Christians, atheists square off in battle over God in public

Published Friday, March 12, 2010, in Cumberland Times-News.

"Ironically, a conservative atheist would endorse the Catholic, Anglican, Evangelical and Orthodox Christian principles of the Manhattan Declaration, regarding exercise of conscience in political matters of compromise, more readily than could a liberal Christian."

Christians won in the courtroom in recent weeks, while atheists advanced to ground zero, in the battle over God in the public square.

Late Feb. 26, Christians cheered as Westview (Calif.) High School math teacher Bradley Johnson, a 30-year employee, won his three-year battle for the right to re-post classroom banners that display historical and religious American heritage themes.

That morning, atheists gloated over a first-ever secular lobby meeting at the White House (two hours with five Obama staffers) to discuss religious policy matters.

In San Diego, the school district violated Johnson’s constitutional rights, ruled Federal District Court Judge Roger Benitez, when the principal ordered him to remove the banners – because they “overemphasized” God, or might offend a hypothetical Muslim student.

For 25 years, Johnson displayed a banner that features traditional patriotic phrases – “In God We Trust,” “One Nation under God,” “God Bless America,” and “God Shed His Grace on Thee.” For 17 years, he displayed another that quotes from the Declaration of Independence: “All Men Are Created Equal, They Are Endowed by Their Creator.”

Johnson removed his patriotic displays, but other teachers’ personal banners that promoted political positions or non-Christian religions stayed put, a fact that weighed heavily for Judge Benitez:

“Fostering diversity…does not mean bleaching out historical religious expression or mainstream morality. By squelching only Johnson’s patriotic and religious classroom banners, while permitting other diverse religious and anti-religious classroom displays, the school district does a disservice to the students…and the federal and state constitutions do not permit this one-sided censorship.”

In his 32-page opinion, Judge Benitez strongly states, “That God places prominently in our Nation’s history does not create an Establishment Clause violation requiring (scrubbing of) Johnson’s public high school classroom walls. It is a matter of historical fact that our institutions and government (give) place to a supreme God.”

Meanwhile, 60 representatives of the Secular Coalition for America, which unites 10 member organizations -- and boasts 25 endorsing groups -- of atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, skeptics, brights, ignostics, materialists and naturalists, met with Obama staffers from Public Engagement; Intergovernmental Affairs; Children, Youth and Families; Department of Justice; and Military Personnel.

SCA founder (2002) and president Herb Silverman reports (Washington Post, Feb. 28) the secularists’ three-prong agenda: “to close legal loopholes for the religiously based medical neglect of children;” protect military personnel from “(coercion) into religious participation,” proselytizing, or discrimination; and to establish that religious organizations who receive federal funds “cannot discriminate in hiring,” or proselytize, “and that secular options are made equally available.”

Margaret Talev writes in her Feb. 25 McClatchy Newspapers article that the White House “downplayed the meeting,” while SCA members believe they have a “kindred spirit” in President Obama --- since his mother was agnostic, and he is the first U.S. President to recognize “nonbelievers,” alongside religious groups, in his inaugural address.

Coincidentally, on Feb. 24, the Pontifical Council for Culture announced it would create a foundation to answer Pope Benedict’s call to "renew dialogue with men and women who don't believe but want to move towards God."

Sounds counter-intuitive; but Catholic News Agency reports the council’s aim is “to create a network of agnostic or atheistic people who accept dialogue” to develop “themes of rapport (among) religion, society, peace and nature.” The first conference could take place later this year.

Ironically, a conservative atheist would endorse the Catholic, Anglican, Evangelical and Orthodox Christian principles of the Manhattan Declaration, regarding exercise of conscience in political matters of compromise, more readily than could a liberal Christian. In fact, the document signatories commend pro-life atheists for their support.

Could convictions of heart transcend this battleground?

Power without God deludes, tyrannizes, destroys

Published Wednesday, February 10, 2010 in Cumberland Times-News.

“Throughout the years, the United States Senate has honored the historic separation of Church and State, but not the separation of God and State”: From the web site of Barry C. Black, U.S. Senate Chaplain.

“The first Senate, meeting in New York City on April 25, 1789, elected the Right Reverend Samuel Provost, the Episcopal Bishop of New York, as its first Chaplain.” Since then, “all sessions of the Senate have been opened with prayer, strongly affirming the Senate's faith in God as Sovereign Lord of our Nation.”

Intending to undo our country’s unbroken grounding in God, 255 atheists, humanists, secularists, skeptics and freethinkers, along with thousands from 19 national and local organizations, represented by Michael Newdow, renewed their fight on Dec. 15, 2009 to remove prayer from public life.

In at least nine suits filed since 2002, Newdow leads the charge to remove “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance; strike “in God we trust” from American currency and as the national motto; stop invocations at Presidential inaugurations; eliminate “so help me God” from the Presidential swearing-in; and wipe “God save the United States and this honorable court” from court session openings.

In its amicus brief filed in Newdow’s appeal (the D.C. Circuit dismissed the case), American Center for Law and Justice attorney James M. Henderson writes that Newdow’s “targeting of religious expression at Presidential inaugurations is particularly meritless given the controlling decision” in Marsh v. Chambers (July 5, 1983).

Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers sued to prove that prayer offered by a state-supported chaplain at the legislature’s opening violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The Supreme Court held that prayer in the legislature, and state-hired chaplains, are constitutional, given the “unique history” of the United States.

“The practice of opening sessions of Congress with prayer has continued without interruption…since the First Congress drafted the First Amendment, and a similar practice has been followed…in Nebraska and many other states,” writes then-Chief Justice Warren Burger in the court opinion.

“To invoke divine guidance on a public body entrusted with making the laws is not…a violation of the Establishment Clause; it is simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country.”

As Justice Burger cites, “the Continental Congress, beginning in 1774, adopted the traditional procedure of opening its sessions with a prayer.” Burger quotes from a document of the first Senate session to recount that one of our founders’ early items of business was “to take under consideration the manner of electing Chaplains.”

Burger notes the House followed the Senate by six days to elect its first chaplain May 1, 1789. “A statute providing for the payment of these chaplains was enacted into law on September 22, 1789,” Burger writes, adding that three days later, “final agreement was reached on the language of the Bill of Rights.

“Clearly the men who wrote the First Amendment Religion Clauses did not view (paid chaplains) and opening prayers as a violation of that Amendment.”

The Rev. Daniel P. Coughlin, a Catholic priest, is U.S. House of Representatives Chaplain. In Maryland’s General Assembly, House sessions open with the Pledge of Allegiance; then a different delegate each day offers a prayer. In the Senate, either an invited religious leader or one of the senators leads daily prayer.

Our founders, imperfect but striving, knew that political pursuits without God’s blessing were untrustworthy. History demonstrated for them -- as it does for us -- that power without God deludes, tyrannizes and destroys. Let us pray that our leaders hold fast to exceptional American principles and common sense, and never lose sight of God.