wfn.org | AMERICAN BAPTISTS ADDRESS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AMENDMENT

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American Baptists Address Religious Freedom Amendment

AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS SERVICE 
Office of Communication  
American Baptist Churches USA 
P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851 
Phone: (610)768-2077 / Fax: (610)768-2320 
Web: www.abc-usa.org
Richard W. Schramm, Director 
 E-mail: richard.schramm@abc-usa.org

American Baptists Address Religious Freedom Amendment

by Laura Alden, American Baptist National Ministries
 In a recent press conference in Washington, D.C. 
sponsored by the Coalition to Preserve Religious Liberty, 
Curtis Ramsey-Lucas of National Ministries issued a 
statement on behalf of American Baptists expressing concern 
regarding the Religious Freedom Amendment.  Proponents of 
the proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution (H.J. Res. 
66) have promoted the measure as a move toward "restoring 
religious liberty."
 Ramsey-Lucas, director of Legislative Advocacy in 
National Ministries' Office of Governmental Relations in 
Washington, called on American Baptists to contact their 
representatives in Washington and challenge them to oppose 
the amendment.
 National Ministries is a member of the Coalition to 
Preserve Religious Liberty.   
 Ramsey-Lucas presented American Baptist opposition to 
the amendment at the press conference, noting that the 
amendment would open the door to government funding of 
parochial schools and "pervasively sectarian ministries."  
The amendment also "invites entanglement between church and 
state" and would involve government in "divisive choices 
regarding which religious groups would receive public 
funds."
 The "Policy Statement on Church and State," adopted by 
the General Board of the American Baptist Churches USA, 
states: ". . . religious liberty is fundamental to human 
freedom, a gift of God without which the essential character 
and dignity of human life is violated.  It is not a 
privilege to be granted or denied by government, but a right 
and obligation required by government."  The General Board's 
"Resolution on the Separation of Church and State" declares 
that "this principle does not mean that the state is 
indifferent to the church, nor that the church is 
unconcerned for the state.  It means rather that church and 
state are separate in their institutional life and that 
neither controls the other."
 American Baptists have a long history of supporting 
the separation of church and state.  Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-
Riggins III, executive director of National Ministries, 
currently chairs the Board of Directors of the Baptist Joint 
Committee on Public Affairs, a Washington, D.C.-based 
advocacy group that lifts up the value of church-state 
separation.  "Insistence upon religious liberty has been an 
identifying mark of Baptists from the beginning of our 
history," Wright-Riggins said.  "It has led us to honor the 
principle of a free church in a free state and to advocate 
the separation of the institutions of church and state.  The 
proposed amendment represents a threat both to religious 
liberty and to the separation of church and state."
 For more information about the amendment contact the 
Office of Governmental Relations at (202)544-3400.  

10/7/99
WFN107A

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