Civic league’s soul search

When a reporter from Maine called me last Friday and told me what had happened, I was incredulous. I didn’t expect that Michael Heath would feel so desperate or vengeful so as to entertain such a despicable tactic as “outing” lawmakers and others in state government, nor so naive as to think that the Maine media wouldn’t quickly uncover and broadcast such a scheme. Heath’s professed surprise at the public outcry over this matter is further evidence of his serious lack of sound judgment.

Having spent a decade attempting to enhance the Christian Civic League of Maine’s credibility and influence in Maine public policy, I am very saddened at this significant compromise of Christian ethics and the harm it has done to an organization that I still care about very much. The emotional and sometimes vitriolic torrent of public reaction unleashed by this episode is hardly surprising. One may only hope that the response from the Christian community in Maine is one that joins in the condemnation of this unseemly approach to public policy debate. I’m glad Heath has apologized and quickly abandoned his plan to indulge in sexual McCarthyism. But what if there hadn’t been a story in the press? Or a public backlash of seismic proportions? Would Michael have changed his mind, or gone ahead?

In placing Heath on administrative leave for a month, the civic league board has stated that this will allow him time to reflect on what he has learned from this experience and consider what changes may be required to prevent a repetition of this unfortunate incident. However, the league’s board of directors and its statewide membership share an equivalent obligation to reflect and consider changes:

1. The Christian Civic League needs to carefully and prayerfully consider what it means to be a distinctly Christian voice in the ongoing debate over public policy. The league needs to review its rhetoric, objectives, principles, priorities, strategies and tactics. In recent years, the league has employed divisive language and personalized approaches to issues that have compromised its Christian witness in the public arena. This stridency has also made the League less effective at the State House. This is a group that had credibility problems even before last week. This would be an ideal time to start tearing down some walls and start building some bridges of mutual understanding and genuine respect for other points of view.

2. This would also be an appropriate time to begin addressing other issues besides gay rights, such as economic justice, children’s issues, poverty, the environment, health care, education and criminal justice. These all should concern thoughtful Christian citizens and should be part of the civic league’s agenda. The league should consider major initiatives to help Maine churches, whose ministers and congregations are struggling with many of the same social problems that face the larger American culture. There’s a whole lot of good and necessary work to be done in Maine, and the civic league could best help itself by helping and serving others. The Christian Civic League should define itself not by what it is against, but by what it is for.

3. The scriptures tell us that “bad company corrupts good manners.” The civic league should reassess some of its alliances and perhaps form some new ones. It is interesting that the only person to publicly applaud Heath’s outing plan is the director of the Christian Coalition of Maine, with whom Heath has had a cordial and close relationship.

Maine needs a strong, effective, positive and highly respected Christian voice on social and family issues. Many times that voice will sound conservative, but perhaps not always. The civic league must maintain its political independence, working closely with leaders of both parties and various interest groups. If, through this crisis, the Christian Civic League of Maine can be led back to a reaffirmation of its basic principles, then it will indeed live to fight another day. It will then have found the silver lining in this dark and humiliating cloud. And what is the most basic principle of all for the league? What it means to be Christian.

Jack Wyman was executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine from 1984-1993. He lives in Highland Village, Texas.