THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994                TAG: 9408120020
SECTION: COMMENTARY               PAGE: J6   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   45 lines

PAT ROBERTSON ON CHURCH AND STATE

In his letter ``Robertson seeks equal access to debate'' (July 25), Gene Kapp, CBN vice president of public relations, blasts an Anthony Lewis column for being ``insulting and distasteful.'' He accuses Mr. Lewis of attempting to ``distort the true beliefs of religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.''

Mr. Kapp states that Pat Robertson ``strongly endorses the separation of church and state.'' Is this the same Pat Robertson who previously called this separation ``a lie of the Left''? When Pat Robertson urges his television viewers to order a free ``fact sheet'' called ``Church & State: America's Myth of Separation,'' is his intent to strengthen the wall of separation?

In 1971, the Supreme Court case Lemon vs. Kurtzman gave birth to what is now frequently called the Lemon Test. This court decision set a judicial three-part standard that attempts to determine if a statute violates church-state separation. In brief, if the statute does not have a secular purpose, or if it fosters excessive entanglement between church and state, or if its primary effect is to advance or inhibit religion, it then fails the Lemon Test of constitutionality.

In a March 30 ``700 Club'' television broadcast, Pat Robertson shared his feelings with us concerning the use of Lemon Test as a basis for determining the church-state separation constitutionality of a law. He stated that the Lemon Test is ``like a ghoul that should have been buried and keeps coming back to haunt us year after year after year.''

Mr. Kapp accuses Mr. Lewis of bigotry and use of hateful language. Perhaps Mr. Lewis is supposed to learn from the example set by Pat Robertson of how to be a kinder, gentler, more open-minded citizen. Pat Robertson states in his 1991 book, The New World Order, that only Christians and Jews should be appointed to public office. Oh, well, I'm sure he meant well.

And when Pat Robertson asserted in his book that Jimmy Carter and George Bush were ``carrying out the mission of a tightly knit cabal whose goal is a new world order for the human race under the domination of Lucifer,'' I'm sure he meant that in a loving way.

JOHN N. COLE

Chesapeake, July 25, 1994 by CNB