| Faith matters: County should let kids take fliers home  BY CHARLES L. HARRELL Mark Twain once observed that Americans enjoy three precious gifts: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the good sense never to use the first two. Theres truth in Twains wry remark, hitting home again in the squabble between Montgomery County Public Schools and the Child Evangelism Fellowship. At issue is whether CEF, which has access to two school buildings for their after-hours meetings and which disseminates information at parents gatherings, may publicize its Good News Clubs via fliers going home in students backpacks. The school system, while granting access to nonprofits, including religious ones, has refused access to the CEF on grounds of church-state separation because the fliers state (accurately) that the children will, among other activities, learn Bible stories and memorize verses. The matter is currently before a federal appeals court, set to rule in September. A predictable cast of characters is lining up on either side including the Bush administration, which has filed a friend of the court brief on the side of CEF. Its not a unique case, but it is drawing national attention. Should United Methodists care about this? I think the answer is yes. The first reason, plain and simple, is that we care about kids. Our society pursues children for their consumer potential, but often shows appalling indifference to basic needs such as education and health care. Secular culture maintains an appendix view of faith: some people have one, some people dont, and in the end it doesnt really matter. Except that it does. As people of faith, we recognize the importance of a spiritual foundation in life. As United Methodists, we support efforts around the world to ground children from an early age in the knowledge that there is a God who loves them. How sad it would be to expend our sweat and treasure in support of such far-flung works, only to stand with those who would bar kids in our own neighborhoods from even hearing about the opportunity to learn more. I may as well confess here: it was in just such a club that my own personal faith was clinched, a gift of caring adults that is forever priceless to me. Some might call this bias. I see it as knowing the importance of this work at first hand, not unlike the bias of supporting conservatories because one loves music. Because it matters. A lot. The question always comes up: Would you, a Christian parent, want your child bringing home information about a club teaching Buddhism or Islam? Absolutely yes! If there is an organization seeking to influence my child, I want to know all about it; thats just due diligence for me as a parent. And if the school system is allowing that group to use its property, I think it has an obligation to help me with this. In a county with no majority culture, we need a new openness to hearing about other communities convictions as they are, not as they are pre-screened for us by civil authority. The decision about whether our son should participate in a Good News Club, or any other organization, is for us as parents to determine, not for some administrator to decide. There is a dark truth behind Twains quip, and it has to do with the tyranny of the majority. There was a time when Christianity held virtually unchallenged sway in Americas public square, and the institutions of Christian faith often used that power to marginalize other voices. That was wrong. It is just as wrong when a now-secular prevailing culture seeks to silence the voice of faith or any voice of deep conviction or to relegate it to an inconspicuous corner. I think its time to show Mr. Clemens that America has grown beyond the tyranny of the majority, that a truly open and active marketplace of ideas does not portend a theocratic takeover, and that we do understand the difference between dropping leaflets in bags versus making teachers into priests. Real diversity is about the greatest possible richness, not the least common denominator. Let the fliers go home with the kids, Montgomery County. The Rev. Charles L. Harrell is the pastor of Faith UMC in Rockville. | 
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