When will believers get the message. A Ten Commandments monument on or in a court house violates the 1st amendment. On July 15th a Federal judge reminded us all when he ruled against Dixie County Florida.
The monument was donated by a local businessman in 2006. The county claimed that it was private property and the location on the steps of the court house was a public forum, but the county offered to defend any lawsuit against the monument for free.
Some churches and religious groups complain about separation of church and state when they want to force their views into the public sphere like schools and government. However when these groups want to discriminate they become the biggest fans of the wall between church and state. They shouldn’t have it both ways.
A teacher at a church school in Redford Township, Michigan was fired when the school board wouldn’t allow her to return to work after a long medical leave.
It’s really hard for some religious believers to understand why the separation of church and state is really important. In an effort to advance the cause in support of strong separation I have come up with a good analogy to explain it. I call it “The Sports Analogy”.
Recent court decisions involving church and state have not been ruled in the non-believer’s favor. The reasoning used by the judges follow the thinking shown in the recent decision concerning the National Day of Prayer law:
The Supreme Court ruled Monday in the case of Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn Et al. that tax payers couldn’t sue Arizona for allowing a tax credit used to fund private sectarian schools in the state. While I disagree with the ruling since tax payers should have standing to sue – it is their money – I don’t think supporters of separation of church and state would win the case anyway.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote:
John Freshwater, a Mount Vernon Ohio teacher who was fired for proselytizing in his 8th grade science class has appealed his termination and it was announced today his appeal will be moving to Federal Court.
This week the US Supreme Court ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church can picket military funerals. Fred Phelps, leader of the church, and his merry band picket funerals in order to advance their sick anti-gay religious agenda. Even though their brand of picketing is tasteless and offensive, the Supreme Court was right to rule in their favor.
