Home | Find An Ethical Society | Become A Member | Contact | Donate
facebook
twitter
youtube

BtnDonate

  • Who We Are
    • Mission & Vision
    • Ethical Humanism
    • History
    • Member Societies
    • Meet Our Leaders
    • Staff, Board & Committees
  • What We Do
    • Connections Forum & Calendar
    • Sunday Platform Talks
    • Ethical Action
      • Ethical Action News
    • Ethical Education
    • Conferences
      • AEU 105th Assembly on Zoom
    • Awards
  • Ceremonies
    • Seasonal Festivals
    • Weddings
    • Baby Namings
    • Coming of Age
    • Memorials
  • Our Community
    • Become an Individual Member of the AEU
    • Find an Ethical Society
    • Ethical Community
    • Children’s Programming
    • Youth of Ethical Societies (YES)
    • Future of Ethical Societies (FES)
    • National Ethical Service
    • Allied Organizations
  • Events & News
    • Events
    • News
    • Bart’s Blog
    • In the Media – AEU
    • In the Media – Societies
    • Press Kit
    • Ethical Action News
  • Resources
    • Articles
    • Books
    • Ethical Action Reports
    • Ethical Culture Journal
    • Archived Newsletters
    • Platform Talks
    • Resolutions
    • Statements
  • Contact
    • Support the AEU

Resource

off

Greece v. Galloway Case Dismantles the Separation of Church and State

09 May 2014
Emily
Statements

Written by Dr. Joe Chuman, Leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture and the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, Approved by AEU Board

May 8, 2014 — The prevailing Supreme Court decision in the Greece v. Galloway case, permitting prayer at legislative sessions, including municipal meetings, is another giant step toward the dismantling of the separation of church and state.

The perspective on church state relations on which I was reared and continue to defend as eminently correct, both constitutionally and prudentially, was most clearly articulated by Justice Hugo Black in the Everson case of 1947. In that decision, Black stated:

    The ‘establishment of religion’ clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or non-attendance. No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion. Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect ‘a wall of separation between Church and State.’

 

This prevalent understanding was further operationalized by the Lemon Test of 1971. In Lemon v. Kurtzman, the Court determined legislation that pertains to religion must meet three conditions in order to be Constitutional. They are:

  1. The statute must not result in an “excessive government entanglement” with religious affairs.
  2. The statute must not advance or inhibit religious practice.
  3. The statute must have a secular legislative purpose.

 

For decades the Supreme Court was guided by the Lemon criteria, and we Ethical Culturists can be duly proud that the late Alton Lemon, who brought the case before the Court, was a devoted member of the Philadelphia Ethical Society.

Both Everson and Lemon set down strict guidelines for separation. One could argue that separation not only upholds the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, but also strengthens freedom of religion. Humanist that I am, I nevertheless have never exploited the Establishment Clause merely to suppress religion, but have no less been an advocate for the free expression of religion.

Since the late 1970s, the doctrine of separation, which I contend was the intent of the Founders, has been steadily replaced by a doctrine of “religious accommodationism.” What accommodation presupposes is that it is appropriate for the government to support religion (in direct violation of Lemon) as long as it does not favor one religion over another. In my politico-religious analysis, it has been the politicization of evangelical Christianity that has been the primary engine of this shift, though general conservative discontent with the religion decisions of the Warren Court, which removed organized prayer from the public schools, has been a major driver of the government support of religion in general. Accommodation, which certainly has its legal as well as political defenders, has permitted religion to flood the public square.

Among its legal victories has been the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that greatly widens the scope of religious practice. It is a provision I personally supported. But the RFRA has metastasized into other legal provisions which have empowered religious groups beyond all reason. One such development has been the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Though applicable to the religious rights of prisoners, its primary application has extended to religious organizations seeking exemptions from zoning provisions that secular institutions need to abide by. This has gone as far as churches and their real estate holdings attempting to evade health and safety codes that apply to the public in general. It’s an egregious and maddening abuse.

When looking at the replacement of the separation doctrine by religious accommodation, a brief survey reveals at least the following encroachments of religion into the public square since the 1970s, where, given my commitments, it does not belong:

  • The placement of religious icons on public lands. Think of crèches and menorahs around Christmas and Hanukah time.
  • School voucher programs wherein tax payers are forced to pay for parochial religious education.
  • The transformation of religious speech into mere speech, allowing for religious clubs and activities in public schools (as long as they are not school-led and there exist other secular clubs).
  • The renting of public schools for their use as churches.
  • And the biggest abuse of all – the so-called “Faith-Based Initiative.” A giveaway of hundreds of millions of government dollars directly to churches to run social services and bypass federal non-discrimination laws with regard to hiring.

 

Greece v. Galloway is the next step in this ominous tradition. It not only offends and marginalizes those with no religion or of minority faiths, it is also an affront to religion itself. If religion is to be meaningful, (and many religionists who supported removing prayer from the public schools understood this well) it should be an activity carried on in the house of worship or in the home. Prayers led by your gym teacher, or mouthed as a vapid pieties before a town council meeting debating garbage removal demeans religion as it offends non-believers.

John Locke and the American Founders knew that when religion is conjoined with the arms of state, not only is religion denigrated, society has created a wicked brew of religious absolutism empowered by the power of law and government. Their wise response was to privatize it.

The Supreme Court got it wrong. The prevailing decision in Greece v. Galloway is foolish, if not un-American. It’s part of a growing trend, now dominant, that is also very dangerous.

Social Share

Sign up for emails from AEU

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: American Ethical Union, 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY, 10023, https://www.aeu.org. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Recent Posts

  • Week of 2/8/21
  • Seeking Program and Communications Coordinator
  • Week of 9/14/2020

Upcoming Events

Youth of Ethical Societies 2021 Conference

05 Mar 2021 | 07:00 pm
Jamie Raskin

All Society Platform Featuring Congressman Jamie Raskin

28 Mar 2021 | 11:00 am

Facebook Feed

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
In honor of Women's History Month, the AEU highlights the work of Sandra Faber!An astronomer at the University of California-Santa Cruz, Sandra Faber has made innumerable contributions to our understanding of the beginnings of our universe, the formation of galaxies, and the origins of our planet. In 2013, President Obama recognized her notable achievements with the National Medal of Science. She is also a publicly declared atheist who finds meaning not in religious doctrine or deities but in the beauty of the natural laws of science. In an interview with PBS, Faber stated that there are only two possible explanations for the origin of the universe: “One is that there is a God and that God made it that way. The only other approach…is to argue that there really is an infinite, or a very big, ensemble of universes out there and we are in one.” In the interview Faber asserted her preference for the latter materialistic explanation rather than theistic faith in a creator, adding, “I take comfort in the fact that it is a beautiful universe, and we belong here and that we fit. This is our home.”#WomensHistoryMonth #WHM #WomenInSTEM #WomenHumanists #WomensHistoryMonth2021 ... See MoreSee Less

16  ·  

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
On February 25 a group of U.S. House Democrats including Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), reintroduced the Do No Harm Act, a bill to ensure that religious freedom is not used as a justification for discriminating against LGBTQ people, religious minorities, and others. ... See MoreSee Less

Religious Groups Agree: Pass The Do No Harm Act

www.au.org

The Do No Harm Act will return the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to its original purpose of protecting the free exercise of religion, especially for religious minorities, while making it clear that the legislation should never be used to exempt anyone from laws that protect other people’s basi...

1  ·  

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
Join the AEU this weekend March 5-7 for our Youth of Ethical Societies Annual Conference! There is still time to sign up here:docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1L-cW5TbI5soDatqx3tRA56L9yvqJc6ZAbj-Xz2yOlnbiAQ/viewform ... See MoreSee Less

YES Conference 2021

docs.google.com

Join the AEU for this year's YES National Conference! On the weekend of March 5, we will gather online to share our thoughts on this year's topic: America's Public Education System

2  ·  

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
On this final day of Black History Month, we honor Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965), a Black playwright and journalist.Hansberry’s partly autobiographical play “A Raisin in the Sun,” shocked Broadway audiences when a Black character declared, “God is just one idea I don’t accept. ... It’s just that I get so tired of him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no God! There is only man, and it’s he who makes miracles!” She worked with W.E.B. DuBois and Paul Robeson on an African-American progressive newspaper, until her life was tragically cut short at age 34 by cancer.#BlackHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #BHM #BlackNonBelievers #BlackHumanism ... See MoreSee Less

5  ·  

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Twitter Feed

Tweets by @EthicalUnion

Instagram Feed

ethicalunion

In honor of Women's History Month, the AEU highlig In honor of Women's History Month, the AEU highlights the work of Sandra Faber!
An astronomer at the University of California-Santa Cruz, Sandra Faber has made innumerable contributions to our understanding of the beginnings of our universe, the formation of galaxies, and the origins of our planet. In 2013, President Obama recognized her notable achievements with the National Medal of Science. She is also a publicly declared atheist who finds meaning not in religious doctrine or deities but in the beauty of the natural laws of science. 
In an interview with PBS, Faber stated that there are only two possible explanations for the origin of the universe: “One is that there is a God and that God made it that way. The only other approach…is to argue that there really is an infinite, or a very big, ensemble of universes out there and we are in one.” In the interview Faber asserted her preference for the latter materialistic explanation rather than theistic faith in a creator, adding, “I take comfort in the fact that it is a beautiful universe, and we belong here and that we fit. This is our home.”

#WomensHistoryMonth #WHM #WomenInSTEM #WomenHumanists #WomensHistoryMonth2021
On this final day of Black History Month, we honor On this final day of Black History Month, we honor Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965), a Black playwright and journalist.

Hansberry’s partly autobiographical play “A Raisin in the Sun,” shocked Broadway audiences when a Black character declared, “God is just one idea I don’t accept. ... It’s just that I get so tired of him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no God! There is only man, and it’s he who makes miracles!” She worked with W.E.B. DuBois and Paul Robeson on an African-American progressive newspaper, until her life was tragically cut short at age 34 by cancer.

#BlackHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #BHM #BlackNonBelievers #BlackHumanism
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Sign up for emails from AEU

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: American Ethical Union, 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY, 10023, https://www.aeu.org. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

BtnDonate

American Ethical Union | 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY 10023 | Phone: (212) 873-6500 | office@aeu.org