Christian Home Educators of Kodiak
IMPORTANT LETTER TO ALL HOME SCHOOLERS Dear HSLDA Members & Home Schooling Friends, This is the most important legislative alert we have sent in several years. Please read this letter carefully and respond quickly [and share it with everyone you know]. The long term future of religious freedom in this country hangs in the balance. Congress is poised to pass the Religious Liberty Protection Act (RLPA). It is slated to go through the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution in the next week, and the Subcommittee Chairman is pushing to have the bill passed before the August 9th recess. It is urgent that you call your Congressman and two U.S. Senators today and ask them to OPPOSE the Religious Liberty Protection Act (H.R. 4019 in the House and S. 2148 in the Senate). Many of you may have received a letter from Focus on the Family (also signed by leaders of Christian Coalition, Prison Fellowship, and Family Research Council). Sadly, these groups have taken the opposite position from that of HSLDA. They support the RLPA, as do virtually all the liberal groups in Washington. We oppose the RLPA. It is important to note that those who agree with HSLDA include former Attorney General Ed Meese, Beverly LaHaye (Concerned Women for America), Phyllis Schlafly (Eagle Forum), Don Wildmon (American Family Association), Professor Charles Rice (Notre Dame Law School), Paul Weyrich (Free Congress Foundation), and Rev. Lou Sheldon (Traditional Values Coalition), among many others. In numerous face-to-face meetings, the leaders of the four pro-RLPA organizations have admitted that our constitutional analysis is correct. However, they believe that the ends (hastily advancing religious liberty for some) justify the means (violating the principles of federalism which protect us from an intrusive federal government). It is my sad duty to demonstrate to you that such thinking is wrong. I wish I could be silent and avoid conflict with these good men. But too much is at stake. For home schoolers in particular, a great deal is at stake since the RLPA will leave home schoolers out of the formula for those who can receive protection for religious freedom. None of the individuals signing the pro-RLPA letter have ever litigated a religious freedom case, and none of these groups lobbied for the last major religious freedom bill in Congress. I base my comments on my more than twenty years as a religious freedom constitutional litigator, plus my role as the chairman of the group which wrote the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Please read my arguments carefully and then act according to your own conscience and understanding of the Constitution. There are three reasons why our coalition opposes the RLPA. 1. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM MUST BE FOR EVERYONE, NOT JUST THE FAVORED FEW. The RLPA embraces the unAmerican idea that religious freedom is for some, not all Americans. This discriminatory philosophy leaves home schoolers, other religious individuals, and smaller ministries at a distinct disadvantage. Wealthy and powerful religious institutions receive much greater protection. The RLPA requires a religious liberty claimant to show either: (1) that the precise government program which curtailed his religious liberty was funded by the federal government or (2) that his religious activity substantially affects interstate commerce. Home schoolers can never use the federal funding claim. Indeed, in 1994, we helped pass the Armey Amendment to H.R. 6 which placed a permanent ban on federal involvement in home schooling. And there is no legitimate basis for claiming that the regulation of home schooling by local school districts would have a sufficient impact on interstate commerce to pass muster under the Supreme Court's current decisions. In short, home schoolers are left out of the RLPA's formula to determine who gets protection. The proponents of the RLPA admit that this bill does not extend religious liberty to all. This is not a first step toward a more permanent solution, because they have no plans and no ideas of how to extend religious liberty protection to the rest of us. This is a betrayal of the fundamental American commitment that religious liberty must be for everyone. 2. THE RLPA IS INEFFECTIVE --- IT WILL NOT PROTECT CHURCHES FROM CLAIMS BY HOMOSEXUALS. One has to wonder what kind of religious freedom the sponsors of the RLPA have in mind. Consider the testimony of University of Texas Law Professor Doug Laycock, an author and top legal expert in favor of the RLPA. He was asked whether, if the RLPA were enacted, a church would win if it was sued by a homosexual for refusing to rent a church-owned apartment in a city which had a gay rights ordinance. Laycock said: "My prediction is that the gay rights ordinance prevails." Even in situations involving a church refusing to employ homosexuals as ministers, choir directors, and those who do the religious work of the church, Laycock said, "I am not confident that they [churches] will always win those cases." He made it clear that Christians who own businesses will receive no protection whatsoever for their religious beliefs if they refuse to hire homosexuals in a city that has a gay rights ordinance. One only needs to read the transcript of the testimony of the top pro-RLPA legal expert to learn that Focus on the Family (and the others) were wrong when they wrote: "Under RLPA, Christian bookstores, law firms, and other businesses could claim exemption to a municipal ordinance prohibiting businesses from discriminating against job applicants on the basis of sexual orientation." For a point-by-point critique of the other claims in the Focus letter, visit our website at www.hslda.org. 3. THE RLPA IS DANGEROUS: -- IT LAYS THE POLITICAL FOUNDATION FOR THE TAXING OF CHURCHES. There are substantial forces in our nation who would like to tax churches. Naturally, religious leaders generally oppose this idea. Religious leaders who have embraced the RLPA have embraced the political premise of those who want to tax their institutions. Again, in order to be successful under the RLPA, religious groups will have to prove that their exercise of faith has a substantial impact on interstate commerce. The more that churches prove that they are centers of commerce, the more they position themselves to be subject to taxation. An increasingly secular society may be all too willing to impose taxes on institutions whose commercial activities make them seem more like "Centers of Commerce & Faith" than houses of prayer. We cannot and should not embrace a legal theory that helps the enemies of churches. -- IT CONVERTS THE NATION'S BEST RELIGIOUS FREEDOM LAWYERS INTO ADVOCATES FOR THE LIBERAL CONSTITUTIONAL THEORIES OF BIG GOVERNMENT. Those who argue that it is acceptable to violate the principles of federalism and accept whatever protection may be afforded under the Commerce Clause fail to take into account the role of good lawyers. Good lawyers push the law in the direction that they need it to go to win their case. In fact, they have an ethical duty to do so under the rules for lawyers. Consequently, in order to make it easier to win religious liberty claims, the best lawyers for religious freedom will find it necessary to argue and push for the most liberal theories of Commerce Clause power. What the RLPA proponents seem to ignore is that Commerce Clause decisions affect more than just religious freedom cases. If the liberal theories of federal power are established for one purpose, they will certainly be used for other purposes. Federal regulation of everything in our lives, including federal power to regulate home schooling, is made easier if we push for this liberal theory of the Commerce Clause. One related argument deserves a response. The RLPA proponents argue that using the Commerce Clause to protect religious liberty is justified by the fact that this Clause was also used in the proposed law to ban partial birth abortion. All we need to do is to remember that a doctor who kills a late-term baby for money is at least engaging in a commercial transaction. The only debate is whether it is interstate in character. Under the RLPA, we must prove that our worship of God or acts in obedience to Him are also commercial transactions that are interstate in character. Equating the worship of God with this kind of commercialized killing is legally preposterous and spiritually misguided. I ASK YOU TO DO THREE THINGS: 1. CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND TWO U.S. SENATORS (800-504-0031 or 202-224-3121, the switchboard will connect you). URGE THEM TO VOTE "NO" on the Religious Liberty Protection Act. 2. CALL ONE OF THE FOLLOWING LEADERS AND ASK THEM TO STOP THE RLPA: Newt Gingrich (202-225-0600), Dick Armey (202-225-4000), or Charles Canady (chief sponsor of RLPA and House Constitution Subcommittee Chairman --- 202-225-1252). 3. MAKE AS MANY COPIES OF THIS LETTER AS POSSIBLE [AND DISTRIBUTE THEM TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE YOU CAN THINK OF]. Please ask your pastor to distribute this letter in church ASAP. The taxation of your church may be at stake. Please call us if you have any questions. Visit our website first if you can. Pray more than ever. Pray that we will win. Pray that our relationships with our other fine Christian brothers will be preserved through this season of unfortunate disagreement. I truly covet your prayers. In Christ's service, Michael Farris P.O. Box 3000 Purcellville, Virginia 20134 540-338-5600 www.hslda.org |
