European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 19, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday july 19, 1994 commentary 1 the stars and stripes Page 13 Christian right keeps up Anthony Lewis a Bill Clinton is a tyrant. He a a monster a Randall Terry told Erik Eck Holm of the new York times recently. A the Bible commands us to expose the Terry is an example of the most important phenomenon in american politics today the growing Power of extreme right Wing ideologues who turn fundamentalist Christian beliefs into political commands. He founded operation Rescue which mounts often violent demonstrations against abortions. Now As head of a group called Loyal opposition he says that president Clinton favors the killing of babies. The extremity of Randall Terry swords is not unusual. The Rev. Pat Robertson head of the Christian coalition pushed the fantasy that Vincent w. Foster or. Was killed rather than having committed suicide. A was there a murder of a White House counsel a he asked on his television program. A it looks More land More like the Rev. Jerry Falwell goes further. He Sells a videotape that without evidence Calls the president a murderer. It shows Gay Parks the son of an Arkansas investigator who was killed saying a i think Bill Clinton had my father killed to save his political if 1 believed in the Devil i would say that these men were doing his work. But the real Point is a constitutional one. The leaders of the Christian right have set out not Only to destroy Clinton. Their goal is much larger than that. _ they want to substitute their vision of a religious polity for the secular system of government established by the cons Titu lion 200 years ago that has made America Strong and free. It will be an intolerant America if they have their Way something like a Christian version of the Ayatollah Khomeini a Iran. Pat Robertson tells women a the husband is the head of the wife and that a the Way it is or. Steven Hotze a Texas Republican who won party office with the help of the Christian coalition wants to execute homosexuals. Such views Are easy to dismiss As too far out to matter. But the Christian right matters. It so frightened sen. Bob Dole last month that four Days after expressing doubts about Oliver North As a Senate candidate in Virginia he ate his words endorsed North and gave him $5,000 in Page Money. The evangelical right has taken control of the Republican party in Texas Minnesota Oregon Iowa South Carolina and Virginia. Sidney Blumenthal Well describes the process and the consequences in this weeks new yorker. He ends with a description of Dan Quayle at a political training conference of religious right activists standing at attention As 2,000 people recite a i pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag. William Bennett the former Secretary of education whom Many in the religious right would like to see As the Republican candidate in 1996, last month denounced its critics. He said a the conservative Christian political movement was a on the receive my end of an extraordinary Campaign of Bias and Bennett a complaint was remarkable beyond its tone of whining self pity. In effect he said that when a religious sect tries to impose its beliefs on the entire country criticism of it is a bigotry a but Harry Truman a Rule applies to religious politicians As to others a if you. Can to stand the heat stay out of the a a. A / _ a a a v How far the evangelical politicians would move the Republican party toward the intolerant right can be understood if one considers the position of former sen. Barry Goldwater. When he was the candidate for president in 1964, he seemed to Many an extreme figure. How wrong that has turned. Out to be. In an article for the Washington Post Goldwater called on republicans to support legislation protecting Gays against Job discrimination. A your party has ted the Way in the fight for Freedom a a he wrote. A now some in our ranks want to extinguish this Torch. The Radical right has nearly ruined our party.�?�. This country is committed by its Constitution to allow political speech however intolerant or hateful and our history is full of. Poisonous examples. But the Constitution does not Stop us from fighting the use of hate in politics. The time has come for those who believe in reason and tolerance to do just that. C new York times a Ai need to come Back when school is in session but just being in Chattanooga tenn., Here for the beginning of the summer training Institute for teachers is inspiration enough. The teachers a new or returning staffers at Chattanooga a six a spa Ideia schools a Are getting an immersion in the paid Cia philosophy. I wont attempt to describe fully the idea behind Pai Deia from the greek word for the upbringing of a child launched More than a decade ago by Mortimer j. Adler and others. It includes ideas about curriculum teaching coaching and the organization of classrooms. But it also includes this fundamental Tenet All children study the same curriculum at the same level and with the same expectations of Mastery a no watered Down courses for a slow learners a no a tracking a no electives except for the Choice of which foreign language to take. By All accounts it works. Parents of Rich children and poor Black and White Camp out As Long As a week in Advance of registration to secure a place in these new schools. The children Are expected to achieve Honor student results and they do. Scores at Chattanooga a oldest paid Cia school started Keigm years ago Are among the highest in the state in a District that was once an academic Basket Case. The College at Tendance rate approaches 98 the teachers describe not just the childrens academic Progress but also the transformation in the teachers own beliefs about what their children Are capable of learning i am reminded once again of the Power of expectations. T. ,. In a also reminded that expectations can work in both directions. You see in be just been talking to the father of a freshman to be at a Washington area University. He had gone to an orientation session for freshman honors students a the top 15 percent of the entering class with sats of at least 1,250 and while his daughter was otherwise occupied he attended a presentation on multicultural education. A the session was for All minority parents but most of those in the room were african american or asian american. The presenter made a number of Points including these our children should plan to take a Light Load the first year a because we want them to do Well and they wont do Well if they take a difficult they must absolutely not take two sciences because the science courses Are hard. And whether or not they think they need it they should sign up immediately for the special multicultural tutoring program. A one of the parents thought maybe the speaker did t know she was talking to the families of honors students but being reminded that she was changed nothing. The message was still to the effect that a you can to _ compete with the smart kids so let me show you How Little you can do and still get a a this Parent is sure a As i am a that this University staffer wanted Only to ease the transition to College academics for these Bright minority youngsters. But he is also certain that the Way she went about it a urging William Raspberry them to shun the hard subjects a was a disservice. I wrote recently about a Georgia tech summer a a Bridges program for minority engineering students that has started to show truly stunning Success a but Only after a decade of marginal results. The difference the program staff finally stopped treating the students As though they expected them to have problems with their course work and started treating them like the Bright and capable students they Are. That a what the Peideia schools do and that a what the father who spoke with me thinks should happen at his daughters University. He even thinks it is borderline racist to do otherwise. A who needs David Duke to suggest that Black peo pie Are intellectually inferior when we have people like this woman who by the Way is Black ? a when 1 went to school we were told a the faculty and Library resources of this University Are unlimited. Its up to you to make the most of today a Young people Are being told in effect coloured kids can maybe get through if they carefully pick the easiest courses and done to let themselves be seriously challenged.�?�. Both Georgia tech and Chattanooga a Peideia schools Are proving that Young people will Rise to our higher expectations of them. Why should we doubt that they will sink to our lower ones. C Washington Post the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of
