Bush official under fire for remarks

By Gail Schiller
Associated Press

Twelve Democratic members of Congress demanded yesterday that Education Secretary Rod Paige either resign or apologize for his recent comments saying he favors schools offering "Christian values."

Paige, who spoke yester-day at a Town Hall meeting in Los Angeles, said afterward that he could see no need to apologize. His remarks, during a recent interview with the Baptist Press, represent his personal beliefs and not his actions as President Bush's education secretary, Paige said.

Paige, who is a Baptist, told the Southern Baptist Convention's news service that he would "prefer to have a child in a school where there's a strong appreciation for values, the kind of values that I think are associated with the Christian communities, so that this child can be brought up in an environment that teaches them to have strong faith.

"The reason that Christian schools and Christian universities are growing is a result of a strong value system. In a religious environment the value system is set. That's not the case in a public school, where there are so many different kids with different kinds of values."

The remarks have met with a wave of protest. So far nearly three dozen national organizations led by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights have urged him to apologize and retract his statement.

In a letter sent to Paige yesterday, the 12 members of Congress said it was "profoundly troubling" that the nation's top educational official would suggest that public schools "offer an inferior education to those infused with the values of the Christian community.

"We believe that you owe a sincere and unambiguous apology to the many American families whose faiths and educational choices your remarks have denigrated. If you are unprepared to make clear that this sort of religious bigotry has no place in the Department of Education, then we would urge you to resign."

It was signed by Reps. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.; John Conyers, D-Mich.; Henry Waxman, D-Calif.; Barney Frank, D-Mass.; Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.; Sander Levin, D-Mich.; Jose Serrano, D-N.Y.; Mike Honda, D-Calif.; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y.; Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, and Joseph Hoeffel, D-Pa.

Paige said yesterday that he would never try to impose his beliefs on others.

He also indicated he hasn't changed his opinion.

"I don't think it's impossible to be productive when you have a comprehensive school where there are a lot of different beliefs and values and the focus is not clear ... but it's much more difficult," he said.