Arne Arnesen, a former New Hampshire democratic gubernatorial candidate, said in a speech last night that the "religious right" is a dangerous force that could change American for the worse.
Arnesen spoke to about 15 people last night in the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences.
In her speech, Arnesen said the religious right seeks to limit the scope of discussion on such issues as homosexuality, creation and school prayer. Choice "is the first thing [the Religious Right] takes," she said.
She said the Religious Right is causing "havoc at [the] bottom and havoc at [the] top" and that people are "being sandwiched."
"I'd rather err by teaching too much rather than err by teaching too little," Arnesen said as she explained her views of the religious right.
The religious right attempts to invade society at all levels, Arnesen said, and this invasion begins with the public school system. It is mainly the people within the religious right who choose to attend school board meetings.
"The school board is a very powerful place," Arnesen said.
Arnesen said the religious right is pushing for numerous changes in public schools, which could have a dramatic effect.
The religious right first seeks "prayer in public school." But this is only the beginning, she said.
She said the religious right is also fighting to reform the science curriculum within the public schools. The religious right suggests that science classes teach the creation viewpoint instead of evolution. Out of the hundreds of creation stories, the Christian version is the model often chosen, she said.
Arnesen's also discussed the religious right's aversion to homosexuality, which she said strikes a chord in America because "America is homophobic."
Arnesen said she believes the government should leave choices to the people. Arnesen said "too much of America is apathetic."
"Their power is their vote," she said.
The religious right votes, and liberals do not, Arnesen said. She said if liberals do not vote in elections, the choices of the people will be greatly reduced.
She said Republicans presidential candidates are "genuflecting to Ralph Reed."
Arnesen said Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole's decided to leave the Methodist Church that he had worshipped at for many years and attend a more "fundamentalist" church because the Methodist Church is perceived as being too liberal.
Arnesen said Dole's change to a harder form of conservatism, as well as a general conservative shift among Republicans, is partially a result of Reed.
Reed, according to Arnesen, held a conference and claimed that there were too many single, unwed mothers. At this conference, Arnesen says, Reed had Democrats, African-Americans, Latinos and all other groups of people. But she said there was "not one woman that addressed" the conference.
According to Arnesen, Republicans claim "the first antichrist is government."
Arnesen said Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes now claims it is government that sent people like June Cleaver to work.
Arnesen then showed two graphs of the income of American people. The first graph, representing annual income from 1950 to 1980, showed the general income of everyone rising. However, the second chart, representing annual income from 1979 to 1993, showed the disparity between rich and poor in America is growing rapidly.
But Arnesen said, the cause of this income change is not the government, but the loss of "high-paying manufacturing jobs." The income dropped from $22 per hour to $10 or $11 per hour, Arnesen said.
