THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410070650
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Competing religious voices on Thursday swapped charges of bigotry as an organization dedicated to unmasking ``the radical right's use of religion . .
A half-dozen religious leaders, joined under the banner of The Interfaith Alliance, urged repudiation of some political statements and tactics used by The Christian Coalition, televangelist Pat Robertson, Lynchburg evangelist Jerry Falwell and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Oliver L. North.
Those individuals are ``promoting intolerance and bigotry under the guise of what they call a Christian agenda,'' said the Rev. Melvin O. Marriner, pastor of Grove Baptist Church in Portsmouth, at a news conference.
``The use of biblical language does not grant moral superiority. . . . Using God's name to assert moral superiority over others is an abuse of religious principles,'' Marriner said.
``The religious right claims to speak for all religious people,'' added Dr. Nan Brown, pastor of The Way of the Cross Baptist Church in Palmyra. ``But the message they are sounding on the political stage has little of the healing force that is religion at its best.''
Michael Russell, spokesman for the Christian Coalition, called those claims ``an effort to demonize the religious conservative movement.''
``The Christian Coalition has never suggested nor implied that people who disagree with our views on public policy are somehow less Christian,'' he said.
Russell accused The Interfaith Alliance, a Washington-based group that was formed in July, of waging a ``Democrat-funded, Democrat-controlled smear campaign against people of faith.''
Jill Hanauer, national director of the alliance, acknowledged that the $200,000 raised by the group includes a $25,000 gift from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Hanauer's resume includes a stint as deputy political director for Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992.
But she said the alliance sought contributions from three national Republican groups, as well as comparable Democratic organizations. The national vice chairman of the group, Dr. Robert Meneilly, a Kansas minister, has publicly identified himself as a Republican, and Hanauer said she has ``no idea'' about the political affiliations of other members, she said.
The alliance will not endorse candidates or promote a particular political agenda, Hanauer said. In sermons and media appearances, the group aims to defuse the notion that the religious right speaks for the religious community, she said.
Russell, who put the Coalition's membership at 1.4 million, said the alliance's purpose is to ``tar the name of good people.''
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES ISSUES
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