Anti-Defamation League criticizes Lieberman's religious statements

From staff and wire reports

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Calling his statements "contrary to the American ideal," the Anti-Defamation League criticized Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman for his expressions of religious beliefs along the campaign trail.

While candidates should be free to explain their beliefs to voters, the organization's two top leaders said in a Tuesday statement: "There is a point at which an emphasis on religion in a political campaign becomes inappropriate and even unsettling in a diverse society such as ours."

Sen. Joseph Lieberman addresses the Communications Workers of America, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2000, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California

Lieberman is the first Orthodox Jew to run for vice president on a major party ticket and is outspoken about his religious convictions. Speaking at the Fellowship Chapel in Detroit on Sunday, Lieberman said he would help find "a place for faith in America's public life."

"As a people, we need to reaffirm our faith and renew the dedication of our nation and ourselves to God and God's purposes," the Connecticut senator said.

But the ADL, which concentrates on fighting anti-Semitism, said Lieberman's invocation of his religion "risks alienating the American people."

"The place for religion is in church, synagogue and in the home and in one's heart," Foxman told CNN. "Certainly, we think it's contradictory to the American tradition to put it on the campaign trail, to say, 'Vote for me because I'm a believer.' "

"We feel very strongly, and we hope you would agree, that appealing along religious lines, or belief in God, is contrary to the American ideal," ADL Chairman Howard Berkowitz and Director Abraham Foxman said in a Monday letter to Lieberman. "The First Amendment requires that government neither support one religion over another nor the religious over the nonreligious."

Lieberman 'respectfully disagrees'

In addition to Lieberman, Vice President Al Gore and his Republican rival in November, Texas Gov. George Bush, have frequently referred to their religious beliefs during the presidential campaign. Gore is a Baptist; Bush, a Methodist.

The ADL sent similar letters to the presidential candidates in the early days of the campaign.

Lieberman's spokeswoman, Kiki McLean, said her boss "respectfully disagrees" with the ADL.

"Joe Lieberman is someone who has always respected the role faith plays in the lives of millions of Americans. He is someone who always expresses his support of tolerance and separation of church and state," McLean said.

The rebuke from the ADL came as candidates are coming to speak to the group's parent organization, B'Nai B'rith International, at its annual convention in Washington. Bush told B'Nai B'rith on Monday, "Our nation is chosen by God and commissioned by history to be a model to the world of justice and inclusion and diversity without division."

Lieberman's wife, Hadassah, declined comment on the letter when she addressed the convention Tuesday. She told B'nai B'rith members the Democratic ticket was, like them, committed to "the betterment of the world."

Rumblings on the home front

Gore picked Lieberman as his running mate in August, about a week before the Democratic National Convention. Lieberman is also up for re-election to the U.S. Senate in his home state of Connecticut. But back home, two state Democratic leaders have publicly asked him to give up his bid for a third term to concentrate on the national race.

Democratic committees in the towns of Hampton and Chaplin voted last week to ask Lieberman to step aside and allow another Democrat to run for his Senate seat. If Gore is elected president and Lieberman turns back Republican Senate challenger Philip Giordano, then the state's GOP governor, John Rowland, would pick a successor for Lieberman's seat.

Hampton's Democrats argued that Lieberman's withdrawal from the Senate race would affirm his faith in the national ticket's chances, open the seat to another Democratic candidate and "avoid the certainty of a Republican senatorial appointment should the national Democratic ticket win."

"Joe Lieberman is a hedger, and although I don't blame him for doing that here, it's exactly what he's doing," said Thomas Gaines, chairman of the Hampton Democratic Town Committee.

But state party Chairman Edward Marcus said Lieberman should stay in.

"Joe Lieberman's running for both is actually a plus for the party," Marcus said. "It's a major plus for the ticket. It's a major plus for our congressional candidates. There's no downside to it."