By: Marilyn Burge
Re: For your info...
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Forwarded here by Marilyn Burge (1:105/40.666)
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Area: A_THEIST
Date: 22 Jan 96 23:42:48 Public
From: christopher baker
To: All
Subject: Christian Coalition Numbers
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* Copy of message posted via NETMAIL
* Date: 22 Jan 96 06:49:03
* From: sumner@rochgte.fidonet.org
* To: christopher baker @ 1:374/14
* Message text was not edited!
From: Charles Sumner
Reply-To: sumner@rochgte.fidonet.org
@Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 11:49:03
@Message-Id: <822345985.AA07590@rochgte.fidonet.org>
@Subject: Christian Coalition Numbers
@To: chstate@ecunet.org
AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 3, 1996
Contact: Joseph Conn or Rob Boston
(202) 466-3234
CHRISTIAN COALITION GROSSLY EXAGGERATES ITS MEMBERSHIP;
DUES-PAYING MEMBERS ACTUALLY DROPPED IN 1995, MAGAZINE REPORTS
Ralph Reed, call your office: Over 1.3 million Christian Coalition
members are missing!
According to a report in Church & State magazine, dues-paying Christian
Coalition members are far fewer in number than claimed by the organization,
and the group's membership actually dropped dramatically in 1995.
The January Church & State reports that paid membership in the Christian
Coalition fell from 353,703 in September 1994 to 310,296 in September 1995.
The watchdog magazine said its information comes from the Christian
Coalition's own publication, the Christian American. The U.S. Postal Service
requires all publications that are mailed at the second-class postage rate to
publish subscription and sales information each year.
The Christian American's officially reported circulation figures do not
square with claims made by the Christian Coalition in its press releases and
other public statements. In those publicity efforts, the organization has
claimed that its membership increased from 1.2 million in 1994 to 1.7 million
in 1995.
The higher figures, however, appear to be bogus. The Christian American
is sent to anyone who contributes as little as $15 a year. If the Christian
Coalition currently has 1.7 million "members," more than 1.3 million have
apparently not paid their dues and are not receiving the organization's
flagship publication.
Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of
Church and State, charged that the Christian Coalition is grossly inflating
its actual membership in order to increase its political influence and appear
to be a growing movement.
"Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition has set a well-established pattern
of deception in many of its activities," said Lynn. "Wildly inflating its
membership figures is just part of that deplorable practice.
"There's no doubt that the Christian Coalition is a powerful force in the
Republican Party and American politics generally," Lynn continued. "But it has
achieved that power in part by casting aside the truth."
Church & State is the monthly magazine of Americans United for Separation
of Church and State. Founded in 1947, Americans United is a Washington,
D.C.-based organization devoted to the preservation of religious liberty.
This press release may be distributed only in its entirety and may not be
edited or altered in form or content. Please contact Americans United for
Separation of Church and State at (202) 466-3234 for further information.
AmerUnited@aol.com; sumner@rochgte.fidonet.org
--
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