(AgapePress) - An Illinois pro-family activist says the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is attempting to intimidate a Christian school board candidate because she has vowed to oppose the promotion of homosexuality in schools.

The ADL recently sent a letter to Leslie Pinney, urging the Christian women to "refrain from political appeals based on religious faith." Pinney, a candidate for the District 214 school board in Arlington Heights, had informed local pastors her decision-making while on the board would be based on her Christian beliefs. In a letter to the pastors, she asked for support as a "Christian engaging the culture."

Peter LaBarbera with the Illinois Family Institute says it is apparent that homosexuals have come out of the closet -- but that they want to push Christians into the closet.

Peter LaBarbera

"It seems that liberals are afraid of Christians who will run for office as Christians," LaBarbera says. "It's ironic that a group that fights discrimination is willing to basically foment discrimination against people of faith. I just found it shocking."

But LaBarbera sees the ADL's reaction as consistent with a tactic typically employed by liberal groups.

"The liberal strategy these days on social issues is to create sort of 'front church groups,' which are basically religious organizations that, in my view, support immoral causes," he explains. "For example, there's Catholics for a Free Choice, which is [a] pro-abortion [group] -- and they're not really Catholic of course; they're promoting abortion. Then there's the Interfaith Alliance, which supports homosexual special rights."

In her letter to local pastors, the school board candidate promised she would be "carefully weighing all decisions and votes, praying about them ... and providing the best stewardship of the tax dollars the community provides to us."

But by criticizing Pinney, says LaBarbera, the ADL is attempting to "ostracize" candidates who bring a traditional Christian or religious worldview to the public debate. And according to the family advocate, the ADL fears faith-based conservatives like Pinney in politics because they talk "honestly about [their] faith rather than hiding it in the closet."

The IFI spokesman says it is time for Christians like Pinney to "get out of the closet" and get involved in politics and government. The Arlington Heights school board election is April 5.

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