A 2022 Supreme Court ruling permitting a Washington state highschool soccer coach to wish on the sector on the finish of video games is step one in a nationwide push to return affirmations of religion to the general public sq., in response to the Christian authorized group that received the case.
The Texas-based First Liberty Institute introduced Monday a “Restoring Faith In America” marketing campaign aimed toward defending the precise to overtly pray, show the Ten Commandments, erect nativity scenes and in any other case specific religion in arenas the place religiosity disappeared in current many years.
First Liberty President and CEO Kelly Shackelford mentioned the excessive court docket’s 6-3 determination in favor of coach Joe Kennedy means public affirmations of religion that had been as soon as blocked are actually permitted — and Americans ought to seize these alternatives, he mentioned.
“Every American right now has more religious freedom than they’ve ever had in their lifetime,” Mr. Shackelford mentioned in a YouTube video launched Monday. “The problem is most don’t know.”
The group has arrange an internet site for the “Restoring Faith” marketing campaign and is asking Americans “to take a knee” on Sept. 1 when Mr. Kennedy does so when he returns because the coach for Bremerton High School, which fired the coach in 2015 for main post-game prayers on the 50-yeard-line.
The Supreme Court’s determination in favor of Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Shackelford mentioned, is an indication {that a} pivotal 1971 determination that’s cited to dam the involvement of faith in civic and public settings could now not apply.
The 1971 case, Lemon v. Kurtzman, arrange a three-pronged check of presidency assist to non secular entities, and by extension, any involvement of faith in authorities settings akin to faculties.
The standards had been whether or not the help had a transparent secular function, would advance or inhibit faith, or create an “excessive” authorities entanglement with faith.
Mr. Shackelford mentioned the sensible consequence of the “Lemon test” — as the standards got here to be recognized — has been a “strict separation of church and state, that wherever government is, religion can’t be.”
He mentioned, “For the last 50 years, we’ve seen attacks on nativity scenes at Christmas … menorahs at Hanukkah, a Ten Commandments monument and a prayer at a school board meeting.”
The First Liberty govt mentioned that underneath the Lemon check, “any religion at school, it’s like there’s a fire at the school.”
Now, he mentioned, “Everything you’ve been taught for the last 50 years that you can do, you can do now. The crosses that went down, they come back up. The Ten Commandments that were pushed into the closet, they can come back out. The prayer that was stopped at the school board meeting, [they] can’t stop it anymore.”
Matt Krause, who’s of counsel to First Liberty, mentioned in an interview that whereas pushback is to be anticipated, “We are confident the law says … you can do that, you can exercise your faith in this way. You can have these public displays of religion.”
He mentioned the “Lemon test” is changed by a authorized normal of “history and tradition,” which he mentioned clearly helps Ten Commandments shows.
“There’s hardly any more document in American culture in American history and American jurisprudence that is foundational or has the history and tradition than the Ten Commandments,” Mr. Krause mentioned.
Such certainty won’t probably deter opponents, akin to District-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Rachel Laser, the group’s president and CEO, advised The Washington Times through e-mail, “First Liberty Institute doesn’t promote religious freedom — it advocates for religious majoritarianism. In a country where the religious landscape is rapidly shifting, the America First Liberty seeks is not an America that works for us or an America that most people want.”
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