Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 15, 1993 TAG: 9305150013
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GEORGE W. CORNELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The statement said many of today's respected faiths, including Christianity, began as minority aberrations and were ridiculed and persecuted.
Sixteen major religious and civil rights organizations, declaring they are "shocked and saddened" by events in Waco, warned last week against any judgmental crackdowns on what seem to be peculiar faiths.
The statement was spurred by planned government investigations into the violence at the compound.
Although "an investigation is appropriate, we oppose any attempt to define what is a valid religion or set the parameters of a proper church," the joint statement said.
"Under the religious liberty provisions of the First Amendment, government has no business declaring what is orthodox or heretical or what is a true or false religion. ... History teaches that today's `cults' may become tomorrow's mainstream religions."
That is the record of many now esteemed religious bodies. Some got their names from scorn, such as Methodists derided for their "methodical" devotions and Quakers mocked for trembling before God.
Early Mormons were hounded across the country, sometimes lynched, and Baptists were sometimes jailed in early America. Jews recurrently suffered persecution and died in pogroms, including the Holocaust.
The church bodies, including the National Council of Churches, embracing most major mainline denominations, and the National Association of Evangelicals, made up of conservative churches, said:
"Government must resist any temptation to retreat from our `first freedom.' To deny religious liberty to any is to diminish religious liberty for all."
Of the Waco events, in which four federal agents were slain in the initial raid and more than 70 Davidians died in fire sweeping their compound after FBI tanks tear-gassed it, the organizations said:
"In the midst of our national mourning, we must fend off any inclination to shrink from our commitment to religious pluralism or to seek security at the expense of liberty."
Religious freedom is not absolute and no excuse for violent or criminal conduct that harms others or threatens public safety, the churches said, but added:
"Absent some compelling justification, government should not restrict religious exercise. And force - if ever appropriate - must be applied as a last resort."
Several major denominations were among signers of the statement, including the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), American Baptist Churches and Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
The Rev. James Dunn, head of the Baptist Joint Committee in Washington, representing eight Baptist denominations and also among the signers, said the Waco tragedy must not bring reprisals against religious minorities.
"The difference between a `religious fanatic' and a devout believer is never clear," he said. "Even to categorize would be a calamity; to do more would be catastrophe."
Besides the combined statement from religious bodies and others, including the American Civil Liberties Union, several other church leaders and liberty-guarding organizations have spoken out in a similar vein.
The Rev. Dan McGee, a Southern Baptist and professor of Christian ethics at Baylor University, said the Waco tragedy could pose a threat to religious liberty if Americans respond with an attitude, "Get rid of cults!"
He said the Waco fiasco could convince other apocalyptic groups that "the world out there is really against them," leading to more confrontations.
"This contributes to their paranoia, alienation and siege mentality," he told Associated Baptist Press. "To them, the performance of the federal government is just proof that they were right all along."
by CNB