A Mission to Keep Religion Out of Politics

Harry Schwartzbart knows at least 400 clergy in Greater Los Angeles.

Nothing odd about that except Schwartzbart’s passion is keeping religion apart from public life.

For more than 40 years, the 76-year-old Chatsworth resident has been a member of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Founded in 1947, Americans United is a national organization with some 60,000 members that “brings together people of varying religious beliefs (or no particular belief) to publicly guard the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of conscience,” its literature explains.

For years, Schwartzbart paid his dues and supported most of the organization’s liberal positions, such as opposition to school vouchers. He was your average group member--in tune with the organization’s values and objectives, but no zealot.

That changed in the mid-1990s. Schwartzbart became alarmed at what he saw as an increasingly effective alliance between political and religious conservatives that he believed threatened constitutional guarantees. Like Paul on the road to Damascus, he became a man with a mission.

“Four years ago,” Schwartzbart explains, “because of my concern for the religious right, I caught fire. I established the San Fernando Valley Chapter of Americans United and now it’s the largest chapter in the country.”

The local chapter, which recruits as far north as Santa Barbara, has 500 to 1,000 members. And, Schwartzbart says, with obvious pride, “Our mailing list is now pushing 2,200.”

A semiretired metallurgical engineer who continues to consult, Schwartzbart works tirelessly for Americans United.

He is ready to speak to any group, any time, and does so 30 or 40 times a year.

Schwartzbart’s “active clergy outreach program” is an important part of the organization’s strategy. It reminds people that those on the religious right don’t speak for everyone, not even all Christians, he says.

And it allows the organization to tap into a pool of leaders with considerable clout.

From the start, Schwartzbart explains, “I decided I would court constituency leaders.” The reason was simple. “If I could convert someone to my cause, they would carry their constituents with them.”

“Who are the most natural constituency leaders in the country?” he asks. Clergy, he answers. “They have a captive audience every weekend.”

The chapter regularly meets in churches and synagogues and often has clergy as speakers on its programs. A Catholic priest argued in favor of continued separation of church and state at last month’s meeting.

Clergy from some religions and denominations have been much more responsive than others, Schwartzbart acknowledges.

Although he is reluctant to single out individual denominations, he says liberal Protestant groups have been among the most supportive.

He hasn’t made much headway with Islamic leaders (although the group has had Islamic speakers) or among Orthodox Jews.

One reason Schwartzbart has found allies among the clergy may be because they understand his zeal in supporting a cause he believes in.

“I tell all my clergy friends I’m proselytizing just as hard as they are.”

Schwartzbart also seeks supporters among the young and groups he describes as natural constituencies for Americans United, such as gays and lesbians, and others who have felt the sting of the religious right.

“We’re engaged in a worldwide struggle of moderation against fundamentalism,” says Schwartzbart.

Thoughtful analysis is one of the weapons he tries to muster in his ongoing campaign “to shine a light on extremism.”

“We always have substantive speakers who have more to say than, ‘Kick Pat Robertson. He’s no good.’ ”

Schwartzbart believes all minorities are threatened when religion is allowed to play a part in public life.

“Either you have a theocracy or you have religious liberty. They are absolutely incompatible.”

He remembers a painful example from his own life. When he was growing up in Altoona, Pa., he had to say the Lord’s Prayer every morning in school.

“There I was, a 5-year-old Jewish boy, starting the day with a prayer to Jesus Christ.”

In Schwartzbart’s view, those who value their liberties can’t afford to become complacent.

“We can’t get comfortable, ever,” he says. “Once again, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”