The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment PROTECTS our right to practice — or NOT practice — any religion with freedom from any governmental support or opposition. The “separation of church and state” is clearly required.
For 75 years an excellent organization — Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, www.au.org — has been protecting us from abuse by people who want to impose their religion upon us, and it has been protecting religion from governmental interference too. It works both ways.
But some people want to tear down the “wall of separation” and use our tax dollars to fund private schools. They want to allow schools to teach Creationism instead of honest science. They want Christian prayers at the beginning of meetings of school boards, city councils, and other governmental entities. They want to restrict the rights of Muslims, Wiccans, atheists, and so forth. They are perverting the concept of “religious freedom” to promote ABUSING OTHER PEOPLE as an OK part of practicing their own “religious freedom,” regardless of the rights of the people they are targeting.
Many assaults on our freedom are underway. We must stop them.
The Republican-dominated — and frankly right-wing — Supreme Court has been sacrificing our freedom. The Court now includes Trump’s nominee Neil Gorsuch, who says nobody can sue to stop government establishing religion. See this: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/3/27/1845550/-Neil-Gorsuch-says-no-one-can-sue-to-stop-government-establishing-religion?detail=emaildkcs
We must stand up to STOP Trump’s Muslim ban. On March 16, 2019, Code Pink (www.codepink.org) sent an e-mail with this message and a link for us to sign:
“Hate crimes against Muslims, Jews, blacks, and immigrants are rising. Islamophobia is real and goes unchecked when Trump uses anti-Muslim rhetoric like “I think Islam hates us” and says things like “Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in,” referring to the migrant caravan. Islamophobia spread like wildfire with Trump’s first executive order: the Muslim ban. That’s why we’re calling on our representatives to support H.R. 810 and S. 246 that would prohibit the use of any funds to implement Trump’s Muslim ban. Please send a message now.”
Please sign this message to Congress: https://www.codepink.org/nomuslimban?utm_campaign=newzealandalert_national&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink
Trump’s Attorney General wants the government to enforce his concept of God’s moral order: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/25/1837456/-Trump-s-attorney-general-wants-god-s-moral-order-enforced-by-government?detail=emaildkre
Before William Barr, Trump had appointed Matthew Whitaker to be “Acting Attorney General.” Whitaker’s call for ‘biblical’ judges is unacceptable! On Nov. 30, 2018, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (www.au.org) said that in 2014 Whitaker had asserted that only judges who hold a “biblical” worldview deserve to sit on our federal courts. Yeah, you read that right. The highest law enforcement agent in America doesn’t care that Article VI of our Constitution bars “religious tests” for public office! AU and other non-profit organizations released this statement about Whitaker’s dangerous, unconstitutional belief: https://www.au.org/media/press-releases/faith-leaders-whitakers-religious-litmus-test-makes-acting-attorney-general?utm_source=blogdigest&utm_medium=email