THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 3, 1997 TAG: 9702010013
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 59 lines
With much fanfare, the Christian Coalition announced last week a change in direction. Instead of focusing primarily on issues such as abortion, tuition tax credits for private school and school prayer, it will begin reaching out to inner cities and to the blacks and Latinos who live there. The Coalition now plans to address the issues of poverty, crime and racial reconciliation.
``For too long our movement has been predominantly - frankly, almost exclusively - a white, evangelical movement whose political center of gravity was planted safely in the suburbs,'' conceded Ralph Reed, the Coalition's director.
Truer words were never spoken, and the change of heart and enlarged mission are welcome. But upon close examination, the issues the Christian Coalition has turned its attention to look suspiciously like the same issues it focused on in the past.
This raises the question of whether the change of heart is grounded in a desire to help the less fortunate members of American society or the need to enlarge the base of the Christian Coalition so it can set the national agenda.
Social conservatives, who make up the Christian Coalition, have considerable clout - but not always enough to elect candidates of their persuasion. In Virginia, the birthplace of the Coalition, conservative candidates who were strongly supported by Coalition members have been soundly defeated in election after election. Oliver North, Mike Farris, Jim Miller and the slate of Kids First school board candidates in the inaugural Virginia Beach School Board race, to name a few.
It will take some doing for the Christian Coalition to bring minorities into an organization that many believe is as monochromatic as any country club. Other attempts by the Coalition to broaden its base have fallen flat - its recruitment drive aimed at conservative Catholics comes to mind.
Now, setting its sights on racial minorities, the Coalition is calling for millions of federal dollars to be spent on projects that bear a remarkable resemblance to programs it has always supported: $150 million to teach sexual abstinence to teen-agers, federal aid to states that mandate counseling for couples seeking divorce and federally financed scholarships for students from poor schools to attend private schools.
Apparently unsatisfied with the deductions for charity allowed on federal income-tax returns, the Coalition now wants tax credits of up to $500 for taxpayers who volunteer their time in community-service programs. This proposal is foolishness - expensive foolishness. America has a strong tradition of volunteerism, leading the world in the selfless contribution of free time by its citizens. There is no need to offer tax credits to prod Americans into volunteering, and it seems downright un-Christian to suggest such a thing.
There is also a palpable irony in a bedrock conservative group that has traditionally opposed a large government role now endorsing so many federal programs. Apparently it's not the use of federal money or mandates the Coalition objects to as long as they benefit causes the Coalition approves of.
The Christian Coalition cannot be faulted for wanting to shake its all-white, suburban image or for wanting to aid the disadvantaged. But it will face an uphill struggle to recruit minorities if it fails to develop fresh ideas to address the serious social problems in the inner cities.