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Commentary--Extremist Elements within Christian Right
by Sara Diamond, copyright 1986
Fundamentalist Christians' crusade against homosexuals is no
secret. But elements within the Christian Right--emboldened by
their increasing political clout--are allowing other forms of
intolerance to take hold within their ranks.
A minor scandal ensued back in 1981 when Bailey Smith, then-
President of the Southern Baptist Convention, said that God
doesn't hear the prayer of a Jew. The fundamentalist community
seemed to have cleaned up its act for a few years, but recent
events illustrate a disturbing trend:
**The National Religious Broadcasters, a professional
organization representing 1000 Christian media outfits, allowed
anti-Semitic activists to distribute literature at their February
1986 convention.
Publisher Pat Brooks of New Puritan Library from North
Carolina gave away copies of The Six Pointed Star. "The Jewish
star is the most evil of all symbols," Brooks said as she warned
conventioneers of the "Zionist conspiracy" to deprive Americans
of their tax dollars. Washington D.C. radio broadcaster Dale
Crowley, handed out pamphlets proclaiming that "good Jews
accepted Christ" and urging his colleagues to shun Christians
building alliances with Jews.
**Meanwhile, born-again Superstar Jerry Falwell, in a forum
on Jewish-Christian relations, voiced love and admiration for
the Jewish people, and unequivocal support for Israeli policies
in the Mideast. Falwell received the Jabotinsky Award from former
Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin in 1980. But no more than
five minutes after his talk before the religious broadcasters, he
moved to another room for a press conference on South Africa.
There Falwell taunted a black reporter with "You're biased.
You're obviously with the Jewish media."
**Maranatha Campus Ministries , headed by Bob Weiner with
chapters at about 50 U.S. universitites, distributes a booklet on
"Christian Dominion." Its arguments is that God chose "English-
speaking Teutonic peoples" to come to America and "administer
government among savage and senile peoples" and to "establish a
system where no chaos reigned." One wonders what percentage of
the current U.S. population can trace their ancestry back to this
"chosen race."
**At a July convention sponsored by the Mountain View-based
Coalition on Revival, Concord TV-42 station President Ronald Haus
gave a workshop on using the media to spread Biblical values.
Haus offered advertising tips for Christian TV and radio station
managers in cities with large Jewish populations. Just offer them
cheap ad rates, Haus quipped. "A good Jew likes a good deal."
**TV-42 broadcasts throughout Northern California from
stations in Concord and Fresno. One of the network's in-house
produced programs is "Accent on Health," hosted by Maureen
Salaman, president of the 100,000 member National Health
Federation. Aside from her leading role in the alternative health
movement, Salaman is known nationally as a veteran activist in
Willis Carto's Liberty Lobby. Carto has been described by civil
libertarians as the most notorious anti-Semite and racial
supremacist in the U.S. Last year Carto's Institute for
Historical Review lost a lawsuit to a Long Beach man whose family
was gassed to death at Auschwitz. Carto claims the Nazi Holocaust
never took place.
In 1984 Salaman campaigned as the Vice Presidential
candidate of Carto's electoral front, the Populist Party. Just a
few months ago Salaman led an internal power struggle within the
Populist Party. She came out on the side of Willis Carto against
the less extreme American Independent Party faction. TV-42
President Ronn Haus apparently knows Maureen Salaman only as a
health food expert.
Do these signs indicate that the Christian Right--now
flexing its muscles in the electoral arena--is broadening its
base by moving further toward the fringes of political
acceptability? Historically, fundamentalism has been a breeding
ground for opportunistic racists and anti-Semites, but one might
have hoped that contemporary standards of tolerance would have
changed that tradition.
It's possible that many zealous fundamentalist leaders are
simply too naive to recognize extremism within their own
movement. But if they want to gain any degree of legitimacy
within mainstream America, they're going to have to throw the
proverbial bad apples out of their own barrel.
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