Access Denied: Supreme Court Slams The Courthouse Door In The Face Of Church-State Litigants

[Adsos Letter]

Source: The Wall of Separation
April 5th, 2011
By Sandhya Bathija


Thanks to yesterday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, it will now be a lot easier for the government to fund religion.

The high court, in a 5-4 decision in Arizona Christian Tuition Organization v. Winn, ruled that taxpayers have no right to challenge tax credits, exemptions or deductions that support religious organizations.

What does that mean? It means that if government officials allot tax dollars to fund a church, synagogue, temple or mosque, a taxpayer has every right to challenge this funding in court as a violation of the First Amendment and the separation of church and state.

But if government officials set up a program where contributions to these religious institutions are offset by a 100 percent tax credit, a taxpayer has no right to challenge that funding in court, despite the fact that it has the same result: tax dollars are going to fund religion.

LINK: http://blog.au.org/2011/04/05/access-denied-supreme-court-slams-the-courthouse-door-in-the-face-of-church-state-litigants/?utm_source=au-homepage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Recently-on-homepage
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American Theocracy, coming soon to a theater near you!

[bluestateguy]

1. If it is neutral between religions, I'm not sure I see the constitutional problem

You can already get tax credits for paying college tuition, even if it should happen to be to a Christian or Jewish or Catholic college.

On the other hand, on public policy grounds, I don't really think such a program is necessary.

[fascisthunter]

2. the problem is a slippery slope.... those who know history

know not to mix religion with state. A very dangerous precedent.

[Drale]

3. You don't even have to be a student of history to see that

just look in our own world at Iran. State Religions are as bad as fascism.

[fascisthunter]

4. exactly....

while the religious right wing goes on a holy crusade they might want to look at their "enemies" because they act the same fucking way. Bunch of repressive, oppressive, control freaks...

[JoeyT]

7. It won't be neutral between religions.

It never is.

I'll use my state as an example: Do you honestly think Atheists, Agnostics, Unitarian Universalists, Wiccans, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, or any of the various shamanistic religions will be able to apply for and receive any kind of money in Alabama?

Of course they won't. And now they aren't allowed to do anything about it.

[ThomCat]

5. Unlimited amounts of money can now be donated to the religious

school, agency, organization, church or temple of your choice in exchange for a 100% tax deduction.

Wow! I can't see any possible way this could be abused! No sirree! :eyes:

Thank goodness we have Supreme Court justices that are so smart that they understand that government support for an organization can come in many forms, and can be given both directly and indirectly.

Thank goodness they are smart enough to know that money is fungible, which means that it doesn't matter where any individual dollar came from, only what the final balance is.

They are so wise that they know that if the government is involved in a process of payments that results in more money ultimately ending up with a religious organization, even if the direct payment didn't come from the government itself, if money from the government is an essential part of the process, then the government is funding that religious organization.

See, you have to be smart like that to make it to the Supreme Court!

Um, right? :grr:

[Adsos Letter]

6. Well stated ThomCat.

Hope yer doing well. :hi: