Is PBS airing right-wing propaganda?

By Diane Silver

It sure looks like PBS is shilling for the religious right, or so says Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

At issue is a new film airing on PBS called "The Wall of Separation." Lynn says the film promotes the debunked theory that the founders of our nation had no intention of separating church from the state.

The film, by the way, was written and directed by Brian Godawa. Lynn writes:

As I made clear in two letters to PBS, Godawa is a militant theocrat with close ties to Christian Reconstructionism, the most extreme faction of the Religious Right. He and his allies believe that Christians of his stripe should take control, not only of the government, but of all aspects of society - including the entertainment industry.

Earlier this year, Godawa took part in the "Issachar Project," a gathering of activists in Orange County, Calif., that, according to one organizer, is intended to bring about "a Christianization of the movie industry." Godawa's previous credits include a stint as movie reviewer for the Chalcedon Foundation, a Christian Reconstructionist outfit that advocates the death penalty for homosexuals, adulterers, fornicators, witches, incorrigible juvenile delinquents and those who spread false religions.

Godawa's PBS film - I will not dignify it with the term "documentary" - is part of the Religious Right's ongoing strategy to rewrite American history and portray church-state separation, a principle that is one of our nation's greatest contributions to governance and liberty, as somehow unhistorical and dangerous.

I can't find a listing for "The Wall of Separation" on either of my two local PBS stations, KCPT and KTWU. Lynn's post is just the most recent of a continuing series of criticisms of the film. I wonder if the critiques are having an effect.