DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997             TAG: 9703260001

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B11  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion

SOURCE: GLENN ALLEN SCOTT

                                            LENGTH:   92 lines

THE CENTER FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AT VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE THE U.S. ``CULTURE WAR'' IS BITTERER THAN IT NEED BE BECAUSE OF PUBLIC IGNORANCE ABOUT THE PROPER RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE.

Why is religious freedom still an issue in the United States more than 200 years after implementation of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom and adoption of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of the right to ``the free exercise'' of religion?

Religious tolerance, not conflict, was expected to flow from a basic federal commitment to neutrality among religions and non-interference in individual religious belief (or non-belief). And, indeed, religious tolerance is widespread in the United States. But so is religious fervor that pits one group of believers against other believers as well as non-believers over issues involving church and state and religious freedom.

Stephen Mansfield, Virginia Wesleyan College vice president for academic affairs, posed the religious-freedom question to a panel formed for a mid-February symposium sponsored by The Center for the Study of Religious Freedom. The panelists were members of the center's advisory board.

Funded by a million-dollar gift from an anonymous donor and $250,000 from the Parsons Foundation of Norfolk, the center came into being last year at Virginia Wesleyan, whose campus straddles the Norfolk-Virginia Beach line.

Religious freedom is an issue in the ``culture war.'' Disputes over mixing church and state also figure heavily in the struggle.

On one side are those who cite high rates of crime, divorce, illegitimacy, abortion, illiteracy and innumeracy, welfare-dependency and sexually transmitted diseases; the explosion of pornography and the coarsening of popular culture; homosexuals' demands for equal treatment; and expensive, expanding government as irrefutable proof that Americans have ``turned away from God.''

The nation's only salvation, say these ``cultural conservatives,'' is to ``turn back to God.'' Americans must personally embrace and collectively demand legislation that reflects spiritual values and encourages right conduct.

On the other side are those who fear destructive consequences from mingling religion and government in a country that contains practitioners of who-knows-how-many religions.

In between are bewildered millions who sense that many things are wrong but are wary of simple moral prescriptions from government for complex societal ills.

Public ignorance about religions, church-state relations through the centuries and the impact of religious faith and institutions upon society contributes to the public's confusion. This ignorance about religion was a recurring theme in the Virginia Wesleyan panel discussion.

``Historical ignorance'' is among the reasons for continuing clashes over religious freedom, said panelist Robert S. Alley, University of Richmond humanities professor emeritus.

Alley noted that, ``as James Madison was so fond of reminding, . . . it is at the local level that persecution and discrimination occur most frequently: In complex societies where you have a multiplicity of factions, the tyranny of the majority is less likely.'' Religious bigotry and governmental favoritism toward a specific religion and suppression of constitutionally protected religious speech and practice take place at the grass roots, far from Washington, D.C.

Ignorance clearly is to blame for many of the transgressions against religious freedom. Panelist Robert Spivey, president of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, believes strongly that academic study of religion in public schools would banish much of the controversy involving religious freedom. Trouble is, adding the study of religion to schools' curricula is virtually impossible.

``Back in the 1960s,'' said Spivey, ``when we had the two Supreme Court decisions - which were much attacked by many people - outlawing prayer and Bible readings in schools, a number of people thought, `This is the opening to do the study of religion, for learning about religion.'

``And in Florida (where Spivey was a member of the Florida State University faculty), I was involved for a decade in producing materials and working with teachers and teacher education in order to make sure that religion was treated properly in the schools as an academic subject. But because of the fears of administrators and parents and so forth, nothing ever was achieved.

``And we still have that same situation . . . , where the first time that students are exposed, if ever, to the academic study of religion is at the collegiate level - and very few students at the collegiate level are.

``So we have a nation of illiterates about our religious history, about other religions, and so . . . it is very difficult for us to deal with anything that has to do with religion. That hampers us and will continue to hamper us until we address it directly in our school system.''

Ignorance is not invariably bliss. The mission of The Center for the Study of Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan College is to dispel ignorance about religions' relationship with the state as well as individuals. The center's instruments of enlightenment are symposiums, lectures and seminars. Students show strong interest. The center obviously fills a need. It is off to a strong start. MEMO: Mr. Scott is associate editor of the editorial page of The

Virginian-Pilot.

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