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attacks on religious organizations The NEA can't hide its malice toward religious organizations in Resolution C-14 (2000), which condemns "extremist" groups. According to NEA publications,1 the extremists "include groups or parents with a conservative religious affiliation who criticize the public schools for one reason or another."2 The NEA specifically warns against groups like Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, Family Research Council, Christian Coalition, American Family Association, Focus on the Family, and the Traditional Values Coalition. More religious angst appears in an NEA newsletter called In Brief. Here, the NEA defines the "radical right" as "a wide range of groups including free-market conservatives, anti-government and anti-union ideologues, and religious fundamentalists with a political agenda."3 Then the NEA charges that "radical right extremists…would exclude and devalue people who are poor, people of color, and people who are in any way different from them." According to the NEA, "the ultimate aim of the extreme right is the destruction of public education in America." The union further categorizes the "right wing" as "religious zealots and blatantly racist hate groups" that work on the local and national level as a "well-organized network of activist organizations, think tanks, and private foundations." In an apparent attempt to neutralize this "radical right" the NEA supports a number of groups that openly attack religious organizations. One such group is People for the American Way (PAW), which received $654,000 from the NEA during the past decade.4 According to their own website, PAW "monitors the power of right-wing groups, documenting their connections, funding, and reporting on their political influence." They warn that "right-wing organizations come in all shapes and sizes, from think tanks to legal groups, local and national lobbying organizations, foundations and media forums. At any given moment, the Right is at work in our public school systems, courthouses, in Congress and state assemblies…promoting regressive policies that seek to drive wedges between and among Americans." PAW refers to organizations like the American Family Association, Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, National Right to Life Committee, and Traditional Values Coalition as the "radical right" that seeks to divide America, destroy public education, and persecute homosexuals. Their website also implies a "vast right-wing conspiracy" by observing that "these often single-issue groups have the ability to create multi-issue networks that can respond on a wide range of issues." Showcasing signs of "conspiracy" paranoia, they boast of a library that catalogs "over 800 groups and almost 300 individuals documenting their activities and providing information about their efforts to reshape society." The National Organization of Women (NOW) is another group that receives financial support from the NEA while condemning many religious groups.5 Regarding legislation to define marriage as the union of a man and woman, NOW levels the following charge: "This anti-gay and anti-marriage initiative comes from the same right-wing crowd that claims to be pro-marriage and pro-family. This mean-spirited attempt at enshrining marriage discrimination in the Constitution reveals that their true agenda is not marriage and family promotion but discrimination and exclusivity."6 The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) authored a study called Report on the Religious Right in Washington State,7 which takes aim at groups like the American Family Association, Christian Coalition, and Focus on the Family. The report was financially supported by the WEA (along with the Lesbian and Gay Rights Project of the ACLU Foundation). Frieda Takamura of the WEA and GLSEN is also mentioned as a research assistant for the project. The ACLU report also promotes a publication called What's Left After the Right: A Resource Manual for Educators,8 by Dr. Janet L. Jones. The manual was written for the WEA and funded by the NEA.9 Its stated goal is to provide basic background information about the "Far Right Movement" and "stimulate more in depth investigations of the Righteous Right." Religious conservatives are colored as "extremists," and Dr. Jones claims that these and other critics of public education are self-serving, power seeking, out for revenge, or seeking financial gain.10 After the Right also mentions several "ultra-conservative" organizations as supposed enemies of public education: textbook critics Mel and Norma Gabler, the Heritage Foundation, Pro-Family Forum, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, the American Freedom Coalition, and the National Association of Christian Educators/Citizens for Excellence in Education. Jones then attacks "the philosophical foundation of ultra-conservatism" while identifying the following causes that receive conservative support: home schooling, traditional family rights, creationism, American patriotism, right to life, and school prayer. Much like PAW, the ACLU fears that groups like the Christian Coalition and Focus on the Family "have built a powerful political apparatus -- a network of national and local organizations, mailing lists, media, and training schools, with an ability to mobilize followers quickly."11 The ACLU also observes that the Christian Coalition "is structured like a political party, organized to exert influence from the precinct to the national level." Ironically, this description would fit the NEA and it's affiliates if not for one major difference -- teachers are forced to pay for politics, while the Christian Coalition gives its members a choice. 1 See the following publications: Janet L. Jones, Ed.D., What
's Left After the Right? A Resource Manual for Educators; Brian K.
Baker, Censorship in public schools, NJEA Review, May 1997; Deanna
R. Duby, Attacks on Public Education & the Radical Right, NJEA
Review, April 1996; Bargaining Protection for Public Education: Resource
Manual, Michigan Education Association, 1996; Primer on the Extremist
Attacks on Public Education, California Teachers Association, Prepared
by: CTA Human Rights Department and CTA Division of Government Relations;
The Radical Right, Ohio Education Association Mega Conference, March
3-5, 1995; CAPE: Combat Attacks on Public Education, Illinois Education
Association, 1996; and The Real Story Behind 'Paycheck Protection' The
Hidden Link Between Anti-Worker and Anti-Public Education Initiatives:
An Anatomy of the Far Right, NEA, Washington, DC, 1998. |