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RELIGIOUS FREEDOM page 117

private devotions supported as a
matter of public policy.
But the problem for Jewish
groups is this: with religious
right forces displaying a growing
political sophistication and the
American public increasingly ea-
ger for a more values-centered
approach to government, arcane
constitutional debates about
church-state separation come
across as petty and hollow.
"We end up sounding like a
bunch of lawyers arguing fine
constitutional points that only
other lawyers care about," said
a prominent Jewish activist who
will play a part in opposing the
Istook amendment. "We haven't
done a good job explaining to or-
dinary Americans that we're not
anti-religion, we're just opposed
to changes in the law that would
inevitably give rise to a kind of
coercive religious expression by
the majority."

CJ

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Christian right forces in the
capital may still need a remedi-
al education in religious plural-
ism, but they have learned the
art of political packaging.
More and more, they are fram-
ing their arguments in terms of
broad moral concerns, not nar-
row sectarian dogma. You don't
hear a lot of talk these days
about America's heritage as a
"Christian nation"; groups such
as the Christian Coalition try to
speak only of "Judeo-Christian"
values, even when they are
speaking of much narrower
Evangelical doctrine. Of course,
they always omit the values of
millions of Americans who are
neither Jewish nor Christian.
Conservative legislators like
Mr. Istook are increasingly will-
ing to compromise when crafting
their proposals to get what the
current political climate will al-
low and then to move on to the
next level. The name of Mr. Is-
took's measure alone — the reli-
gious freedom amendment, not
the "school prayer" amendment
— demonstrates how forces on
the religious right have learned
the lesson that capturing the lin-