Former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed drew a large audience to his Law School lecture in December.

Religious values integral to politics, says Ralph Reed

In America, a "quiet revolution" is taking place, led by citizens across the political spectrum who believe that the nation's social and political ills can only be solved by giving religious values and faith a prominent place in civic life, said former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed during a visit to Yale in December. These bipartisan or nonpartisan Americans, Reed contends, understand that religious morals and values "permeate every area of our life." Denying the importance of religious values in the public sphere, he said, puts American liberty at stake. Reed, who is now president of the political and corporate consulting firm Century Strategies LLC, was on campus Dec. 14 to deliver the annual Robert M. Cover Lecture, cosponsored by the Law School and Yale Hillel. He spoke before a capacity crowd at the Law School on the topic "Values and Politics." In his talk, Reed said that religion has been central to American democracy since the days of the nation's founding fathers. The U.S. Constitution, he told his audience, was based on the belief that the American citizenry was guided by "an internal moral compass" and that without the values that derive from religious faith, "our liberty and our virtue would collapse." Another danger of separating values from politics, he said, is that without a moral and ethical code, "we lose our ability to care for those who have been left behind." He cited poverty as a major problem that persists in spite of the nation's "enormous human and technological progress," and said it is evidence of the country's "social chaos." Reed also pointed to the nation's divorce and out-of-wedlock birth rates -- which, he said, are the highest in the world -- as further proof of that chaos. In the new century, Reed said the two most important issues are finding ways to extend America's prosperity to the nation's poor and reversing the "disintegration of the family." He said these are interrelated issues which demand a moral -- not just an economic and political -- response. In the last 35 years, America has spent $6.3 trillion on antipoverty programs, according to Reed. This, he said, is more than was spent fighting World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Yet, he added, "There are more people living beneath the poverty line today than when Lyndon B. Johnson declared the 'War on Poverty' in 1965." "We want to unleash a new revolution in helping those who have been left behind," Reed told his audience. "We want to shift power to the grassroots level -- to faith-based organizations and charities. This is where the intersection of faith and public policy can make such a diference." He added that major reforms are needed to put an end to prohibitions and discrimination against religious-based organizations and charities that are helping those in need. Reed told his audience that he advocates giving a portion of federal Title I money (in the amount of $1,500 per child) to the parents of children in schools where more than 50% of the students have failed the statewide mastery test. With this allotment, the parents could then send their children to another school, including religious schools, said Reed, adding that public schools would be strengthened if they were forced to be held accountable for the educational failures of their pupils. Schools should also be allowed to "address more than head knowledge -- reading and writing" and teach students about "right and wrong ... about the architecture of the soul," Reed said, noting that there are currently numerous restrictions and prohibitions on schools regarding the teaching of sexual abstinence and monogamy and on the freedom of students to express their religious beliefs. To help strengthen families, Reed also called for major reforms to the federal tax code to help families, including eliminating the "marriage penalty," (the extra tax burden on married couples); increasing the per-child deduction from its current $2,400 to $10,000; making charitable deductions from Individual Retirement Accounts tax-deductible; allowing those who fill out non-itemizing tax returns to claim charitable deductions; and simplifying the tax system, among other reforms. Noting that the Declaration of Independence is 1,274 words, the Holy Bible is 776,000 words and the federal tax code is 7 million words, Reed said: "My view is that if the nation's founders can give us our charter of liberty in a little over 1,000 words, and God could tell us how to order our lives in less than a million words, then the IRS could do a better job." While he believes there is currently "healthy discourse" about the role that religion and values should play in public life, Reed said that this conversation has taken place "across a largely pointless no-man's land." On one side, he said, are those who believe that religion has no place in public life; on the other are those who contend that government can impose religion on its citizens. "I believe both viewpoints are wrong," stated Reed. I don't think government can ever impose true faith -- true faith is an act of a person's heart. And I don't think we should exclude free speech from public life. "There is a third way, and it is a way that allows government to accommodate religion without imposing it. It is not a mandate of morality but a call to conscience. 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