The AU press release can be found here:
https://www.au.org/media/press-releases/americans-united-disapointed-that-us-supreme-court-ruled-in-favor-of-sectarian
I have to rant about this, because this is something that
is handled in the political arena. And
remember that every church/state separation case that we lose brings the
religious right that much closer to determining whether or not you have access
to simple contraception, and what family planning IN YOUR BEDROOM will look
like, based on THEIR beliefs.
Anyone of any belief system and even Christian
denomination can at any time and any place be relegated to 2nd class citizen.
It's coming and it's coming fast, thanks to a religious right supreme court and
a country full of non-fundamentalist, non-religious right people who REFUSE to
acknowledge the threat and to stand up and truly defend the 1st Amendment for
ALL Americans, regardless of beliefs.
There was a time when Catholics and Jews were compared to Muslims as a
way to discredit and demonize them. Catholics have enjoyed some improvement in
status over the last 50 years, but don't forget that Protestantism DOMINATED
this country and our schools as late as the 1970s-and it is fully the intent of
the religious right to dominate again. Baptists-you think things are
hunky-dory, but review Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists after you
read their letter to Jefferson-Baptists were and still are a minority
denomination in this county-and ALWAYS will be. You CANNOT have FREEDOM of your
conscience if you do not FIRST have Freedom FROM the other guy's religion or
denomination. If you're a Quaker, 7th Day Adventist, Mennonite, one who follows
a Native American spiritual path, a Muslim, an atheist, LDS, or a freethinking
NONE who is finding your way, mark my words: YOU ARE A 2ND CLASS CITIZEN.
PERIOD. YOUR BELIEFS DO NOT COUNT-YOU WILL BE FORCED TO CONFORM. Even if you are of a denomination that
closely aligns with the establishment of the religious right-you too will find
yourself victim because within the religious right there is not complete
agreement on biblical interpretations or history or American history-your
version of "the right way" may not be the religious right
establishment's interpretation or version of what "is right" and you
will find yourself becoming partner to those who believe differently than you
simply for the common ground of fighting to re-instate separation of church and
state, and to ensure your right to decide what beliefs to bring your children
up with, which bible version to choose for your family, and which church to
attend-and, yes, even which books and stories your kids are exposed to.
if you've been
following the issues, legal cases, state bills, or even the goings-on in your
state but have not been doing anything, realize that the FIRST AMENDMENT is the
1st for a reason. Entire lives change
when someone who believes differently than you begins to dictate your life and
the lives of your family. And it's more
possible than you think: it begins with states like TX et al. which have
decided to pick and choose what is in their history books and LA which has set
their students up for FAILURE with creationism in their science
classrooms-these kids are going to get into college and not know even the
basics because their communities and parents and, indeed, their state laws
which are supposed to have been made by supposedly smart people have set these
students up for FAILURE. Rachel Held
Evans, a Christian blogger, even has written about these students who, set up
for failure, get to college and realizing how behind they are, become angry,
not just at their families but some also leave their faith, which is sad. It is
one thing to change your beliefs if during your life you have learned things
that cause you to question what you had previously been told. But what Rachel
discusses is actually tragic (not that atheists mind this).
And the bottom line is that every single bit of this
take-over of your life by people who believe that YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY BE A GOOD
AND MORAL PERSON unless you conform to THEIR BELIEFS-THEIR VERSION OF THE
BIBLE, THEIR VERSION OF BIBLICAL HISTORY, AND THEIR INTERPRETATION of all
things Christian. YOUR VERSION AND YOUR BELIEFS ARE NOT THE RIGHT BELIEFS-YOU
ARE NOT THE RIGHT KIND OF CHRISTIAN. So, let them destroy the First Amendment,
making freedom only the right of their chosen kind of Christianity, and what do
you have? A country of one reigning denomination-all others will be minority
with ZERO rights. Think it can't happen? It already has, and is still happening:
THIS
“The poor Quakers were flying from persecution in
England. They cast their eyes on these new countries as asylums of civil and
religious freedom; but they found them free for only the reigning sect.” Thomas
Jefferson’s notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-1785.
IS WHY WE HAVE THIS:
Proposed 1789, ratified 1791:
The “Establishment Clause:” “Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion.”
Ensures freedom FROM religion
The “Free Exercise Clause:” or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof.”
Ensures freedom OF religion.
“The Supreme Court just relegated millions of Americans -
both believers and nonbelievers - to second-class citizenship,” said the Rev.
Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, which sponsored the
lawsuit. “Government should not be in the business of forcing faith on anyone,
and now all who attend meetings of their local boards could be subjected to the
religion of the majority.”
–“In this country it is no part of the business of
government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to
recite as part of a religious program carried on by government.”--Justice Hugo Black, 1962
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