American Humanist Association

RESPONSE TO THE CHRISTIAN COALITION
"CONTRACT WITH THE AMERICAN FAMILY"

The Christian Coalition "Contract with the American Family," released with much fanfare on May 17, 1995, has little to do with really helping American families. Rather, it represents a full-blown assault on the American constitutional principle of separation of church and state, the formal entrance onto the political stage of what is for all practical purposes a religious political party that can only divide Americans along religious lines, and a movement that can only harm American families.

The "contract" would intrude government into the business of the family and religious institutions, contaminate our common schools with sectarian divisiveness, undermine the rights of conscience of children and families, weaken and possibly destroy our system of religiously neutral, democratic public schools, greatly increase educational costs while lowering educational quality, and balkanize our society along creedal, ideological, ethnic, class, and other lines.

Therefore, the American Humanist Association joins with millions of Americans across the religious and nonreligious spectrum in insisting:

• that the Jeffersonian constitutional principle of separation of church and state be maintained and strengthened;
• that, recognizing our country's rich pluralism and the fact that students have never lost their right to engage in voluntary personal, private prayer in public schools, the religious neutrality of our public schools be respected and reinforced;
• that religious liberty is adequately protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments and that no new amendment is needed;
• that public funding for education be limited to secular public schools under full public control;
• that the right of every woman to freedom of conscience on reproductive matters be safeguarded from public or private infringement;
• that both private charity and government assistance have important roles to play in maintaining and enhancing families and family values;
• that children's rights should be considered no less important than parental rights and that children have the right to a family environment that is nurturing and nonabusive;
• that, while we deplore images of gratuitous violence and sexual exploitation, we oppose censorship because a society is healthiest when people can choose among views in an open marketplace of ideas;
• that federal funding for the arts, humanities, public broadcasting, and public education makes indispensable contributions to a culturally enriched, creative society, which in turn enriches the lives of children and families;
• and that families and family values are enhanced by public actions and policies that help alleviate the effects of poverty.

In summary, the American Humanist Association urges Americans of all persuasions to work together in a democratic spirit to protect children, families, and the constitutional guarantees of fundamental liberties from the narrow, political agendas of sectarian special interests.

Passed unanimously by the membership assembled at the fifty-fourth annual conference of the American Humanist Association on May 19, 1995.