Religious right has the answers, but they’re wrong

Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, Americans have been compelled by the simplest of black-and-white slogans: “Wanted: Dead or Alive” and “Bring ‘em on.”

Americans, terrified that our country could be so easily attacked, began to cling to all that seemed plain and clear.

For many, it seems, there’s a security in such thinking. It reduces life to rules, slogans and platitudes. It takes us, intellectually and emotionally, back to first grade, when a sturdy set of rules, a well-ordered routine and a plateful of chocolate chip cookies had the power to keep life on track.

But now, four years later, it’s appearing those simple, black and white perspectives don’t keep adults safe at all. When they halt our thinking and limit our vision, they lead us into greater danger.

In recent years, Americans have flocked to evangelical Christian churches, in part, because of the lure of their clear answers. Often these churches do remarkable work in mending families, creating communities and helping people heal the pain of bad choices, miserable luck or both.

But sadly, many of these churches have coalesced into a political voting block, an entity that’s become known more for its hard edges than its visible grace.

At its most dangerous, it cloaks messages of discrimination in religious arguments. A tactic once used to promote slavery and segregation, it’s now justifying sexism and homophobia.

Here’s the latest example: A conservative Christian group called, innocuously enough, the American Family Association, has threatened a boycott of American Girl dolls, one of the most clever and inventive toys of my daughters’ generation.

They aren’t cheap, but they’re a supremely creative way to entice little girls into a love of history and a deep appreciation for all that American girls have endured and overcome for more than 200 years.

In our household, it was Samantha Parkington, the turn-of-the-century New Yorker in high-button shoes who first showed up under the Christmas tree.

In succeeding years, she was followed by Felicity Merriman, a girl living in Colonial Virginia at the time of the Revolutionary War, and Addy Walker, a girl who escaped slavery with her mother during the Civil War. Each of them was accompanied by her own book and loaded with cool stuff.

Other American Girl fans have fallen for Kaya, a Nez Perce girl living in 1764 with her own jingle dress, Josefina Montoya of 1824 New Mexico, whose Christmas dress comes with a matching mantilla, and Nellie O’Malley, a servant girl who wears an Irish dancing dress in St. Patrick’s Day green.

These dolls have been well-loved by American families who take their girls to church each Sunday morning as well as those who hike or bike or fry pancakes instead. The only criticism I’ve heard of them is their price. Yet in our household, they’ve already paid off. The daughter who loved them best became, you guessed it, a history major.

So what could possibly trouble the American Family Association about these dolls?

It turns out the group, headed by a former Mississippi preacher, Don Wildmon, looks askance at American Girl’s latest fund-raiser.

The company sells “I Can” bracelets to girls, inscribed with this message: “I can be myself, follow my dreams, and always do my best. I can reach for the stars, lend a hand to others, and be a good friend.”

The proceeds help support a non-profit group called Girls Inc., a 140-year-old organization formerly known as Girls Clubs that provides afterschool programs, pregnancy prevention, math and science education and scholarships for real, live American girls living in poverty.

In my hometown of Rapid City, S.D., Girls Inc. serves Lakota girls whose older sisters gave birth as early as age 14. It encourages them to dream of bigger goals like becoming a doctor or forest ranger or social worker.

Girls Inc. describes its mission as “inspiring all girls to be strong, smart and bold,” and it names a long list of values on its Web site — ranging from education and equality to reproductive freedom and access to contraception. It also advocates against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

For that, the American Family Association has decided to campaign against American Girl, now a division of Mattel. It labels Girls Inc. as “pro-abortion, pro-lesbian.”

Bring ‘em on. Dead or alive. It’s all the same way of thinking.

This much is coming clearer all the time. Under some of these religious campaigns lies a deeper prejudice. These hardliners know it’s difficult to keep a woman constrained when she has control over when and whether she chooses to become pregnant.

There’s little else that can so quickly stop a woman from being strong and smart and bold than trying to raise a child when her emotional and economic resources are depleted.

These issues are not black and white. They’re not easily reduced to slogans. But then the deepest truths of this life rarely are.