Conservative spotlight: Plymouth Rock Foundation

Human Events, Aug 27, 1999 by D'Agostino, Joseph A

The first question that comes to mind about the Plymouth Rock Foundation arises from its location. Why is it in New Hampshire and not Massachusetts?

"The foundation was founded in Plymouth, Mass., in 1970 but moved to New Hampshire in 1977," said Rus Walton, executive director of the group since its move. "We wanted to find a place in Plymouth to stay, but we figured we would be paying more in property taxes than for our monthly mortgage." So like many other refugees from Taxachusetts, Plymouth Rock went to New Hampshire.

The organization remains true to its very specific roots. Walton discussed "the distinction between the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock. The Pilgrim wanted the freedom to practice his religion as he saw fit" The Puritans, he noted, did not allow religious freedom, and Massachusetts had an established religion well into the 19th Century.

"We should not in any case go backward," said Walton, who did work for HUMAN Event's in the 1960s and was secretary of program development in California Gov. Ronald Reagan's administration. "We have progressed. We endorse the Virginia concept of religious freedom."

Plymouth Rock applies Biblical principles to public policy, and does it in a very strict way along the lines of a specific American tradition.

In keeping with that ideological viewpoint, Plymouth Rock opposed the Religious Liberty Protection Act (HR 1691), supported by many Christian groups including the Christian Coalition, that passed the U.S. House of Representatives in July. The foundation's general counsel Neil Markva explained the disagreement with the bill in an article titled "Substituting Religious Tolerance for Religious Liberty"

"Virginia's Religious Freedom Statute, authorized by its constitution and the only one of its kind in America, declares religious liberty to be a `natural right' of mankind and that any act passed to repeal the present act, or to narrow its operation, will be an infringement of natural right," Markva said. "Virginia's Religious Freedom Statute preamble explains and rejects religious toleration: `To suffer [allow] the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he, being of course judge of the tendency, will make his opinions the rule of judgment and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own.'"

Because the Religious Liberty Protection Act says that "government may substantially burden a person's religious exercise if the government demonstrates that application of the burden to the person is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest, and is the least restrictive means," Markva said it is unacceptable. "Freedom is a right," he writes. "What HR 1691 offers is a grant of a privilege."

Plymouth Rock has a publishing arm that reprints "good old books," said Walton, and newer tracts such as one on "Biblical perspectives on current issues." The group has a division called Christian Committees of Correspondence, active around the country in concert with local churches and named after the committees of correspondence that developed at the time of the American Revolution.

The committees' mission: "To promote the Christian world and life view. To apply Biblical principles and precepts to contemporary issues and to restore Biblical ethics and morality as the basis for national standards in America"

Walton even has a Biblical endorsement of the flat tax. "People had to tithe at 10%, regardless of their income," he said.

"We have annual essay contests in which thousands of kids, mostly from Christian schools, compete," he said. "For essay topics, for example, `We hold these truths....' What are these truths? Where do they come from? Why are they inalienable? Are they inalienable?" Plymouth Rock promotes a "Christian Heritage Week" during Thanksgiving. And it holds Christian Heritage conferences.

"We feel that on the whole, the United States of America is deteriorating," said Walton.

Walton and his wife are active in New Hampshire politics as individuals, though the nonprofit foundation must remain aloof. "I suppose it will be [George W.] Bush," said Walton when asked who will win the New Hampshire GOP primary. He bemoaned New Hampshire's drift toward Massachusetts-style tax policies and said, "I wouldn't be surprised if [Bill] Bradley took this state, in the primary and in the general."

Plymouth Rock may be reached at The Fisk Mill, PO. Box 577, Marlborough, N.H. 03455 (800-2101620; e-mail: Info@Plymrock.org; website: www.plymrock.org).