In its last-minute blitz to build support for the Religious Freedom Amendment, Christian Coalition continues to distort lab findings concerning Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists. CC Executive Director Randy Tate is playing "fast and loose" with facts, as he subordinates history to political and religious proselytizing.

WEB POSTED: June 4, 1998

istorting an announcement by the Library of Congress concerning Thomas Jefferson's reference to a "wall of separation between Church and State," the Christian Coalition has launched a last-minute disinformation campaign, and again called for passage of the Religious Freedom Amendment. Tomorrow, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the RFA, a controversial measure which according to critics would viscerate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, permit a staggering array of religious activities in once-secular venues, and lead to public funding for "faith based" groups.

    On Sunday, the Coalition pumped out handbills in churches throughout the nation urging supporters to make last minutes contacts on Capitol Hill on behalf of the prayer-in-government amendment. And this morning, CC issued a disingenuous press release claiming "Library of Congress Skewars 'Wall of Separation' Myth, and cited the fact that Thomas Jefferson permitted religious worship in Federal buildings.

   The CC release suggests that Jefferson's reference to a "wall of separation" was "written to mollify a political constituency." This comes after an announcement earlier this week that research done by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory uncovered remarks the Founder had written in a first draft of his "letter to the Danbury Baptist Association" which is the source of his famous "wall of separation" claim.

    An official with the Library of Congress, Dr. James Hutson, revealed that Jefferson had originally written of an "eternal wall of separation between Church and State," but altered that phrase following pleadings from close advisers. For Hutson, that move suggested a "political motivation" behind Jefferson's remarks.

    "It's a liberal myth that Jefferson intended his words to be used as justification for expelling religious expression from the public square," CC Executive Director Randy Tate insisted in this morning's press statement. He cites the 1947 EVERSON v. BOARD OF EDUCATION case which supposedly "took his (Jefferson's) word out of context, created new legal language that does not appear in the Constitution, and used the new language as their basis for striking down the Constitutionality of school prayer in ENGEL v. VITALE in 1962."

    Tate charged that this decision "was the genesis of the climate of hostility to religious expression that has existed over the last 30 years. Only a Religious Freedom Amendment can correct these Supreme Court actions."

    But in Monday's AANEWS, we suggested that the findings of the FBI lab could also cast Jefferson as even more assertive in his conviction of state-church separation, since he originally referred to an "eternal wall of separation..."

   Today, Dr. Hutson -- who serves as Head of the Library of Congress Manuscript Division -- told AANEWS that he was not trying to make a political statement, and said that organizations should be cautious in interpreting the findings about Jefferson's letter one way or another. When told of the Christian Coalition headline in their press release ("Library of Congress Skewars 'Wall of Separation' Myth"), Hutson declared, "That's not true. The findings about Jefferson's letter (to the Danbury Baptists) reveal his political sensitivity to constituents."

    As for using the letter to comment on judicial rulings or laws, Hutson was firm in insisting "The Library of Congress does not do that sort of thing, and we would be reprimanded if we did." He also found it strange that the Coalition press release included a reference to the Library of Congress Exhibition called "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic."

    "On Thursday June 4, the Library of Congress will open an exhibit... which lays out this (religious) history and reveals how the Founders truly viewed religious freedom in the new nation. The exhibit demonstrates the important role religion played in the founding of the Republic." It then quotes Randy Tate, who gushed, "Every American should view this exhibit, reflect on all that has been lost, and commit to a full restoration of our First Amendment rights."

    But Tate has not seen the exhibit. Hutson asked, "How can they be saying that sort of thing?... this exhibit hasn't even opened yet."

    Our comments in Monday's AANEWS were based on the Library of Congress Bulletin which described the exhibit, however. Mr. Tate, and other supporters of the Religious Freedom Amendment, may find some parts of the exposition disturbing, including portions which depict the intolerance "establishment" period in American history when individual colonies, and for a while, some states, had "official" churches one was required to support through taxation.

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