Runaway Christophobia
No matter how much of a jurisprudential upper hand they get, the God-haters keep raising the bar of their own paronoid bigotry.
As the appetizer, I offer a Democrat state legislator in Arkansas tried to get enacted a resolution affirming the separation of Church and State:
Democratic Representative Buddy Blair said he offered the measure because he was tired of conservative colleagues "making every issue into a religious issue."
Apparently Blair was referring to bills offered in the current legislative session to proscribe homosexual foster parentage; reiterate the traditional definition of marriage in school textbooks; require minors to get a parent's permission before obtaining an abortion; and offer "In God We Trust" license plates.
The report doesn't say if any of these bills have been passed, or even voted on. But Blair's bill has been, and was rightfully defeated, though only by five votes (44-39), which suggests a party-line vote.
What strikes me about the bills about which he complained was that they weren't eminating from the bench, but from the people's elected representatives. Yet another example of how "red"-staters work through the democratic process, while "blue"-staters seek to suppress and subvert it in order to force their unbelief and intolerance down the throats of those they hate and disdain.
What strikes me about Blair's effort, in addition to his Christophobia, is his tell-tale ignorance of the U.S. Constitution:
"It's unbelievable to me. They have just voted against the U.S. Constitution and the constitution of the state of Arkansas," Blair said.
For the umpteenth time, neither the phrase nor the concept of "separation of church and state" is anywhere in the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...
That is the Establishment Clause. Tolerating free religious expression does not constitute "establishment"; rather, free religious expression is what the second half of the Clause explicitly protects. For that matter, even "separation" is far less than what these people are seeking.
Case in point:
A Christian rock band banned from playing at a public school assembly filed a federal lawsuit against the suburban Toledo district on Thursday, claiming discrimination and violation of their right to free speech.
Rossford High School officials in December canceled the band Pawn's performance at an anti-drug assembly...
...Band members said in the lawsuit that they did not intend to play any songs at the assembly that referred to religion and had agreed to stick to the anti-drug message.
So on what grounds could Rossford High have banned this Christian band? Because they play Christian songs in other venues. Or, even more to the point, because they are Christians.
This discrimination could not be any more blatant, and would never even be conceived of were the target any other demographic group. But of course it's open season on evangelicals and always will be. One can only imagine the level of persecution that would ensue were that "blue" state mentality to regain power nationally.
The irony for these Toledo educrats is that they were probably trying to steer clear of ACLU litigation with this ban. It's heartening to see them getting, well, "hell" from the opposite direction. It'll be most interesting to see how this suit pans out. If the plaintiffs don't win, or the school district doesn't settle out of court before it can get that far, it'll set a new precedent for official intolerance of Christianity in this country, and re-emphasize all the more how imperative the recapture of the judiciary from the pagan extremists on the part of the Bush White House has become.
People of faith have been warned: we must fight for our rights now while we still nominally have them, and to prepare for the persecution yet to come.
[Hat tip: Blogs for Bush]
As the appetizer, I offer a Democrat state legislator in Arkansas tried to get enacted a resolution affirming the separation of Church and State:
Democratic Representative Buddy Blair said he offered the measure because he was tired of conservative colleagues "making every issue into a religious issue."
Apparently Blair was referring to bills offered in the current legislative session to proscribe homosexual foster parentage; reiterate the traditional definition of marriage in school textbooks; require minors to get a parent's permission before obtaining an abortion; and offer "In God We Trust" license plates.
The report doesn't say if any of these bills have been passed, or even voted on. But Blair's bill has been, and was rightfully defeated, though only by five votes (44-39), which suggests a party-line vote.
What strikes me about the bills about which he complained was that they weren't eminating from the bench, but from the people's elected representatives. Yet another example of how "red"-staters work through the democratic process, while "blue"-staters seek to suppress and subvert it in order to force their unbelief and intolerance down the throats of those they hate and disdain.
What strikes me about Blair's effort, in addition to his Christophobia, is his tell-tale ignorance of the U.S. Constitution:
"It's unbelievable to me. They have just voted against the U.S. Constitution and the constitution of the state of Arkansas," Blair said.
For the umpteenth time, neither the phrase nor the concept of "separation of church and state" is anywhere in the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...
That is the Establishment Clause. Tolerating free religious expression does not constitute "establishment"; rather, free religious expression is what the second half of the Clause explicitly protects. For that matter, even "separation" is far less than what these people are seeking.
Case in point:
A Christian rock band banned from playing at a public school assembly filed a federal lawsuit against the suburban Toledo district on Thursday, claiming discrimination and violation of their right to free speech.
Rossford High School officials in December canceled the band Pawn's performance at an anti-drug assembly...
...Band members said in the lawsuit that they did not intend to play any songs at the assembly that referred to religion and had agreed to stick to the anti-drug message.
So on what grounds could Rossford High have banned this Christian band? Because they play Christian songs in other venues. Or, even more to the point, because they are Christians.
This discrimination could not be any more blatant, and would never even be conceived of were the target any other demographic group. But of course it's open season on evangelicals and always will be. One can only imagine the level of persecution that would ensue were that "blue" state mentality to regain power nationally.
The irony for these Toledo educrats is that they were probably trying to steer clear of ACLU litigation with this ban. It's heartening to see them getting, well, "hell" from the opposite direction. It'll be most interesting to see how this suit pans out. If the plaintiffs don't win, or the school district doesn't settle out of court before it can get that far, it'll set a new precedent for official intolerance of Christianity in this country, and re-emphasize all the more how imperative the recapture of the judiciary from the pagan extremists on the part of the Bush White House has become.
People of faith have been warned: we must fight for our rights now while we still nominally have them, and to prepare for the persecution yet to come.
[Hat tip: Blogs for Bush]
posted by JASmius at 7:12 PM
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