The ACLU on Vouchers
Presented by Charles Bearden, West Michigan Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
About the Speaker
About the Event
Announcements
Meeting minutes for November 10, 1999; #58.
We had a report of our third quarter finances; with expenses limited
to postage/mailing and the PO Box rental.
In our bulletin, there was a reprinted article from People For th
American Way, (Nov. 8, ‘99), about tv preacher Pat Robertson’s call,
on his 700 Club program, to “throw off the shackles” of the courts. He
feels that the Supreme Court decisions that uphold our freedoms, but
do not create the theocracy he craves, dominates our lives, and it’s
time to take our country back.
November 12-14, Bishop Shelby Spong, controversial author of the book
Why Christianity Must Change or Die, spoke at Christ Community Church
on themes such as “A God beyond Theism,” and “A Christ Beyond the
Image of a Rescuing Sacrifice.”
On December 8, @ the Wyoming Public Library, we will feature the
discussion topic: “The Science & Ethics of Human Cloning.” This will
be moderated by Paul Huizenga, who teaches biomedical ethics @ GVSU
and presented a recent paper to the National Association of Science
Teachers Convention on this topic.
Our WINTER SOLSTICE PARTY will be on December 22 @ 6:30PM at Yen Ching
restaurant downtown; 57 Monroe Center. Cost is 12.5/person, includes
egg roll, soup, entree & tea, cash bar. Please RSVP- by contacting
Jeff- .
Our first meeting of the new year (for those of us remaining after th
Rapture -heh) will be “Women in Freethought, Part II.” Part one was a
lively discussion, moderated by Lanette Grate. Barb Neumann will
moderate this one.
**NOTE: There will be NO MEETING in the second half of this month! Ou
next regular mtg. will be the Dec. 8h one, mentioned above.
Gordon M. had previously volunteered to review the book God On
Trial 2000; Indictment of God for Crimes Against Job by Stuart C.
Goldberg; 1999, PROSCOP Press (self-published by the author). Gordon
gave us an oral review and passed out copies of his printed version at
the meeting. “The book of Job is examined wih every tool of logic,
measure of reason, nuance of definitional equivocation, light of
morality and expert commentary that is available to this ardent
Prosecutor who seemingly is bucking for Supreme Court nomination.
Goldberg also establishes ‘priors’ to construct an M.O. His job- to
indict God for crimes against Job.” Fom the printed copy Gordon
distributed. Website for ordering or dialogue on thi:
http://www.GodOnTrial.com.
Pressentation
Our meeting topic was “The ACLU on Vouchers” and was moderated by Lee
Weber & Charles Bearden of the West Michigan Chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union.
They began their presenation with two items that might seem surprising
to many: They are mostly comprised of non- lawyers and they consider
the group to be quite conservative. They are staffed by volunteers who
are passionate about conserving our civil liberties. It is the more
radical notion that is subscribed to by the extreme Religious Right
that seeks to undermine our Constitutional guarantees of individual
rights for all groups and freedom of religion.
Contact with them is most often by letters, usually 20-30 per month
there is no waiting office staff to receive calls. These contacts are
reviewed at board meetings, and if legal remedy is necessary, then
these are passed along as referrals to lawyers who can then handle the
cases. The local ACLU is not an enforcement group and does not take
people to court.
Often the serve educationally, answering questions of whether an
activity is in violation or not of the State or Federal Constitution;
sometimes by people who want to make sure they are not going to
violate these before engaging in some practice as well as those who
think their own rights may have been violated.
Often they are able to resolve matters that come to their attention
simply by citing court decisions on these matters, on ACLU letterhead
paper, to the offending party. Frequently these violators are truly
not aware of the laws of the matter and rectify the situation when it
is brought to their attention.
The ACLU was established in 1920 and has historically worked to keep
the the rights, freedoms and lawful practices of the minority from
being trampled by the tyranny of the majority. A large number of those
assisted by them are from “the bottom rungs of society;” those
disenfranchised and discriminated against by more powerful groups and
individuals.
Cases have ranged from those of mandatory drug testing & excessive
force allegations to large data bases of information on citizens and
Internet access/ filtering issues. In this area, perhaps not
surprisingly, a large volume of the matters brought to the board are
Church & State separation issues, especially in the schools. Many
people regard the public schools as Christian and believe that to not
teach this faith is to promote evil, usher in violence and other
societal ills.
This brought us specifically to the topic of school vouchers which is
really just a scheme to get public money to promote religious
education. This is contrary to both the federal and the even more
strict state Constitutions. The myth of this being a way to help poor
families have more school choice was brought up. Basically, the same
families, regardless of income, who would be sending their children to
religious schools, would be assisted by vouchers. The poor “poster
child” would still be precluded from involvement by higher costs in
transportatation and other areas. Also these schools can discriminate
on the basis of religion or other areas.
While there is the pervasive myth that the ACLU is an anti-Christian
group, those who work for this organization are profoundly invested in
maintaining our religious freedoms. It is difficult for some of those
who are in the majority to understand that to not promote one
religious sect’s doctrines in public accomodations is not the same as
denying the free exercise of individual religious beliefs and
practices. The imposition of these on others in public settings is the
problem.
It was mentioned, in this vein, that when the state gets involved in
religion, the authority and control of the denomination is weakened
just as freedoms from others’ religious practices in the public milieu
is compromised. One member said that it is a poor choice to make for
religious institutions to take governmental assistance since this
never comes without “strings attached.”
There was talk of the potential problems that can arise when public
schools are owned by corporations, such as with Charter Academies.
Gun control issues were also talked about, including the clout of the
NRA and the misinterpretation of the Constitution, permitting the
establishment of an armed militia. Problems emerge when the enirety of
the amendment isn’t read.
We talked briefly about the local situation regarding Betsy DeVos and
Governor Engler re: school vouchers, where DeVos tried to not
embarrass the governor t still be true to her influencial voucher-
proponent husband, Richard. Engler saw this as “unwinnable” if put on
the ballot now
Representatives from the ACLU will discuss the voucher system on
December 12 at Fountain Street Church in G.R.; in the Social Hall. The
pro-voucher group, “Kids First” ws invited to speak as well but so far
has not accepted.
Our speakers (Lee and Charles) passed out a Briefing Paper to the
group regarding Church & State issues and frequently asked questions
and replies.
The ACLU has stood for principles that worked against them at times,
and when their position was unpopular. Sometimes the rights they
uphold for all citizens give aid and comfort to those with hate-filled
agendas; such as supporting the free speech and peaceful assembly
rights of such groups as the Ku Klux Klan. – “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the fredom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
First Amendment in the Bill of Rights of our Constitution.
“The framers designed this amendment to guarantee religious freedom,
understanding, as do most church officials today, that once government
becomes involved with religion and acquires the power to promote
religious beliefs, it also acquires the power to suppress them.” From
the ACLU Briefing Paper, #3.
Recorder: Charles LaRue
