Don’t believe everything you read.

This week I was forwarded an e-mail by a parishioner. It described an outrageous situation that she was concerned about. The message had a picture of a number US soldiers with their heads bowed in prayer and the text said that the ACLU was upset about this and wanted to ban prayer in the military.

This isn’t the first critique I’ve heard of the ACLU. I remember a member of a Christian campus group from my college days describing them as a group which had been “…established solely for the perpetuation of sin.” I’ve seen another e-mail suggesting that the ACLU wants to remove all cross-shaped grave markers from military cemeteries.

These messages are internet hoaxes. In an effort to defame the ACLU some people have started untrue stories complete with non-existent officials giving fictitious quotes. The stories make it into the hands of innocent people who trust the lie and are outraged enough to circulate them. (You can find more about these stories and many other internet hoaxes on the websites that keep track of hoaxes, urban myths, etc. My favorite is at www.snopes2.com)

The American Civil Liberties Union is a non-governmental organization established in 1917 which has been active in hundreds of legal cases. They have taken many controversial positions and I suspect it would be hard to find anyone who agrees with them 100% of the time (though most people probably agree with them on at least some of their positions.) They are often in the news for supporting (among other things) antidiscrimination laws, free speech rights, and the separation of church and state.

The ACLU’s positions on religion in American life seem excessive to me, but they grow out of noble roots. Their concern is that minority religions are not trampled by the larger and more influential religions. They have a good point. There have been many laws and court decisions in American history that have been overtly anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, anti-Native religions, etc. When we have assumed that America is a nation for Christians (usually meaning Protestants) we have often committed shamefully un-Christian acts against those who are different.

The ACLU defends the right of every person to worship as they choose in private life, but wants religion kept out of the public sphere. I think this is the right cause but the wrong strategy. I would rather see all religious speech accepted equally in the public arena than no religious speech. As a person of deep Christian faith I honestly think that the only position I can take is to guard my neighbor’s right to worship as zealously as I guard my own. If others are to be converted it must be by a sincere appreciation of what my faith has to offer, not because the government has decided to favor Christianity over all other faiths.

As for the ACLU, I do understand people finding them obnoxious, but they aren’t the force of evil some would make them out to be. If Christians are going to take issue with them it should be over things they have actually said and done, not because someone has started a false rumor. Bearing false witness against our neighbor is never a good option.