European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 24, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse For role in american by David Briggs associated press p Rayer in school creches in front of government buildings. And invocations at Public. Ceremonies Are out a television network promotes its most popular show with a scene mocking a family saying Grace Quot dear god we pay for All this stuff ourselves so thanks for nothing Quot is Bart Simpson s punchline today in the United states government funds Are used to support an Art exhibition that includes a Crucifix soaked in a Jar of urine and United Way funding is temporarily withdrawn from a boy scout chapter after objections to the scouts oath to do their duty Quot to god and my country Quot a a. A a generation of revolutionary change in the role in Public life has left Many americans reeling and the nation struggling to find a common ethical a ground to solve divisive moral issues such As abortion drugs homelessness poverty and the possibility of War. A for All kinds of Good reasons we have systematically excluded the Church from our Public life. Now we discover that the voice of conscience which we always depended on a the Church a is not present in the Public debate Quot said Lisa Newton a philosopher at Fairfield University who wrote the study guide for the Public broadcasting service s 10-part series on ethics in America. Y a. A a Quot so the question that confronts us now is Given the constraints of the separation of Church and state How do we re empower the Chumes 1 y Only 39 percent of the respondents to an associated press poll conducted in november by ice Survey research group said they believed religion is increasing its influence in american life. In a 1985 Gallup poll. 49 percent said religion was increasing in influence. And in 1957, a Gallup pol indicated that More than two thirds thought religion was gaining Power. In 1986, after 12 years standing alone As the nations most trusted institution religion was replaced by the military As the institution in which americans have the most Confidence according to another Gallup poll. But contrary to some expectations religious groups Are not going quietly into that Good night of a secular age born again Christian evangelicals who burst onto the american political scene in the Rnid-1970s have shown no sign of withdrawing. And groups such As. Catholics jews Black churches and now muslims alarmed by arising tide of. Indifference to social iils from racism to Quot drug abuse have entered into Piplic policy debates in dramatic fashion. Quot As f travel around the country i find a Fot of very reasonable rational people who feel under siege Quot said Gary Bauer a former Domestic policy adviser to Ronald Reagan who now is director of the family research Council perhaps the most powerful evangelical lobbying group in the nation Quot their perception is that they re living in a hostile country that everything they believe in is under persistent when the pilgrims founded the country they could not have foreseen a culture that celebrates a Crucifix adorned woman named Madonna who capitalizes on religious imagery with songs such As the none to Subtle like a Virgin and the title of her latest anthology. The immaculate collection. The purpose they declared in 1620 in the Mayflower compact Quot for be glories of god and advancement of be Christian Faith the Public manifestations at the Core of american life stayed with society from the american revolution when All but one of the 13 states had a tax to support the preaching of the gospel to the 1950s, when National values that mainline protestantism supplied were reinforced by billboards along the nations highways encouraging americans to go to Church. A Quot that was kind of a final burst of a dream of the protestant America where a the churches continued to enjoy a great Deal of influence and authority a said Dean Thomas Ogletree of Yale divinity school. While the percentage of America has jumped 40 percent since 1947. The percentage of protestants a declined 23 percent. A a a within protestantism churches such As the Southern Baptist convention and the done to know or no answer 10% at the present do you think religion As a whole is increasing its influence in american life or losing its influence Don t know or no answer 12% the Federal government funds artist and Art exhibitions. Some artist took this Money and produced works that people said offended their religious beliefs. Should the government refuse to fund such artist or not the boy scouts take an oath Quot to do my duty to god and my the scout organization says it does not discriminate on the basis , but some people say the oath keeps out. Non believers. Do you think the boy scouts should drop the reference to god from their oath Don t know or increasing no answer 6% 39% the associated press poll on religion was conducted by Telephone nov. 16 20 among a random Sample of 1,006 adults in the contiguous United states. Interviewing was done by ice Survey research group of Media a. A the results were weighted to adjust for variations in the Sample the poll has a three Point margin of sampling error meaning that 19 of 20 times its findings should be within three Points of the result if every adult american were asked the same questions. The error margin is larger for subgroups. There Are other sources of potential error in polls including the wording and. Order of questions. ., h a a is How the questions related to this Story were phrased because of rounding sums May not total 100 by David a Anderson United press International a a a he persian Gulf crisis is creating some a i unexpected inter religious tensions Between jews. I 1 and protestants in the United problem is a Resolution adopted by the general Board of the National Council of churches during its mid november meeting. A in the Resolution the protestant and orthodox leaders chastised president Bush and the government for the hard sell activism in pushing implementation of the u n. Resolutions on the iraqi occupation of Kuwait while neglecting u n. Policies on the israeli occupation of the West Bank and the turkish occupation of Northern Cyprus. A it also endorsed Calls for an International conference to resolve the israeli palestinian s sue a a notion strongly. Opposed by the israeli government Quot the Region cries out for a . Policy that seeks to redress All cases of injustice including those of Israel and Palestine Lebanon and Cyprus Quot the Resolution said. To leaders of the Union of american hebrew congregations those ideas smacked of linkage a the notion that a settlement of the Iraq Kuwait dispute is tied to other conflicts Iri the Region. Both the Bush administration and the israeli government have sharply rejected such linkages Bush has said such a linkage is a Quot transparent Effort to divert attention from bad dam Hussein s naked and the u acc. In an open letter to the National Council of churches called the general Board s statement Quot a moral such linkages the letter said Quot plays into the hands of Saddam Hussein and his Effort to escape responsibility for the rape of Kuwait Quot it said the Church Council s statement Quot has caused us a great pain Quot a y a a a relations Between jews and protestants Over the Middle East have Iong been less than cordial because Many u a protestant denominations have sister churches in the Region among for example both the palestinians and the iraqis a there Are an estimated 300,000 iraqi christians a there has been a tendency to listen sympathetically to palestinian voices and to its sister ecumenical Agency the Middle East Council of churches. In its open letter to the National Council the a acc the congregational Arm of Reform Judaism in North americas id that each of the situations a a Kuwait the occupied Terr ironies Cyprus a Quot must be resolved Independent of the other. A Quot. A. A Quot we can Pray together for peace in the Region Quot the letter said. Y a a a / Quot we must stand together and speak out of our moral and religious traditions that peace should rain Down on a Thailand. Y a a a. A a a a a. do the the Middle East a grave a injustice by suggesting that All conflicts can be resolved at the same time Quot i said. A a. A a. The acc statement however was addressed less to proposed solutions of the varying conflicts or any. Mandate for an All Quot at the same time solution than it was to what appears to Many arabs a Christian and Moslema and americans to be a moral and political incoherence in . Policy. Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes monday december 24,1990
