Saturday, December 27, 1997

Religion has long history in American politics

By Mark I. Pinsky / The Orlando Sentinel

Religion has always been a political player in the United States.

The movements for the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, prohibition, civil rights and peace all came out of the black and mainline Protestant churches.

But the turmoil and cultural chaos of the 1960s and early 1970s, in particular the emergence of the feminist and gay-rights movements, provoked a deep-seated reaction among religious believers. In the midst of what seemed to some to be social and cultural disintegration, there was a yearning for absolute values and structure that conservative and fundamentalist religion could provide.

By the mid-1970s, a more conservative and evangelical movement began to coalesce, a movement embodied in the Moral Majority, which has re-emerged in the 1990s in the Christian Coalition and allied groups.

In the electoral arena, political activism on the part of evangelicals began with "Christian Scorecards" -- which were modeled after endorsements used for decades in African-American churches.

Ostensibly non-partisan, these compared positions of competing candidates on issues and legislation of importance to evangelicals. In fact, conservative Republicans almost always had the most favorable ratings on such scorecards because their views coincide most often with those of such groups, just as Democrats have traditionally been the beneficiaries of such ratings by black church groups.

Building on this success, religious conservatives supported "stealth" candidates in nonpartisan school board elections who ran broad, pro-family campaigns. Only after the election did some reveal their support for a specific agenda that included teaching creationism as science in the classroom.

Most recently, conservative Christians have become active on a national level, lobbying campaigns in Congress for legislation and a constitutional amendment that would expand protections for religious expression in the public sector in this country.

Another measure before Congress would impose economic sanctions on countries that limit the rights of Christian missionaries and activists abroad -- a higher standard than that currently applied to violations of human rights.

Overturning President Clinton's veto of a ban on late-term abortions is now at the top of the agenda.

(c) 1997, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/. On America Online, use keyword: OSO.

Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.