Welcome to the ACLU Gulag

(via Double Toothpicks, who expanded on an item in Friday's Opinion Journal)

Those confounded Christians in Louisiana's Tangipahoa Parish just won't follow their social responsibilities as dictated by the ACLU.  Imagine - even after being ordered to cease all Christianity-related activities at their school, they openly disregarded a court order and continued to have prayer and Bible study!  The horror!  Of course the ACLU has the appropriate remedy - prison.  More specifically,

"Their refusal to comply with the consent decree should and must result in their removal from society."

Why not go ahead and make them sew a cross on their clothing and tattoo a little number on their arm, just to be on the safe side?

Bible studies are now grounds for imprisonment?  Is it just me, or do I detect a little whiff of fascism in the air?

School prayer is still a controversial issue.  Our laws mandate education for our children, and those of us who do not have the means for private school or homeschooling must send our children into the public school system.  That's the root of the problem.  Undoubtedly there are those in this country who scorn our religious Christian heritage and abhor the thought of having their children sit through anything even remotely related to religion Christianity.  Their solution?  Strip public schools of Christianity.  Of course the children on both sides have no real say in the matter.  They are simply pawns in a larger battle to disengage Christianity from American culture.

I don't support public schools "forcing" kids into Christian worship, and if students are castigated because they are irreligious (as the news story related to this incident seems to suggest) then the school district should be reprimanded.  But it is wrong to wipe out the religious freedom of the majority of Americans just because some parents can't handle Christianity.  If either you or your child can't sleep at night because a teacher has a Bible on his desk then both of you have some serious issues, and threatening school officials with jail time isn't going to solve them.

These situations should be teachable moments, where irreligious students could learn to abide peacefully in a society that largely practices Christianity and where Christians could learn to respect and accept those who disdain religious beliefs.  We have instead allowed courts to nullify our First Amendment right to freely exercise our religious beliefs without interference from the government.

That the federal ban on prayer in public schools is the result of a lawsuit and not a result of legislation indicates that it has never gained widespread popular support.  But that doesn't matter to the ACLU, who now feels confident enough of their power to begin demanding prison for those who feel that the First Amendment trumps activist lawsuits.

No wonder Pat Buchannan likes to call them the Anti Christian Liberals Union.

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UPDATED 5-24-05 at 11:30 PM in order to clarify some points

Comments

[Steve Bragg]

Great article. I especially liked the link to the "whiff of fascism" article, by which you tweak the Left for its hypocrisy.

Thanks for the link to us, too.

Steve
DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS