Religious Right Joins White House in Milestone Supreme Court Church-State Separation Case

[Ian David]

From the New York Times’ editorial page:

The Supreme Court hears arguments today in a case that could have a broad impact on whether the courthouse door remains open to ordinary Americans who believe that the government is undermining the separation of church and state.

The question before the court is whether a group seeking to preserve the separation of church and state can mount a First Amendment challenge to the Bush administration’s “faith based” initiatives. The arguments turn on a technical question of whether taxpayers have standing, or the right to initiate this kind of suit, but the real-world implications are serious. If the court rules that the group does not have standing, it will be much harder to stop government from giving unconstitutional aid to religion.


In short, when the Freedom from Religion Foundation sought to combat the constitutionality of the President’s broad expansion of faith based funding initiatives the White House argued that they could not even challenge the program. Today’s case will rule on whether the White House is correct, or whether we as citizens do have the right to challenge the government’s infringement on our first amendment rights, either through faith based funding or other examples of our government’s use of taxpayer dollars to promote religion.

The religious right recognizes the massive opportunity to erode church/state separation. In fact, Jay Sekulow’s American Center for Law & Justice, Roy Moore’s Foundation For Moral Law, and the Alliance Defense Fund have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the White House’s position.

We’re keeping an eye on this and will let you know if there is anything you can do to ensure that the separation between church and state is maintained.

More:
http://defconblog.org/2007/02/religious-right-joins-white-house-in-milestone-supreme-court-church-state-separation-case/



See also:

Rally at the US Supreme Court Wed. Feb 28th against Faith-Based Initiatives Click here to hide this thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=106x30271

[AndyA]

1. The last time Church and State got together, there were hangings

of innocent people in the Town Square.

Not looking to repeat that fiasco.

[Ind4now]

5. AndyA...

I don't know enough about the initiatives to comment on them, however you are going a little over the top, I think!

[MountainLaurel]

8. I used to have a similar bumper sticker

"Last time we mixed church and state, people got burned at the stake."

Of course, the grammatical issues of "got" instead of "were" set my teeth on edge.

[izzie]

2. I do not think that Bush has this right to give my tax money away

I will be interesting in this.

[Double T]

3. Separation of Church and State is paramount.............

It is difficult enough dealing with political agenda fanatics; the addition of religious fundamentalists to the mix would be unbearable.

[BOSSHOG]

4. This is a classic no brainer

Yes, petitioners have a right to challenge based on first amendment and no, bush's initiative is not constitutional. However, I'm not taking into consideration the dickheads on the court that see no problem in doing away with separation of church and state.

If christian zealots want to live in a theocracy they are free to leave. Now.

[Ind4now]

6. Unconstitutional?

Amendment I
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

hjttp://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/president-initiative.html
“Faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) have a long tradition of helping Americans in need and together represent an integral part of our nation’s social service network. Yet, all too often, the Federal government has put in place complicated rules and regulations preventing FBCOs from competing for funds on an equal footing with other organizations. President Bush believes that besides being inherently unfair, such an approach can waste tax-payer dollars and cut off the poor from successful programs. Federal funds should be awarded to the most effective organizations—whether public or private, large or small, faith-based or secular—and all must be allowed to compete on a level playing field.”


I have to ask; where do you see something unconstitutional here?

[Geezus]

7. You actually BELIEVE a white house press release

The thing is, that press release leaves a lot of things out. Like the fact that Bush uses it to funnel money to special interest organozations (which is a serious ethics violation), and the faith-based intitiatives are exactly that, policies that are based on someone's religious beliefs that bush is implementing. In other words, Bush is giving aid to religious organizations he supports, and is implementing policies that support the views of one specific religion. Thereby attempting to establish a state religion, which is uncontsitutional.
:rant: