Over the last few years the Conservative Right has public schools, or any political subdivisions of the launched a massive campaign of state-by-state State from making laws respecting an establishment of legislation to advance its agenda. The campaign is religion.” unprecedented in sheer volume and audacity. They have clearly decided that whatever they cannot According to the Huffington Post:
accomplish at the national level they will force
through by sheer persistence and at the state level. “The North Carolina bill seeks to play the First
Amendment both ways. It says that the state is
As part of their state-by-state strategy, Conservatives have pursued hundreds of initiatives to bypass or override Federal restrictions, Supreme Court rulings and Constitutional barriers. The scope and range of their initiatives has been mind-boggling. To list just a few:
•To establish personhood, mandate ultrasounds and create abortion clinic trap laws
•To limit affirmative action, collective bargaining and labor rights
•To restrict and discourage voting by largely Democrat demographic groups • Rollback health reforms, environmental protections and corporate limits • Install non-Democrat executive managers in
Michigan and eventually across the country
These areas and others are being aggressively pursued from every possible angle in every possible state. And they don’t just try once and give up. They introduce them over and over and over again. In Michigan, when the voters repealed the “emergency manager” law, their lawmakers simply reinstated it again. By deluging their opponents with overwhelming numbers of challenges to defend against, many get through even the most ardent opposition.
A State Religion?
Given this recent history, we Atheists should have seen their latest attack coming a mile off. In North Carolina, legislators introduced a bill on April 1 (but it was no joke) called the “Rowan County Defense of Religion Act.” It declared that:
“The North Carolina General Assembly does not recognize federal court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its exempted from the establishment clause under the First Amendment, which establishes the ‘separation of church and state.’ The clause reads that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an Establishment of Religion.’ But the North Carolina bill asserts that prohibition does not apply ‘to states, municipalities or schools’ and that North Carolina could establish a state religion. The bill portrays this reasoning as a protection of the freedom of religion.”
On April 4, the Republican Speaker of the North
Carolina House killed this particular legislation. But
Atheists and anyone who believes in the Separation of Church and State should take this as a rude wake-up call. The Conservatives will not be dissuaded. This was just the opening salvo in what will undoubtedly be an endless, relentless campaign to extend their state-bystate strategy of attacks on our First Amendment.
We will soon see variations of these initiatives in every state where Republicans think they have even the slimmest chance of success. If we do not take this warning call seriously and respond aggressively and effectively, they will achieve some successes and we will see religion seeping through the cracks that they create in the wall of separation between church and state. Soon we may find that we live in a country with 50 different variations of our effective separation of church and state.
And even if you are in a safely Blue state, these Redstate efforts have impact on you. Each state where they manage to push through their measures adds to the weight of precedent for eventual actions at the federal level. We urge you to follow these initiatives and take whatever action you can to block them in every state.
Dr. Tyson Gill is the author of “Belief in Science and The Science of Belief–A Guidebook to Fact-Based Thinking,” available on Amazon.com.
As part of their state-by-state strategy, Conservatives have pursued hundreds of initiatives to bypass or override Federal restrictions, Supreme Court rulings and Constitutional barriers. The scope and range of their initiatives has been mind-boggling. To list just a few:
•To establish personhood, mandate ultrasounds and create abortion clinic trap laws
•To limit affirmative action, collective bargaining and labor rights
•To restrict and discourage voting by largely Democrat demographic groups • Rollback health reforms, environmental protections and corporate limits • Install non-Democrat executive managers in
Michigan and eventually across the country
These areas and others are being aggressively pursued from every possible angle in every possible state. And they don’t just try once and give up. They introduce them over and over and over again. In Michigan, when the voters repealed the “emergency manager” law, their lawmakers simply reinstated it again. By deluging their opponents with overwhelming numbers of challenges to defend against, many get through even the most ardent opposition.
A State Religion?
Given this recent history, we Atheists should have seen their latest attack coming a mile off. In North Carolina, legislators introduced a bill on April 1 (but it was no joke) called the “Rowan County Defense of Religion Act.” It declared that:
“The North Carolina General Assembly does not recognize federal court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its exempted from the establishment clause under the First Amendment, which establishes the ‘separation of church and state.’ The clause reads that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an Establishment of Religion.’ But the North Carolina bill asserts that prohibition does not apply ‘to states, municipalities or schools’ and that North Carolina could establish a state religion. The bill portrays this reasoning as a protection of the freedom of religion.”
On April 4, the Republican Speaker of the North
Carolina House killed this particular legislation. But
Atheists and anyone who believes in the Separation of Church and State should take this as a rude wake-up call. The Conservatives will not be dissuaded. This was just the opening salvo in what will undoubtedly be an endless, relentless campaign to extend their state-bystate strategy of attacks on our First Amendment.
We will soon see variations of these initiatives in every state where Republicans think they have even the slimmest chance of success. If we do not take this warning call seriously and respond aggressively and effectively, they will achieve some successes and we will see religion seeping through the cracks that they create in the wall of separation between church and state. Soon we may find that we live in a country with 50 different variations of our effective separation of church and state.
And even if you are in a safely Blue state, these Redstate efforts have impact on you. Each state where they manage to push through their measures adds to the weight of precedent for eventual actions at the federal level. We urge you to follow these initiatives and take whatever action you can to block them in every state.
Dr. Tyson Gill is the author of “Belief in Science and The Science of Belief–A Guidebook to Fact-Based Thinking,” available on Amazon.com.