Religious Right
Michael D’Antonio’s argument that the religious right has furled its banner and called off the crusade (“Fierce in the ‘80s, Fallen in the ‘90s, the Religious Right Forgets Politics,” Opinion, Feb. 4) is wide off the mark.
True enough, at the national level, religious right leaders have taken a beating. But the armies that supported these now discredited leaders have focused their considerble strength on issues at the state and local level where they are, forgive the pun, raising hell. Here in California, they’ve repeatedly flexed their muscles on education issues, attacking state School Supt. Bill Honig’s science curriculum guidelines and campaigning for the removal of a highly acclaimed English reading series from several local school districts on the grounds that it promotes Satanism and the occult.
The lesson of the religious right’s sudden rise in the 1980s is that it is a mistake to ignore them or to try simply to wish them away. If D’Antonio’s point is that we can rest easy because the religious right has disappeared from the scene, he should take a closer look around.
MICHAEL HUDSON
Western States Director
People for the American Way
Marina del Rey
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