Bush's Religion Policy Must Confront U.S. Political Divide

Dec. 13, 2000 (Newsroom) -- Division among the electorate and in Congress will make it more difficult for George W. Bush's incoming administration to set an agenda for religion issues on both national and international fronts, scholars and activists contend.

"The next administration will have to be able to say to the nation, 'We [Americans] are not enemies, we're diverse,'" argued Bill Merrell, vice president for convention relations for the Southern Baptist Convention's (SBC) executive committee. "This will help the American people see the unity beneath the surface of diversity."

Elliott Mincberg, vice president and general counsel for People for the American Way, emphasized the importance of "common ground" efforts by Bush as courts and legislatures continue to coax workable solutions to conflict over domestic religion policy. He pointed to President Bill Clinton's record as one a future administration might do well to emulate.

Clinton "set a model demonstrating that positive things can be done" in the area of religion, Mincberg remarked, noting the issuance of presidential guidelines on religious expression both in public schools and in the federal workplace.

Citing among other things the outgoing president's "ability to reach across religious lines," Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, argued that Clinton had proved himself "one of the finest presidents in terms of expansion of religious protection and freedom since James Madison."

Others, however, remain unenamored with Clinton's approach to religion issues.

"The mood or tone set by the Clinton administration," contended Merrell of the SBC, "implies certain kinds of speech are not tolerated if they're not supportive" of what are considered liberal issues, like same-sex marriage and abortion. "...Speech directed at the right wing has resulted in the vilifying of religious people, and that's unacceptable.... Setting one segment of the population against another is not honorable." The SBC does not consider itself part of the right wing, he added.

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