Religion can threaten democracy, minister says before speech in Orangeburg
By GERALD MCKINSTRY gmckinst@thejournalnews.com THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: June 12, 2006)
ORANGEBURG — A Long Island minister says religion can be dangerous to democracy when the line between church and state is blurred.
The Rev. Mark J. Lukens, pastor of United Church of Christ in East Rockaway, N.Y., will speak this week about the dangers of religion influencing government.
The Rockland Coalition for Democracy and Freedom, a group that for the past decade has discussed topical issues relating to the Bill of Rights and First Amendment, will host the discussion at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Orangetown Town Hall.
"These days, we're witnessing a breakdown of the wall between church and state," he said. "When those lines get blurred, we tend to move toward a more theocratic state."
Lukens said if this trend continued, it could spawn intolerance and threaten civil liberties.
"That's the kind of thing we want to guard against in this country," Lukens said. "We want to act as counter-voices of the religious right."
The minister, whose family founded Camp Venture, said intolerance has become more evident in this country with federal funding for faith-based initiatives and preferential provisions in Head Start programs.
Lukens also said proposed laws that would allow religious leaders to endorse elected officials or donate church funds to candidates were problematic.
"Right now, we have a number of things happening," he said. "Those kinds of trends are very dangerous and undermine our democracy."
Arnie Walton, a coalition board member, said elected officials too often make decisions based on religion. "Religion should be practiced," he said, "but it's not governing."
Walton, a retired religion producer for CBS News who lives in South Nyack, said there is great value in social services provided by religious groups, but the government should not give them preferential treatment.
Helen Lipovsky, president of the 300-member coalition, said the discussion was especially topical.
The New City woman said the religious right has affected President Bush's policies and said religious views creep into the county Legislature's debates any time funding for Planned Parenthood is discussed.
As recently as this week, Lipovsky said, funding for a public library in Ramapo was affected by religious bloc voting.
"We're not anti-religious at all," she said. "We just feel the Founding Fathers were very clear about the separation of church and state."
It sounds like some people in the Christian community have their heads screwed on straight on this issue. That is encouraging. Too bad that the Evangelicals do not.
