Character is what we are in the dark when no one is looking or listening. What we say in private demonstrates our true character and intentions. That’s why the March 25, 1992 minutes of a northwest Lawyer Committee for the ACLU are of great interest to me. These minutes were not intended for the public, and therefore are a much more honest expression of the ACLU’s character than the image it tries to portray when the public is listening.

The ACLU likes to come across as representing the interests of public citizens whose rights are supposedly violated when government or schools allow prayer, Bible reading or other free exercise of religion on their premises. So what does the ACLU do in private?

First, some background—Charlie Hinkle is the ACLU attorney who got the restraining order against the city of Gresham to prevent the day of prayer. He is also seeking a permanent injunction, in a case in which I am a defendant, that would prevent the city of Gresham from ever allowing any prayer gathering on city property. He is a prominent gay activist attorney, who was employed by Fred Meyer to keep “No Special Rights” petitioners away from its stores. For more info, see the previous issue of this newsletter.)

Here’s a direct quote from the ACLU minutes: “Charlie Hinkle reported that he had learned from the Oregonian that a church has been holding religious services every Sunday in Clackamas High School facilities for a year.”

Of course, the church renting these facilities pays the going rate for doing so. Any group, secular or religious, can do the same if they are willing to pay what the school, as a matter of policy, decides to charge. If this were a group of atheists, homosexual activists or communists (yes, there are some communists left in the world, mainly in America), the ACLU would have no problem with this. In fact, if anyone tried to restrict their equal access to renting a school facility, the ACLU would be the first to bring a lawsuit against them.

So, you may find it interesting what the ACLU minutes go on to say. First, “He [Hinkle] asked that we consider filing suit.” The decision of the group follows:

“Unanimously approved a motion to authorize suit if the district fails to respond affirmatively to a demand letter asking it to decease from allowing use of the school by this church. Charlie will handle the case. Jann Carson agreed to assist in recruiting plaintiffs.”

So, the ACLU decides to intimidate the school board into not allowing the church to do what any other group is allowed to do—rent facilities. Since other groups probably aren’t interested in renting the facility on Sundays, not only would one group of citizens and tax-payers not be allowed to rent the school, but the school—which like all schools is desperately in need of revenues—would lose the income. The school loses, the church loses, the tax payers lose. Everyone loses. Except the ACLU, of course, which furthers its agenda of a religion-less society.

My own church rented high school facilities for years. We currently rent a local grade school for classes on Sunday morning. What if the ACLU had succeeded—or will succeed—in stopping us from renting? Less facilities to rent means less churches or less church growth. This amounts to a targeted discrimination against churches. Pastors and Christian leaders who consider the ACLU’s pro-abortion, pro-homosexual and anti-Christian agenda to be no threat to them should take a closer look.

And look again at the last sentence of the minutes. The ACLU typically says that members of the community have come to them offended because of a supposed violation of the “separation of church and state.” (See June-July EPM newsletter for the history of this phrase, which is totally misused in such cases.) But these minutes reveal that there is no community objection. It’s just as in the Gresham prayer case, where the mysterious “Gresham resident” claiming she would be harmed by a prayer meeting turned out to be an ACLU employee.

So the ACLU’s strategy, according to their own minutes, is to “recruit plaintiffs.” That means they go out in the community to generate hostility toward the church renting the school, so they now have the plaintiffs they want. They will then portray this as a grassroots community concern, when in fact they are pulling the strings all the way. They are not representing the community’s interests. They are representing their own interests.

The overall agenda of the ACLU isn’t just reflected in Hinkle. Others in the Portland area ACLU’s inner circle are these: a board member of the Right to Privacy PAC, Oregon’s leading gay rights group; the former head of the radically pro-abortion National Organization for Women, who is also the campaign manager against the No Special Rights initiative; a former Planned Parenthood official; a representative of the pro-homosexual group called “Campaign for a Hate Free Oregon.”

This is another illustration of why, as I suggested in the last newsletter, Fred Meyer Corporation should consider severing its ties with Charles Hinkle. A gay activist attorney who is leading the lawsuit against the city of Gresham for allowing a day of prayer, and who is actively trying to get a church thrown out of a rented facility, hardly fits the pro-family pro-community image Fred Meyer wants to portray. Concerned about Fred Meyer’s contributions to the main Gay Rights group in Oregon the last five years? Concerned about its use of Charles Hinkle to deny access to the “No Special Rights” petition? You may want to express your concern to Fred Meyer by calling (503) 232-8844, and/or taking your business elsewhere.

“Religion is like salt which protects humanity from decomposition and disintegration. Any attempt to banish it from social life leads to a degradation of society.” Russian dissident Gleb Yakunin.

After nearly two hundred years of asking God’s presence and blessing on this country, for three decades now America has been telling him he is no longer wanted. The moral and social disillusionment, chaos, disease, violence and decay that we are now seeing are only the beginning if God heeds America’s plea to “Get Lost.” The departure of the just and righteous presence of Almighty God is the only thing that sustains this country. The exit of God, which is the ACLU’s deepest desire, will inevitably prove to be the nation’s worst nightmare.