Community Views

Editor's Notebook

The Religious Right
Is Killing Your School

Changing The Pace
For Only A Moment

RICHARD LOBENTHAL SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

ALAN HITSKY ASSOC ATE ED TOR

nity is as guilty as any other.
In the meantime, plans are
afoot to dismantle public educa-
tion, to impose religion in the
school, to require your children
to either pray publicly or single
themselves out as "non-believ-
ers," and to permit the state of
Michigan to segregate its school
population. Segregate? How
about fragment and continue un-
abated at full speed?
The governor told us about it
in his State of the State speech;
he went further by imposing one
of his cohorts over the State
Board of Education and went fur-
thest through an organization
called Teach Michigan, which has
just commissioned a multi-mil-

lion dollar public relations cam-
paign to convince the minority of
Michigan voters who do show up
at the polls that public prayer,
aid to religion and making edu-
cation look like a shattered drop
of mercury is all a good idea.
The ultimate coup de grace is
doing away with any standards

The attack from the
Right will hurt us.

whatsoever for educational
achievement. As Phil Power stat-
ed in a Feb. 2 column in the Ob-
server and Eccentric," ... I can't
imagine a better recipe for a full-
blown dumbing down of our
schools than a system ... without
any ... assessing ... learning per-
formance, and where our kids
leave school for the job market
without the discipline of mini-
mum standards for learning ..."
It's one thing to imagine that

as the public schools disintegrate,
Jews will just move over to pri-
vate schools that might be more
accommodating, but what of our
historic self-interested commit-
ment to public education? What
of the public school's role in ex-
posing children to a larger envi-
ronment than just their own
living rooms filled with other chil-
dren only like themselves? What
of learning to co-exist with dif-
ferences? What of the benefits we
derive from that system?
What of protecting a democ-
ratic America — the only system
to date where Jews and other mi-
norities have been supported and
thrive? And are we really better
off paying our taxes to support an

educational system that pro-
motes teaching children that they
are better off than others because
of their religion or their race?
A couple of hundred years ago,
Alexis de Toqueville marveled at
Americans' ability to relate to one
another in spite of their funda-
mental differences; at the same
time, he warned about the
"tyranny of the majority." Thirty
or so years ago, William Eben-
stein warned that democracies
suspend constitutional guaran-
tees and vote in fascism when
they perceive themselves under
a severe threat.
America is at the crossroads
now, and Michigan is a leader in
responding. Which way will we
go?
As I said at the outset, I'm
scared. And while it may be my
job to shrei gevalt and point to the
portents, we Jews have always
survived by considering one very
crucial question: "What if he's
right?" Now is no different. ❑

Hey, friend. Re-
But none of us take the time
lax. This will be to pamper ourselves with a lit-
done on time. tle time. Even our vacations are
Take a load off. frenetic. If This Is Tuesday, It
Put your feet up. Must Be Belgium was not a ma-
You've earned it. jor Hollywood success a few
After all, it's years ago, but the title had most
been a rough Americans nodding in agree-
week.
ment.
Remember
Another car story: We drove
that kid driving down the to Chicago for a weekend get-
street? He couldn't wait. He away. I made the mistake of ar-
wouldn't slow down or give you riving late on a Friday afternoon
a break. Well, he did give you in the middle of rush hour. It
an obscene gesture as he went was an amazing experience.
barreling by, in daddy's car, only
Here I am, inching along four
to stop 100 feet later at the red lanes of bumper-to-bumper-
light. So what was the hurry? packed freeway. I should have
After all, he doesn't have your been proud of all the Detroit-de-
schedule.
signed metal in my way, but
Does he get up at 6 a.m. to ex- that wasn't the mood. Then I
ercise, make breakfast and found a diversion — people-
school lunches for the children, watching.
speed out the door to beat the
As we inched along, I started
morning rush, and put in eight to laugh as driver after driver
or more hours each day to put looked for an opening, edging
bread on the table?
into space that I still_firmlyle-
The pace doesn't slacken af- lieve was non-existent, just to
ter work, either. Carpools for the gain a few feet on the next guy.
children, dinner and dishes, pay If someone was able to accom-
the bills, catch the tube, turn out plish that three or four times
the lights and prepare to do it over a 30-minute period (with-
all over again.
out denting fenders), he was
I'm getting tired just think- lucky. And what did it accom-
ing about this.
plish? Thirty or 40 feet?
So I've come up with a better
Even if I thought the goal was
idea: Think gentle thoughts ... silly,. few others did. Everybody
Michigan summers ... sailboats was doing that freeway dance.
wat 'nth ... sunshine.
It must be a Chicago macho
Notice that I didn't say PTA thing. But then, so are Da
or synagogue meetings, doing Bears.
the laundry, going shopping,
For one of the few times in
painting that bedroom or fixing my life, my reaction to that
a leaky faucet? They'll wait.
stressful situation, that rush-
Let's go back to putting up our hour crawl, was to laugh. And
feet ... listening to music ... or read- I'm sure that I've remembered
ing a good book. Think warm ... that episode over the years be-
think sunshine ... think slow. When cause laughing was the right
was the last time? When did you last thing to do.
make the time?
• In this age of rush (rush hour,
It's too easy to get caught up Rush Limbaugh, rush a frater-
in the rat race. We're all a part nity), we have forgotten how to
of it to some degree. But the peo- relax. If you think I'm wrong,
ple I remember best through the just look at your schedule, pop-
many periods of my life are the ular music, movies and televi-
ones able to set a quieter pace, sion.
who seemed satisfied with what
Look at the divorce rate,
they were, where they were and crime rate and your heart rate.
what they had.
Was the world better in the
Many were older. Maybe they good old days? I doubt it. There
had to experience the race first were fewer choices, but work
to know when to get off. Or still had to be done and life still
maybe they had fewer respon- had to be lived.
sibilities to families and others
If the pace is faster today,
so they had more time to give to then it becomes even more im-
themselves.
portant to stop for a few min-
I'm not arguing that we must utes to recharge the batteries.
fast-forward the VCR of human
For some, it's a good book, or
life. Nor can I, in good con- classical music, or yoga, or syn-
science or unconscious, not give agogue services.
credit to the many who toil for
For me, well, I'm thinking of
the betterment of us all. Many green grass and sunshine and
wonderful people volunteer sailboats.
countless hours of their time
Hey boss, my chair is back,
each week, serving on commit- my feet are on the desk and my
tees, working on projects or eyes are closed because I'm do-
events to make our community ing research for this article.
a better place. No, I am not Honest!
chastising anyone for that.

1

❑

FCDrIU HR T

As I looked for a
different topic to
write about, my
mind kept return-
ing to my last
viewpoint article
— "fixated" might
be more accurate.
I realized the rea-
son for the fixation:
Simply put, I am very frightened.
While the mean-spiritedness,
divisiveness and duplicity of the
Religious Right have been the
subject of this and numerous oth-
er columns, articles, books and a
myriad of communications, I
don't get the feeling that a whole
lot of people are listening.
I know the Jewish communi-
ty would sit up and
take notice if a col-
umn said: "We can
prove a grand con-
spiracy of bigots or-
ganized to deprive
Jews of their rights,
to disenfranchise
them from numerous
public roles and to
change the Constitu-
tion so as to impose
regulations on their
beliefs and private
practices."
When that con-
spiracy says, "We're
not bigots," and,
'We're God-fearing,"
Jews have remained
complacent.
Make no mistake:
there is nothing reli-
gious about the Reli-
gious Right; it's a
political movement
designed to destroy
separation of church
and state, to impose a
theocratically in-
spired code of conduct
on private behavior and to su-
perimpose a convoluted distor-
tion of "Christianity" upon the
American public.
Jews will suffer from that
along with others, including
Christians who disagree with the
tenets of the Religious Right. And
the majority of Americans, the
well over 50 percent who decline
to participate in obligations of a
democracy such as voting, are
helping it along — no, allowing
it to happen!
While numerous overlapping
coalitions of concerned citizens
are seeking ways to respond, the
corollary is what always happens,
especially from liberals and mod-
erates: self-aggrandizing "turf
wars," duplication in the name of
institutional politics and public
relations and public pronounce-
ments in lieu of substantive hard
work. Sadly, the Jewish commu-
Richard Lobenthal is the director
of the Anti-Defamation League
in Michigan.