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Jewish World Review March 7, 2000 /30 Adar 1, 5760

Evan Gahr

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Bob Jones hypocrisy: Liberals are lecturing Americans on "anti-Catholicism"?


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- SENATE DEMOCRATS just introduced a resolution condemning Bob Jones University for anti-Catholic bigotry. Quite ironic, given that liberals have long ignored or condoned anti-Catholic sentiments more egregious than any launched by the BJU bubbas so long as they came from silkier quarters like Hollywood or the Brooklyn Museum. Indeed the Left’s treatment of Bob Jones University is a case study in liberal hypocrisy.

Back in the 1980s, the Reagan administration objected to IRS efforts to deny normal tax exempt status to educational institutions like BJU because they held to fringey views on race. Liberals demanded a cutoff. "Let the school do its discriminating on its own dollar," wrote Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen. "We should not as taxpayers be forced to help support Bob Jones in its pursuit of bigotry." Anthony Lewis, the New York Times’ liberal stalwart, insisted the university’s complaint that the IRS had infringed upon its First Amendment right to freedom of religion was just a smoke screen.

Now flash forward to September 1999. Rudy Giuliani has called for an end to New York City’s government subsidies for the Brooklyn Museum on account of its anti-Catholic "Sensation" exhibit. Suddenly many of the same people who dismissed Bob Jones’ claim to constitutional rights of free expression emerged as the reincarnation of Thomas Jefferson. Forcing artists to pay for their own dung and porn with which to adorn the Virgin Mary was an oppressive suggestion.

New York City "cannot play the role of curator," expounded Richard Cohen. "It has to bite its tongue. Boldness, daring, experimentation, the artistic imagination itself, will surely suffer if politicians like Giuliani use the power of government to police creativity."

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), who had sputtered back in the ‘80s that allowing Bob Jones its non-profit status would be the same as "subsidizing racist activity," now argued that while "the exhibit was insulting," guardians of the public purse have no right "to direct what should happen in our museums."

The New York Times, which was all for economically penalizing Bob Jones’ free expression, now editorialized against trampling on the cherished First Amendment rights of the Brooklyn Museum to offend Catholics without political interference.

And so on.

In one case, liberals argued that it was important for the government to withhold financial advantages from institutions transmitting odious messages. In the other case, they insisted it would be wrong to withhold financial largesse from institutions with odious messages. It’s hard not to conclude that the crucial difference lies not in the portrayal of Catholicism but in the fact that liberals find Bob Jones University repugnant but Brooklyn’s "Sensation" exhibit perfectly acceptable.

Fine. Liberals are entitled to make value judgments (even if they pretend they don’t). But how about a little consistency? Don’t use the First Amendment as a smokescreen for your particular moral preferences and sensibilities.

If Bush were smart--if being the operative word--he could use the Bob Jones incident for a sharp discussion of the appropriate circumstances for denying government subsidies. What a great chance to puncture the Left’s First Amendment pretensions. Fine, you don’t want the bozos at Bob Jones to get government money. Then let’s also pull the plug on the bozos at the Brooklyn Museum.

That kind of approach might let Bush turn the issue to his advantage. It would likely resonate more than the belated, lame apology he’s offered instead.

If he really wanted to force the issue, he would arrange for some federal funding to send the anti-Catholic "Sensation" exhibit (which has ended its Brooklyn Museum run) to Bob Jones. If the university is as anti-Catholic as John McCain and the media shriekers maintain, the Jonesers should welcome it.

And the hand-wringing among liberals trying to choose sides would be of Biblical proportions.



JWR contributor Evan Gahr is a former New York Post press critic. This piece is adapted from one that appeared on The American Enterprise Online. Send your comments by clicking here.


Up

02/03/00: The red and the Black: The Left-wing Extremist in Bill Bradley’s Camp
01/06/00: Looking backwards: An anchorman's version of the 20th Century
12/16/99: Yellow journalism for the Pink Lady?
12/07/99: How to make the American Psychological Association squirm

© 2000, Evan Gahr