In the case Wirtz v. City of South Bend, a US District court judge ruled that the city of South Bend Indiana couldn’t give away city owned land to a catholic high school. It considered the give away a violation of the first amendment.
Tag: 1st amendment
In 1960 when questions about John F. Kennedy’s religion came up, he gave a speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. Although given 50 years ago, it still seems it should apply to politics today. I wish it would.
You expect anti-knowledge people like “historian” David Barton to mislead the public about US history especially when it concerns religious freedom. You don’t expect an actual historian to mislead the public. I found one yesterday who tried to defend saying prayers during government meetings. He misses the point of the 1st amendment.
According to his bio on his column, Thomas S. Kidd…
American Atheists have filed a lawsuit challenging a recent addition to the 9/11 memorial in New York. A piece of rubble from the World Trade Center terrorist attack that is in the shape of a cross. The suit has generated a lot of “bad” press from the media, death threats, and other nasty messages from the “peace and love” Christians. Some freethinkers and seculars might be complaining about picking this fight but I admire American Atheist for standing up for what they believe. I think they have a good case and so do the directors of the memorial.
The “cross” was found in the debris and then worshiped in the following days by believers working the site of the tragedy.
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.
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: