The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 13, 1999, Page 4A, Image 4
Congress eyes religious issues
By Jim Abrams
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Congress is get
ting religion this year, led by those seek
ing to save the nation'^ soul but resisted
by others warning of constitutional
perdition.
In recent weeks, the House has
passed legislation aimed at muzzling
government interference with religious
freedom, has voted to let states display
the Ten Commandments in public
schools, and has set aside federal mon
ey so religious groups can help troubled
teens.
The House also has urged, unsuc
cessfully, creation of a national day of
prayer and fasting.
Awaiting consideration in the House
and Senate are constitutional amend
ments on voluntary school prayer; pro
posals to extend school vouchers to
parochial schools and “charitable choice"
bills that would permit religious groups
to participate in all federally funded so
cial service programs.
Many of these issues appear regu
larly on the congressional agenda. But
several factors have combined to place
greater emphasis than usual this ses
sion on religious legislation:
—The school shootings in Colorado and
elsewhere.
—GOP frustration with court rulings
on state-church issues.
—Even President Clinton's affair with
White House intern Monica Lewinsky,
which Janet Parshall of the conserva
tive Family Research Council said gave
the nation “a morals lesson for 14
months.”
“What we are seeing now,” she said,
“is a congressional awakening that our
public is made up of people who are a
holy and religious people.”
“Our nation is sick and hurting,”
Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, said
last month in support of her national
prayer day resolution. “If there ever is
a time when we need almighty God, it
is now.”
From the opposite perspective, Bar
ry Lynn of the Americans United for
Separation of Church and State said it
was “a trend in the wrong direction be
cause Congress shouldn't be med
dling with religion. When govern
ment touches religion it tends to degrade
it and trivialize it.”
Last month, Pat Robertson, presi
dent of the Christian Coalition, visited
Senate GOP leaders and contended that
pushing a religious and pro-family agen
da would be crucial for a Republican
victory in next year's elections.
“In the last election 15 percent of
the religious conservatives did not vote
because essentially they were turned
offby Congress waffling on key issues,”
Robertson said in an interview with
The Associated Press. “This Congress
is getting the message and I am very
pleased”
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., a lib
eral suspicious of attempts to infuse re
ligion in government, cautioned that
not all the legislation was the same.
He said measures such as that en
dorsing the Ten Commandments clear
ly are unconstitutional. “They are ob
noxious and they are done for political
reasons,” Nadler said.
But he said there are serious if de
batable arguments for charitable choice,
an idea supported by Vice President A1
Gore. As for the bill to stop government
interference in religious practices,
Nadler said it was “absolutely neces
sary.”
Nadler said he voted against the re
ligious liberty bill, which passed the
House by a 306-118 margin, mainly be
cause he wanted language ensuring re
ligion would not be used to justify
acts of discrimination.
Charitable choice advocates won a
victory when it became a part of the
1996 welfare reform bill, which al
lows federal funding for religious groups
delivering welfare services to the poor.
Led by Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., sup
porters this year hope to open all social
service grants to faith-based groups.
For Lynn, transfers of tax dollars to
ministries raise “extremely serious
church-state problems.”
Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, dur
ing the House debate on applying char
itable choice to juvenile crime preven
tion programs, warned that in five years,
Baptists, Jews, Hindus and Muslims
all will be arguing “over who got then
proportional share of the almighty fed
eral dollar.”
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