Leaders of Differing Views Agree on Religion Charter

Nearly 100 American leaders from a wide range of religious and political views will gather in Williamsburg, Va., today to sign a document endorsing a consensus on the legitimacy of religion in public life.

The so-called Williamsburg Charter, sponsored by a private foundation of the same name, celebrates what it calls the most fundamental of the Constitution’s amendments, the first one guaranteeing religious liberty.

Despite decades of court battles and debates over the proper definition of the First Amendment’s religious clauses, the document appears to put in balance the “free exercise” currently emphasized by conservative groups and church-state separation most cherished by liberal bodies.

Graham to Deliver Address

Evangelist Billy Graham will deliver the keynote address in today’s ceremony. Signers will include dignitaries from such disparate groups as People for the American Way, the National Assn. of Evangelicals, the American Jewish Committee, the Mormon Church, the National Council of Churches and the Muslim American Community. It was earlier signed in Washington by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. Robert Dole (R.-Kan.), Phyllis Schlafly, who heads Eagle Forum, and Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Programs at the First Liberty Summit today were to be attended by international guests, including Feodor Burlatskij, chairman of the Soviet Commission on Human Rights.

William J. Flynn, chairman and chief executive officer of Mutual of America, and Alonzo L. McDonald, chairman of Avenir Inc., were among the business executives who directed the foundation’s activities over the last six months.

A summary of the 28-page Williamsburg Charter was issued earlier this week. The summary’s 10 points declared, among other things, that religious liberty, alternately called “freedom of conscience,” is based on “the inviolable dignity” of individuals and not simply on “social usefulness.”

The religion portion of the First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

The “no-establishment” clause “separates church from state but not religion from politics or public life,” said the charter summary. “It prevents the confusion of religion and government which has been a leading source of repression and coercion throughout history.”

The “free exercise” clause allows citizens who so desire to shape their lives according to religious beliefs and even respects a society’s “smallest minorities and least-popular communities.”

The First Amendment’s principles also ensure that “people with deep religious differences can contend robustly but civilly with each other.”

Because of religious pluralism in America, rights are best guarded and exercised when the mutual benefit of respecting everyone’s rights is clear, the summary concluded.