c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Supporters of an amendment that would modify the Constitution’s religion clauses have launched a campaign to gather 1 million signatures on a petition calling for its passage.”We want to make it clear that we are no longer going to be treated as second-class citizens because of our faith,”Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed told a news conference Thursday (May 22).”Our goal is to deluge Capitol Hill with petitions, telegrams and phone calls.” Reed and other conservative leaders and groups have thrown their support behind a proposed constitutional amendment, called the”Religious Freedom Amendment,”which would put the name of God in the Constitution for the first time and limit government’s ability to interfere with school prayer and other religious expressions. The amendment is sponsored by Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla.

Opponents argue the amendment is unnecessary, saying it will lead to backdoor efforts to restore state-sponsored prayer in the public schools and threaten minority, non-Christian religions.

At the news conference, kicking off what the coalition calls its”Religious Freedom Ride Celebration,”a half-dozen speakers told stories of being discriminated against because of their Christian beliefs. The group was also visiting Nashville, Tenn., Charlotte, N.C., and Cincinnati.

Kelly DeNooyer of Livonia, Mich., said she was barred from showing a tape of her singing a religious song at a student talent show, and Brittany Settle Gossett of Dickson, Tenn., said she received a failing grade on a term paper because her topic was about Jesus.

Audrey Pearson, a wheelchair-bound young woman from Woodbridge, Va., who said she was once forbidden from reading the Bible on a school bus, was the first to sign the petition with the help of her mother.

Istook told the Capitol Hill news conference and rally _ some 400 supporters of the amendment, including a gospel choir, jammed a Senate Office Building room _ that freedom of religion had grown inadequate and had been”hijacked”by secularists opposed to religion.”The Constitution was meant to be a shield for our freedom, but it has been made into a sword to censor, attack and suppress religion,”Istook said.

The 71-word amendment reads:”To secure the people’s right to acknowledge God according to the dictates of conscience: The people’s right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage or traditions on public property, including schools, shall not be infringed. The government shall not require any person to join in prayer or other religious activity, initiate or designate school prayers, discriminate against religion, or deny equal access to a benefit on account of religion.” It has the backing of a wide array of conservative groups, including the National Association of Evangelicals and the Family Research Council. On Friday (May 23), Istook announced that the 8 million-member National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., a predominantly African-American denomination, had endorsed the effort.”This nation was founded upon the principle of religious freedom,”the Rev. Henry Lyons, president of the denomination, said in a statement released by Istook’s office.”This Convention believes a constitutional amendment is the only way to overturn three decades of court decisions denying us our First Amendment rights, including voluntary prayer in the public schools.” But the amendment has also drawn fierce opposition from some religious and civil liberties groups, including the American Jewish Congress, the Interfaith Alliance, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.”We prefer James Madison’s original version to that of Rep. Istook and his supporters from the religious right,”said the Rev. J. Philip Wogaman, a United Methodist pastor and board member of the Interfaith Alliance.

At a news conference following Reed’s, Americans United released a brief study challenging the accuracy of the”horror stories”told at the Christian Coalition news conference.

It said the DeNooyer incident was nearly 7 years old and was not about the religious song but the student’s failure to conform to the exercise’s requirement of a”live”presentation. The Gossett case is also nearly 7 years old and she received a failing grade because the assignment was to write on an unfamiliar topic. The 8-year-old Pearson case, Americans United said, happened because”the principal had not understood that students are permitted to bring religious material to school for their personal use and the decision was quickly reversed. … The matter never went to court.””If religious liberty violations are occurring daily, why is Ralph Reed showcasing three incidents that are ancient?”asked the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United.”The truth is students are free to engage in a remarkable array of private religious expression during their free time,”he added.”In the rare instances where a public school official has made a mistake about a student’s religious rights, the problems can be corrected by a simple phone call or letter.” House hearings on the amendment are expected this summer and Reed said he hopes to see a vote in Congress before the 1998 mid-term elections”so we know where everyone stands before we go to the polls.” MJP END GAMBER