The Anti-Defamation League chastised a school-board candidate because she wrote to pastors appealing for support as a "Christian engaging the culture."
In reply, the Illinois Family Institute condemned the ADL for ostracizing people "who bring a traditional Christian or religious worldview to the public debate."
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"They fear greater involvement of faith-based conservatives in politics, and obviously have singled out Leslie Pinney because, like President Bush, she talks honestly about her faith rather than hiding it in the closet," said Peter LaBarbera, IFI's executive director.
Linney, a candidate for the District 214 School Board in Arlington Heights, Ill., wrote to local pastors in a March 3 letter:
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"Controversial political issues are being taught and those students with conservative, Christian positions are being labeled as intolerant and hate-filled. We must hang on to our freedoms and our children must not be wronged for their Biblical beliefs. … My position … [would be] one of bringing my Christian beliefs into all decision-making while on the board. This means carefully weighing all decisions and votes, praying about them … and providing the best stewardship of the tax dollars the community provides to us."
In response, Daniel Elbaum, Midwest Civil Rights Counsel for the ADL, warned Pinney in a March 17 letter "that appeals to voters should never be based on race, religion, or national origin."
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"Such appeals are inherently divisive and foster the notion that a candidate's race, religion or national heritage can somehow substitute as a shorthand summary of a candidate's qualifications," Elbaum said. " … We urge you to refrain from political appeals based on religious faith."
LaBarbera insisted Pinney did nothing wrong by informing potential supporters of her faith perspective.
He charged that the ADL letter is "part of the Left's long campaign to intimidate Christians and other people of faith from involvement in the public square by misapplying Jefferson's 'separation-of-church-and-state' doctrine."
"How can it be that our tax-funded public schools have become 'safe zones' for radical secular ideologies such as the teaching of values-free sex-ed and the celebration of homosexuality, yet religion must be locked out of our schools?" he said. "Such thinking would have been alien to our founding fathers, who championed the role of Christianity in government and aimed for freedom of religion -- not freedom from religion."
