Letters, Jun. 5, 1995

AMERICA'S CHRISTIAN CRUSADER

"Ralph Reed may be the right hand of Pat Robertson, but I'll be damned if either one of them is the right hand of God." ROB JOHNSON Mount Vernon, Washington

Thank you for introducing your readers to Ralph Reed, a tough and winsome advocate of a particular kind of theocracy [COVER STORY, May 15]. The trouble with Reed and the Christian Coalition is that while he is a very good diagnostician of the country's ills, he is a menace when it comes to public policy. There is no greater pathology in religion than that of confusing one's own will with God's. As for Americans, for whom so many presume to speak, we need to be wary of the God-is-on-our-side rhetoric. Politicians who worship at the altar of Reed's agenda are in danger of losing their souls. (THE REV.) ALAN JONES, Dean Grace Cathedral San Francisco

We love Reed. we are not that fond of TIME. JOYCE AND JERRY ATWOOD Arlington, Texas

We have much to fear from people who use their religious organizational machine as a club to beat the U.S. government into submission. Spiritual values and beliefs have no place in the affairs of the Republic. Attempts to legislate religion-based issues have perpetrated more evil than anything else in the history of humankind. The progress of civilization requires as a minimum the separation of church and state. ANNABELLE REEVE Oakland, California

Reed describes his Christian Coalition as "the McDonald's of American politics." What a perfect description. They both have a limited menu. ROBERT A. EBERLE Kansas City, Missouri

We should bear in mind the late Senator Sam Ervin's admonition: "When religion controls government, political liberty dies, and when government controls religion, religious liberty perishes." Notwithstanding persistent disclaimers, Reed and the Christian Coalition continue to raise genuine concerns that the powerful Coalition, in the name of one particular religious group, seeks to tamper with an incredibly successful constitutional arrangement between religion and state. DAVID A. HARRIS, Executive Director American Jewish Committee New York City

I did not realize that God is a Republican and an advocate of the Contract with America. As long as these religious groups are transformed into prosperous business organizations parading under the umbrella of theology while basking in a tax-free haven-they must be held accountable to the public. MITCHELL GOLDSTONE Irvine, California

The Christian Coalition and religious conservatives in general are not intolerant extremists but ordinary people who are working together to try to preserve the values that made this country great: faith, family and freedom. As more and more people slowly awaken to the excesses of failed liberal social engineering, they realize that the beliefs and concerns of the Christian Coalition are not extreme but very much like their own. CHRISTOPHER KARAS Lowell, Massachusetts

What kind of pro-family message is Reed promoting when he says he tries to get home often, "even if it's only for a day"? GAIL POLLICITA Plantsville, Connecticut