by Edd Doerr
Published in "Church and State", March/April, 2000
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the
difference.
-- Robert Frost,
The Road Not Taken
Whether 2000 marks the end of one century or the beginning of another is of no significance
whatsoever. This year will be crucial for the future of church-state separation, one of the most
important features of a free democratic county.
By summer the U.S. Supreme Court will decide four major cases. The first involves certain tax-paid aid to sectarian private schools in Louisiana. The Court's decision could influence the
outcome of the national drive to get massive tax support for nonpublic schools through tuition
vouchers or tax credits.
The second case involves school-sponsored prayer at athletic events in Texas and also could have
national significance. The latest gimmick of the school-prayer lobby is "nondenomination,
nonproselytizing, student-sponsored" prayer - a mythical beast in the imagination of Christian
Coalition lawyers.
The third case to be decided by the High Court deals with late-term dilation and extraction
(D&X) abortions in Nebraska. The campaign against what have been misnomered "partial birth"
abortions attempts to have politicians dictate medical decisions and increases risks for women in
certain problem pregnancy cases.
Finally, the Court is expected to rule on a New Jersey case about whether the Boy Scouts of
America - which receives various government aid - may violate state anti-discrimination laws.
The rights at stake here not only affect gays but nontheists and religious dissenters.
On the state level, a challenge to Florida's school voucher plan is underway - not long after an
Ohio judge ruled Cleveland's plan unconstitutional, in the tradition of existing U.S. Supreme
Court precedents. If the issue of vouchers reaches the High Court this year, Republican
appointees - William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas - could force a move away
from the sound positions of such past justices as William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, and
Harry-Blackmun.
Michigan voters will face a religious right-sponsored initiative this fall aimed at repealing the
amendment added to the state constitution in 1970 (which I helped write and campaigned for) that
bars all tax aid to sectarian private schools. Other battles will break out in Congress and several
state legislatures over vouchers and other schemes to divert public funds to nonpublic schools.
Religious right activists in Kansas and other states are continuing their campaigns to drive
evolution out of public school science classes and install some version of creationist dogma. The
campaigns are part of a new effort taking shape to promote teaching about religion in public
schools. While comparative religion studies may be a good idea in theory, in practice it is almost
certain to result in unfairness, imbalance, and some degree of indoctrination. Even organizations
that have endorsed the idea in theory are very nervous about how to carry it out properly.
Also in 2000, the campaign to further limit or do away with the right of every woman to decide
for herself if and when to become a mother will continue unabated. Although Roe v. Wade may
be safe for the time being, the U.S. Supreme Court itself has allowed Congress and individual
states to bridle the right to choose through waiting periods, mandatory "counseling," burdensome
parental notifications, and other gimmicks. The number of abortion providers has shrunk, thanks
in part to campaigns of intimidation aimed at physicians and other clinic personnel, and
reproductive health services are therefore becoming less accessible to the neediest women.
Looming over all else are the federal and state elections. Whoever occupies the White House
next January will have the opportunity to fill at least three U.S. Supreme Court seats. The
probably Republican nominee, Texas Governor George W. Bush, has already stated publically
that his favorite Supreme Court justices are Scalia and Thomas, so we should expect a second
President Bush to try to clone them - truly a frightening possibility.
Whoever controls the U.S. Senate will influence federal judicial appointments. Will this year's
elections give us a Senate that will fill the courts with judges dedicated to civil liberties or with
judges pleasing to Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and John Paul II?
Regrettably, the large and powerful religious right political movement has transformed U.S.
politics. The movement has largely captured the Republican party and badly distorted the political
process - to the great annoyance of even many moderate and traditional Republicans. This year's
elections could be even more important than those of 1800, 1860, 1900, or 1980.
Edd Doerr
Edd Doerr is president of the American Humanist Association, executive director
of Americans for Religious Liberty, a founding member of the Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Choice, and the author or coauthor of numerous books and articles on church-state separation and First Amendment liberties.