Furthermore, it should be understood that while it is perfectly alright for religious groups to celebrate their holidays in public, it should not be at taxpayers expense, nor should government sponsor or organize such events.
Most Americans have not been aware of that, and, because Christianity has been the most dominant religion in America, Christians have simply assumed that entitled them with privileges and rights not granted to other religions by the Constitution. That is why theocratic Christian Dominionists have felt justified by claiming that "America is a Christian Nation," and even that Christianity was meant to be the State Religion.
That is not true, and that is why the truth must be told.
The truth is that the Founders' wall of separation between church and state has been eroding for a very long time.
Those biased Justices ruled that prayer obviously favoring one religion over others is alright and constitutional, but it is not. The correct ruling was issued by Justice Breyer in a dissenting opinion, and Justice Kagan also wrote a dissent joined by Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor.
They all agreed that the decision by five Republican appointed Justices violated the First Amendment clause regarding religion, and they pointed out that even though the town that brought the case was predominantly Christian, in that town there are several churches from different denominations that hold different views, and there are Jewish and Buddhist Temples as well. Therefore, the opinion of the four fair Justices was that prayer in the name of Jesus Christ was unconstitutional. (And in terms of social justice, it was simply unfair and inconsiderate.)
In addition, the April Court ruling by the five biased ruling Republican-appointed Justices broke some significant Supreme Court precedents.
For example, Justice John Paul Stevens once delivered the Court's opinion that "the simple enactment of this policy, with the purpose and perception of school endorsement of student prayer, was a constitutional violation."
Justice Stevens continued, writing that "such a system encourages divisiveness along religious lines and threatens the imposition of coercion upon those students not desiring to participate in a religious exercise. Simply by establishing this school-related procedure, which entrusts the inherently non-governmental subject of religion to a majoritarian vote, a constitutional violation has occurred."
Joining Justice Stevens in his opinion were Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. They were right then, and their opinions are right today.
How Did the Wall of Separation between Church and State Erode?
Americans need to be aware that the erosion of the wall of separation between church and state began long ago. It was threatened in 1800 with the Hamiltonian Federalist notion of a "Christian Meritocracy," but the victory of Thomas Jefferson in the 1800 presidential election stopped that.
In 1823 the "wall" suffered significant damage with the "Christian" Doctrine of Discovery carried over from Europe (which wiped out the rights of native peoples to their land), and the erosion continued. Then it increased immensely in the 1950s when theocratic Evangelical Protestants like Billy Graham, Francis Schaeffer and Abraham Vereide began pressuring President Eisenhower and Congress to make Christianity the State Religion.
The Theocrats did not succeed in doing that, of course, because that would a blatant violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution which prohibits any law regarding the establishment of religion.
However, Americans should now be aware that misguided Christian Theocrats did have significant successes in the 1950s. For example, they got Congress to institutionalize and sanction the National Day of Prayer (in 1952) and The National Prayer Breakfast (in 1953), and to this day they are still arranged by evangelical Christians and hosted by Christian members of Congress. (And while that would certainly not be unconstitutional if such events were sponsored and organized by private religious groups, they are unconstitutional if they are dominated by Christians and are sponsored by Congress at public expense.)
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
3
2
2
