Despite his recent announcement about stepping down from the leadership of the Christian Coalition, executive director Ralph Reed is still actively involved in efforts to reshape the image of Pat Robertson's political organization. As part of these efforts, Reed and the Christian Coalition are coming to Baltimore on May 10th. The stated purpose of their visit is "racial reconciliation."

In and of itself, racial reconciliation is a praiseworthy goal deserving of full support from all segments of the community. It is especially timely as a goal for the Christian Coalition, a political organization which, in the words of its leader, "has been primarily a white evangelical movement" with its base in "the cloistered safety of the suburbs."

One hesitates to question the sincerity of those who are publicly repenting of past wrongs. After all, Reed openly admits that many of those on his end of the political spectrum were on the wrong side of the civil rights struggles. Nevertheless, questions remain about the Christian Coalition and its sudden conversion to the cause of racial reconciliation. Chief among these questions are the commitments of the man leading the effort. By his own admission, Ralph Reed is a political operative who aggressively engages in stealth campaigns: "I do guerrilla warfare. I paint my face and travel at night. You don't know it's over until you're in a body bag." Given that his political strategy is to divide the New Deal Coalition that once elected so many Democrats, might we be forgiven for inferring that politics more than penitence is the real motivation behind his outreach to the African American community?

Remember that prior to joining Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition, Ralph Reed worked for Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina--a political figure who has never made racial reconciliation one of his top priorities. As director of the Christian Coalition, Reed continued to be a strong supporter of his former boss. That's why, under Reed's leadership, the Christian Coalition actively supported Helms in his recent race against African-American businessman, Harvey Gantt. In both races, Helms appealed to prejudice and fear in his efforts to get votes. Instead of calling on Helms to repent of his racist tactics, Reed and the Coalition produced millions of voter guides which portrayed Gantt as anti-God, anti-family and against "traditional values."

The North Carolina Senate race was not the only occasion on which the Christian Coalition portrayed an African American as the opponent of "family values." When Reed and his Coalition sent out sample voter guides to Southern states, the face above the "anti-family" position on issues was that of an African-American man. On the other side of the guide, above the "pro-family" position on issues, was the face of a white Euro-American man. When the press found out about these sample guides, and when outraged African-American leaders began to speak out against the Christian Coalition, Reed pulled the guides out of circulation and blamed the whole ordeal on the company that had produced the guides. But hadn't Reed signed off on the guides before they were distributed? Not according to Reed, who quickly shifted the blame to a staffer and office equipment. The head of an organization which often brags about its state of the art communications capabilities insisted that the real culprits was a blurry fax!

Perhaps we might be more inclined to believe this excuse were it not for the long track record of the Christian Coalition. Not only did Robertson's political organization actively support Jesse Helms against Harvey Gantt, but it also refused to oppose David Duke when he ran for Governor of Louisiana. Reed now claims that his boss "denounced" Duke during the election, but at the time all Pat Robertson could manage in terms of a rebuke was to inform his viewing audience that the voters of Louisiana did not really have "much of a choice." Combine this with the fact that one of the leaders of the Louisiana Christian Coalition actively worked for the Duke campaign, and the mixed message becomes a bit clearer: despite its rhetoric, the Christian Coalition is willing to work with racists.

Perhaps the best way to test the seriousness of the Christian Coalition's concern about racial reconciliation is to review its recent record on issues important to the African-American community. The leadership of the Christian Coalition opposed an increase in the minimum wage, opposed family and medical leave, opposed the ban on assault weapons, and sought to dismantle legal services for the poor. On the other hand, Reed and Robertson supported cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, supported cuts in social security, and pushed for the harshest forms of welfare overhaul--versions which, even more than the present law, punish children because their parents are poor. Like others on the far right, the leaders of the Christian Coalition have demagogued on affirmative action programs, calling them "racial quotas" and "special privileges." And there can be little doubt that much of the talk about "personal responsibility" is, in reality, coded language designed to blame the victims of racism for their own isolation and disenfranchisement.

This is the same organization which falsely claims to speak for all people of faith, which fields stealth candidates for local and state offices, which distributes voter guides that distort candidates' voting records, and which regularly crafts different messages for different audiences. No one should be surprised that an organization with this kind of history would suddenly try to repackage itself as the champion of racial reconciliation. The Christian Coalition is also an organization that never discloses its finances and which cynically uses tax-exempt credentials as a cover for its blatantly partisan political activities. That's why it's under investigation from the Federal Elections Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Post Office and the US Attorney's Office in Norfolk, Virginia.

The German theologian-martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer often spoke disparingly about "cheap grace"and faith without cost. In like manner, we must beware of cheap reconciliation. Real reconciliation among the races requires more than slick talk and good feelings. It requires public policies that reflect a nation's commitment to jobs, community self-determination, freedom from police and criminal violence and access to housing and educational opportunities. It requires real repentance in which penance for past sins includes positive programs for remedying the effects of both personal and institutional racism. Above all, it requires the genuineness which manifests itself in readiness to seek racial justice as a prerequisite to meaningful racial harmony.

As leaders of a grassroots movement of diverse people of faith, we call upon Ralph Reed and the Christian Coalition to match their rhetoric about racial reconciliation with a genuine commitment to racial justice. In fact, we call upon all people of faith and good will to do the same.