to majority of these inmates succumb to ciples than that a man be denied opportunity freedom is from the orthodoxy of those who religious apathy and anger brought on on the basis of his religious thought. prohibit her. because of a chaplaincy perceived to be On the other hand, I have to ask myself MELVIN M. LANDAU, Attorney under the thumb of the prison administra- how practical it is for a creationist to Chicago, Illinois tion. The penitentiary chapel and chaplain impress scientifically minded men and are funded by the state and function as an women with his objectivity—which is integral part of the prison administration. "Turning the World Upside certainly a prime virtue for any teacher. I The Washington State Department of Cor- could not myself consider that a teacher had rections has only in recent years switched Down" much of a grasp on reality if he or she from an inmate "governed" institution to Mr. Kelley (November-December, believed that the creationist view of the one of total administrative control. Because 1984) doesn't know the difference between universe was a realistic one. There is no of this, Mr. Seiber's suggestion for a religion and politics. Webster defines reli- point in reviewing the reasoning on both denominationally controlled clergy seems gion as "the service and adoration of God sides, since that has been done time and to have little chance of becoming a reality. expressed in forms of worship." Politics he again. Suffice it to say for this purpose that However, an alternative to that scenario defines as "the art and science of govern- from the point of view of science, evolution already exists at Walla Walla. An active lay ment." Obviously one is spiritual and the is proven many times over, whereas cre- ministry composed of volunteers who spend other secular. ationism is viewed as a leftover from very many hours inside the prison offers spiritual When the prophets denounced immoral- primitive folklore. Taking that to be the support to prison residents. ity and the Christians preached the gospel of view of men and women of science, can we My suggestion is that instead of lobbying salvation, they were addressing moral really say that it is because of Jerry for changes in prison policy, congregations issues. Christ taught the principle of separa- Bergman's religion that they would be should become directly involved in reli-

28 MaylJune, 1985

gious teaching by sending members behind various writers. One convenient source is objective reality of God and Creation, they prison walls to meet one-on-one with the Scientists Confront Creationism, Laurie step outside their field of expertise and enter people who are prisoners. Godfrey, ed., a 1984 W. W. Norton different, though no less intellectually MARK KRAMER, Prisoner paperback with a chapter dealing with each respectable and legitimate, branches of Walla Walla,. Washington of his points. knowledge, namely theology and the phi- For just one example, evolution does not losophy of science. challenge the second law of thermodynam- Scientists as scientists are concerned "The Island Pond Incident" ics (which says that in a closed system solely with descriptive reality; they deal This article (January-February) left me energy and order dissipate over time). with observable and empirically verifiable confused and disappointed. It did not look at People grow from babies by taking in phenomena; they use the techniques of the the evidence in as much detail as I had energy from outside, because life is an open laboratory to seek truth and knowledge of hoped for, and even offered contradictory system, able to obtain outside energy. The external reality. We simply cannot and must evidence regarding the length of the "cor- increase in "mixed-upness" in the universe not provide theological and philosophical rective session." includes a lot of temporary "reverses," answers to scientific questions, even as we My main concern, however, is that the including spontaneous chemical reactions cannot and must not supply scientific tone of the two articles and the editorial was (hydrogen and oxygen may be less complex answers to theological and philosophical pro-child abuse. The attitude taken was that than water, but a spark of static electricity questions. the will of a child must be broken and that turns them into water). More important, the Perhaps our schools will incorporate into spanking is an acceptable means to reach assumption that evolution means progress their natural science classes an intense study that end. or increased complexity is a dubious argu- and discussion of the philosophy of science On the contrary, the will of a child should ment that can be answered by the open so that creationism may be legitimately be developed so that it becomes attuned system argument. Uncomfortable as it examined. with the will of God. Discipline does not makes some people, we can ask, as Darwin HAVEN BRADFORD GOW mean suppressing another's will. did, whether a mammal is really more Arlington Heights, Illinois As a parent, a lawyer, and a member of advanced than a barnacle, which does its Self Realization Fellowship, I find your own thing just as well as a horse does its! attitude and your journalism sadly lacking People can believe in "divine sparks," In Response to Mr. Gow on this timely issue of child abuse. but as Mr. Brown notes, this does not belong in public school science classrooms. The term creationist encompasses a JAMS A. GABBERT wide spectrum of viewpoints, convic- Tiburon, California JOHN R. COLE, Ph.D. Institute for the Study of Human Issues tions, and beliefs, some of which are appropriate for inclusion in public school [In our opinion, what happened at Island , Pennsylvania science classes, and some of .which are Pond was not child abuse but constitu- not. Controversy over which are within tional abuse. We sincerely regret both Creationism Belongs at Home, Not the proper scope of science is owing in kinds.—Ed.] part to confusion regarding the meaning at School of the term science. If science is simply Creationists have a legitimate point of the expression of organized and disci- "Scientific Creationism?" view, but it should not be taught in natural plined thought that has won acceptance R. H. Brown needs to look at his science classes. Rather, it belongs in from a credentialed group of specialists, Perspective column (November-December) history, literature, religion, and philosophy there is no logical basis for excluding with a little perspective. He makes a good of science classes. This is because creation- creationist concepts from public school argument against teaching creationism in ists use scientific data to buttress the science courses. If science is limited to the schools and then concludes by saying theological and philosophical propositions what man can analyze and test through let's do it anyway, minus religious details. that God exists in objective, extramental repeated observations, neither cre- His litany of secular-creationism evidence, reality, and that He created man and the ationist nor evolutionist views regarding from thermodynamics to probability, has universe in which we live. primeval origins should be included. If been used for years by the Institute for Creationists are admirable and well the word science is defined to exclude any Creation Research. Sometimes they publish intentioned; they seek to demonstrate that recognition of transcendent intelligent dual versions of the same book—one there is meaning and purpose in the universe plan or control in natural phenomena, deletes Biblical references to become a and that there is something sacred about creationist concepts must be excluded supposed "public school edition." man and the world in which we live. from science instruction. The assertion that "evolutionary The difficulty with creationism is that Much opposition to inclusion of cre- dogma" is fading is only true in the sense science, because of its own limitations and ationist concepts in science courses that biological science is improving upon restrictions, simply cannot deal with the springs from the last of these definitions. nineteenth-century theory. Mr. Brown's questions of God and Creation. When It is not inappropriate to suggest that topics have been addressed in detail by natural scientists either affirm or negate the with many individuals, science is defined

29 LIBERTY

this way specifically for the purpose of of relationship between individual The ACLU—Good Guys or Bad? excluding creationist concepts. Adula- human beings and the Creator, and I could not help noticing in the January- tion of science then becomes an easy and concerns of communication from the February LIBERTY that the American Civil effective means for escaping any personal Creator that transcend what can be Liberties Union was among the bad guys on implications of creationism. learned through present scientific study, page 9 but was among the good guys on However, it must be kept in mind that particularly those that are characteristic page 13. I would not wish to defend a progress in understanding natural phe- of a specific religion, are not appropriate proposition that the ACLU can do no nomena comes only from persistent for treatment in public school science wrong, but it seems to me a case could be search for rational explanations based on courses. made that in the instances cited (attempts to fundamental characteristics of matter, Mr. Gow does a much-needed service inject doctrinal creationism into the science not from simply accepting them as direct in calling for public-school-level science curriculum, and the police raid on the Island manifestations of Deity. For the cre- courses that minimize the dangers of Pond group), it is correctly blowing the ationist who is committed to a direct scientism by giving a sound foundation in whistle on Bill of Rights violations. involvement of God in all natural phe- the philosophy of science. WALTER ROYAL JONES, JR. nomena, a pure science understanding ROBERT H. BROWN, Ph.D. Fort Collins, Colorado and an engineering science utilization of Yucaipa, California these phenomena come only from [Like many of us, the ACLU has two hats research in essentially the same manner in its closet, one white and one black.— as does the investigator who excludes BIBLIOGRAPHY Ed.] transcendent plan and control from natu- Popper, Karl R. The Logic of Scientific ral phenomena. Discovery. 2d ed. New York: Harper & Limitation of the proper sphere of Row, 1968. Congratulations! science to that which can be disproved by Schilpp, Paul A., ed. The Philosophy of Karl Popper. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court Pub. On daring to report and edit events realizable experiment, as proposed by Co., 1974. objectively, which, to say the least, is not the highly respected philosopher Karl always the case in the field of journalism. Popper, has wide support within the JOHN W. WARREN, Minister scientific community. But the innate "Con-Con" Greenville, South Carolina curiosity of man concerning origins impels him to attempt through scientific Clifford Goldstein's lamentation, "The methods to resolve the mysteries of Coming Constitutional Crisis," is unduly beginning. Since all conclusions reached alarmist and premature. in such investigation are beyond disproof Article V of the Constitution mandates by direct observation, they are outside that an amendment must be ratified by three the sphere of science, according to the fourths, now 38, of the states. Approval by Popperian definition. 75 percent of the states is a satisfactory Movin •

If a public school science course is to go barrier to any ill-advised amendments or Please notify us 4 weeks in advance. beyond the limits of a philosophically even a new Constitution. A controversial amendment will fail; for precise definition of natural science and Name include a discussion of primeval origins, example, the equal rights amendment. it cannot be philosophically sound, aca- One lacking sufficient rationale will die Address (new, if for change of address) demically fair, or constitutionally valid when the ratification period ends, as is without treating both the concept of happening to the District of Columbia evolutionary development via the innate amendment. City State Zip properties of undirected eternally exist- Responsible persons will be elected to ing matter-energy and the concept of any second constitutional convention. They To subscribe to LIBERTY check rate below origin as the planned expression of the will represent the public interest and the and fill in your name and address above. Payment must accompany order. capabilities of a Superior Intelligence. wishes of an electorate dissatisfied with ❑ Either of these concepts is beyond the some aspects of the federal government; for 1 year $6.25 comprehension of the human mind and is example, Congressional refusal to balance Mail to: no more scientific or religious than the the budget. LIBERTY subscriptions, 55 West Oak Ridge other. Public school students should be Opponents should recognize that the Drive, Hagerstown, Maryland 21740. given free opportunity to evaluate per- Constitution expressly authorizes two thirds ATTACH LABEL HERE for address sonally the adequacy of each of these of the states to initiate constitutional amend- change or inquiry. If moving, list new ad- concepts to account for the universe we ments, and place their trust in the innate dress above. Note: your subscription ex- perceive. wisdom of the people. piration date (issue, year) is given at upper right of label. Example: 0382L1 would end As I stated in LIBERTY Perspective HENRY KANE, Attorney with third (May-June) issue of 1982. (November-December, 1984), concerns Beaverton, Oregon

30

MaylJune, 1985

The Editor's Desk

boring illegal aliens (see p. 11). I believe Refugees, Immigrants, and Oregon, he became a builder of honest the Christian is morally obligated to obey houses, full of honest wood and nails, laid Ancestors the laws of his country unless they contra- on solid foundations. He grew orchards of Refugees. They run most convenience vene the laws of God. From sad observation prunes and cherries and walnuts. He mar- stores in the District of Columbia and around the world, I know we cannot ried and raised a family of four boys and one suburban Maryland. They produce the accommodate the world's poor. But I girl, my mother. He died at 89 in Portland, majority of valedictorians in area high believe that God honors a nation that takes Oregon. schools. Some are among the nation's the poor, the oppressed, to its heart. And I would like to see today's refugees give newest millionaires. Others scurry from I've got a personal stake in immigrants. what my grandfather gave to America. His low-paying job to low-paying job, afraid of Grandfather Thomas B. Prospal was an hardest work. Integrity. Loyalty. Educated arrest and deportation. They are here immigrant from Czechoslovakia. In 1892, and moral children. I would like to see illegally. All covet one of the world's great at 15 years of age, he walked away from his refugees get from this country what my privileges—U.S. citizenship. home in Zimotice, a village 70 kilometers grandfather got. Opportunity to achieve the Several articles in this LIBERTY tell you south of Prague. At 82, his younger brother, better life. A government they could vote in about them. Why they're here. Why people Vaslov, told me that he still remembered and out of office. The right to speak out. The help them get here. Where they come from. that sad day, though he was only 3. "It was right to assemble. The right to practice their Why some Americans want to send them cold," he said, "and Mother cried all day." religious beliefs. back. What they need. What you can do to Grandfather never went back. He never When I look at refugees and immigrants I help. saw his parents or relatives again. His see my grandfather. I want to see them I don't accept the theology that sup- roommate died on the six-week trip across succeed. And I want to help.—R.R.H. porters of "sanctuary" use to justify har- the Atlantic. His life was hard. Near Salem,

FEATURES STAFF

The Year We Hid Our Religion Pat Arnow 2 B. B. Beach—Chairman, Editorial Board Roland R. Hegstad—Editor We Were the Different Ones Dennis A. Barlow 4 Gordon Engen, N. 0. Matthews, Gary M. Ross, Mitchell A. Sheltering Illegal Aliens Clifford Goldstein 6 Tyner—Associate Editors Loleta S. Thomas—Editorial Associate Cities of Refuge William H. Shea 11 Harry Knox and Associates— Layout and Design Refugees—The Strangers at Our Doors Henry N. Ferguson 12 Lowell L. Bock, Alf Lohne, Neal C. Wilson—Consulting Editors Halle Crowson, Doug Devnich, Lee Gates in the Wall Edward Kennedy 16 Kretz, Arthur Lickey, Fernon Retzer, John Stevens, Vernon Alger, W. V. The New Blasphemy Patricia Glenn 18 Wiist—Correspondents Robert Smith—Circulation Manager The Presbyterian Contribution to Religious Liberty L. John Van Til 20 Rhea Harvey—Associate Circulation Manager Antichrist Clifford Goldstein 25 Mitchell A. Tyner—Legal Adviser DEPARTMENTS Issues 26 Perspective 27 Letters 28 The Editor's Desk 31

LIBERTY is a publication of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the International Religious Liberty Association. Dedicated to the preservation of religious freedom through quiet diplomacy, the association advocates no political or economic theories. President, Neal C. Wilson; secretary general, B. B. Beach. LIBERTY correspondence only: 6840 Eastern Avenue NW., Washington, D.C. 20012. Address corrections only: LIBERTY, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, Maryland 21740. LIBERTY is published and copyrighted C 1985 by the Review and Herald Publishing Association.

31 Four years in the making, CANDLE IN THE WIND is the most comprehensive film CANDLE IN 7HE WIND investigation ever produced on religion under the Soviet A remarkable film documenting the struggle regime. It includes: and survival offaith inside the USSR.

• officially filmedJbotage from a month-long journey throughout the Available for showing sot ,iet state; in your community! • clandestinelys/xnfootage of inter- t lews with dissidents and secret meetings; Written and directed • rare fihn from Soviet archives of Tsarist and earl)' Bolshevik times, by four-time Emmy ,serer before screened in the West; Award winner Arthur • interviews with exiled dissidents and Western experts on Soviet Barron. Narrated by affairs. John Carradine.

'ESTIMONIALS 'You managed to combine truth with cinematic creativity in a way which makes CANDLE IN TIIE WIND stand out among the mass of writ- ten, spoken and filmed material to date ... A truthful and significant record." - Rev. Michael Bourdeaux. International Director, Keston Col- lege, England

'Your film was extremely effective. I learned a great deal . . . and believe that it makes a significant contrihu tion to public understanding ...' Max M. Kampelman, U.S. Ambas • • sailor, Madrid Conference on Human Rights; Chief of U.S. Delega • • tion, U.S.-U.S.S.R. Disarmament • • Talks • • • • 'CANDLE IN THE WIND is a care • • fully crafted documentary account of the religious communities in the • • • U.S.S.R. and the history of their rela tions with the Soviet government. aAI . An inspiring stow about the power of religious vision and corn - 000000EMMEMIIMINIMIngagimisb Mitincill to survive great difficulties and to illumine the human condi- tion: V. Bruce Rigdon, Chairper son, Committee on U.S.-I! S.S.R. Church Relations; U.S. National Council of Churches

CANDLE IN TI IE WIND manages the almost impossil without sacrificing quality it packs into one ii ii it hour a remarkable amount of infin- nn mation ... without succumbing to Preview Purchase-- Rent 16mm ;larch no, California, USA (714) anti-communism, it obscures noth- film, one-ha lt-inch VI IS cassette (58 8?5-5--o ing of the price many believers have minutes, color, study guide Soon to he available? in French, Ger- to pay in a society dominated by available) man, Norwegian. Danish, Dutch and Leninist ideology" --- Rev. Paul Write or call PACEM DISTRIBU- Swedish Oestreicher, Secretary, British Coun- TION INTERNATIONAL, Suite 111, Copyright (5 98i Pacem Partnership, Ltd.