Tag: equal protection

September 3, 2013
photo of a Pledge of Allegiance poster in a school

On Wednesday, September 4th, oral arguments begin in the Massachusetts Supreme Court in the case of Doe v. Acton-Boxborough Regional School District. The case is being brought on behalf of three Massachusetts public school students and their parents by the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center. The plaintiffs are members of the AHA. The suit seeks to stop the use of the Pledge of Allegiance that uses the phrase “Under God”, added in 1954, using the equal protection clause of the Massachusetts constitution.

August 27, 2013
photo of a church service

Churches get tax exemptions yet some want to get more involved in politics without losing those exemptions. Tax exemptions were a way of promoting the separation of church and state by limiting the influence of government on religion – a government might try to influence what a church supports or teaches by using the tax rates for example. The cost of this protection also limits how involved a church can get in politics. Some on the religious right want to remove those limits of involvement and I think if they do get those restricts removed they should then pay taxes. It is only fair, right?