c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Overcoming longstanding divisions, a Southern Baptist agency and Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., have worked out compromise language for a proposed constitutional amendment on religious liberty.

The Christian Life Commission, the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm, announced late Monday (April 21) its support of the new language for Istook’s Religious Freedom Amendment. The congressman hopes the amendment will solidify constitutional protections for religious expression in public places, including the controversial arena of public schools.

In addition, the conservative Anaheim, Calif.-based Traditional Values Coalition, led by the Rev. Louis Sheldon, has expressed its support for the new wording.”I don’t think there’s any question there’s been a real breakthrough in terms of understanding, in terms of clarifying legitimate concerns,”said Richard Land, president of the Christian Life Commission.

The compromise follows recent contentious debates between Land and Istook, culminating in several faxes to members of Congress about their positions on the issue. Now, Istook says, he expects to introduce the current language later this month.

Other conservative groups that have withheld support for Istook’s previous proposals have yet to take a position on the latest wording. Representatives of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and the Christian Legal Society said Tuesday (April 22) they were still reviewing the latest proposal.

Many conservative Christians believe some kind of amendment is necessary to protect religious expression in public places but there has been a deep division among them over the exact wording. Those who have not yet agreed with Istook’s language voiced concern that his previous wording would protect religious majorities but not religious minorities.

Now, they have yet another version to consider:”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 a benefit due to religion.” The addition of just a few words, including”according to the dictates of conscience,”made the difference to the Christian Life Commission.”That phrase encapsulates in summary form the Baptist conviction that every man and every woman has a God-given right to express and practice his or her faith in accordance with their own conscience without interference from or guidance by the government,”Land said.

Others are still mulling over the new wording.”I’m not in a position to comment yet because it’s still being processed by our staff,”said NAE President Don Argue.

Istook attended NAE’s board meeting in March and lobbied for support for his amendment, but the board referred the matter to its resolutions committee for further study.

Steven McFarland, director of the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom, said the new language is”headed in the right direction,”but he still questioned whether the amendment would encourage government promotion of particular religions.

McFarland said he’s studying the new language and has submitted to Istook a list of questions for clarification.

Istook said Tuesday he does not intend his amendment to allow”any particular religion”to be promoted by government.”That has never been a part of any language that we’ve had,”he said.”There’s a crucial difference between recognizing and acknowledging something and promoting it.” Istook said the wording changes do not represent a shift in the intent of the amendment.”I think it’s a question of making the safeguards which we already had even clearer or more explicit,”he said.

The Christian Coalition, which joined Istook’s effort when the congressman announced previous revisions in March, was pleased with the additional support of the Christian Life Commission and the Traditional Values Coalition.”It’s a really great breakthrough,”said Brian Lopina, director of the Christian Coalition’s governmental affairs office in Washington.”It strengthens our hand for the future.” But the Coalition to Preserve Religious Liberty, an alliance of mainline Protestant, Unitarian and Jewish groups, has maintained opposition to any language that would reshape church-state relations.

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a member of the alliance, believes the Southern Baptists new position is the result of heavy political pressure from Istook and others.

Southern Baptists”were looking for an excuse to change their initial suspicions into affirmative support and a few words apparently did that,”he said.

Lynn believes the Constitution already adequately protects religious liberty and that protection would be damaged by Istook’s proposal.”It’s still the most radical revision of the Bill of Rights in modern history,”Lynn said.

Land, however, disagrees.”The First Amendment should be fine as it is but it’s been so brutalized and marginalized by the current judiciary that the courts need further instruction on how we would be governed,”he said.

MJP END RNS