THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509100051
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 155 lines
Two weeks ago, Nancy Brown sent a donation to the Christian Coalition. This weekend, she sent herself.
The Catholic mother of three from Vienna, Va., explored the coalition's annual convention at the Washington Hilton, her shirt festooned with Phil Gramm stickers, arms juggling stacks of magazines and pamphlets, and her mind awhirl with ideas from a parade of speakers.
What brought her here? To start with, a vision of family that is the building block of the moral and practical education of her children, ages 7, 8 and 12.
At first, she sent her children to public school, and kept them there despite her dissatisfaction with the academics. But when she heard that the school discussed families that contradict her religious convictions - such as homosexual couples, and single fathers with live-in girlfriends - she moved her kids to Catholic schools.
``Our church teaches that it is unacceptable. Schools are teaching that it is acceptable,'' Brown said. ``I don't want Bill Clinton or anyone in Washington deciding what values should be taught.''
Brown was among more than 4,000 people - including coalition grassroots organizers from 50 states - who cheered as Republican presidential candidates and other speakers drew the nation's policy issues toward a unifying theme: Families guided by faith in God and their biblical understanding must fight the intrusive arms of government.
Presidential hopeful Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) received a standing ovation for his vow to abolish the U.S. Department of Education and support prayer in public schools, two of the coalition's goals. Sen. Bob Dole, also seeking support for his presidential bid, said that ``there will never be enough prisons or uniformed police to enforce order if there is disorder in our souls.''
Many in the audience said that families must return to God, through prayer and meditation on the Bible, to get the nation back on track. ``The Bible tells us how to live in society, and it gives us rules for how government should be, how our leaders should be,'' said Victor Wasilauskas, 23, a graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg attending his third coalition convention.
Several participants said that they had been raised to believe politics was a worldly activity separated from the spiritual sphere, but that the coalition and similar groups had changed their thinking.
Evangelist and businessman Pat Robertson started the coalition in 1989, after his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination. It has since grown to 1.7 million members with a $25 million annual budget, making it the nation's largest organized group of religious conservatives.
One practical measure of their newfound passion for politics is the money people plunked down for the two-day rally: While those from nearby states said they'd probably spend a few hundred dollars, a group from New Mexico estimated their costs at between $800 and $1,000 each. Several people said they were sharing hotel rooms. Tickets to the Saturday banquet, with columnist, television commentator and Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan giving the keynote address, sold at $39 per person.
References to God and Christian ideals peppered speeches and informal conversations at the convention booths, which ran the gamut from the National Rifle Association to pastel watercolors about biblical verses.
``Politics for us is a mission field, not a smoke-filled room,'' said Ralph Reed, the coalition's executive director. ``My prayer today is that as the world looks at you and at us as a movement, they do not see Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal. They see followers of a humble carpenter from Galilee.''
Reed's opening speech set the tone for the convention's seamless weaving of Christianity and American patriotism. He passed out wallet-sized pledge cards based on Martin Luther King Jr.'s pledge for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, taking pains to note that ``I am in no way comparing'' the Christian conservative movement with the civil rights movement.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has taught history at Kennesaw State College in Georgia, gave the audience a lesson on references to God in the Declaration of Independence.
``Power in America goes from God - yes, I'm going to use that word; you see why I'm called radical by the New York Times - goes from God to you, and you loan it to the government,'' he said to wild applause.
Specific appeals to the morality of Jesus Christ ran in tandem with the coalition's growing effort to reach a wider range of Protestant denominations, as well as Catholics and Jews. Many speakers were careful to refer to Judeo-Christian values, rather than simply Christian ones. While Dole referred broadly to ``people of faith'' as the ``glue that holds America together,'' Gramm ignited the crowd with an explicit reference to the second coming of Christ.
``There's only one person good enough to impose his values on America, and when he comes back he's not going to need the government,'' Gramm said.
Opponents said the coalition's vision of society, driven by families inspired with their own version of moral truth, is destructive to a diverse, democratic nation.
``What we have here is a kind of privatizing is that is going on,'' said Joan Brown Campbell, chief executive officer of the National Council of Churches of Christ. ``What is missing in this argument is: Who is going to be an advocate of the common good? In a democracy, there is an agenda that is a national agenda.''
Many participants said their stands on public policy issues are embedded in personal understanding of Christ's teaching. Opposition to abortion remains the top issue for many of these grassroots activists, judging by extended applause and ovations for speakers who condemned the practice. In interviews, most ranked it as their No. 1 concern.
Although the Christian Coalition's legislative agenda, the ``Contract with the American Family,'' calls only for limits on late-term abortions and an end to government funding of Planned Parenthood, Robertson made it clear that the coalition is just working gradually, not compromising.
``Stand up for the protection of innocent human life whatever it takes, constitutional amendment or . . .'' he said, before applause interrupted him.
The coalition has been accused by some members of backing away from a hard-line commitment to end abortion in order to win Republican friends in Congress. Reed said the group has not mellowed. ``Pat and I pledge to you that we will stay and stay until God is honored in America,'' he said.
Elizabeth Harrison, who lives near Winchester, said, ``Opposition to abortion is ``what makes or breaks a candidate.''
Harrison, who leads a 25-member local chapter of the Virginia Society for Human Life, said she thinks the coalition's agenda pushes abortion to the back burner. And she is deeply worried that the coalition's support for Republican welfare reform plans, often including a ``family cap'' to deny additional benefits to welfare mothers who have more babies, may promote abortions among poor women.
Others said their interpretation of the Bible led them to a different conclusion about welfare reform, and the broader issue of society's treatment of the poor. Welfare caps would encourage young women to learn responsibility and self-reliance, key teachings of the Bible, said June Fargo, of Grove City, Pa.
Fargo drew an example from her own childhood: She and her friends used to run out and feed the deer in the winter, until they learned that the deer came to depend on the handouts and didn't forage for food on their own. ``All of a sudden, we learned it caused more harm than good,'' she said.
Wasilauskas, of Lynchburg, said the Bible teaches that the duty of caring for the poor falls on individuals, not on the government. Churches and charities aren't doing enough to help the poor, he admits, but they would be able to do more if Americans got tax breaks. People would have the money to make larger donations, and the relief work could be done without wasteful bureaucracy and red tape.
``Christians care about the poor,'' he said. ``We are called to help the poor out of love, not for having the government take your money and distribute it. We should have the choice of how to spend our money.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
VICKI CRONIS/Staff
The faithful came from across the country, including Oatman Gerald
of Charleston, S.C., who waved his hat as his governor, David
Beasley, spoke.
Photo
VICKI CRONIS/Staff
Evangelist and businessman Pat Robertson started the Christian
Coalition in 1989, after his failed bid for the Republican
presidential nomination. It has since grown to 1.7 million members.
by CNB