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mahatmakanejeeves

(67,136 posts)
Sat Jul 30, 2022, 02:12 PM Jul 2022

Under right-leaning Supreme Court, the church-state wall is crumbling

The story was in this morning's paper. It appeared online nearly two weeks ago.

RELIGION

Under right-leaning Supreme Court, the church-state wall is crumbling

As the U.S. becomes more religiously diverse and secular, the court has handed victory after victory to religious petitioners seeking more voice, money and access in the public square

By Michelle Boorstein
July 17, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

For decades, First Amendment expert Charles Haynes has advised public schools and other groups on how to manage the balance between Americans’ right to religious expression and their right to freedom from government-imposed religion. He literally wrote the book on the topic for the U.S. Department of Education along with partners as diverse as the National Association of Evangelicals and the American Civil Liberties Union.

But in recent weeks, after the Supreme Court ruled for Maine parents looking to use taxpayer dollars for religious school tuition and for a Washington football coach who led students in public prayer, Haynes says he is at a loss for what to tell those he consults. ... “What am I supposed to say now? What do I say? ... We’re now at the point where you wonder if there is any Establishment Clause left,” he said of the portion of the First Amendment that bars laws “establishing” religion. ... The high court this term sped up a process it has been working at for at least a decade: shrinking the wall of separation between church and state.

{snip}

High-profile attacks on the modern order are becoming more common. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, during oral arguments earlier this year in a case about a Christian flag flying over Boston City Hall, wondered about the “so-called separation of church and state.” A little over two weeks ago, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) told a crowd she is “tired of this separation of church and state junk.”

Experts say it’s unclear what will happen next. Among the most-watched questions is whether a flood of religious schools — including those that violate anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people — will seek and secure public funding. The Free Beacon, a conservative news site, wrote that the ruling “may precipitate a historic expansion of public aid to families who favor religious education.”

{snip}



Charles Haynes is an expert on church-state separation. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)

By Michelle Boorstein
Michelle Boorstein has been a religion reporter since 2006. She has covered the shifting blend of religion and politics under four U.S. presidents, chronicled the rise of secularism in the United States, and broken financial and sexual scandals from the synagogue down the street to the Mormon Church in Utah to the Vatican. Twitter https://twitter.com/mboorstein
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Under right-leaning Supreme Court, the church-state wall is crumbling (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Jul 2022 OP
Link to article? intrepidity Jul 2022 #1
I forgot to put it in, of course. Try it now. Thanks for reminding me. NT mahatmakanejeeves Jul 2022 #3
It is not a crumbling wall sanatanadharma Jul 2022 #2

sanatanadharma

(4,074 posts)
2. It is not a crumbling wall
Sat Jul 30, 2022, 02:20 PM
Jul 2022

It is the 'active' establishment of religion as the justification for government.

A fallen wall allows both sides to see more. An established church/state builds higher pre-Constitution 18th century walls.

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