MONTHLY COMMENTARY( April 2007 )

Reading page four of the current issue of “Church and State,” led me back to two recurrent thoughts:  (1) the purpose of language, and (2) George Orwell’s great classic “1984.”

The article, entitled “First Freedom Fraud” relates the fact that on February 20, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, speaking before a Southern Baptist Convention executive committee meeting unveiled a “First Freedom Project” by the Bush Administration to ensure religious liberties for all Americans.  All Americans?  Including Wiccans and members of the Metropolitan Community Church?  Might one be justified in cynically suspecting some political motivation  in this maneuver?  And does Gonzales mean “First Freedom” as the first of the five freedoms listed in the First Amendment, or First Amendment Freedom which, given the record of the Administration, compounds the hoax.  Our Executive Director Barry Lynn has it exactly right when he says:  “Expecting the Bush Administration to defend religious liberty is a little like asking Col. Sanders to baby sit your pet chicken.  This administration has repeatedly worked to destroy true religious freedom by merging church and state.”

But getting back to the thoughts mentioned in my opening paragraph, one might think that the purpose of language is clarification, but language is used by some (including some politicians, lawyers or advertisers) for a different purpose, that is, for the purpose of obfuscation.  What means compassionate conservative, no child left behind, winning, charitable choice, support the troops, executive privilege?

As to Orwell’s “1984,” to achieve the dystopia described requires the development of a new language, “Newspeak,” to replace standard English.  Newspeak has been developed with the specific purpose of reducing human beings to the level of automatons, subservient to the dictates of the government, or Big Brother.  Newspeak was founded in the English language as we now know it, but containing new words, divided into three distinct classes, the A vocabulary, the B vocabulary and the C vocabulary, cunningly devised to assure the single purpose of compliance with the government.

“1984” is a must read.  Anyone who hasn’t read it, or hasn’t read it lately, should do so.  It will disturb you.  But that is precisely what current conditions require. 

Another interesting item in the April “Church and State” is the news that the Lowell, Massachusetts City Council will probably discontinue the practice of opening meetings with a sectarian prayer, all because a local interfaith group and AU complained that the practice is a violation of the establishment clause.  This reminds me of the similar scenario played out in Burbank several years ago over the same issue.  Irv Rubin went to court because the Burbank City Council opened their meetings with a sectarian prayer.  At the time, I was a member of the Board of the Burbank Human Relations Council, and I bet Harold Tamkin a dinner that Rubin would lose his case.  But to my surprise and delight, Rubin received a favorable verdict, which was subsequently upheld by an appellate ruling.,  So that was one bet I was happy to lose, and Mary and I took Harold and his wife, Rita, now a widow, to his favorite sushi  restaurant.  The Tamkins have been members and staunch supporters of AU for years.

Subsequently, and based on the Burbank experience, another AU supporter pressured the Lake Elsinore City Council to stop having sectarian prayers open their meetings.