BOSTON (RNS) — A nondenominational organization called the Christian Civil Liberties Union Inc. (CCLU) has been incorporated here under the leadership of national school prayer crusader Rita Warren of Brockton, Mass.
She described the CCLU as a «Bicentennial gift to America,» dedicated to the «preservation of our freedom» and designed to help persons threatened with the loss of their constitutional rights.
The CCLU is envisioned, she said, as a counterbalance to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), with lawyers representing it in every state. To date, the CCLU has representation from 13 states and Washington, D.C.
It is about time that we, the majority, have representatives in our courts as well as in the legislature «said Mrs. Warren, 46, in a letter announcing incorporation of the CCLU.
«For too long the voice of the minority has been obeyed and many of our rights have been taken away in the name of liberty. The American Civil Liberties Union has taken away many of our true liberties.»
Mrs. Warren said units have been formed in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Alabama, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, California, Texas, and Washington, D.C. «We will soon reach every state in the Union,» she said.
According to the incorporation papers filed here, the CCLU is «an educational, non-denominational organization to protect the constitutional rights of the people of the United States through the advancement of education and religion by the use of lectures, forums, radio and television programs, publications and other presentations, in all cases consisting of a full and fair exposition of the pertinent facts.»
«More specifically,» the document continued, the CCLU aims «to do any and all things necessary to improve the educational system of the schools of the United States, to support a moment of silence for meditation or prayer in the public schools, .to protect the rights of the people not to be subjected to pornographic material without their consent, to protect minors from exposure to such pornographic materials, to restore and preserve religious principles in America and to promote and support all efforts that encourage moral decency.»
Mrs. Warren, who has been described as a «Christian answer» to the avowed atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, is working full time as a prayer crusader, supporting a school prayer amendment, and as an advocate of increased spirituality in the U.S.
She has urged Christians and clergy of all faiths across the U.S. to «wake up» or they will not have churches in which to worship. She said it was «high time» that a Christian Civil Liberties Union was organized so that when the ACLU goes to court to take some of our rights away — we will have Christian lawyers fighting for our rights.»
