Loyalty Oaths

What did it mean? The half-page ad--echoing the tone of loyalty oaths that cowardly television networks made their employees sign during the "Red-scare" frenzy in the decade following World War II--appeared in several hundred newspapers Nov. 4-5. Out of the blue. No explanation. This was the title: "An Open Letter to the American People." This was the text: "Burger King wishes to go on record as supporting traditional American values on television, especially the importance of the family.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court was asked Monday whether Congress violated the 1st Amendment when it required global groups fighting AIDS to explicitly oppose prostitution and sexual trafficking as a condition of receiving federal grants. Several of the groups, including the Alliance for Open Society International, objected to the requirement, not because they favored prostitution. They said it would interfere with their work. They seek to encourage women, including prostitutes, to come to their clinics for testing and treatment.

Glen Coughlin will sign. Gladly. Oh yes, says the dean of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, he fully backs the Vatican requirement for Roman Catholic theologians to pledge, in writing, that they will teach "authentic Catholic doctrine." Call this truth in advertising, Coughlin says: Those billed as Catholic theologians should accurately present Catholic teachings. John Connolly will not sign. Absolutely not.

The Israeli government moved Sunday to adopt a controversial loyalty oath that would require Palestinians and other non-Jewish prospective citizens to swear allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state. " Supporters said the proposed amendment to Israel's citizenship law, approved Sunday by the Cabinet and expected to be adopted by the Knesset, would strengthen Israel's identity as the homeland of the Jewish people. But critics called the measure anti-democratic and discriminatory because it would not apply to Jewish immigrants seeking Israeli citizenship and it appeared to be chiefly aimed at Palestinians applying for Israeli citizenship after marrying Arab Israelis.

The nation's Roman Catholic bishops plan to finish what critics deride as a loyalty oath for theology professors at a meeting in Atlanta on Friday. The policy, tailored to Vatican specifications, will require a Catholic teacher to get the local bishop to sign a document recognizing the instructor's commitment "to teach authentic Catholic doctrine and to refrain from putting forth as Catholic teaching anything contrary to" official teaching.

Re "Enduring oath still testing loyalties," Column One, May 2 I'm with lecturer Wendy Gonaver in spirit; loyalty oaths are absurd because whatever "traitors" are, an oath won't stop them. However, Gonaver chose the wrong battle. By giving up a chance to teach, she deprived her would-be Cal State Fullerton students of a much-needed perspective. The reality is that being scrupulously honest about one's beliefs tends to sap one's political power -- something the left needs to learn from the right.

The campaign of likely independent presidential candidate Ross Perot on Sunday confirmed that it has asked electors running on Perot tickets to sign notarized oaths pledging their loyalty to the Texas billionaire and their commitment to vote for him in the Electoral College. The statement came only two days after a senior campaign spokeswoman had described reports of the oaths as "absurd"--a mistake that appears to highlight continued disorganization within the campaign.

Candidates for public office in Pennsylvania no longer have to sign a McCarthy-era loyalty oath pledging that they are not "subversive." The requirement was unconstitutional, Atty. Gen. Tom Corbett has told election officials. The change was ordered after John Staggs refused to sign the oath when he turned in nominating petitions this year and then threatened to sue the state.

Right-wing Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the militant Jewish Defense League, was stripped of most of his parliamentary privileges Monday for refusing to take an oath of allegiance that could cause him to lose his U.S. citizenship. Speaker Shlomo Hillel, in an unprecedented order, banned Kahane from the floor of the Knesset (Parliament) until he agrees to take the oath of office, a declaration of loyalty to the state of Israel that is required of all Knesset members.

Last week, the state of California avoided a possible constitutional confrontation over its requirement that all public employees sign an oath affirming that they will "support and defend" the United States and California constitutions "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

Charles Muscatine, a world-renowned Chaucer scholar and a longtime advocate for higher education reform who was fired as a young assistant professor of English at UC Berkeley when he refused to sign a loyalty oath during the Red Scare of the 1950s, has died. He was 89. Muscatine died of an infection March 12 at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Oakland, said his daughter, Lissa Muscatine. "Chuck Muscatine was a vital figure in the political leadership of the Berkeley faculty all the way from the loyalty oath controversy through the Free Speech Movement," said David A. Hollinger, a professor of history at UC Berkeley.

The San Diego school board has sent a letter of apology to folk singer Pete Seeger for the actions of school officials in 1960 who tried to cancel his concert at a local school because he refused to sign a loyalty oath pledging anti-communism. After the ACLU went to court to defend Seeger, the concert at Hoover High School went on as scheduled. A current school board member said she decided the board should send a letter to the 89-year-old Seeger after seeing him perform as part of the inaugural festivities for President Obama.

The San Diego school board has sent a letter of apology to folk singer Pete Seeger for the actions of school officials in 1960 who tried to cancel his concert at a local campus because he refused to sign a pledge against communism. After the ACLU went to court to defend Seeger, the concert at Hoover High School went on as scheduled. A current school trustee said she decided the board should send a letter to the 89-year-old Seeger after seeing him perform as part of the inaugural festivities for President Obama.

Portraits of two Israeli Arab politicians, defaced by red Hebrew letters reading "Shame and Disgrace!" flashed on a giant video screen. Jeering erupted in the hall, packed for the tough-talking candidate whose bid to lead Israel is propelled by unease about its Arab minority. Avigdor Lieberman's attacks on Arabs have shaken up the race for parliament and prime minister.

Re " 'I don't' isn't the answer," editorial, May 28 Sadly, it took The Times less than two weeks to turn a decision that was ostensibly about recognizing the inherent freedom we all (should) have to live our lives as we see fit into the latest occasion for calling on the power of the state to enforce a new orthodoxy. According to your editorial, public employees should be forced to perform marriage ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples even if they object to doing so on religious grounds.

Re "Enduring oath still testing loyalties," Column One, May 2 I'm with lecturer Wendy Gonaver in spirit; loyalty oaths are absurd because whatever "traitors" are, an oath won't stop them. However, Gonaver chose the wrong battle. By giving up a chance to teach, she deprived her would-be Cal State Fullerton students of a much-needed perspective. The reality is that being scrupulously honest about one's beliefs tends to sap one's political power -- something the left needs to learn from the right.

The advisory council to the National Endowment for the Arts broke with its chairman today, voting overwhelmingly to drop an anti-obscenity pledge for artists that it likened to McCarthy-era loyalty oaths. The council vote is not binding on the endowment. NEA Chairman John E. Frohnmayer said, "I'm going to consider it and take my action in due course."

Several Republican legislators complained Friday that their party overstepped its bounds by demanding they sign a loyalty oath as part of the Assembly leadership fight between Speaker Brian Setencich and GOP Leader Curt Pringle. Although most Assembly Republicans were signing the pledge, even a few of those suggested that the party's top leaders had no business meddling in what is essentially an internal fight among elected officials.

A Quaker who lost her appointment as a Cal State Fullerton lecturer after she objected to a state loyalty oath submitted a revised statement of her beliefs Thursday in a bid to win the job back. People For the American Way, a Washington-based civil rights group now representing lecturer Wendy Gonaver, called on the university to reinstate her and adopt a policy protecting the religious freedom of all California State University system employees.

Faced with a relic of the McCarthy era on one side and, on the other, a remedial-math teacher who wouldn't let the matter go, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown did the sanest thing within his power. He provided written assurance that the teacher, a Quaker, would not have to bear arms as part of a loyalty oath. Now it's up to the Legislature to do the sanest thing within its power -- move to rid the state of the oath.