The Christian Coalitions "Contract With the American Family" – An Analysis
By Steve Watkins
In the middle of May, 1995, the Christian Coalition, the brainchild of TV religionist Pat Robertson, introduced with much fanfare its "Contract With the American Family" for consideration by the 1995 Congress. The Coalition declared that the adoption of this Contract would stabilize American society and reintroduce morality and virtue to a society seemingly out of control.
This analysis of certain points in the "Contract With the American Family" attempts to discover what type of morality and virtue is being promoted by the Christian Coalition, and discern whether that morality possesses any kinship to the morality and virtue espoused by the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
A strong case is made in the "Contract With the American Family" for the abolition of public support through the appropriation of public funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Christian Coalition has steadfastly denounced the Corporation for Public Broadcasting because, they charge, it espouses liberal humanistic doctrine, assaults traditional Christian values, and promotes deviant lifestyles. If the public subsidies for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are abolished, according to the Christian Coalition, then a deep and sinister threat to American society will have been thwarted.
Problems exist with this scenario, however. One of the best known activities undertaken by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is the production of Sesame Street. This remarkably durable and almost universally loved program has taught a whole generation of children how to read, write, and understand concepts. If the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is abolished, then Sesame Street can be expected to die, too, along with the beloved children`s activities it has engaged in for over twenty-five years. What could be expected to take its place casts an ironic pall over the banner of family values trumpeted by the Christian Coalition. We might very well expect that the vacuum which would be created by the massacre of Sesame Street would be filled with the programming of media magnate Rupert Murdock, who has shamelessly courted the votes and influence of House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Would such programming include the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and those notable champions of family values-Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210?
Another case is made in the "Contract With the American Family" for the elimination of the Legal Services Corporation whose activities, the Contractors claim, lead to the breakdown of families and the possible proliferation of abortions. The Christian Coalition would argue that the elimination of this program would reverse the imminent demise of the American family and the moral collapse of American society. William Mackenzie, writing in the Dallas Morning News, recently took issue with such a stance by pointing out that the Legal Service Corporation helps many poor women through the legal maze they are confronted with in filing such simple legal documents as cease and desist orders to abusive husbands, obtaining information to set up bank accounts and other documents necessary to start new lives, even such simple information such as understanding tenants rights. Mr. Mackenzie also pointed out how some of the activities of the Legal Service Corporation seemed clearly directed at the preservation of families rather than their dissolution. The Christian Coalition professes to believe, however, that such an organization, which advocates justice and helps the poor with legal issues, represents a dire and direct threat to its concept of our Christian faith. What kind of Bible have they been reading from?
Judging from the Coalition`s position on these issues, its concept of what Christianity represents actually takes the form of advocacy for the privileged and powerful as over against the underprivileged and powerless! They seem to hold that certain groups possess the right, yes, the responsibility, to enforce certain ideologies as the only means of true expression in a democratic society. The situation with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting demonstrates the hypocrisy of the Christian Coalition on this issue. The Coalition seems eagerly willing to sacrifice an organization that performs important "family values" service to American society in order to aid and abet a foreigner whose reputation is one of stooping to any low in order to enhance his media empire.
Clearly, the agenda of the Religious Right shares more in common with the Medieval Roman Catholic Church and the first-century Sadducees of Judea than with the concepts and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus consistently reached out to the poor and afflicted of his day. He faithfully ministered to the beggars, lepers, and outcasts of Judean society. He courageously championed their causes to the wrath and consternation of those in power. He bravely denounced societies who advocated privileges for the few to the exclusion of freedom and justice for the many.
It is hard to believe that Jesus could feel at home with those who back the "Contract With the American Family."
Steve Watkin is an adjunct instructor in English at the Tarrant County Junior College South Campus in Fort Worth. He holds the Master of Divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and a Master of Arts in Teaching English from Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas.
