DOWNLOADED FROM: Family Guardian Website http://familyguardian.tzo.com Download our free book: The Great IRS Hoax: Why We Don’t Owe Income Tax TRIAL AND ERROR TRIAL AND ERROR The American Civil Liberties Union and Its Impact on Your Family George Grant -: : :, ,.< ., . ..’ .:”, , ,-:-. ...i -..“. ..-. ,- -~ .- .. ., . “ Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc. 13rentwood, Tennessee — The mission of Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc. is to publish and dis- tribute books that lead individuals toward: ● A personal fairk in the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy SpiriG ● A Iiiestyle of practical discipleship; and ● A worldview fiat is consistent with the historic, Christian faith Moreover, the Company endeavors to accomplish this mission at a reason- able profit and in a manner which glorifies God and serves His Kingdom. 01989 by George Grant All rights reserved. Fimt Edition. No part of thk publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, re- cording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles. Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations are either the author’s own or are from the New King James Version of the Bible, @ 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nasville, Tennessee and are used by permission. First printing November 1989 Second printing March 1990 Wolgemurh & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc. 1749 Mallory Lane, Suite 110, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Grant, George, 1954- Trial and error : the American Civil Liberties Union and its impact on your family / George Grant. – 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. 1. American Civil Liberties Union. 2. Civil rights – Religious aspects – Christianity. 3. Political rights – Religious aspects– Christianity. L Title. JC599.U5G687 1989 323’.06’073 89-24838 ISBN O-943497-66-3 To Chester Belloc who has never failed to serve me with “a nasty dose of orthodoxy.” And to Karen Blake who has never failed to serve me with “a healthy dose of reality.” Exakavit I-hordes CONTENTS Acknowledgements / ix Introduction / 1 PART ONE: THE CRISIS 1. Nightmare on Main Street /7 2. A Very Respectable Heresy / 19 PART TWO: THE FACTS 3. Law, Liberty, and License / 37 4. A Purloined Conscience / 49 PART THREE: THE ISSUES 5. Religious Expression / 69 6. Abortion, Infanticide, and Euthanasia / 79 7. Pornography and Perversion / 89 8. Crime and Punishment / 101 PART FOUR: THE STRATEGY 9. What the World Needs Now / 113 10. Repairers of the Breach / 129 vii ,.. viii CONTENTS Appendix A: Taking Action / 145 Appendix B: ACLU Facts / 153 Appendix C: Organizational Resources / 159 Appendix D: Bibliographic Resources / 163 End Notes / 167 About the Author / 187 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 11 writing is hard,” says Paul Johnson. And, “creative writ- A ing is intellectual drudgery of the hardest kind.”] That is why writers are so dependent upon the kindness of others. In this regard, I am by no means exempt. In fact, during the months when I was researching and writing this book, it was only the kindness of others that kept me going. For this, I am extremely grateful. Jim Braden of the Rutherford Institute, Gary DeMar of American Vision, and Doug Kay of Focus on the Family all provided me with much needed counsel, contacts, and re- sources. The previously published work of a number of pioneering authors and researchers has also proven to be a tremendous help tome in tracking down obscure details and verifying odd citations. Heritage Foundation scholar, William Donohue, probably knows more about the ACLU than anyone alive, and thus, I have unashamedly relied on the wisdom, objectiv- ity, and integrity of his work.* I have also looked to the work of John Whitehead, Bill McIlhany, Peggy Lamson, Daniel Dreisbach, Herb Titus, John Eidsmoe, Gary Amos, Paul Mur- phy, Ed Rowe, Patrick Buchanan, Phyllis Schlafly, Reed Irv- ine, Phoebe Courtney, Nat Hentoff, Aaron Wildavasky, Tim LaHaye, Joseph Bishop, Robert W. Lee, Richard and Susan Vigilante, Marvin Olasky, and Richard Delgaudio.s My grammatical abilities can best be summarized by my motto: “I’ve never met a comma I could trust.” For that rea. son, I am extremely grateful to and eternally dependent on ix x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS my long-time administrative assistants Kathe Salazar and Mac N. Tosh, as well as the editorial wizards at Wolgemuth and Hyatt led by the intrepid Russ Sorensen. Not only am I not a grammarian, I am not a lawyer. Thus, I greatly appreciate the legal counsel afforded this proj- ect by Jim Turner, a devoted public servant and a man of the highest Christian integrity – rare virtues indeed. Several friends have supported and encouraged me throughout the process of pulling this material into a cohesive text: Matt and Nancy Roberts, Jerry and Margaret Wright, David and Debbie Dunham, Bruce and Joann Tippery, Jerry and Ande Stapella, Roger and Gladys Israels, Don and Su- zanne Martin, Randy and Cindy Terry, David and Dolly Thoburn, Howard and Roberta Ahmanson, Jim and Brenda Jordan, Bob and Lynn Dwelle, Bill and Connie Marshner, Gary and Sharon North, David and Cheri Shepherd, and Ray and Karen Plevyak. To each of these yokefellows I owe a debt of gratitude that I can never hope to repay. Skip Ewing, Ted Sandquist, Bob Bennett, Kemper Crabb, George Winston, and Michael Card smoothed the rough edges of the long tedious hours of writing by :providing the soundtrack, while Mario Vargas Llosa, Hernando De Soto, A.N. Wilson, Peter Ackroyd, LeRoy Snell, and Gene Wolfe provided the midnight musings. Thanks for keeping on keep- ing on; your art is all heart. Finally, my family stood behind me every step along the way spurring me on. Joel, Joanna, and Jesse yielded up pre- cious family time “to let Dad work. ” And Karen once again suffered the indignities of temporary “publishing widow- hood” with valor and Christian charity. Clearlly, my family is a commonwealth of approbation: “My mind grows green again with your dew; for it is a second Nisan come, whose flowers serve as offerings, garlanded in all kinds of wreathes, laid at my door. Blessed is the cloud which has distilled in me its moisture.”q Feast of Patrick Crockett, Texas INTRODUCTION duinzm (@dam in Tt’LOdlO1 To introduce a book supposes the greatest difficulty – because oj the inevitable, inescapable presupposing. 2 Hilaire BeUoc A cloud was on the mind of men and wailing went the weather, yea, a sick cloud upon the soul when we were boys together. Science announced nonentity and art admired decay.3 G.~. Chesterton ince its founding at the beginning of this century, the s American Civil Liberties Union –best known by its pop- ular acronytn: the ACLU — has been the center of a storm of controversy. Through its policy pronouncements, legal initia- tives, educational programs, and political lobbying, the orga- nization has thrust itself onto our culture’s center stage through a dramatic transformation of our judicial and societal ecologies. This short study is a cursory exploration of that cultural dynamic. Thus, it contains an abbreviated analysis of all those policies, legal actions, educational efforts, and lobbying activi- ties. The book’s primary emphasis, however, is on the philo- sophical underpinnings and mainsprings of the organization. In other words, I have tried to discover– and then report – 2 INTRODUCTION what the ACLU is and what it beh.eves rather than simply what it says or does. I wanted to get to the root of the contro- versy over the ACLU not merely reiterate its salient points. I wanted to effectively and accurately portray the long-term impact of the organization on our society — on our individual families and on our nation–by uncovering its deepest and dearest intentions. But as important as these various tasks may be (see Ephesians 5:11), I knew that I couldn’t just stop there. And so, the book goes on to briefly propose solid Biblical solutions to the problems and dilemmas raised by the ACLU – as well as the American legal system that it has effectively recreated in its own image. I have outlined a possible agenda for posi- tively reclaiming our schools, courts, and communities. Thus, I have attempted to shape the book so that it also can serve as a practical tool in the hands of faithful men and women — a tool to help them effect those solutions and that agerukz. In most respects, the plan of this study is fairly straight- forward.q Part One provides a basic introduction to the important issues and personalities that have made the ACLU so contro- versial. Chapter One is a series of vignettes that profile the effects of the ACLU’s activities on ordinary families and com- munities. Chapter Two simply explains what the ACLU is, how it operates, and why it is important to the questions of law and liberty in our day. Part Two provides some of the essential organizational and historical facts of the ACLU. Chapter Three profiles its public relations rhetoric as well as its policy positions. Chap- ter Four outlines its history – including a brief biographical sketch of its founder, Roger Baldwin. Introduction 3 Part Three is the real “meat and potatoes” section of the book– outlining just where the ACLU stands on a number of vital issues. In Chapter Five the organization’s position on reli- gious freedom is examined. In Chapter Six the issues of Me and death – abortion, infanticide, suicide, and euthanasia – are taken up. Chapter Seven deals with pornography, homosexual- ity, and other forms of deviant moral behavior. Finally, Chapter Eight covers the ACLU’s policies on crime and punishment.