http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-3/113169105111100.xml&coll=1
[excerpt]
Public practitioners of faith often found a friend in Alito
Friday, November 11, 2005
BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG
Star-Ledger Staff

Zachary Hood made a poster of Jesus for a kindergarten assignment, only to
see Medford public school officials take it down. Dennis Blackhawk used two
black bears in his Lakota Indian ceremonies and was fined $6,442.

1
[excerpt]
Public practitioners of faith often found a friend in Alito
Friday, November 11, 2005
BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG
Star-Ledger Staff

Zachary Hood made a poster of Jesus for a kindergarten assignment, only to
see Medford public school officials take it down. Dennis Blackhawk used two
black bears in his Lakota Indian ceremonies and was fined $6,442. Newark
police officers Faruq Abdul-Aziz and Shakoor Mustafa grew beards in
accordance with their Sunni Muslim beliefs and were threatened with
dismissal.

All of them found a sympathetic judge in Samuel Alito Jr., who was
nominated last week for a seat on the United States Supreme Court.

A review of Alito's rulings as a federal appeals judge shows

he is a
vigorous defender of the right to practice one's religion, even if that
requires moving the wall separating church and state a few feet to the
right.

And while such an approach heartens those who feel that public squares and
schools have become virtual religion-free zones, it alarms groups dedicated
to keeping government away from matters of faith.

"Our main concern is he would join the bloc run by Justice (Antonin) Scalia
and joined by Justice (Clarence) Thomas. They believe in a much lower wall
of separation," said Robert Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for
Separation of Church and State.

Elliot Mincburg, senior vice president of People for the American Way, said
Alito's arrival could make "a huge difference" on a Supreme Court that is
already divided on matters of religion and likely to confront disputes over
government funding of faith-based organizations.

Groups with more conservative leanings expect Alito to bring to the high
court a welcome new emphasis on the rights of people to worship as they
choose.

"Judge Alito is very respectful of religious liberty," said Kevin Hasson,
chairman of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty."

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution contains two
guarantees of religious freedom. The first erects the proverbial wall
between church and state; the second protects "the free exercise" of
religion.

Those two guarantees can collide when the government runs the show, as it
does in the public schools and prisons. In such cases, Alito "would
probably reconcile it more on the side of free exercise" than maintaining
the wall of separation, according to Ronald Chen, who teaches church-state
relations at Rutgers School of Law in Newark.
[end of excerpt]

*****************************************************************
Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education

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 U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]

***************************************************************
. . . 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)
. . .
****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************