Lessons and thinking in Church & State
1273
“GOD SAVE THIS HONORABLE COURT”1: HOW CURRENT ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE
JURISPRUDENCE CAN BE RECONCILED WITH THE SECULARIZATION OF
HISTORICAL RELIGIOUS EXPRESSIONS
ASHLEY M. BELL*
http://www.wcl.american.edu/journal/lawrev/50/bell.pdf?rd=1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.......................................................................................1274
I. Establishment Clause
Jurisprudence......................................1281
A. Building up to
Lemon........................................................1281
B The Current Standard—The Lemon Test ........................1287
C. Alternative Analyses
Emerge............................................1290
D. The Secularization Approach
...........................................1292
1. The dawn of secularization—Marsh v. Chambers........1294
2. Secularization of historical religious expressions......1296
II. The Flaws of Current Establishment Clause Jurisprudence..1298
A. But for Secularization, Historical Religious Expression
Would Fail Current Establishment Clause
Jurisprudence
....................................................................1298
B. Secularization is an Inconsistent Solution ......................1302
* Associate Special Events Editor, American University Law Review, Volume
51; J.D. Candidate, 2002, American University, Washington College of Law;
B.A., 1999, James Madison University. Thanks to the staff of American
University Law Review for their assistance and suggestions during the
publication process. Special thanks to Russell Upton and Kevin Willen for
their insight and advice, which helped me to better articulate many of the
thoughts expressed in this Comment. I am forever grateful to my parents,
Robert and Marcia Bell, for their love and encouragement.
1. See LEONARD W. LEVY, THE ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE xiv (University of North
Carolina 2d ed. 1994) (explaining the Supreme Court’s sessions begin only
after the Marshal has recited the opening chant containing the language
“God Save the United States and this Honorable Court”).
http://www.wcl.american.edu/journal/lawrev/50/bell.pdf?rd=1
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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 · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
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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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