http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_todd_huf_061118_another_crack_in_the.htm
Another Crack In The Wall
by Todd Huffman, M.D.
http://www.opednews.com
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With virtually no public awareness, the U.S House of Representatives late
in September passed a bill that undermines enforcement of the First
Amendment's Establishment Clause, which the Supreme Court has for more than
150 years upheld as vital for the separation of church and state.
The Public Expression of Religion Act (H.R. 2679) "amends the Revised
Statutes of the United States to limit the remedy to injunctive relief and
deny attorney's fees in a civil action against a state of local official
for deprivation of rights where the deprivation consists of a violation of
a prohibition in the Constitution against the establishment of religion."
Put simply, this bill provides that attorneys who successfully challenge
government actions as violating the Establishment Clause shall not be
entitled to recover attorneys' fees. This bill has one purpose and one
purpose only: to prevent lawsuits challenging unconstitutional government
actions advancing religion.
Passed by a vote of 244-173, with 97% of Republicans supporting and 87% of
Democrats opposing, the bill now awaits consideration in the U.S. Senate. A
companion bill, S. 3696 sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and five
co-sponsors, currently sits in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senators
adjourned for the election recess without further action on this bill.
Supporters are ecstatic over passage of H.R 2679. This bill will "end
judicial blackmail", and "eliminate the authority of judges to award
attorney fees to the ACLU, or anyone else, in Establishment Clause lawsuits
against veterans memorials, the Boy Scouts, public seals, and the public
display of the Ten Commandments and other symbols of America's history and
heritage which have a religious aspect".
Supporters of the bill, such as the American Legion and Boy Scouts of
America, as well as various religious organizations, see themselves as
"targets of the ACLU's ideologically-driven secular-cleansing terrorizing
litigation". While I don't care too much about veterans groups and
memorials, Fraternal Orders of Police, and Boy Scout troops using religious
symbols or language in their private activities, I certainly do not want
public displays of the Ten Commandments on my statehouse steps, do you?
A nearly thirty year-old federal statute, 42 United States Code section
1988, provides that attorneys are entitled to recover compensation for
their fees if they successfully represent a plaintiff asserting a violation
of his or her constitutional or civil rights. Thirty years ago, Congress
recognized that plaintiffs must never feel prohibited from suing to remedy
a violation of their Constitutional or civil rights by the knowledge that
he or she must compensate the attorney win or lose.
This bill will do just that. It will discourage attorneys from bringing
cases on behalf of those whose religious rights may have been violated.
Without 42 U.S. Code section 1988, there will be little to stop the federal
government from violating the Establishment Clause. For instance, an
attorney who successfully challenged unconstitutional prayers in school, or
religious symbols on public property, or government aid to religious
organizations would, under this bill, not be entitled to recover attorneys'
fees. Few if any attorneys could afford take up such lengthy and
complicated cases pro bono.
Such a bill has only one motive: to protect unconstitutional government
actions advancing religion, which, of course, means the Christian religion.
This is a cleverly subversive approach taken by those on the religious
right and their representatives in Congress who, after decades of trying to
advance their religious views through unconstitutional legislation, seek
with this bill to greatly reduce the chance that their future efforts will
be declared unconstitutional in federal court.
Since they cannot change the First Amendment, they will instead prevent its
enforcement.
With passage of H.R. 2679, the religious right is one step closer to
tearing down the wall separating church and state. This is the most
insidious and potentially dangerous attack on the wall in American history.
Senators must be urged not to pass S. 3696, should it come out of
committee. The recent changeover in control of the Senate to the Democrats
is no guarantee of this bill's demise.
Please contact your senator today
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the US and a couple from overseas as well]
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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