From: Interfaith Working Group Subject: IWG Inquirer letter Date: Sun, 22 Dec 1996 00:50:48 -0500 (EST) The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 3 congregations, 5 religious organizations and 36 clergy from 12 faiths and denominations. If you are in the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in other areas. December 21, 1996 The Philadelphia Inquirer PO Box 8263 Phila., PA 19101 Dear Editors: Chris Satullo's opinion on the correct response to religious bigots who have been elected to school boards was both a serious underestimation of the problem and a trivialization of their religious beliefs. Anyone who has read the stories in the Inquirer about Merrimack, NH and Elizabethtown, PA, should realize that elected officials who sincerely believe that school board policies must confirm to their own religious beliefs can damage a community; they do not require "magic powers," as Mr. Satullo so glibly put it. They have the authority to pass policy. In school boards around the country we have seen policies upholding one-father/one-mother families as the only correct family structure, implementing fear-based sex- education, forbidding the teaching of evolution or mentioning homosexuality, and preventing schools from offering counseling services. These policies do not occur in a vacuum; they are authored by organizations like Focus on the Family, Citizens for Excellence in Education and Concerned Women for America. These groups exist primarily to disrupt public education and encourage its replacement by religious schools. They are driven not primarily by hate but by a genuine desire to institute what they see as a better model for society, and they have considerable resources at their disposal. Such people should not be confused with bored teenagers who are angry with the world and want to smash something. The correct response to such a threat is to fully educate the public. In an environment where media attention is given only to those who make policy, who can afford advertising, or who hold demonstrations and wave signs, demonstrations are a necessary component of information campaigns for minority organizations. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators