Christian Right in Politics

John Pitney Jr.’s June 30 Column Right defending religious conservatives’ right to run for elected office totally missed the point. In support of his position, he distorted a recent ACLU membership recruitment letter by claiming we would deny a fundamentalist the right to seek election.

The ACLU absolutely defends and promotes religious freedom. Even a cursory glance at our docket reveals the wealth of cases in which the ACLU represents people who are not able to practice or follow their religious tenets. There is no question that religious fundamentalists have the right not only to practice their religion but actively to engage in the political process--and there is no question that the ACLU would defend that right.

A number of fundamentalists, however, have taken vocal and increasingly active roles in undermining the traditional separation of church and state. Lately, there has been an alarming rise in “stealth” candidates--fundamentalists who do not disclose their religious agenda--to school boards. The board members then impose their religious beliefs by, among other things, censoring books, prohibiting sex education and mandating teaching creationism in pubic schools. It is the erosion of this constitutional guarantee of church/state separation that the ACLU seeks to prevent.

RAMONA RIPSTON, Executive Director

ACLU, Los Angeles

* As the world looks on with horror at the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, many Americans are watching with disbelief at the religious cleansing going on in American politics. To be serious about your religious beliefs and to dare to take them into the public arena, you risk serious belittlement and ridicule.

Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento) epitomized this mean-spirited attitude when he attacked the Christian right in a recent speech (June 24). This demonization seems to be in part the result of the Democrats losing election after election throughout the country, often at the hands of people of faith. This scaremongering and anti-Christian bigotry deserve to be condemned.

DAN JONES

Rancho Santa Margarita