THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190595
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
The Christian Coalition represents not religious zealots, but mothers and fathers who want safe streets and good schools, and their support is crucial for victory in any national election, coalition director Ralph Reed Jr. said at Old Dominion University Thursday night.
``They may not elect someone on their own,'' Reed said, ``but sort of like the Perot vote, they can determine who wins.'' Without them, he warned, a candidate is like a ``one-winged bird flying into a cyclone.''
``This is a constituency that's here to stay,'' Reed told more than 400 people at ODU. ``You can agree with them, you can disagree with them, but you make a serious mistake when you discount them.'' Reed spoke as part of the President's Lecture Series.
He said the coalition, based in Chesapeake, has 1.7 million members in 2,000 local chapters. ``The reality of who these people are,'' he said, ``is far different from the stereotype.''
Though the movement has been portrayed as ``anti-woman,'' 62 percent of its members are female. And half of those women work outside the home. ``They are not barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen; they are lawyers, doctors and small-business women. . . .
``If you want to understand this constituency,'' Reed said, ``they are mostly fathers and mothers of young children and teenagers . . . who want safe neighborhoods, schools that work and strong families that stay whole.''
Religion has been intertwined with this nation's history from its beginnings, Reed said. He quoted President John Adams, who wrote: ``This Constitution was designed for moral and religious people only and is wholly inadequate for any other.'' And the ``great social reform movements'' - including temperance and civil rights - ``have always been birthed and cradled in our churches. . . .
``So when someone says to you today that religion and politics is like mixing oil and water, or kerosene and fire, you can tell them that political involvement fired by faith . . . has been the most distinguished, long-running, honorable tradition this country has to offer.''
With the exception of Israel, the United States remains the most devout nation in the world, Reed said. Polls, he said, show that 93 percent of Americans believe in God and 57 percent pray every day. ``That number has been on the increase since Bill Clinton took the oath of office in January of 1993,'' he added, drawing laughter.
Outside, about 20 members of groups such as the National Organization for Women and the Racial Justice Task Force of the Unitarian Church of Norfolk demonstrated against Reed. They chanted ``Pro-life, it's a lie; you don't care if women die'' and held placards with messages such as ``There is nothing Christian about Ralph Reed or the Christian Coalition.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by HUY NGUYEN, The Virginian-Pilot
Ralph Reed Jr., director of the Chesapeake-based Christian
Coalition, heads to the podium at ODU's Mills Godwin Jr. Building,
passing Professor Lytton Musselman.
by CNB