Louisiana GOP Violates The Constitution With New Mandate

 From Dan Rather:

Just when you think the audacity meter has reached its zenith, along comes the Republican-dominated Louisiana state legislature. This week it passed — and the state’s far-right governor signed — a law requiring all public classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. 

 

Governor Jeff Landry argued that the Commandments are not simply religious treatise but “foundational documents of our state and national government,” perhaps trying to circumvent the inevitable hue and cry from just about everyone.

I’ll get to the hue and cry in a moment. First, if one wants to talk about foundational documents of our government, I think the Constitution is a better place to start. The First Amendment guarantees the separation of church and state. Full stop. Requiring the displaying of the Ten Commandments violates the constitutional principle of religious neutrality. 

Honoring Supreme Court precedent is another foundational tenet of our democracy. Yes, this has happened before. In 1980’s Stone v. Graham, the Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky law that also required the display of the Ten Commandments in schools. The court found that the law violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause. In its opinion, the court wrote that the Ten Commandments are “undeniably a sacred text in the Jewish and Christian faiths” and displaying them “serves no ... educational function.”

One could argue that Louisiana should be more concerned with the quality of the education in those classrooms than what is on their walls. The state ranks near the bottom nationally for education and 50th for overall quality of life. Perhaps instead of this political stunt, Louisiana lawmakers should think about raising teacher pay, among the lowest in the nation. Or maybe try to keep kids in school? The state ranks 48th in graduation rate.

 

Putting an 11-by-14-inch poster “in a large easy to read font” in every classroom from kindergarten through graduate school will cost money. Don’t worry — it will be paid for by private donations. But who will pay for the inevitable and orchestrated legal fight to come? Louisiana taxpayers. 

After eight years of a Democratic governor, the Republican- controlled state legislature is making up for what it sees as lost time. It recently turned down federal aid for summer food assistance, claiming it wants Louisiana families to be self-sufficient. Those same families suffer from a higher rate of food insecurity than most of the country. And Louisiana is the first state to advance a measure designating abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances.

  

Now to the hue and cry. It was loud and it was immediate, coming from, among others, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which jointly stated that the law “violates students’ and families’ fundamental right to religious freedom.”

So why would Louisiana bother with what seems to be a cut-and-dried case of unconstitutionality?  

“I can’t wait to be sued,” Governor Landry said at a Republican fundraiser in Nashville, according to The Tennessean. Good thing, because the ACLU has already filed suit.

All this is part of a larger national plan by a minority of  Christians to inject expressions of their faith into everyday life, whether we like it or not. With a highly politicized and far-right majority on the Supreme Court at the ready, these groups believe they will get a friendlier reception from the court and could ultimately be successful.  

They have reason to be hopeful. In 2022, the court sided with a high school football coach who argued he had the right to pray on the 50-yard line after games. The increasingly porous boundary between church and state seems to be eroding faster than a snowball in July. Even so, legal experts think this one is a real stretch.

Charles C. Haynes, an expert in religious liberty and civil discourse, told The New York Times that he believes the state is “overreaching,” adding that “even this court will have a hard time justifying” what Louisiana lawmakers came up with. 

But perhaps most interesting is how do parents and lawmakers square the behavior of their revered MAGA leader with the Ten Commandments? 

 

Democratic strategist David Axelrod on X had this recommendation: “Here’s a suggested quiz for the schoolchildren of Louisiana: ‘Look at the poster on the wall of the Ten Commandments and write down the total number Donald Trump has broken.’”

We could quibble about the total number, but let no one be mistaken: This new Louisiana law is a dangerous development for our country. Donald Trump champions a national movement to eliminate the separation between church and state.  

Court Says Oklahoma's 10 Commandments Is Illegal

In 2012, a monument containing the 10 Commandments (pictured) was placed on the Oklahoma Capitol grounds. It had been approved by the legislature in 2009, and paid for with private money.

The legislature thought they could get away with placing the monument on government property by declaring it to be a historical monument instead of a religious one -- claiming that Western law had it roots in the 10 Commandments. They figured that would get by U.S. Supreme Court restrictions on religious monuments.

It was a laughable assertion, since the 10 Commandments is obviously a religious symbol -- and calling it something else doesn't change that. But it doesn't matter, because the case won't get to the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawmakers overlooked a provision in their own state constitution.

On June 30th, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 that the monument violated Article 2, Section 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution. That provision reads:

“No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.”

The Attorney General and several lawmakers are furious over the court's decision, and the Attorney General has filed for a rehearing (which will delay the removal, but is unlikely to change the decision). Now, some are calling for the removal of the provision from the state constitution. But even if they do that, it is unlikely that the United States Supreme Court will allow the monument, which is obviously religious, to remain.

They should be thankful for the decision. The Satanic Temple was planning to put up a monument of its own on the capitol grounds -- and that could not have been prevented as long as the christian monument remained there. Now that can be prevented because ALL religious monuments are prohibited.

The Ten "Non-Commandments" Of Atheism

The website Atheist Mind Humanist Heart recently held a contest to determine what atheists would consider to be their Ten Non-Commandments. There were over 2800 submissions, and 13 judges chose the 10 listed below. They're pretty good, and I think the world would be a lot better place if these supplanted the biblical commandments.

Here are the Ten Non-Commandments:

1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.

2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.

3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.

4. Every person has the right to control of their body.

5. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.

6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.

7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.

8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.

9. There is no one right way to live.

10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.

Missed Opportunity ?

Oklahoma Legislators Blunder Into A Religious Controversy

 Recently, the Oklahoma legislators accepted a gift and approved placing it on the grounds of the state capitol. It was a monument depicting the 10 Commandments (see picture at left). The smug legislators thought they had put one over on the non-christians living in the state. They had not only put the state government in the position of favoring one religion over all others, but probably reassured their own re-election in a state full of fundamentalist christians.

But they overlooked (or knowingly ignored) one small thing -- the Constitution of the United States. The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees religious freedom, and forbids government establishment of religion. That has always been understood, even by the United States Supreme Court, to mean no government entity in the United States (local, state, or federal) can do anything that would favor one religion over any other religion (or favor religion in general over non-religion).

And thanks to that amendment, those Oklahoma legislators      have gotten themselves into a real mess. That mess was created because, while those legislators may not understand the Constitution, other people do. And some of those other people believe in a different religion.

Believers at the Satanic Temple have decided that since Oklahoma now allows religious monuments on government property, they want a monument of their own placed there. And this is not just an idle threat. They have already received enough in donations (about $20,000) to build that monument (pictured at left). They correctly reason that since one religion can have a monument on capitol grounds, then other religions may also have one there.

And the satanists aren't the only ones expressing a desire to put a religious monument on capitol grounds. A hindu group wants to put a statue of their "monkey god" on government property, and pastafarians say they want a likeness of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to be displayed there. Undoubtably, other religious (and probably even atheist) groups will follow suit.

These legislators will try to fight the placement of these other monuments, but the issue is pretty clear cut -- they will lose. Then they'll have to make a decision -- either allow the other monuments, or remove the 10 Commandments monument (and go back to having no religious monuments at all on capitol grounds).

I expect they will choose the latter. There is no way they want to be known as the ones that allowed a satanic monument on government property, thus angering all those fundamentalist voters they were trying to please. By removing the christian monument, they can claim they were the victims of "godless liberals" -- and fundamentalists love to claim they are victims. That way they can still be heroic to the fundamentalist voters, as they glory in their victimhood.

The Revised 10 Commandments (For GOP)

Christian fundamentalists love to tout the 10 commandments, and are continuously trying to put copies of those religious commandments on both state and federal government property. This is rather strange, since those same fundamentalists (usually Republicans) has a problem with actually abiding by those commandments themselves. So Justin Rosario, over at the excellent website Addicting Info, has decided to help those fundies out. He has revised the ten commandments so the Republican fundamentalists will be able to actually follow them. Here is his revised version -- approved by "Republican Jesus":

1. You shall have no other gods before me, especially that terrorist monkey god, Mohammed.


2. You shall not make for yourself any carved image; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them except for the Holy Benjamins. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting poverty of the fathers on the children of those (as in those people) who hate me, but showering material riches unto thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Also, you shall have guns. All you want.

3. You shall not take the name of your God, Ronald Reagan, in vain, for the Lord will hold him guiltless of treason and malfeasance.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. If you are a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, six days you shall labor and do all your work, that should just about do it for the year[ii], but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor the stranger who is within your country illegally unless they are off the books then they shall work all seven days without respite. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, including dinosaur bones and rested the seventh day.

5. Honor your father and your mother by ensuring that they keep their Social Security even as you shall taketh it away from all others.

6. You shall not murder unless they are Muslim. Or gay. Or abortion doctors. Or government workers. Or black. Or whatever group is currently out of favor with mine chosen White (not white, White) People.

7. You shall not commit adultery and get caught during an election year.

8. You shall not steal unless it’s from the worker’s pensions.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Just kidding, Fox News. Go forth and bear away.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s. Instead, you shall go forth and buy these things for yourself on credit and keep the “too big to fail” banks happy.

This Candidate Makes Bachmann & Palin Look Sane

Oh My! Just when I was beginning to think the field of Republican presidential candidates was about as crazy as it could get, they go and prove me wrong. The field is about to get a candidate that is so over-the-top that he makes candidates like Santorum, Palin, Gingrich, Bachmann, and Cain look like moderates (and that's damn hard to do).

The site of Religion Dispatches is reporting that Roy Moore (pictured) has formed a presidential exploratory committee and may actually announce his candidacy this Friday when he speaks at the Christian Reconstructionist Institute. That should turn the Republican clown show into a full-blown comedy extravaganza!

You may remember Moore as the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who refused to remove a copy of the 10 Commandments from his courthouse when ordered to do so by a federal judge. That little incident got him kicked off the Alabama Supreme Court for failing to obey the Constitution. He then ran for governor of Alabama -- and finished fourth in the Republican primary with about 19% of the vote.

Moore is not just a christian. He believes that American law should be based on the Bible (his own interpretation of the Bible). I doubt that he stands a snowball's chance in hell of actually getting the Republican nomination, but he certainly adds a new level of crazy to the campaign (and I hear he has already been touring Iowa).

The Republican race for the nomination just keeps getting better and better -- for Democrats.

Panhandle County Violates The Constitution

Conservative fundamentalist christians love to talk about how much they revere and respect the United States Constitution. But there is a big difference between talk and action, and their actions show they couldn't care less what the Constitution says. They are determined to use government to push their religion on everyone else, regardless of the religious freedom provisions of the Constitution.

A perfect example of this has just happened in Oldham County, Texas (a Panhandle county resting between Amarillo and New Mexico). The county government there has just allowed the installation of a 4-ton monument depicting the 10 Commandments to be placed on county government property near the County Courthouse (pictured above). They did this knowing that the same kind of religious monuments have been declared to violate the First Amendment of the Constitution in other places (such as Alabama and Kentucky).

The county government did not pay for the stone memorial. It was paid for with $11,000 in donations from area churches and individuals. All the county did was give its permission for the religious memorial to be permanently placed on government property. But that is enough to violate the Constitution, because it shows that the county government favors the christian and jewish religions above all others. It is also a slap in the face to those who have chosen to not be religious.

These government officials don't seem to understand the concept of religious freedom. The First Amendment guarantees that people ALL religions and people with no religious beliefs will be treated equally by government on all levels, including county government. But the memorial shows that the county government has publicly declared their support for the christian religion over all others, and that infers that anyone but christians can expect to not be treated equally by that government.

Other Panhandle counties had also been offered a similar memorial, but at least two have turned it down (Potter and Randall counties, where the city of Amarillo is). They had no desire to waste precious county dollars in a court fight that they had no chance of winning. I think the Oldham County government is hoping that no one in the sparsely-populated county will object (or that those who do object will be too cowed by the fundamentalists in the county to file a court suit).

This is not just despicable, it is un-American.

The Secular 10 Commandments

I found this over at Common Sense Atheism and thought I would share it with my readers. It was written in 1951 by the writer and philosopher Bertrand Russell for New York Times Magazine. Russell called it the "Liberal Decalogue". Whatever you call it, it contains some thoughtful advice.

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

2. Do not think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.

3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.

4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband (wife) or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.

6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.

7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.

9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

Should Have Been More Than 10 Commandments

In his latest article for Vanity Fair, noted atheist Christopher Hitchens (pictured) says if god was real there should have been more than 10 commandments. He then goes on to list his "extra" commandments. I agree with all of his new commandments, and I list them here for your reading pleasure:

* Do not condemn people on the basis of their ethnicity or color.

* Do not ever use people as private property.

* Despise those who use violence or the threat of it in sexual relations.

* Hide your face and weep if you dare to harm a child.

* Do not condemn people for their inborn nature -- why would god create so many homosexuals only in order to torture and destroy them?

* Be aware that you too are an animal and dependent on the web of nature, and think and act accordingly.

* Do not imagine you can escape judgement if you rob people with a false prospectus rather than with a knife.

* Turn off that fucking cell phone -- you have no idea how unimportant your call is to us.

* Denounce all jihadists and crusaders for what they are: psychopathic criminals with ugly delusions.

* Be willing to denounce any god or any religion if any holy commandments should contradict any of the above.

* In short: Do not swallow your moral code in tablet form.

Potter County Bans Religious Monument

I was pleasantly surprised by the decision of the Potter County commissioners yesterday. A few days ago, a group asked the commissioners for permission to put a 3-ton religious monument on county property in front of the courthouse. The monument would have had the 10 commandments plus several quotes pushing the christian religion.

But the commissioners decided yesterday to stay out of the religion game. They voted 4 to 0 to ban religious monuments on county property. They did so because they didn't want to have to spend county money to defend a case they were sure to lose.

County Attorney Scott Brumley told the commissioners that the Constitution forbids the government from endorsing any one religion. The monument would definitely have been an endorsement of the christian religion.

Commissioners also said to remain within constitutional boundaries, they would have to allow many more monuments including the possibility of a monument by some radical group that might offend nearly everyone.

Whatever their reasons, the commissioners did the right thing, and I'm proud of their decision. Many Republicans nowdays seem not to care about the constitution and are willing to violate it to push their chosen religion. I'm glad the Potter County commissioners didn't succumb to that pitfall.

Now that this nonsense is out of the way, they can go on to deal with real issues affecting the citizens of Potter County.

Doesn't Constitution Apply To The Panhandle ?

I really thought this issue had been settled over a year ago by the federal courts. Didn't the courts rule that monuments of the ten commandments were unconstitutional when placed on government property (both in Alabama and again in Houston)? Didn't they rule that it amounted to the government sanctioning one religion above all others, and therefore violated the "freedom of religion" concept guaranteed by the Constitution?

Well, evidently the religious fundamentalists don't think the Constitution applies to the Texas Panhandle! Yesterday, a religious group asked the Potter County commissioners to approve the placement of a 3-ton granite monument containing the 10 commandments. They would then make the monument even more christian-specific by including religious quotes by American historical figures.

They made the same proposal last week to the commissioners in Randall County. So far, neither county has approved the monument. The group wants to put the monuments on government property -- in front of the county courthouse. Both counties balked because they said they were afraid of lawsuits. That's sad.

They should turn down the proposal because it is clearly unconstitutional -- not because they are afraid of lawsuits. They sound like they would be willing to violate the Constitution if it wouldn't cause any trouble! Well, let me clarify the situation for these officials who might be willing to ignore our constitutional guarantees.

YES -- this would definitely result in a lawsuit! And it would cost the county a ton of money to defend a case they are sure to lose. The federal courts have already settled this matter. It would simply be stupid to throw away taxpayer money trying to fight settled law.

Don't get me wrong. I believe in religious freedom. Each person has the right to worship (or not worship) as they please. Even though I don't agree with the fundamentalists' religious views, I wholeheartedly defend their right to practice their beliefs.

But these people seem to have a warped view of religious freedom. They think it gives them the right to force their own religious views on everyone else in the community. While I defend their right to practice their religion, I will fight their attempts to force that religion on others. In a free country, no one should have religion forced upon them.

That is not just their courthouse -- it is also mine (and thousands of others). There are many religious beliefs in Potter and Randall counties. Are you also willing to put up monuments celebrating Islam, Hinduism, Wiccanism, atheism, etc.? Of course not. They don't want to be fair. They want to force everyone to believe as they do. That's both unconstitutional and un-American.

The Potter County commissioners have asked for a legal opinion, and have put the matter on their agenda for two weeks from now. I hope they get some decent legal advice, because this matter could cause a lot of trouble.

Another Victory For Religious Freedom

The United States Supreme Court has just acted to uphold religious freedom in the United States. Many in this country seem to believe that religious freedom means they have the right to force their particular religion on everyone else.

But that is not what our Founding Fathers thought. To them, religious freedom meant that no one religion would be recognized by the state and forced on those who did not believe in it.

On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to overturn a lower court ruling that it was unconstitutional for Harris County to display the 10 Commandments on a monument on government property.

In 2003, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ruled that the monument must be removed. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals had upheld the ruling. By refusing to accept the appeal by Harris County on Monday, the Supreme Court is letting Judge Lake's ruling stand.

Randall Kallinen, the attorney for the lady who originally brought the lawsuit against Harris County, said, "The ruling by Sim Lake was a very accurate ruling and actually depicts the law. This case has always been about religious freedom. In the United States, we are a nation of many religions. And to stick with one sect of Christianity, that one represented by the King James version Bible only, is not what America is about."

In America, the majority cannot be allowed to force their religion on others who believe differently. Yesterday, the Supreme Court agreed.