Damages were awarded in the Slidell lawsuit over the portrait of Jesus. In case you don’t remember…
The ACLU filed the lawsuit after court officials refused the organization’s request to remove the portrait and lettering underneath that says, “To know peace, obey these laws.” A week before Lemelle heard arguments in the case in September, court officials expanded the display to include other “notable law-givers,” replacing the Jesus portrait with a copy of the Constitution in the center position and moving the portrait to the end of the wall.
Lemelle said at the time that he likely would have granted a request by the ACLU to remove the portrait, as it clearly demonstrated a religious purpose and intent, violating the establishment clause of the Constitution and running afoul of Supreme Court rulings.
The Jeff Crouere show this morning had your typical conservatives that are an example of what is wrong with america. I only got a minute to respond there so I will continue here.
Some callers called in and tried to tie this with communism, arguing that the left wants to turn this into a communist country (some actually believe we are already there… go figure). Here is a newsflash for them. As a liberal I will say that Communism is a horrible form of government. COMMUNE-ism only works in a… wait for it… COMMUNE! There are many communes in Israel (Kibbutzim) and they work very well. They also work within a capitalistic society, selling their goods in the free market and sharing those goods with fellow members of the Kibbutz.
Other callers tried to claim that the laws of our land are based on the 10 commandments (one caller even claimed that all of the commandments are in our laws). This is completely false. Only 3 laws (of the thousands on the books) are found in the 10 commandments (don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t bear false witness). Those 3 laws are also part of many codes of laws over the years. I could easily say that our legal system is based on the code of Hammurabi because that code also contains those 3 laws.
Jeff even pushed the idea that these laws are an attack on our “Judeau-Christian” heritage. There was nothing “Judeau” about this portrait. I just love how some Christians try and use the term ”Judeau-Christian” in defending their pushing Christianity on others to try and “hide” what they are actually doing.
Which brings me to the point that I was trying to make on the radio. People argue that this is a violation of first amendment rights, which is false. The first amendment does not protect your ability to use government to promote your religious beliefs. In fact, the spirit of the establishment clause contradicts the claims of people who wrongly use the first amendment to justify their actions. And current enforcement of Constitutional law, and the 14th amendment, requires the states and local governments to be under the same prohibitions as the federal government is when it comes to establishing religion.
And the 1st amendment also does not apply at work. I don’t have the right to say what I want or do what I want at work. If I have religious obligations that I must follow at work, I need to tell my boss before they hire me as to what those requirements are. So, since the first amendment does not apply to the workplace, it cannot be argued that the ruling is a violation of the 1st amendment rights of anybody. The bottom line is this, not only do you not have the right to use government as a tool to push your religious beliefs on others, you should be legally restricted from doing so. Thankfully the Constitution does restrict you from doing so, no matter how much these extremists want to bury their heads in the sand and tell you otherwise.
What is even worse is that the people who do these things, like erecting pictures of Jesus in government buildings, are not just using government to promote their religion. What they are really doing is using their God and their religion to promote themselves in their political careers. Using your religion to propel yourself in politics only works to tarnish your religion.
Finally, a person who entered that courtroom who was not a Christian and would see “To know peace, obey these laws” under a picture of Jesus might have a problem believing that he/she would get a fair trial because they are not following the laws of Jesus by being a member of another religion (or no religion at all).
So good for the ACLU. And to those people who believe that the ACLU only supports “liberals” and is “anti-Christian”, read this.
Today the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana filed a lawsuit on behalf of a lone protester who was denied his free expression rights by the City of Natchitoches. Edwin Crayton, a devout Christian, sought to stand in front of Wal-Mart in Natchitoches with a sign protesting Wal-Mart’s alleged position on gay marriage…
“The right to be heard on matters of religious and political significance is at the core of our constitutional system,” said Katie Schwartzmann, Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Louisiana. “The City of Natchitoches has effectively silenced Mr. Crayton on what for him is an important religious issue, and this type of government censorship cannot stand unchallenged.”
So the ACLU stood up for the civil rights of an extremist right wing Christian to express his anti-gay message.
