'Crossfire' co-host Bill Press, satirist Al Franken, religious liberty awards featured at 50th anniversary dinner.

Americans United's 50th Anniversary Conference on Church and State was by no means all work and no play. On Saturday evening, Nov. 1, AU members and supporters gathered for a glitzy gala in the ballroom of the Hotel Washington.

The reception and banquet, coordinated by AU Development Director Marjorie Spitz, celebrated Americans United's "Fifty Years of Freedom" and also gave the organization the opportunity to recognize this year's recipients of AU's annual religious freedom awards.

Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn hosted the sold-out event, which also featured remarks by AU President Calvin W. Didier, a screening of the new AU video "Fifty Years of Freedom" and remarks by Bill Press, co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," and political satirist and author Al Franken.

Press, who regularly spars with Religious Right honchos on "Crossfire," said he enjoys exploring church-state issues on the program and thanked AU for its work. "I really came tonight as a proud American to say thank you," Press said. "Thank you for standing strong for 50 years." Press noted that this was his first appearance at an AU event but added, "I already feel like we're partners."

Press unleashed a stinging attack on the "false prophets" of the Religious Right, calling them, "wrong, wrong, wrong. They are wrong on every count." He criticized Religious Right groups for spreading distortions about U.S. history and said he finds it especially galling that some in the Religious Right claim that Thomas Jefferson, who coined the metaphor "wall of separation between church and state," would not support it if he were alive today.

"What separation of church and state are they talking about?" asked Press. "Jefferson would not oppose separation. Jefferson invented it....There's no doubt where Thomas Jefferson stood then, and there's no doubt where he would stand today. He would stand in a holy war against [the Religious Right]."

Press also criticized efforts to award tax dollars to religious schools. Noting that he is himself a Roman Catholic, Press added, "Yet I believe that Catholic schools deserve no government funding, period. It's our choice. We make it; let us pay for it."

Concluding, the "Crossfire" co-host urged Americans United to remain vigilant and offered congratulations on AU's "first 50 great years." "Please continue the fight," he said. "Americans of all faiths rely on you to keep the faith."

Wrap-up speaker Franken, author of the best-selling book Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations, offered wry reflections on his attendance at Christian Coalition events over the years and on other political developments.

The banquet was also an opportunity for Americans United to salute some special heroes of religious liberty. The Madison/Jefferson Award, Americans United's highest honor, was given to U.S. Sens. Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), in recognition of their years of support for church-state separation in the Senate.

In special videotaped remarks, Kennedy thanked Americans United for its work and credited the organization with helping create a more tolerant America.

"For 50 years" said the Massachusetts senator, "Americans United for Separation of Church and State has been a skillful, tireless and indispensable ally in the ongoing struggle to protect religious liberty....All Americans are in your debt on this auspicious 50th anniversary occasion."

Reading the religious liberty clauses of the First Amendment, Kennedy added, "Americans United deserves great credit for your eloquent and powerful defense over the past half century of the enduring importance of those magnificent words in all our lives."

Insisting that Americans United has "profoundly influenced the national debate," Kennedy asserted, "Without your daily leadership and constant vigilance over the years, many Americans might easily have lost the most basic of our freedoms. It is all of you who truly deserve this award.

"Through the years," he concluded, "we have worked well together to ensure that when the First Amendment says [Congress shall make] no law [respecting an establishment of religion], it means no law. May it always be so."

Bumpers, who had been scheduled to attend the gala in person, had to cancel at the last minute due to an illness. But Dr. James Dunn of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs paid tribute to the Arkansas Democrat who is retiring after 24 years in the U.S. Senate.

"Sen. Bumpers is a great friend of Americans United and of the causes that we represent," said Dunn, who serves on the Americans United Board of Trustees. "In fact, in the 20 years that he and I have worked together...he is the only senator in the United States Senate that has absolutely, consistently at every point on every issue voted with the Baptist Joint Committee and Americans United."

Bumpers opposed vouchers and other forms of tax aid to religious schools, fought the establishment of diplomatic ties between the U.S. government and the Vatican and voted against the Reagan administration-backed constitutional amendment on school prayer. (Bumpers was the only Southern senator of either party to oppose the prayer amendment.)

AU Religious Liberty Awards were given to Samuel Rabinove, who served as legal director of the American Jewish Committee for 30 years until his recent retirement; the Rochester, N.Y., Chapter of Americans United, which has defended church-state separation in western New York for three decades; and Michael Chandler, a public school administrator and parent in DeKalb County, Ala., who successfully filed suit with Americans United's help to block a variety of unconstitutional religious activities at the schools.

Observed Chandler, "It was one of those things that someone had to do and no one else was willing to do. It would not be possible without organizations like Americans United. I contacted many attorneys locally; none of them would offer any help. Without your help I couldn't do this."

In addition, a new tribute, the Dr. Glenn L. Archer Leadership Award, was presented to U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a two-term Democratic congresswoman from Texas, in recognition of her bold stands in favor of church-state separation in the U.S. House. The award is named in honor of Americans United's first executive director and is intended to identify emerging leaders in public life.

Prior to the banquet, public schools advocate Frosty Troy offered a rousing conference convocation address in support of tolerance and religious pluralism. Declaring that "real patriotism is the love of this country and standing by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights," Troy blasted the Religious Right for claiming that religious believers are being persecuted in America.

"I'm here to defend exactly what I fought for in Korea - the Constitution and the Bill of Rights," said Troy, who publishes the independent Oklahoma Observer newspaper in Oklahoma City. "If we don't apply it to everyone, this country is going to be a theocracy."

Troy noted that one out of every seven radio stations is Christian and that Religious Right leaders have powerful broadcast ministries with millions of followers. "This is persecution?" he asked. "They will make any wild claim."

The Religious Right, Troy asserted, has suffered setbacks but remains a potent force. "I'm here to tell you we're in trouble in this country," he said. He urged AU members to combat Religious Right distortions and to remain vigilant and never hesitate to enter the fray.

"You go back and pay attention, and when you see this stuff, you speak up," Troy said.

He concluded with a personal challenge to the Religious Right. "Any time you're after the sacred institutions of this country," said Troy, "I'll meet you in the street."