Christian Coalition wins on voter guides

Christian Century, August 11, 1999 by Rns

A federal judge ruled August 2 that the Christian Coalition had the right to distribute voter guides in recent presidential and congressional elections. U.S. District Judge Joyce Green rejected the claims in a 1996 lawsuit by the Federal Election Commission that the coalition's voter guides and get-out-the-vote initiatives were partisan activities aiming to help Republican candidates. Coalition officials viewed the decision as a green light to move ahead with similar efforts.

"This is a tremendous victory for the Christian Coalition and for all pro-family activists who want to become involved in the civic debate," said Pat Robertson, president and founder of the Christian Coalition. "With this ruling, Christian Coalition will be free to carry out a primary mission, to educate millions of pro-family voters and encourage them to go to the polls with our material in their hands. We will continue to release millions of voter guides through houses of worship, over the Internet and in the public square."

However, Judge Green ruled in favor of the FEC on two other matters. She said the coalition in 1994 improperly aided then Representative Newt Gingrich (R., Ga.) and Iran-contra figure Oliver North, who was then the Republican Senate nominee in Virginia. The coalition will have to pay a fine, but the amount will be determined later.

"Pat Robertson and his Christian Coalition have slipped through a legal loophole," said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and a regular Christian Coalition critic. "The decision still provides plenty of evidence that the Christian Coalition is a hardball partisan political operation." FEC officials declined to comment.

In a separate but related matter, the Louisiana branch of the Christian Coalition won a lawsuit against a Louisiana school district. In a ruling issued August 2, a federal judge in New Orleans said the St. Tammany Parish School Board cannot enforce a policy that forbids groups from holding religious meetings at schools when classes are not in session. The lawsuit was filed after the board refused to let the Christian Coalition use school facilities for a prayer meeting.

Also, a Virginia judge ruled July 39 that Regent University, a Christian graduate school founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, does not qualify for tax-exempt construction bonds because its "primary purpose is religious training." Calling the school "pervasively sectarian," Richmond Circuit Court Judge Randy Johnson thwarted its efforts to use $55 million in bond proceeds to pay for construction on its Virginia Beach main campus and to develop a site in Alexandria.

In the ruling, Johnson cited the university's admission and employment policies, which he called clearly religious in nature. "This means that Pat Robertson cannot have Virginia's taxpayers support his ministry," Ayesha Kahn told the Washington Post. Kahn argued against Regent's plans on behalf of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.