Freedom From Religion?

from the July 31, 2007 eNews issue

Thomas Jefferson could have hardly realized the turbulence that his simple letter to the Danbury Baptists would cause - the letter in which he used the term, "wall of separation between church and state." He would certainly have been shocked to know it has been read repeatedly and quoted daily more than 200 years later. Yes, he assured the Danbury Baptists that there would be no established church of America. Yet, would he have reworded his letter if he had known the hooplah that would be made today over teacher-led school prayer or Ten Commandments monuments in courthouses? And how would he have settled recent cases like a portrait of Jesus in a courthouse lobby or Islamic footbaths at public universities?

Slidell, Louisiana

For over a decade, a portrait of Jesus Christ has hung in the lobby of the Slidell courthouse above the words "To know peace, obey these laws." Louisiana is a historically Roman Catholic part of the country, and a portrait of Jesus' garnishing the lobby did not surprise many people.

Then, "John Doe" walked into the courthouse and objected. On July 3, Doe (who doesn't want his real name used) and the ACLU filed a case against Judge Jim Lamz who refused to take down the portrait. The Alliance Defense Fund has taken up defense of Judge Lamz and the picture, which, along with a portrait of the courthouse's first judge, is the only display in the lobby.

"The clear secular purpose for this thing was to decorate the walls," said Mike Johnson, an ADF senior legal counsel. "This is not some sort of ulterior motive to advance Christianity."

Dearborn, Michigan

Across the country from Slidell, the University of Michigan at Dearborn has been embroiled in a controversy over foot baths. Dearborn has an extremely high concentration of Muslims and, naturally, so does the university. There were so many Muslim students ceremonially washing their feet in bathroom sinks (before prayers), the university will put in foot baths in new unisex bathrooms. The university argues the purpose is not to advance Islam, but to address safety and sanitation issues raised by the Muslim students' footwashing practices.

The decision to install the foot baths quickly raised protestors from both sides of the aisle. The liberal group Americans United for Separation of Church and State claimed that the university was breaking the law because it was providing for one religion over others. Conservatives and Christian groups, on the other hand, have said, "Wait a minute! Christian symbols can't be displayed, but you'll pay for the Muslims to have prayer rugs and foot baths? That's not even-handed."

The ACLU has come to the defense of the foot baths, arguing that to not provide the baths would, in effect, interfere with the Muslim students' rights to practice their religion. (Which is a fine point that the ACLU should apply more often in order to be more even-handed.)

Freedom From Religion

The U.S. Constitution clearly gives Americans freedom of religion. The First Amendment's establishment clause was put in place to guarantee freedom to worship God in whichever way one's conscience dictates. During the past fifty years, however, the establishment clause has often been used to censor religious expression - to protect people from religion - in ways certainly not intended by the Constitution's framers. The portrait of Jesus is in no way an establishment of a state religion. It is not forcing anybody to attend a Christian church or worship in the name of Jesus. The foot baths, for that matter, are not harming anybody and are in fact safer and more sanitary than current conditions. What's more, people of any religion are free to use them. Freedom of religion protects everybody. Freedom from Religion stifles religious expression in a way America's founders never imagined.

It will be interesting to see where cases like these go with the new faces on the U.S. Supreme Court. In the end, however, it is "we the people" of the United States who are responsible for our government institutions and for protecting the rights we've been so privileged to enjoy.