In the words of Robert H. Knight, an
American conservative writer and activist, “Wrong-headed rulings by our courts
have fundamentally transformed many constitutional protections into their
opposite, but nowhere has more damage been done than to the First Amendment. How about we impeach some of those lawless
judges?”
In early January, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) overturned a longstanding policy that
forbade churches from getting federal disaster relief money. The rule change by the Trump Administration
affected any houses of worship that were damaged on or after August 23, just
before Hurricane Harvey devastated large areas of Texas and especially the
Houston area. It was a welcome relief
also to congregations in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina in the path of Hurricane
Irma, and to church communities in Puerto Rico that endured Hurricane Maria.
What might seem to be a neutral stance
– that all damaged buildings in a disaster area could apply for aid financed by
U.S. taxpayers – was denounced by atheist groups as a violation of the “separation
of church and state” doctrine that has governed church-government relations
since a series of Supreme Court rulings in the 1940s.
Beginning with Justice Hugo Black’s
misapplication in Everson v. Board of
Education (1947) of a reference in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury
(CT) Baptists promising a “wall of separation” between church and state, the
court effectively abandoned neutrality for hostility. Federal officials’ initial singling out of
religious institutions for denial of disaster aid is just one of many consequences
from that serious misreading of President Jefferson’s letter – and of the 1st Amendment.
As historian David Barton notes,
liberals now use the 1st Amendment as a sword to attack religious freedom,
while conservatives use it as a shield.
The 1st Amendment reads – “Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof.”
America’s Founders, and particularly
Mr. Jefferson and James Madison, who championed religious liberty, would be
appalled at how those very words have been twisted to advance discrimination
against religious speech and practice. But
perhaps a turnaround is on the horizon. The
Trump Administration’s appointment of judges who respect the Constitution is
one good sign.
Besides this recent move by FEMA to
undo bureaucratic discrimination, another is a pending U.S. Supreme Court case.
On December 5th, the justices heard
arguments in what could produce the most important 1st Amendment ruling in
decades. A Christian baker in Colorado
who had declined to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding invoked 1st Amendment
protection from having to use his artistic ability to express something against
his values. The case is Masterpiece Cake Shop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil
Rights Commission.
Similar cases have arisen across the
nation involving bakers, wedding planners, photographers and florists – all of
whom say they have no problem with serving homosexual clients but draw the line
at helping to facilitate same-sex weddings. They say it is about the event, not the
clients – a crucial distinction that the high Court just might find persuasive. Although all of these involve religious
liberty, they could gain more support from liberals if they are based on
freedom of expression. After all, these
are the same folks who think nude dancing is covered, so why not expressive
cake baking?
In many arenas, the courts have
invented new ‘rights’ not envisioned by the Founders or ignored specific
constitutional guarantees. Without the Founders’
biblically-based understanding of humans as flawed (but redeemable), it’s easy
to arrive at rulings, policies and laws that sound good on paper but are catastrophic
in the real world, producing a less responsible populace.
“If men will not be governed by the
Ten Commandments,” G.K. Chesterton observed, “they shall be governed by the ten
thousand commandments.”
Knight says, “The less that people
embrace personal responsibility, the more we need bureaucrats, police, prosecutors
and prisons.”
Thanks to the genius of the Framers,
there is a way back. The Constitution
itself is the most articulate voice in any legal matter. The way we can restore America’s constitutional
freedoms and ordered liberty is to elect and appoint leaders and judges who
respect the original text and defeat those who do not. Another remedy would be to impeach lawless
judges – something clearly authorized by the Constitution, but almost never
exercised.
Knight says maybe we need this
administration to declare some of these judges a disaster.
Can I hear an “Amen!”?
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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