Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 16:30:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Purdom Subject: IWG letter on Lou Sheldon hearings: The following will be faxed out Monday on IWG letterhead listing 2 congregations, 4 religious organizations, and 14 clergy: October 2, 1995 The Honorable Peter Hoekstra U.S. House of Represenatives Fax: 202-225-0779 Dear Representative Hoekstra: Congress should be holding hearings about the undue influence that Radical Religious Right groups like the Traditional Values Coalition have on our local, state, and national government; their perverted attempts to destroy our Constitution and religious liberties; about why students who are taught that Genesis is science can't compete in the modern world; about the number of AIDS victims who have died for lack of condoms, sex education, and research funding; about the number of children who have killed themselves because they were denied counseling; and about the number of people who have been beaten to death for their race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation in an environment of intolerance and hatred fueled by the multimedia empires of Pat Robertson and James Dobson. If we're going to start investigating school districts, let's start with the ones controlled by the Christian Coalition; like Merrimack, New Hampshire, where the students are denied counseling and school board meetings are closed to the public; like Ecru, Mississipi, where Lutheran children are stoned and called "devil worshipers" for opposing forced prayer; and like the North Penn district in Pennsylvania where the Republican Party has finally dropped support for the Religious Right school board member whose highly-publicized anti-Semitic remarks were later sprayed on the walls of a local synagogue. The Radical Religious Right is one of the greatest threats this country has ever faced, and queer youth are their first and easist target. Stand with the victims. Tell Lou Sheldon, "No hatred. No holocaust. No hearings." Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators