YOU STUPID DORKS (with MRFF response)

Dear (name withheld),

Do you believe the sign in the attached photo ought to be posted on US government military bases? We live in a pluralistic society in which people of many beliefs have to get along and share the same government. Doing so means that the government has to maintain neutrality in religious matters, neither promoting nor discouraging any particular belief or non-belief. As a fellow taxpayer, I assume you would be offended and disturbed by our shared government endorsing a belief that you are opposed to. As a monotheistic religious person from an Abrahamic tradition, you probably view the original sign as benign and benevolent. You probably view the altered version above as diabolical and evil. Many Americans feel the opposite way. That’s why both of them are impermissible expressions of religious opinion on government property. Just keep all religious expressions in the non-governmental sector where they belong and we won’t have these conflicts at all, then everyone can get along. We can have friendly debates about it instead of legal battles.

 

Regards,

Dustin Chalker

MRFF Atheist Affairs Advisor

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 Dear (name withheld),

Apparently you are stuck back in the year 1788 when the Constitution was ratified.

 

You stated; “DUMMIES The Constitution Says the government shall not ESTABLISH a state religion. That’s why they call it the ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE. DUHHHHH

No one has “made any law” with respect to this, it is just God fearing people wishing safety on their men. Stop, just stop. No one is pushing religion on anyone here.”

 

Apparently it is you who has not kept up with the laws that were made concerning the Establishment Clause.

 

“. . . no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”   (Article VI, Section III)

 

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment (Establishment Clause) of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise (Free Exercise Clause) thereof . . . “(1st Amendment)

 

The Establishment Clause comes before the Free Exercise Clause for a reason; the Free Exercise Clause is subservient to the Establishment Clause – not the other way around as some Christians would like it to be.

“Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person’s life, freedom of religion affects every individual. Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the “wall of separation between church and state,” therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.” Thomas Jefferson, to the Virginia Baptists (1808) ME 16:320.

 

This is his second known use of the term “wall of separation,” here quoting his own use in the Danbury Baptist letter.

 

This wording of the original was several times upheld by the Supreme Court as an accurate description of the Establishment Clause.

 

Jefferson’s concept of “separation of church and state” first became a part of Establishment Clause jurisprudence in Reynolds v. U.S., 98 U.S. 145 (1878). In that case, the court examined the history of religious liberty in the US, determining that while the constitution guarantees religious freedom, “The word ‘religion’ is not defined in the Constitution. We must go elsewhere, therefore, to ascertain its meaning and nowhere more appropriately, we think, than to the history of the times in the midst of which the provision was adopted.” The court found that the leaders in advocating and formulating the constitutional guarantee of religious liberty were James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Quoting the “separation” paragraph from Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, the court concluded that, “coming as this does from an acknowledged leader of the advocates of the measure, it may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment thus secured.

 

In 1878 “separation of church and state” became part of the Establishment Clause BY LAW.

 

The Supreme Court heard the Lemon v. Kurtzman case in 1971 and ruled in favor of the Establishment Clause.

 

Subsequent to this decision, the Supreme Court has applied a three-pronged test to determine whether government action comports with the Establishment Clause, known as the Lemon Test.

 

Government action violates the Establishment Clause unless it:
1. Has a significant secular (i.e., non-religious) purpose,
2. Does not have the primary effect of advancing or inhibiting religion, and
3. Does not foster excessive entanglement between government and religion.

 

 

The sign fits into all 3 and therefore it is a violation of the Establishment Clause.

 

Then there’s Parker v. Levy:

 

“This Court has long recognized that the military is, by necessity, a specialized society separate from civilian society… While the members of the military are not excluded from the protection granted by the First Amendment, the different character of the military community and of the military mission requires a different application of those protections. … The fundamental necessity for obedience, and the consequent necessity for imposition of discipline, may render permissible within the military that which would be constitutionally impermissible outside it… Speech [to include religious speech] that is protected in the civil population may nonetheless undermine the effectiveness of response to command.  If it does, it is constitutionally unprotected.” (Emphasis added) Parker v. Levy, 417 U.S. 733, 1974

 

The sign broke both the Lemon Test and Parker v. Levy and is constitutionally UNPROTECTED.

 

This is just a brief history of the Establishment Clause and the laws relating to the military and religion.

 

Please go here and check out the honorable and distinguished military personnel of whom we rely on for their expertise on religion in the military. You will also see other people of all walks of life. https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/about/foundation-voices/

 

Also read our Mission Statement to get a firm grasp of what we believe in and fight for. https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/about/our-mission/

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Pastor Joan

MRFF Advisory Board Member