c. 1998 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Samuel Rutherford was a 17th century Scottish cleric who wrote a book, “Lex Rex,” arguing no one, not even the king, is above the law.

The cleric’s 20th century namesake, the nonprofit Rutherford Institute, which has emerged from the relative obscurity of litigating church-state cases to being the high-profile defender of Paula Jones in her sexual harassment suit against President Clinton, sees its mission in a similar fashion.

But critics believe the little-known, well-heeled Virginia-based group that has quietly spent millions of dollars fighting legal battles over its vision of religious freedom as well as some $200,000 supporting Jones, may have some other agendas.

The Jones case has taken the institute to the center of charges that right-wing conspirators are working to oust Clinton from the White House. And while the White House sees sinister motives, the Rutherford Institute says it is simply promoting a modern version of the Lex Rex philosophy.

“No man is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” said John W. Whitehead, the institute’s founder and president.

In a deposition in the Jones case Jan. 17, Clinton is reported to have sworn he did not have a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. If that was a lie, the president could face perjury charges and _ potentially _ impeachment.

First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, taking the offensive in defending her husband, said the charges Clinton had sex with Lewinsky and then tried to cover it up were being promoted by a “vast, right-wing conspiracy.” Though she didn’t name the Rutherford Institute, others have placed the institute at the center of a web of right-wing, anti-Clinton forces.

Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, challenges Whitehead’s claims the group has no secret agenda in the Jones case and is not linked to the religious right.

“Our files on the institute go back 10 years; after examining the material, we can safely say Whitehead is not being honest in his description of his organization,” Lynn said.

In recent years, Lynn said, Whitehead has repeatedly attacked the Clintons in the institute’s Rutherford magazine and in fund-raising appeals.

Lynn said the institute has charged: that the Clinton health care initiative would send parents to jail if they seek alternative health care for their children; that Clinton is quietly creating a despotic government; that the Clinton agenda would promote homosexuality, abortion, promiscuity and sexual experimentation among the people.

Whitehead also has links to the Rev. Jerry Falwell, one of the Clintons’ harshest critics. The first lady named Falwell as one of the lead actors in her conspiracy theory.

Whitehead’s writings appear regularly in Falwell’s newspaper the National Liberty Journal, and Falwell urged support for Whitehead in a recent “Falwell Fax” bulletin.

Other critics are even harsher.

Journalist Frederick Clarkson, author of the book”Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy”(Common Courage Press) has linked Whitehead and the institute to the controversial Christian Reconstruction movement founded by theologian R. J. Rushdoony and its vision of establishing a Christian theocracy in the United States.

Whitehead has told reporters he moved away Reconstructionism because”I don’t believe in theocracy”and Rutherford Institute publications and press releases from the last six months reveal little in the way of a political agenda. The legal cases the institute supports are far more likely to involve prayer in school than sexual harassment in a hotel room.

A typical Rutherford Institute legal case is that of a Medford, N.J., elementary school student who was barred from reading his “Beginner’s Bible” in class and from displaying artwork depicting Jesus. The institute called the school’s action “extreme religious phobia” and vowed to appeal a federal court’s decision siding with the school.

Whitehead’s radio pieces also tend toward religious freedom themes. In one, he defends a pair of airline employees who were barred from reading their Bibles in a break room. In another, he defends a teacher who was forced to remove a Christmas wreath from her classroom.

Whitehead is a 52-year-old lawyer and born-again Christian who opposes abortion and the death penalty and supports affirmative action and home schooling. He founded the Rutherford Institute 15 years ago. It receives $5 million to $6 million in donations annually.

“It’s a right-wing think tank, very conservative,” said Frank Askin, a professor at Rutgers Law School.

“They are part of the hard right movement that hates the Clintons,” Askin said. “Their involvement with Paula Jones is purely political; it’s not the normal thing that they would be doing.”

Whitehead has been dealing with questions about his motives in supporting Jones since he signed on as her legal benefactor in October. Just this week he reacted to remarks from Clinton’s attorney in the case, Robert Bennett, that the institute’s involvement is “preposterous” and a “gimmick.”

“The Rutherford Institute’s involvement in the Paula Jones case is not preposterous,” Whitehead said. “It deals with the rule of law _ specifically, that no man is above the law, not even the president of the United States. “Moreover, powerful men cannot be permitted to make unwanted sexual advances to powerless women,” he said.

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