| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
15 Mar 2007 09:16:23 AM |
| Object: |
Let freedom prevail in church-state fuss |
Let freedom prevail in church-state fuss
A Wisconsin State Journal editorial
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/opinion/index.php?ntid=123597&ntpid=1
[excerpt]
Federal Judge John Shabaz wisely put the First Amendment ahead of political
correctness at UW-Madison last week when he told the university to stop
discriminating against student religious groups.
UW-Madison administrators should follow Shabaz's direction by altering
their policy on funding student organizations.
Shabaz ruled in a case involving the UW-Madison Roman Catholic Foundation.
The foundation had sought to share in funds collected from student fees
used to finance a variety of student organizations. The university denied
the foundation's request, refusing to let it register as a student
organization.
Shabaz's decision was a short-term defeat for the Catholic Foundation. The
judge ruled that because most of the foundation's board members were not
stu dents, the university was correct to prohibit the group from
registering as a student organization.
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However, Shabaz handed the foundation and other church groups a long-term
victory when he took up the university's reluctance to fund student
religious organizations.
The university has been concerned that student religious groups with
restrictive membership violate a university policy against discrimination
based on characteristics such as religion, race and sexual orientation.
Shabaz pointed out that forcing a Catholic group to admit non-Catholics
undermines its mission.
He concluded that the students' First Amendment right to free association
in religious organizations trumps the university's interest in enforcing
its anti- discrimination policy.
University officials should accept the ruling.
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that the First Amendment's freedom of
speech includes a freedom of association, because to engage in effective
speech people must be free to join in groups.
The university violated that freedom when it enforced its
non-discrimination policy, ironically, by discriminating against religious
groups.
The university should recognize that religious groups have a place in the
American marketplace of ideas. They should not be disqualified from funding
simply because students are practicing their freedom to join together under
a religious doctrine.
[end excerpt]
***************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************
.. . . 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)
.. . .
****************************************************************
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.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************
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