About once a year or so, Justice Antonin Scalia gets in front of a Catholic school assembly and tells the students that there is no constitutional tradition that says the state must be neutral on religion or free of religion. At least he is consistent. He is consistently wrong about separation of church and state.
Most Christmas seasons I’ve written blog posts about some religious freedom legal case involving a local or state government preference for Christianity during the holiday. Why haven’t I written many posts on it this year? I get sick of repeating myself and it seems like after each case, each year, we go back to square one somewhere else the next year. I needed a post this month so here are a couple of examples that show why some religious conservatives refuse to understand the first amendment.
The Center for American Progress (CAP) sees the problem with religious freedom after the Hobby Lobby court decision in 2014. Religious freedom is being used as a weapon to discriminate. CAP has some ideas on how to restore the religious freedom balance. They all sound good.
Rowan County (KY) Clerk Kim Davis was jailed on Thursday 9/3 after being found in contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in her county. She previously lost all of her appeals including a last ditch effort to have the US Supreme Court issue a stay. Of course reaction by the religious right is apocalyptic. The reality is Davis was jailed for not following the law – not for her religious beliefs.
From the Friendly Atheist:
Federal court Judge David L. Bunning ruled against Rowan County Kentucky clerk of courts Kim Davis, Wednesday. Davis had refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the June 26th US Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges decision. The main points are that Davis’ religious freedom isn’t taken away in doing her sworn duty as clerk but her ‘no marriage licenses’ policy injures all residents of Rowan county.
The 28 page decision is full of delicious statements and rebuttals against Kim Davis’ lame arguments against doing her sworn duty. Here are some highlights:
It was reported last week that the Federal government passed a law that allowed the land underneath the Mount Soledad Cross in San Diego to be sold to a private Christian front group. The sale seems to bring an end to a 26 year court battle to have the cross removed from a public park. The case and end result shows how hard some religious conservatives will fight for their privilege and for their symbols. It is a sad day for the 1st Amendment.
The Friendly Atheist has the latest:
