The religious right has used a very simple formula to get ahead over the years. By hyping up social issues like abortion and gay rights, they wedged away white voters–especially in the South–who would otherwise have no business voting Republican. For some time, they’ve tried to use that same formula to make inroads among black voters who are devout Christians. Their main tool for this is “Urban Family Talk,” a subsidiary of American Family Radio aimed at black evangelicals.
Recently, People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch gave us a lovely example of what gets churned out on Urban Family Talk. The network’s morning show is hosted by prominent black conservative pastor and “bishop” E. W. Jackson. He grew up as a Democrat, but veered hard right in the 1980s in part because he thought the Democrats were trying to rid the country of God. He was the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 2013, but got deservedly raked over the coals for his particularly nasty attacks on gays and Democrats. Fortunately, he got his head handed to him by Democrat Ralph Northam.
Well, on Friday, Jackson showed he hasn’t learned much in three-plus years. Recently, a number of students have set up “After School Satan Clubs,” a counter to groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Good News Clubs. That didn’t sit well with Jackson. He thought those clubs had no business being on school grounds–because they should be force-feeding students Christianity. Right Wing Watch got a clip.
Jackson had gotten wind that the IRS was in the process of fast-tracking the process of granting nonprofit status to the national After School Satan Club organization. These clubs intend to counter what they call “the twisted evangelical teachings” of Christian clubs with “a non-superstitious world view.” That didn’t sit well with Jackson. He believed that this, combined with the Air Force allowing wiccan airmen to hold services, was a sign of “where we are as a country.”
How does Jackson think we should counter this? Well, the good bishop thinks this country needs a dose of in-your-face Christianity.
“You know what we need? We need to bring prayer back into schools, and we need to bring the Bible back into schools. And we need to start telling children, like we used to in school, who made you—God. And have them singing, ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.'”
But what about the First Amendment? Well, Jackson thinks that doesn’t matter. He argues that the First Amendment only applies to Congress–not to a local school or school district. To hear him talk, if a school forces its kids to take part in prayer or Bible study, it’s because “the culture of that local community says, ‘that’s what we want.'” As an example, he offered a school sports team praying before a game–only to have the ACLU barrel in and say it was unconstitutional. To Jackson’s mind, “you gotta have BBs for brains” to think a team prayer would be a violation of separation of church and state.
Um, E. W.? A nearly 70-year-old Supreme Court precedent says otherwise. Specifically, Everson v. Board of Education, which definitively held that the Establishment Clause was binding on the states by way of the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause. That decision laid the groundwork for subsequent Supreme Court decisions that declared public schools can’t force kids to pray or take part in Bible reading or Bible study.
And as for a team praying before a game? That’s perfectly fine–if players aren’t forced to take part as a condition of staying on the squad. If that were to happen, then there would be a problem. But Jackson thinks that people who oppose force-feeding kids Christianity in public schools do so because “they hate God.” Apparently it hasn’t occurred to Jackson that there are a lot of people–including a lot of Christians–who think that people of differing faiths ought to find a way to coexist. How is that a sign that you hate God?
Now, Jackson probably thinks that we have no right to call him out for his idiocy. When I saw this blurb, I recalled that in 2013, he dropped by Bryan Fischer’s show on American Family Radio and whined that the media had no right to call him out because–wait for it–he was speaking as a pastor. No, I’m not kidding. Watch here.
Here’s a news flash, E. W. When you speak out on political matters, your political outlook is fair game–whether you’re speaking as a pastor or not. If you’re not willing to open your philosophical kimono, don’t throw your hat in the ring.
I’m assuming that Jackson was “speaking as a pastor” when he called for the return of mandatory prayer and Bible reading in public schools. Well, even if he was, we have every right to tell him that he is not just wrong, but–with apologies to Politifact–Pants on Fire wrong. And if he thinks we have no right to do so because he was “speaking as a pastor,” then it’s time to disabuse him of that notion. Give him an earful on Facebook and on Twitter.
(featured image courtesy Mark Taylor, available under a Creative Commons-BY license)
