separation church state Johnson amend

gop ~ souls to polls

see CNP

no merri

see relig liberty comm BS

see dominionism xian nat'l

zombie myth Founding fr xian

see war on xian BS

see theocracy xian nat’l

see ten command school prayer

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an 2 26

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was founded after the Wall Street Crisis and mortgage collapse that happened in 2007 and 2008, with the specific purpose of having a government agency that would regulate the financial industry for customers, not prioritize profits. But the top conversation wasn't the affordability crisis. It was prayer.

The president now welcomed prayers at the start of every government meeting. Federal employees are also encouraged to spend an hour each week in prayer while at work, CNN reported Sunday.

While Trump may not be focused on it, his allies are plotting to remake America in the image of a kind of Christian version of Sharia Law.

"By this summer, the group — Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission — is expected to produce a blueprint for policy changes that could redefine the boundaries between government and religion in American life," wrote CNN.

Trump told the commission that they must bring religion back to America. The group is focusing on ways to sue state and local governments that they say block "religious freedom." They'll try to block public funding of K-12 schools, they say, that are hostile to faith.

They're also watching for ways to bring cases before the Supreme Court that could give them an opportunity to remake the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which bars the government from endorsing a national religion.

“We are in a religious and cultural war right now, and every single one of us is a combatant,” said TV "psychologist" Dr. Phil McGraw during a September meeting. “Nobody can afford to sit on the sidelines.”

The White House continues to berate devout Catholic President Joe Biden, claiming that he "weaponized" the federal government against the church.

While the Trump commission has some Jewish and Muslim leaders on it, the panel is dominated by far-right Christianity.

It wasn't until last week that the commission broke into the popular zeitgeist, when commissioner and "former beauty pageant contestant Carrie Prejean Boller, challenged Jewish speakers about their beliefs and Israel’s war against Hamas."

She's one of many on the commission eager to talk about the "satanic" forces coming from other religions they deem incorrect.

The commission, housed in the Justice Department, issues only nonbinding recommendations, but its influence is already evident. The Education Department recently warned schools they could lose funding if they block students or staff from praying, mirroring a proposal floated at a commission hearing, and the Pentagon moved to reinstate faith into the U.S. military after commissioners pushed for more power for chaplains and a return of prayer.

Commission member Kelly Shackelford claimed the group is finding “problems” with religious freedom across schools, government, the private sector, health care, and the military.

It's all part of a wider Trump‑era shift to faith‑based units across federal agencies that have been repurposed from mainly coordinating with religious charities to actively promoting far-right Christianity.

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an 9 25

President Donald Trump announced Monday that the Department of Education will soon release updated guidelines to safeguard “the right to prayer” in public schools.

Speaking before the White House Religious Liberty Commission, Trump reaffirmed his strong religious convictions and criticized how he sees the separation of church and state as being used to marginalize devout students.

He declared, “To have a great nation, you have to have religion,” adding, “I believe that so strongly.”

During the ceremony, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner delivered a prayer.

IFrame Content

"Father, we thank you for our president, Donald J. Trump, whom you have anointed and appointed for this time, for such a time as this. Lord, thank you that the president prioritizes prayer," he said.

Turner's prayer led to strong reactions on social media from the president's critics.

Author Jennifer Valent wrote on the social platform X: "This brash taking of the Lord's name in vain by claiming His favorable anointing over a man with an unrepentantly blackened soul will never cease to make me feel physically ill. Nor should it."

The X account @AntiToxicPeoplewrote: "What an insane cult. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so sick. The last line is the best."

Journalist Michael McGough said: "What was that line about God not being mocked?"

Writer Paul Hughes-Cromwicksaid:"Interesting that the Father would anoint someone who abuses woman, lies with nearly every word, and is fond of bullying people of color. Must have been a slow day for anointing. Oh, and the Antichrist prioritizes prayer? Well, that's news!"

The account @RepublicansAgainstTrump reacted to the video and wrote: "It's a cult."

Watch the video below or at this link.

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RWW

07/09/2025

Kyle Mantyla

Faith Wins celebrates the IRS decision to allow churches to endorse political candidates, declaring it to be "an opportunity to reawaken the Church’s role in shaping the future of our communities and our country."

Lance Wallnau can't believe how "the powers of darkness" are blaming "Donald Trump for killing people in Texas" in the wake of the devastating floods.

Johnny Enlow doesn't call himself a "prophet" but, he says, that "doesn't mean I don't think I have functioned in that role as the Lord has wanted me to."

Nick Fuentes is fed up with President Donald Trump over his handling of the Epstein files: "Fuck you, man. Fuck you. They were right about you. You are a con. You are a joke."

Finally, it's rather ironic to hear an episode of "The WallBuilders Show" in which they decry lying to advance an agenda since that is pretty much what WallBuilders does professionally.

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an 7 25

You’d be forgiven if among all the scary national and international headlines of the past few weeks you missed the first meeting of the newly formed Religious Liberty Commission.

You may not have even heard of this Trump-appointed commission of almost entirely Christian Nationalists tasked with “safeguard(ing) and promot(ing) America’s founding principle of religious freedom.” If religious freedom is something you value, you need to add this to your list of things to follow, because the first meeting made it clear that we are headed towards the end of religious freedom for all in our country. As an atheist, that really scares me.

President Donald Trump announced the commission during the National Day of Prayer event May 1. It is responsible for creating a report with recommendations for the president, due on July 4, 2026 (the 250th anniversary of our independence, just in case their intent to push the falsehood that the USA was founded as a Christian nation isn’t clear enough). The commission is just one of Trump’s many actions to appease his evangelical base, including his establishment of a “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias” in February.

Religious extremists have been messaging around “Christian discrimination” for decades. They have fabricated a narrative where they are victimized by anyone who believes, lives, loves, or looks different than they do. This effectively scares the public into putting its trust into officials who say they will protect them against “the other.” Evidence of these anti-Christian offenses that the commission is meant to investigate is twisted to privilege extremist religious beliefs over the safety and wellbeing of others.

As an example of so-called anti-Christian offenses, Attorney General Pam Bondi cited the arrest of 23 anti-abortion activists who were charged in 2020 with conspiring to storm an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. Kansans are intimately familiar with the violence directed toward abortion clinics and providers after the assassination of physician George Tiller in 2009, and we don’t need to look beyond last month’s assassination of Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband to see how religious extremists target Planned Parenthood and their supporters. Instead of understanding this, Trump pardonedall 23 activists this January.

IFrame Content

The commission is made upof almost entirely of known right-wing Christians — including Texas Lt. Gov. and Chair Dan Patrick; former HUD secretary and vice chair Ben Carson; son of Billy Graham, disgraced evangelist Franklin Graham; former Miss California Carrie Prejean Boller; lawyers from Project 2025-affiliated organizations such as First Liberty Institute and Ethics & Public Policy Center; and right-wing TV and radio hosts such as Dr. Phil. A bishop, cardinal, and rabbi round out the members in what they tout as a “diverse” representation of faiths in America.

The commission will hold several more hearings over the next year to investigate the tired list of Christian Nationalist priorities, including so-called parent rights and “school choice,” prayer in schools, vaccine mandates, government displays of religious iconography, and “anti-Christian offenses.” As expected, the other key priority voiced throughout the day was to attack the LGBTQ+ community — especially trans kids.

During this first hearing, the real objectives of the commission became abundantly clear:

Rewrite history to make America a Christian nation. A key tenet of the Christian Nationalist political ideology is that America was founded as a Christian nation, and must return to this status to secure our future success. The commission repeatedly embraced this very narrow interpretation of key historical documents, including writings by the founders and the Free Exercise and Establishment clauses of the First Amendment. Both commissioners and witnesses denied the principle of church-state separation and a secular government.

Remake the courts with “courageous” Christian Nationalists. The courts, specifically the U.S. Supreme Court, will be the subject of many recommendations in the final commission report. The commission discussed which cases should be overturned, how Trump’s administration can assist with that, and how to make sure pesky state and local courts don’t get in the way. The Supreme Court has been chipping away at church-state separation for the past decade with crucial victories this term, but for this commission, this isn’t happening fast enough.

Promote religion in all parts of American culture, politics, and public life (but only if it’s their version of “Christianity”). Expert witnesses referred to a divine truth — the existence of a Judeo-Christian God — as the foundation for a moral, happy, and politically good society. Many devout Americans hold similar beliefs about their faith, but also recognize that our government should not prioritize one religion in a pluralistic society. Not only does this push minority faiths and nonbelievers such as myself outside of the bounds of this “virtuous citizenry,” but it asserts that one religion (Christianity) must be imposed on every person to create and maintain this good society.

In a world where we are facing very real threats to our physical, mental, and financial health, why did I spend five excruciating hours listening to a commission whose only job is to make recommendations? The obvious answer is because these individuals were hand-selected for holding a world view that advances the Christian Nationalist agenda and threatens any religious beliefs that fall outside of this ideology. The uncomfortable truth is that this rhetoric justifies hate crimes and the dissolution of rights for women and minorities has a new platform with the divine weight of presidential approval. As a lifelong atheist, I’m scared that we’re looking at the end of church-state separation and the rise of a theocracy weaponizing religion against people who don’t fall in line.

American Atheists just announced that it will no longer be hosting the 2026 World Humanist Congress in Washington, D.C., because the “Trump Administration’s actions … have created an environment that is not only incompatible with our values but also inhospitable to members of our global secular community.” They feared for the safety of their attendees because we are no longer a country welcoming of visitors, and especially not visitors who fall outside of a specific Christian identity.

But it’s not just the secular community who should be worried right now. Every person who has found within their faith the mission to love their neighbor, feed the hungry, protect the vulnerable, and embrace the stranger should be fighting for the sanctity of their beliefs. The members of the Religious Liberty Commission will not be including these priorities in their final report, and you will not find a place for your faith in their new America.

*Laurel Burchfield is the advocacy director of Mainstream Coalition, where she advocates under the dome and in local communities to protect church-state separation. Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

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texas 1o comm all classrm 6 25 ~

'Not a theocracy': Internet erupts after court blocks Louisiana's Ten Commandments law

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scotus?

an 5 25

GOP 'voucher scheme for the wealthy' would hand $5 billion to religious, private schools

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an 225 tex trib

Emboldened by recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings and President Donald Trump’s second term, conservative Christians are rallying behind a series of Texas bills that would further infuse religion into public education and potentially spark legal fights that could upend church-state separations.

Last week, the Texas Senate advanced a bill that would allow public taxpayer money to flow to private, religious schools via vouchers. And on Monday, Sens. Mayes Middleton of Galveston and Phil King of Weatherford filed bills, respectively, that would allow time for prayer in public schools and require classrooms to display the Ten Commandments — both of them priorities for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and co-sponsored by all 20 Republican senators.

The impact could extend beyond Texas. In the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority, those on the religious right see an ally in their decades-long fight to crater the church-state wall and allow more Christianity in classrooms across the country.

“Our schools are not God-free zones,” Middleton said in a statement announcing Senate Bill 11, the school prayer legislation. “We are a state and nation built on ‘In God We Trust.’ … There is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in our Constitution, and recent Supreme Court decisions by President Trump’s appointees reaffirmed this.”

Legal experts and religion scholars say those arguments misrepresent history or potentially overestimate the effects of recent high court rulings.

“The Christian Right feels very empowered by this particular moment,” said Mark Chancey, a religion professor at Southern Methodist University who focuses on movements to put Christianity in schools. “They see the present configuration of the U.S. Supreme Court as sympathetic to their efforts.”

![](https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/sXI0TSELvFQRSzr8zEos7JNvoo4=/1200x804/smart/filters:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/3fe9b28556c1d2115474869059d79a99/0624%20Capitol-Austin%20File%20OA%2027.jpg)

A monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Capitol in Austin on June 24, 2024. Credit: Olivia Anderson/The Texas Tribune

The religious right entered this legislative session amid a string of legal and political victories. In just the last few years, state Republicans have required classrooms to hang donated signs that say “In God We Trust”; allowed unlicensed religious chaplains to supplant mental health counselors in public schools; and approved new curriculum materials that teach the Bible and other religious texts alongside grade-school lessons.

Those moves have corresponded with a broader normalization in the GOP of claims that church-state separation is a myth, or that the nation’s founding was ordained by God and its laws and institutions should therefore reflect fundamentalist Christianity. Some lawmakers began the 2025 session with calls for “spiritual warfare” with demonic spirits that they believe seek control of the Capitol.

A new legal landscape

In his statement introducing Senate Bill 10 on the Ten Commandments, King said the legal landscape favored more opportunities for religion in school following the 2022 Supreme Court case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District decision.

In that landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled along ideological lines that a Washington state school district could not prevent a high school football coach from engaging in prayer with students on the 50-yard line after school games. Justices said the school district’s efforts to discipline the coach and prevent his praying violated his free speech rights and right to freely exercise his religion.

In issuing that opinion, the court outlined that it was moving away from the long relied upon legal test

— called the “Lemon test” — to determine if the government is unconstitutionally allowing the infusion of religion in public spaces.

The more than 50-year-old test has been used by courts to make sure that laws involving religion have primarily non-religious purposes. For example, in the 1980 case Stone v. Graham, the Supreme Court relied on the Lemon test — named for a 1971 case — when it struck down a Kentucky law requiring the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.

In the Kennedy decision, justices suggested they were replacing the Lemon test with a consideration of “historical practices and understandings” that is based on an analysis of “original meaning and history.” Legal experts describe the new test as vague and unclear.

![](https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/joeZNO6ZS2aiQCgVYcPT_wqf3us=/1200x804/smart/filters:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/b325befd99680ddcd4b266d703c25751/1104%20SCOTUS%20File%20JG%20TT%2008.jpg)

The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington on Nov. 4, 2022. Credit: Jason Garza for The Texas Tribune

Christian conservatives see hope in their path to put religion back in public schools, with the court’s move to sideline the Lemon test. They view the new history-based test as a pathway to reverse long-standing precedents that prohibit school-sponsored prayer or putting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.

Rep. Mike Olcott, R-Aledo, who has proposed his own Ten Commandments bill, said in an email that “after the Kennedy decision, there is no merit in prohibiting expressions of faith or our collective history.”

Under a new history-based test, Matt Krause, a former Texas House member and attorney for the First Liberty Institute, a conservative legal organization, said he thinks a law putting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms would survive given their “very conspicuous history” in the U.S. and purported influence on the nation’s laws and government. Among other high-profile cases, First Liberty Institute represented the football coach in the Kennedy case, and Krause has previously testified in favor of putting the Ten Commandments in classrooms in part to prompt a “restoration of faith in America.”

Rep. David Spiller, R-Jacksboro, holds a similar view to Krause. This session, he’s introduced separate bills that would put the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms and allow prayer during the school day. Because of the Kennedy ruling, Spiller said he believes both bills are constitutional — though he wasn’t confident they would have survived prior. A new history-based test would bode well for his Ten Commandments bill, he added, since “most of our laws are based on principles that are contained” within them.

But Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Freedom, which advocates for a strong wall between church and state, said the Constitution and American law are not rooted in Biblical texts.

“There is this zombie myth that all of American law is based on the Ten Commandments,” Tyler said. “But when you look at the U.S. Constitution, there is no mention of God. There is no mention of Christianity. The only mention of religion is to prohibit religious tests for public office.”

Moreover, she takes issue with those arguments, which she said reframe a sacred text as a secular document in order to justify its inclusion in public schools.

“There are so many different translations, and there's just such a rich and diverse depth of the Holy Scripture, she said. “And when the government gets its hands on the Holy Scripture, it standardizes it in ways that really cheapen the mystery and the beauty.”

Religious and legal experts say it isn’t immediately clear exactly how the Supreme Court will apply the history-based test in future cases. There are lingering questions about the specific type of history that would be considered as part of the test.

Chancey, the SMU religion professor, expects those laws, if passed, will prompt lawsuits that could end up in front of the Supreme Court. But he isn’t confident the Ten Commandments bill could survive a test on historical merits.

“There was no time in American history when the Ten Commandments were routinely placed in American public school classrooms,” Chancey said.

School prayer, however, presents a slightly different history. Chancey said while school-endorsed prayer was common in early American history, it was not universal and sometimes divisive.

Steven Collis, director of the First Amendment Center and the Law and Religion Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin, said he’s also not convinced that the Lemon test has been completely thrown out. It’s possible that some parts of the test could still apply, he added.

The school prayer bill, he said, may address the legal question of whether a school cannot endorse prayer or simply cannot coerce prayer, by directly or indirectly forcing students to partake. The current court appears to be leaning toward the latter, he said, which could mean they’d allow a bill similar to the one proposed to go unchallenged. Prior to Kennedy v. Bremerton and under the old test, however, a similar law likely would have been struck down by lower courts, he said.

In the 1962 case, Engel v. Vitale, the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot hold prayers in public schools even if the prayer is not tied to a specific religion and participation is optional. The ruling has since been consistently upheld by subsequent decisions, but conservative groups have pushed for it to be overturned.

Regardless, Collis said parties on both sides of the school prayer and Ten Commandments bills would likely try to get the Supreme Court to “bite off on it.”

Efforts to challenge related bills are already underway. Last November, a federal judge said it was “unconstitutional on its face” for Louisiana to require the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classrooms. In January, a federal circuit court heard an appeal on the case. A decision is pending.

Freedom from religion

The religious right’s legal and legislative pushes have come as America continues to diversify and secularize. At roughly two-thirds of the population, Christians still are by far a majority.

Even so, some Christians have been alarmed by the steady decrease in their share of the population — and the simultaneous rise of religiously unaffiliated Americans. So-called “nones” — short for believing “nothing in particular” — now make up 28% of the U.S. adult population — a 12% jump since 2007 that makes them a larger group than Catholics or Protestants, according to Pew Research.

Religion experts say that trend has been accelerated by broader discontent with organized religion, namely Christianity. Interfaith groups have said as much for years, warning that the push to redefine America as a Christian nation is actually driving people away from religion altogether.

![](https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/g0HiYHcR6CVlaGZmYj2Hz2_uV1w=/1200x804/smart/filters:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/3aec7e3283c98f92299b73a39910cbb7/0210%20Religion%20Bills%20LW%20TT%2004.jpg)

Members of atheist and anti-Christian nationalism groups speak with Rep. Jon E. Rosenthal, D-Houston, at his office at the Capitol in Austin on Feb. 10, 2025. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune

“They are interfering with the right of every American in Texas to practice religion freely, which includes practicing no religion, if that’s what you choose,” said Bee Moorhead, executive director of the interfaith group Texas Impact.

Benjamin Clodfelter counts himself among the 4% of U.S. adults who are atheist — though he has not always been up front about his views. During his 7-year stint in the Army, Clodfelter was a closeted atheist, fearing his disbelief in God would draw unwanted attention and cut off career opportunities.

The U.S. Military is supposed to be secular. But Clodfelter said those rules were openly flouted by his unit leader, who required those in his command to attend prayer breakfasts and, at the same time that he had broad authority over their promotions, told soldiers that “you have to have faith to be a good leader in the Army.”

Ten years after leaving the military, those remarks still stick with him. Clodfelter has since dedicated his life to maintaining a strong church-state wall, serving as a board member for the Atheist Community of Austin and, on Monday, joining about 25 other Texans as they lobbied state lawmakers to preserve those separations.

It’s at times felt like an uphill battle, with increasing hostility crowding out nuanced conversations about religion and government.

“It used to be more of a conversation,” he said. “It was an actual dialogue. And I noticed that there was more thought terminating cliches, where they are just denying the existence of our side. It is both perplexing and really frustrating.”

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/12/texas-ten-commandments-school-prayer/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Pastors prep for ‘spiritual battle’ as Texas GOP chair denies church-state separation

an 1 25

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an 2 25

'Incites hostility': Republicans pass bill to require Ten Commandments in Montana schools

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an 10 24

Churches helping a far-right group get predominantly Republican voters to the polls may be in violation of federal tax laws, according to several experts.

NBC News reported that Turning Point USA (TPUSA) — an Arizona-based group founded by MAGA activist Charlie Kirk — is primarily depending on churches to get out the vote for former President Donald Trump in Tuesday's election. And while churches have traditionally been an important tool for both major parties to spread awareness about upcoming elections, Kirk's clergy partners are engaging in explicitly partisan activity. This risks those churches losing their tax-exempt status with the IRS.

At Restoration Hope Church in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, Pastor David Rose recently allowed TPUSA to host one of its "Super Chase" events. These events involve training members of congregations on "ballot-chasing" apps that pinpoint likely Republican voters for them to target in phone-banking and door-knocking efforts. Likewise, the training sessions train participants to avoid reaching out to members of the "wrong party," meaning Democrats.

Rose insisted that the "Super Chase" session was "not an event hosted by our church nor was it a church related event," though NBC reported that it still "most likely violated tax law." The network reported that Rose was seen posing next to signs that read "Commie Kamala" and Trump's catchphrase, "Make America Great Again."

"It is common for churches to allow other organizations to use their facilities outside of church related events," Rose said.

But some tax law experts told NBC that Rose and other churches that have hosted "Super Chase" events — including in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin — are likely in violation of the Johnson Amendment. That's the 1954 federal law prohibiting tax-exempt organizations from participating in partisan politics.

University of Pittsburgh law professor Philip Hackney, who is also a former IRS employee, told the network that TPUSA's partisan political activity at churches "is at a different level than anything I’ve seen before," particularly given the group's documented ties to both the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee.

“The Republican Party, in effect,” Hackney said, “is explicitly using churches through this system in order to get out the vote.”

Notre Dame law professor Lloyd Mayer agreed that Kirk and TPUSA's congregational partners were risking losing their tax-exempt status given their blatantly pro-Republican electioneering. This is despite TPUSA insisting that the "Super Chase" events are perfectly legal.

“They can’t favor a particular candidate or, by implication, a group of candidates, like Republicans versus Democrats,” Mayer said. “This effort is obviously favoring getting out voters who will favor the Republican candidates.”

Click here to read NBC's report in its entirety.

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rww 10/18/2024

Kyle Mantyla

Frederick Clarkson @ Religion Dispatches: Packed with Threats of Political Violence, Media Largely Ignore the NAR’s ‘Million Women’ Rally in DC

On October 12th one of the most remarkable political statements of any religious leader in this or any election season was broadcast live from an all-day rally of tens of thousands of people on the Washington Mall. The event, called A Million Women, was staged by some of the leading apos

Andy Kroll, Phoebe Petrovic and Nick Surgey @ ProPublic: JD Vance Campaign Event With Christian Right Leaders May Have Violated Tax and Election Laws, Experts Say

> Ziklag and the Courage Tour, the far-right groups that hosted the Republican vice-presidential nominee, are charities that can’t legally intervene in political campaigns.

Tim Dickinson and Nikki McCann Ramirez @ Rolling Stone: ‘Mass Exorcism’: Christian Supremacists Take Over the National Mall

Last week’s MAGA-inflected spectacle cast Kamala Harris as demonic, and Trump an avatar of biblical justice.

Angry White Men: ‘The World Is Ours’: Joel Webbon Claims Christians Are ‘Destined To Colonize The Stars’

Bigoted Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon declared on an Oct. 16, 2024 livestream that the world rightfully belongs to Christians, such as himself, as they were promised “dominion” over it. Webbon also stated that Christians are “destined to colonize” not just the world, but also “the stars.”

Shawn Musgrave @ The Intercept: Trump’s Big Lie Attorneys Are Back

In lawsuits filed across the country, attorneys who worked to overturn Trump’s 2020 defeat are alleging rampant voting fraud.

Pema Levy @ Mother Jones: Trump Has a Plan to Win Without the Votes—and the Fight Is On to Stop Him

Elections are supposed to be decided at the ballot box. But this year, Donald Trump’s campaign appears to be trying to win on a different field of battle. With dozens of lawsuits already filed across the country, the Republicans are using state and federal courts as a key pillar of their strategy to retake the White House.

Hafiz Rashid @ The New Republic: DeSantis Lawyer Sounds Alarm About Administration’s Authoritarian Turn

Last week, a lawyer who worked for the Florida Department of Health resigned, and a letter obtained Thursday by the Miami Herald indicates that he didn’t like the state agency’s decision to prosecute television stations for airing political ads.

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How Jefferson and Madison’s partnership shaped America’s separation of church and state - Alternet.org

9 24 the conv

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In Kandiss Taylor’s Christian Nation, ‘I Don’t Have to Give You Your Freedom of Religion’

By Kyle Mantyla | August 21, 2024 rww

During the most recent episode of her “Jesus, Guns, and Babies” program, which airs on the network owned by virulently antisemitic conspiracy theorist Stew Peters, Christian nationalist GOP activist Kandiss Taylor claimed that the Christian church is supposed to be running the government and therefore non-Christians are not entitled to freedom of religion.

Taylor is flat-earth conspiracy theorist who unsuccessfully ran for governor of Georgia in 2022 and despite her paltry showing in the Republican primary, she steadfastly refused to accept that she had lost. In 2023, Taylor became a Georgia GOP district chair and started voicing increasingly radical views, even going so far as to call for the public execution of those who oppose her Christian nationalist worldview.

Those radical views were on display during her recent program as she insisted that the Constitution was founded on common law and that common law is rooted in the Bible, meaning that the United States “was founded on Jesus Christ.”

“The idea behind the whole document was that the church runs the state,” Taylor asserted. “The church is we the people. We are the church … and so we run the state. But the state, the government, has no control over the church.”

“And everybody is like, ‘Then you gotta let Satanists come in and you gotta let witches come in, and you’ve gotta let Muslims and Hindus,'” she continued. “No. No, we don’t. No, we don’t because America is founded on God almighty, Creator God, Yahweh, Elohim. That is what we’re founded on and I don’t have to honor your religion. I don’t have to give you freedom of religion. Freedom of religion is there for us to worship Jesus. It’s not for you to come force anything else upon me.”

“So we have that all wrong,” Taylor declared. “We’ve had tolerance. We’ve been politically correct. And at what point are we going to say, ‘No, we’re not going to be’? You can do whatever you want to the comfort of your home. You can do whatever you want to, but don’t come into my government and bring any of that trash in there.”

“We shouldn’t be electing anyone in government—local, state or federal—that is not a Christian,” Taylor concluded.

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an 6 24 no lnx

America is under assault by a cancerous mind virus the founders warned against

Thom Hartmann June 05, 2024

Twenty-eight states, nearly all Republican-controlled, are now spending billions of taxpayer dollars to support indoctrinating children in religion through voucher programs that can be used for mostly Christian schools. Five Republican-controlled states are in the process of letting vouchers ghettoize their entire public-school systems.

As The Washington Post noted yesterday:

“Billions in taxpayer dollars are being used to pay tuition at religious schools throughout the country, as state voucher programs expand dramatically and the line separating public education and religion fades.”

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, flies an “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside his official congressional office that, since 2013, has been the semi-official logo of a militant arm of charismatic Christianity involved with January 6th. Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito flew a similar flag outside his summer home.

READ: Buckle up for Trump's 'October Surprise'

Another man flying that flag is outspoken Catholic evangelist Leonard Leo, who now controls over a billion dollars and helped run the process that selected Trump’s picks for the Supreme Court as well as hundreds of federal bench nominees. As ProPublica pointed out in a story about “the man that remade the American judicial system”:

“Leo is a major supporter of the [Catholic Information Center], and its unabashed projection of political power aligns with the central role of religion in Leo’s political project.”

Proselytizers for evangelical Christianity believe they are on the verge of taking over our country, from our schools to our courts to Congress itself. History warns us — as did the Founders and Framers of the Constitution — that, if successful, this will be deadly to American democracy.

Religious evangelism can be a deadly thought virus. It explicitly posits that, “There is only one right way to live and we know what it is” along with, “There is only one true god and he is the one we worship — and now you must, too.”

From the Crusades of the High Middle Ages, to Hitler anointing as Reichsbischof (Reich’s Bishop) Ludwig Müller and outfitting his entire army with belt-buckles declaringGott Mit Uns (God is with us), to the persecution of women in early New England colonies, evangelical Christianity has distorted the history of western societies and often led to rivers of blood. A similarly destructive dynamic plays out today with evangelical Islam across the Middle East and parts of Southeast Asia.

Judaism, Buddhism, and most forms of Hinduism are not evangelical; only Christianity and Islam have historically called for conversion, sometimes under threat of violence, imprisonment, or even death.

In this regard, one could compare the crusade associated with the Appeal to Heaven flag — which is so far successfully using the force of law to control American women and school curriculum in multiple Republican-controlled states — to the Iranian and Saudi imposition of Sharia law on their own people.

Cancer describes a biological system where one group of cells rises up and seizes control over all the resources of the rest of the cells in a body. When evangelical religions rise up to take control of political systems — the mechanism by which people govern themselves — they act as a political cancer within the society they’re attacking.

Native American tribes learned this lesson early on during their 20,000-year occupation of the Americas, which is why thousands of different tribes and language groups, most practicing their own unique religion, viewed evangelism and coerced conversion as a cultural sin that had to be punished.

From Marshall Sahlins’ Stone Age Economics(defining “the original affluent society”) to Peter Farb’s masterpiece Man's Rise to Civilization as Shown by the Indians of North America From Primeval Times to the Coming of the Industrial Stateto Graeber and Wengrow’s recent and brilliant The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity we find that virtually no native societies practiced what we would today call evangelism. Including the Iroquois Confederacy, which provided the Founders and Framers with the first template they used to create our Constitution.

Their religions were rooted in tribal identity and their own land, finding the spiritual present in all of nature while focusing on maintaining harmonious relationships, rather than conversion. This worldview was not conducive to aggressive proselytism; it was, in fact, the opposite.

Some, like the Mayans and Incans, demanded that everybody in their realm worship their particular gods — who were the patrons of the ruling dynasties — but they had no interest in converting nearby tribes to their religion unless they first seized control of their land and subjugated their people.

Even the Celts and the pre-Christian Romans, who sequentially conquered most of Europe three and two thousand years ago respectively, largely allowed people to continue to practice their own local religions. None said, “We have the one great truth, and the one great god, and everybody on Earth must know this truth, live by it, and worship our god.”

The ancient Celts, Greeks, and Romans knew that was a logic that would lead to that era’s equivalent of ISIS, the Taliban, or the Crusades and wanted nothing to do with the cultural cancer of evangelism.

As I detail in The Hidden History of American Democracy, from time immemorial most pre-modern tribes and peoples of the Earth practiced what Thomas Jefferson wrote:

“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

But now America finds itself under assault by a new, zealously evangelical movement called the New Apostolic Reformation (among other names) that seeks to use the force of law and the power of billions in untaxable dollars to create a new, two-tiered society in America.

At the top of this new America are the Catholic conservative majority on the Supreme Court, Speaker Mike Johnson and his followers in Congress, and an army of televangelists who claim moral superiority by virtue of their religion. They’re backed up by a small army of fundamentalist billionaires and politicians like Donald Trump who are willing to give them power and wealth in exchange for support at the ballot box.

Under them are the rest of us Untermenschen, whose opinions are tolerated so long as we don’t take away their nonprofit tax status (ensuring we must continue subsidizing them), stop their takeover of our schools, or correctly point out that the Founders were horrified at the prospect of America ever becoming a “Christian nation.”

But that is exactly what the majority of this nation’s Founders feared. It’s why they wrote a Constitution that forbids a religious test to hold office and put into the First Amendment “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

It’s why George Washington refused to say publicly whether he was a Christian or not, and authored the Treaty of Tripoli that begins with, “As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion…”

It’s why Ben Franklin fled Massachusetts as a teenager to avoid mandatory church attendance and wrote, “I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies.”

It’s why James Madison, one of the few actual Christians among that core group of Founders and the “Father of the Constitution,” made his first veto as president in 1811 against a bill that would have given government money to a Washington, DC church to run a poorhouse. It would, he said, “be a precedent for giving to religious societies, as such, a legal agency in carrying into effect a public and civil duty.”

Madison added, in a July 10, 1822 letter to his old friend Edward Livingston:

“We are teaching the world the great truth, that Governments do better without kings and nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson: that Religion flourishes in greater purity without, than with the aid of Government.”

It’s why Jefferson took a razor blade to the Gospels and cut out all of the stories of miracles, producing The Jefferson Bible that presents Jesus as a wise philosopher instead of a god. The book is still in print and, to this day, a best-seller.

The cancer of evangelicalism now has its sights on literally every aspect of American society with its “Seven Mountain Mandate,” which argues that evangelical Christians must assert control over every other religion, every family in America, the US government itself, all public and private education, the arts and entertainment, all American media, and ultimately regulate all commercial business in our nation.

And they’re succeeding in every realm, even commerce. Recently, Southwest Airlines fired a flight attending for spamming their internal message boards with hostile anti-abortion messages and calling the company’s CEO “a murderer” because he supported women’s abortion rights. A Trump-appointed judge ruled in the flight attendant’s favor and required the company’s senior executives to take “religious liberty training” from an evangelical rightwing anti-abortion group.

Once today’s Christian Taliban made common cause with the 1980 Reagan campaign, the first great mission they undertook was seizing control of the rest of the Republican Party. Now that that has been accomplished, they’re coming for the rest of us.

As the tribal people who first occupied this land would tell you, this is the Great Sin. It turns religion from a spiritual exercise into a social, cultural, and political cancer that continually grows while devouring everything in its path.

Like biological cancer, it ultimately kills its host — as America’s founders knew well from the experience of Cromwell in England and seventeenth-century Salem here.

And now it’s made an unholy alliance with the billionaires behind Project 2025 and our rapist-in-chief, Donald Trump, the modern incarnations of the Roman empire and Prefect Pilate, who ordered Jesus crucified.

G-d help us all if they succeed.

NOW READ: Buckle up for Trump's 'October Surprise'

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fla Republican Governor Ron DeSantis last year recruited thousands of public school teachers and paid them thousands of dollars out of taxpayer funds to attend training on teaching what he called “civics,” but a report states the program focused on “the tenets of Christian nationalism,” and included at least one quote from the Christian bible.

“Training materials produced by the Florida Department of Education direct middle and high school teachers to indoctrinate students in the tenets of Christian nationalism, a right-wing effort to merge Christian and American identities,” Popular Information founder Judd Legum revealed in his exclusive report Tuesday.

“A three-day training course on civic education, conducted throughout Florida in the summer of 2023, included a presentation on the ‘Influences of the Judeo-Christian Tradition’ on the founding of the United States,” Legum writes. “According to speaker notes accompanying one slide, teachers were told that ‘Christianity challenged the notion that religion should be subservient to the goals of the state,’ and the same hierarchy is reflected in America’s founding documents. That slide quotes the Bible to assert that ‘[c]ivil government must be respected, but the state is not God.’ Teachers were told the same principle is embedded in the Declaration of Independence.”

Legum included a screenshot from the training that bears the logos of the Florida Department of Education and DeSantis’ “Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative.”

It reads in part: “‘Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.’ Matthew 22:21.”

“The next slide in the deck,” Legum continues, “quotes an article by Peter Lillback, the president of Westminster Theological Seminary and the founder of The Providence Forum, an organization that promotes and defends Christian nationalism. The group’s executive director, Jerry Newcombe, writes a weekly column for World Net Daily— a far-right site known for publishing hundreds of stories falsely suggesting Obama was a Muslim born in Africa.”

That slide “argues that there would be no freedom, no republic, and no constitution without religion. The speaker notes accompanying the slide emphasize that ‘the separation of Church and State did not mean the separation of God and government,’ and all the founders were ‘steeped in the Judeo-Christian tradition.'”

In a March of 2023 press release, DeSantis’s office trumpeted: “Today, Governor Ron DeSantis highlighted Florida’s continued commitment to expanding civics education in Florida schools and announced that the first 4,500 teachers have completed the Civics Seal of Excellence endorsement course and will receive a $3,000 bonus.”

The statement claimed the course was “at capacity with 20,000 teachers making their commitment to civics education, and there are additional 14,000 teachers on the waiting list for this first of a kind civics teacher professional development program.”

It also pointed to a 2022 program, saying “Florida’s Civic Literacy Excellence Initiative also included a three-day Civics Excellence teacher training course in the summer of 2022 for teachers to increase their knowledge of civics in addition to the creation of supplemental materials for civics lessons including the Civics Reading List and the Portraits of Patriotism video series to further student interaction with civics.”

Some teachers called that 2022 program’s teachings “cherry-picked,” NBC News (video below) reported at the time. Others were “shocked to learn what they were expected to teach their students.”

“They told us what to think and what our opinions were,” one teacher told NBC News, calling it “very unsettling.”

One slide in that program NBC News reported claimed it is a “misconception” that “The Founders desired strict separation of church and state and the Founders only wanted to protect freedom of worship.”

In 2022 The Washington Post reported, “New civics training for Florida public school teachers comes with a dose of Christian dogma, some teachers say, and they worry that it also sanitizes history and promotes inaccuracies.”

Watch that NBC News video below or at this link.

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MAGA state superintendent backs chaplains in public schools – but not from all religions - Alternet.org

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Two Project 2025 partners are promoting LifeWise, an organization bringing “Bible education” to public schools | Media Matters for America

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The Christian nationalist program “FlashPoint” has, since its inception, served as a platform for spreading wild conspiracy theories and Christian nationalist disinformation.That pattern continued when “FlashPoint” hosted an event in Oklahoma last week at which former Rep. Michele Bachmann delivered a speech overflowing with falsehoods about the supposedly Christian nature of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

While reminiscing about obtaining her law degree from Oral Roberts University, a right-wing evangelical university located in Oklahoma, Bachmann bragged that her professors required the students to learn about the founding of this nation using “primary source documents.”

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“So they had us read what is it that the founders read? Who are the philosophers they read?” Bachmann said. “The number one document they referred to when they were trying to figure out what kind of a country we should be; guess what? The Bible!”

As Right Wing Watch has explained multiple times, this claim is a deliberate misrepresentation of a 1984 study conducted by professor Donald S. Lutz of the University of Houston that sought to identify which writers and sources of ideas were most cited in “the political writings of Americans published between 1760 and 1805.” Lutz found that the Bible was cited most frequently solely because many of the pamphlets included in the research were sermons that had been reprinted for mass distribution. Once the sermon pamphlets were excluded, Lutz reported that quotes from the Bible appeared no more frequently in the political writings of the era than citations of the classical or common law.

More importantly, Lutz also noted that when the focus was solely on the public political writings from 1787 to 1788, when the U.S. Constitution was written and ratified, “the Bible’s prominence disappears” almost completely.

Undeterred, Bachmann continued to spread obvious falsehoods.

“[The Founders] looked at all societies throughout all history,” she claimed. “They said, ‘We’ve got a unique chance in all the world to create a society. What should it look like? What should it be based on?’ They studied all societies and those forms of government, and they decided—when they had done all that—they needed to search the word of God. And so you can take the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence [and] you can literally tie it to a Bible verse; about every three or four words, it’s based upon another area of Scripture.”

This claim is, of course, also entirely false.

Both of Bachmann’s claims are either misleading or outright false, which seems to be a common theme as time and again, Christian nationalists spread blatant falsehoods in defense of their ideology, leading one to wonder why, if their position is true, do they have to keep lying to try and “prove” it. Clearly, they simply do not care about the truth as long as these myths remain useful in convincing Americans that the Christian nationalists’ political agenda is justified by our history.

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in August of 2023, Politico reported that right-wing billionaire Leonard Leo is "best known as Donald Trump's White House 'court whisperer," having "played a behind-the-scenes role in the nominations of all three of the former president's Supreme Court justices and promoted them through his multi-billion-dollar network of nonprofits."

Caroline Ciccone, president of the watchdog Accountable.US, told Politico "Leo spent years stacking the court with ideological kindred spirits. Now he's funding a dark web of special interest groups to push an extreme agenda."

According to a Monday, March 18 report published by Rolling Stone, the billionaire — "long averse to media attention" — in a recent podcast interview first reported by Accountable.US "spoke about his $1.6 billion dark money fund, called the Marble Freedom Trust, explaining: 'We’re trying to really institute a lot of legal and social change through philanthropy.'"

The conservative activist, according to Rolling Stone, "also offered his thoughts on how billionaires can help conservatives limit regulations, take over corporate C-suites, reshape America’s education system, and influence our culture," and as a "devout Catholic, additionally discussed his interest in reforming religious institutions."

Speaking "with Joe Lonsdale, the co-founder of surveillance company Palantir and the University of Austin, a conservative alternative college he started with journalist Bari Weiss," Rolling Stone notes, Leo said, "It’s really important that we flood the zone with cases that challenge misuse of the Constitution by the administrative state and by Congress," urging "the ultra-wealthy to support these litigation efforts."

Referring to the conservative-majority high court, he emphasized, "We have a great Overton window in the next couple of decades to really try to create a free society. And I think we should take full advantage of it."

Additionally, as a proponent of the effort to establish a publicly funded religious school in Oklahoma, Leo also "talked about the need to reform the clergy," during the interview, saying, "This is one that I just started thinking about, there’s the whole issue of clergy, and this is a tough one to crack. This may not be for everybody, but my own perspective is: God made us to know him, to love him, and to serve him. And I think our religious leaders need to center more on that, and less on knowing, loving, and serving ourselves, and whatever personal desires or affections we may have."

Furthermore on the subject of education, the billionaire added, "We need to create talent pipelines for K-12 education and for higher ed, something like you’re doing with the University of Austin, so that we remind people that the purpose of higher ed, for example, is to basically build a citizenry that’s committed to the Constitution as it was originally written."

Rolling Stone reports "Leo explained this means recruiting teachers and working to influence education board races, 'so that we can begin to have some sanity and local education.'"

*Rolling Stone's full report is availableat this link (subscription required)

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:{January 23, 2024

Kandiss Taylor declares that “there’s no such thing as Separation of Church and State”: “We are the church, and we run this state!”
Joshua Feuerstein has secured the coveted endorsement of his own family.
Christian nationalist Jarrin Jackson says that parents of transgender children are spitting in the face of God because trans children are “a plague on our society”: “Trans children are an abomination to the Lord.”
Ella Maulding proclaims that “the production and distribution of pornography should be met with the death penalty.”
Finally, Tim Barton asserts that “only Christians can have a really proper understanding of history because we’re the only ones who have the proper understanding of the world and have the right worldview.”

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The U.S. Supreme Court has leaned conservative for decades, but a key difference between the High Court of the 1990s and the High Court of 2023 is the strong influence of social conservatives. Former Justice Anthony Kennedy and the late Justice Sandra Day O'Connor were conservative Ronald Reagan appointees but often sided with liberals when it came to abortion and gay rights; today's Supreme Court is much more sympathetic to the religious right.

In Oklahoma, social conservatives are pushing for a taxpayer-funded Catholic school — inspiring, according to Politico's Heidi Przybyla, heated debates over what the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment says about the separation of church and state. And social conservatives, she reports, may have a sympathetic audience at the Roberts Court.

"At issue is the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma's push to create the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which would be the nation's first religious school entirely funded by taxpayers," Przybyla explains. "The school received preliminary approval from the state's charter school board in June. If it survives legal challenges, it would open the door for state legislatures across the country to direct taxpayer funding to the creation of Christian or other sectarian schools."

Paul Collins, a legal expert at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, believes that the religious right could have a major advantage if the Oklahoma debate goes to the Roberts Court.

Collins, author of the 2008 book "Friends of the Supreme Court: Interest Groups and Judicial Decision Making," told Politico, "The Christian conservative legal movement, which has its fingerprints all over what's going on in Oklahoma, is a pretty small, tight-knit group of individuals. They recognize the opportunity to get a state to fund a religious institution is a watershed moment. They have a very, very sympathetic audience at the Supreme Court. When you have that on the Supreme Court you're going to put a lot of resources into bringing these cases quickly."

The religious right has been claiming, for decades, that there is no such thing as separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution — a claim promoted by far-right House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana). But critics of the religious right, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the late Norman Lear's People for the American Way, have been countering that although the First Amendment promises freedom of religion, it is very clear about government not favoring one religion over another.

The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Attorney Andrew Seidel, whose book "American Crusade: How the Supreme Court is Weaponizing Religious Freedom" was published in 2022, warns that the religious right has gained considerable influence on the Roberts Court.

Seidel told Politico, "Schools are the last bastion of church-state separation, and they have been the target of Christian nationalists and the shadow network for decades. That's why it's so striking. In 2022, they got a change in the personnel on the court thanks to [conservative legal activist Leonard] Leo."

*Heidi Przybyla's full article for Politico is available at this link.

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Rep. Brandon Prichard

last month, Christian nationalist North Dakota State Rep. Brandon Prichard appeared on a local television program called “Ladies of Another View” where he attempted to defend his Christian nationalism by spreading misinformation and falsehoods.

Prichard appeared on the program to discuss the criticism he had received in the wake of posts he made on social media declaring that every member of Congress must “submit to the Gospel of Jesus Christ” and that “every conservative state should put into code that Jesus Christ is King and dedicate their state to Him.”

Prichard insisted that he had nothing for which to apologize because American history proves that his worldview is the same as the Founding Fathers.

“Here’s the deal,” Prichard boldly proclaimed, “history is on our side. History is on the side of the conservatives on this issue. The first thing that happened at the Constitutional Convention was what? It was Benjamin Franklin coming in front of everybody—he was actually one of the most agnostic of them all—and said that we need to plead to the heavens and pray for our country. And it was a Christian prayer; they had a Christian pastor come and say a prayer.”

“As early as the 1980s,” Prichard continued, “Ronald Reagan dedicated the country to Jesus and had a National Day of Prayer enshrined into our law.”

“So, I think that it’s crazy to suggest that that our country is not, at bare minimum, a Christian nation,” Prichard concluded.

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vid?]

Nearly everything Prichard cited in support of his Christian nationalism is false.

As Right Wing Watch has explained before, while Benjamin Franklin did urge the delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention to pray for help in drafting the Constitution, it was certainly not the “first thing that happened” at the convention and, more importantly, Franklin’s suggestion was ignored by the rest of the delegates. So no, the Constitutional Convention did not have “a Christian pastor come and say a prayer.”

If the Constitution’s authors had wanted to require members of Congress to “submit to the gospel of Jesus Christ,” as Prichard believes they should, they had a chance to do so; instead, they banned any religious test for public office.

Furthermore, President Ronald Reagan never “dedicated the country to Jesus,” whatever that even means, and the National Day of Prayer was enshrined into law in 1952 by President Harry Truman.

If, as Prichard claimed, “history is on our side,” then why do he and so many other Christian nationalists keep spreading falsehoods in their effort to “prove” it?

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https://www.alternet.org/schools-ohio/

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https://www.alternet.org/how-after-school-clubs-became-a-new-battleground-in-the-satanic-temples-push-to-preserve-separation-of-church-and-state/

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A 'sloppy error': Analyst slams 'theocratic' Josh Hawley for using fake historical quote

Alex HendersonJuly 05, 2023

Ever since the Religious Right achieved prominence in the Republican Party in the early 1980s —much to the dismay of the late conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) — far-right Christian fundamentalists and white evangelicals have been claiming that the United States is a "Christian nation." But there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that gives Christianity priority over any other religion.

The Constitution's 1st Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Catholics and Protestants most definitely enjoy religious freedom under the 1st Amendment, but so do Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Bahais, Rastafarians and members of other faiths.

READ MORE: How Pat Robertson helped shape the radical Christian nationalism Barry Goldwater warned against

In a July 4, 2023 post on Twitter, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) promoted the false claim that the U.S. was "founded on" Christianity — and misquoted Founding Father Patrick Henry in the process.

The far-right MAGA Republican quoted Henry as saying, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."

But Henry never said that. Twitter users fact-checked Hawley by pointing out that the quote was from a 1956 article about Henry in The Virginian — not something that Henry, who died in 1799, actually said. The article was written 157 years after Henry's death.

MSNBC's Steve Benen, producer of "The Rachel Maddow Show," did some additional fact-checking in an opinion column for MaddowBlog published on July 5

READ MORE: Flag-waving' liberal Norman Lear, now 100, warns against the 'threat of authoritarianism' America faces

"On the surface," Benen argues, "it's obviously unfortunate to see a senator — a graduate of Stanford and Yale — make a mistake like this, especially as so many other Republicans also fall for fake quotes. But let's not brush past the underlying point the Missouri Republican was trying to make by way of a made-up line: Hawley seems certain that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, with members of one faith tradition — his own — enjoying exalted status over others."

Benen emphasizes that the U.S. was not "founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ" as Hawley claims.

"Thomas Jefferson — in an actual quote — wrote in 1802 that our 1st Amendment built 'a wall of separation between church and state,'" Benen notes. "In 1797, John Adams agreed: 'The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.'"

The Religious Right has repeatedly claimed that "separation of church and state" isn't in the U.S. Constitution, but while the 1st Amendment doesn't use those exact words, the concept is mostly definitely present in the "no law respecting an establishment of religion" declaration. And "separation between church and state," as Benen points out, were the exact words of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson.

"It's unfortunate that Hawley made a rather obvious mistake," Benen laments, "but more important than the senator’s sloppy error is the fact that a prominent Republican senator thought it’d be a good idea to tout an inherently theocratic vision on the 4th of July."

READ MORE: 'Tell it to God': Evangelical pastor spars with Ted Cruz over Uganda’s 'Kill the Gays' law

Read Steve Benen's full MaddowBlog column at this link.

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We’re Not Endorsing a Candidate, but…

In these cases, pastors said they were not endorsing candidates, but their actions equated to an endorsement, according to the experts. Some acknowledged that the law did not allow them to endorse before making their statements.

Mercy Culture

Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Pastors: Landon Schott, Heather Schott and Steve Penate

Context: Pastors at Mercy Culture expressed support for political candidates in at least three sermons this year. All three instances violated the Johnson Amendment, according to the experts. During one such instance on Feb. 6, the Schotts and Penate spoke in favor of Nate Schatzline, who is running for a seat in the state House. “Now, obviously, churches don’t endorse candidates, but my name is Landon and I’m a person before I’m a pastor. And as an individual, I endorse Nate Schatzline,” Landon Schott said. Schatzline’s appearance ended with Schott stating: “We declare Mercy Culture Church is behind you. We declare Mercy Culture Church is praying for you. We declare Mercy Culture Church is supporting you.” Early voting for the March 1 primary began eight days after the church service. Schatzline qualified for a runoff, which he won on May 24. He will face Democratic nominee KC Chowdhury, a Democrat, in Tuesday’s general election.

Expert assessment:

Brunson: “If it’s part of the religious services, his disclaimer doesn’t work and it’s a clear violation of the Johnson Amendment (albeit an almost clever, and definitely self-aware, attempt to avoid that). Penate saying ‘do something with us’ is absolutely an endorsement. If they’re doing it in their capacity as pastors, this violates the Johnson Amendment.”

Church and candidate response: Mercy Culture, Landon Schott and Heather Schott did not respond to questions or requests for comment. Both Penate, a church elder who said he was not speaking on behalf of the church, and Schatzline stated in separate interviews that they did not believe any laws were broken. “Mercy Culture has never endorsed anyone,” Penate said. “Mercy Culture has never told anyone to vote a certain way. Never.”

Location: Anchorage, Alaska

Pastor: Josh Tanner

Context: On Jan. 16, Tanner introduced his congregation to Kelly Tshibaka, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, and let her speak about how she expressed her faith during her career in government. “OK, so I want you to know that we’re not just gonna be doing an endorsement for Kelly today, even though I am endorsing Kelly for U.S. Senate. And you can vote for whoever you want. I’m just letting you know who I’m voting for. It’s gonna be her.”

Tshibaka was among the top candidates to advance to the November general election. She will face incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Democrat Patricia Chesbro on Tuesday.

Expert assessment:

Aprill: “That the pastor says he personally endorses the candidate at an official function of the church makes the statement campaign intervention.”

Church and candidate response: Unite Church, Tanner and Tshibaka did not respond to requests for comment.

“Uncle Bill”: A New “Family”-Based Strategy

Some churches coordinated with one another to provide their congregations with a list that singled out specific candidates and omitted others.

Location: Southlake, Texas, northwest of Dallas

Pastor: Robert Morris

Context: Morris is among a group of Dallas-area pastors who have coordinated to highlight certain candidates running for public office. Since 2021, Morris has shown his congregation the names of specific candidates for office at least three times. In each of those cases, Morris violated the Johnson Amendment, according to experts. (Morris also showed the names during an Oct. 23 service.) During an April 18, 2021, sermon, a day before the start of early voting, Morris displayed the names of nine candidates running in nonpartisan races for school board and City Council on a screen. “And so we’re not endorsing a candidate,” Morris said. “We’re not doing that. But we just thought because they’re a member of the family of God, that you might want to know if someone in the family and this family of churches is running.” All but one of the candidates whose names were shown either won their race or qualified for a runoff.

Expert assessment:

Mayer: “This is a new (at least to me) technique, to join a group of like-minded churches and then identify to the congregation anyone who is a member of any of those churches who is a candidate for elected public office, as opposed to just identifying members of your congregation who are candidates. But this technique, even with the disclaimers made by the pastor here, is still a violation of the Johnson Amendment. While the pastor tries to avoid the violation by making various disclaimers and saying he is just giving the congregation the names and they can do what they want when they vote, those are not sufficient to cure the violation. But they do provide an argument that there is not a violation and so muddies the waters a bit, even though I believe that argument ultimately fails legally.”

Church response: Lawrence Swicegood, Gateway Media executive director, said in an emailed statement:

“At Gateway Church:

We DON’T:

Support any specific political party
Endorse political candidates

We DO:

INFORM our church family of other church family members who are seeking office to serve our community.
ENCOURAGE our church family to vote as God leads them.
PRAY for our elected officials regardless of their political party, or affiliation.”

First Baptist Grapevine

Location: Grapevine, Texas, northwest of Dallas

Pastor: Doug Page

Context: On April 18, 2021, Page showed his congregation the same list of candidates as Morris. “This is not an endorsement by us. We are not endorsing anyone. However, if you’re part of a family, you’d like to know if Uncle Bill is running for office, right? And so that’s all we’re going to do is simply inform you,” Page said.

Expert assessment:

Mayer: “This is a violation of the Johnson Amendment for the same reasons as the Gateway Church violations.”

Church response: “As is clearly stated in the sermon clip you provided, these candidates were named for information only, not for endorsement. First Baptist Grapevine does not and will not endorse candidates for public office. Our primary focus is the gospel of Jesus Christ and seeking to follow His will for our lives,” Page said in an emailed statement.

Dueling Endorsements

For these nonpartisan races in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, pastors from different churches endorsed opposing candidates.

Koinonia Christian Church

Location: Arlington, Texas

Pastor: Ronnie W. Goines

Context: The first race involved candidates for the Mansfield school board. In a May 1 sermon, Goines implored his congregation to vote for Benita Reed in a local nonpartisan race on May 7. He said that Reed was the most qualified candidate in the race because she has worked in education for almost 30 years, but that scare tactics were being used against her. He then showed a mailer targeting Reed that read, “MISD put ‘woke’ politics over the safety of our children.” Then, Goines said, “All we got to do, people, is let’s go make a long line outside the polls and get this woman elected.” He later said: “Koinonia, we need, Dr. Reed needs a thousand votes. She needs a thousand votes. We got right at 10,000 members.”

Expert assessment:

Aprill: “This is a direct campaign intervention. He says, ‘She needs a thousand votes.’”

Church and candidate response: Reached by phone, Goines directed the news organizations to the church’s spokesperson, who did not respond. Reed did not respond to emailed questions.

MoreChurch

Location: Mansfield, Texas, southwest of Dallas

Pastor: Truston Baba

Context: None of the candidates received more than 50% of the vote during the May 7 election, leading to a runoff between Reed and Craig Tipping. During a June 12 sermon, Baba encouraged his congregation to vote in the runoff election. He then praised Tipping. “And so, Craig, thank you for running. Thank you for being obedient to do what God’s called you to do. And I’m gonna support you. And I hope that people from More Church will not just complain but will actually get out and vote. You know, we go to the booth, and we go to get these little stickers. ‘I voted.’ Y’all know you get the ‘I voted’ sticker? Come on. There’s a big one. Get out. Get the sticker. Let’s vote and help make a difference locally. Come on. Give a hand for my friend Craig today.” Tipping, a physical therapist, won on June 18.

Expert Assessment:

Aprill: “Having only one candidate appear is partisan. This pastor states at an official event that he supports the candidate. As noted earlier, that violates the prohibition. Moreover, the pastor’s comments are an endorsement of the candidate generally.”

Church and candidate response: Neither More Church nor Baba responded to requests for an interview or emailed questions. Tipping did not respond to emails requesting comment.

Location: Frisco, Texas, north of Dallas

Pastor: Dono Pelham

Context: The second set of dueling sermons involved two candidates in a nonpartisan race for Frisco City Council. On May 2, 2021, Pelham told his congregation that his wife, Angelia Pelham, had qualified for the runoff. He encouraged them to vote in the June 5, 2021, election in which Pelham faced Jennifer White, a veterinarian who described herself as the only conservative in the race. “I’m not about to endorse, but you’ll get the message,” Pelham said.

Expert Assessment:

Brunson: “He’s basically endorsing his wife, and I think it would be hard to argue anything different.”

Church and candidate response: Dono Pelham said in an emailed statement that he did not endorse his wife in the runoff. Angelia Pelham said she and her husband were “very clear and very intentional” about not violating the Johnson Amendment.

Location: Frisco, Texas

Pastor: Brandon Burden

Context: Six days before that runoff election for the Frisco City Council, Burden supported White from the pulpit. Burden told churchgoers that God was working through the congregation to take the country, and particularly North Texas, back to its Christian roots. He framed the race between White and Pelham as one against Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney. Cheney had urged residents to put party politics aside and vote for Pelham because of her experience working for corporations such as PepsiCo Inc., The Walt Disney Co. and Cinemark. “I got a candidate that God wants to win,” Burden said. “I got a mayor that God wants to unseat. God wants to undo. God wants to shift the balance of power in our city. And I have jurisdiction over that this morning.” Pelham defeated White in the election.

Expert assessment:

Brunson: “It’s pretty obvious, from the context and other things that he has said, that it is clear who he is saying God wants to win.”

Church and candidate response: Neither Burden nor KingdomLife responded to multiple interview requests or to emailed questions. White said she wasn’t in attendance during the sermon. She said she does not believe pastors should endorse candidates from the pulpit, but she welcomed churches becoming more politically active. “I think that the churches over the years have been a big pretty big disappointment to the candidates in that they won’t take a political stance,” White said. “So I would love it if churches would go ahead and come out and actually discuss things like morality. Not a specific party, but at least make sure people know where the candidates stand on those issues. And how to vote based on that.”

“Vote Her Behind Right Out of Office”: Criticizing the Incumbent, Praising the Challenger

Pulpit criticism of sitting officeholders is permitted, except during campaigns when officeholders are running as candidates. In the cases below, pastors criticized the incumbents while praising their challengers during election season.

Legacy Church

Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Pastor: Steve Smothermon

Context: During a July 10 sermon, Smothermon attacked New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who supports abortion rights, and praised Republican Mark Ronchetti for seeking to end abortion in New Mexico. “We have the Wicked Witch of the North. Or you have Mark Ronchetti,” Smotherman said. Later in the sermon, Smotherman said, “You better get registered to vote, and we better vote her behind right out of office.” Grisham and Ronchetti will face each other in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election.

Expert assessment:

Aprill: “This is a campaign intervention. The pastor is endorsing Ronchetti and opposing Ronchetti’s opponent.”

Church and candidate response: Legacy Church, Smothermon and Ronchetti did not respond to requests for comment.

Location: Dallas

Pastor: Frederick Douglass Haynes III

Context: At the end of the church service on May 8, Haynes criticized state leaders’ response to the deadly February 2021 winter storm and praised Beto O’Rourke for donating $25,000 to the church during that time. Haynes then invited O’Rourke to speak with his congregation. “I just want to say, because I think we need to know this in a very public way, that when there was a crisis February last year and the ineptitude of our state leadership, and then you had (Ted) Cruz going to Cancun. Lord Jesus, so Cruz went to Cancun and then (Greg) Abbott’s friends got paid. And while that was going on, Beto O’Rourke was using resources from his foundation. He was on the ground, serving people, blessing people and just, just, just doing what God wants us to do.” O’Rourke, who announced in November 2021 that he would challenge Greg Abbott in the race for governor, then gave a 10-minute speech about how the faith community played a pivotal role in the passage of the Voting Rights Act. O’Rourke was identified as a gubernatorial candidate in a caption on the church’s livestream. He ended his May speech by expressing hope that people of color who were targeted by the restrictive voting laws passed by Republicans last year would provide the margin of victory on Nov. 8.

Expert Assessment:

Mayer: “Assuming the church is responsible for the caption (that ran under O’Rourke on the church’s livestream), this is a clear violation of the Johnson Amendment because the church explicitly identifies Beto O’Rourke as a candidate and the pastor expresses support for him.”

Church and candidate response: Haynes did not respond to calls and emails requesting comment. Chris Evans, communication director for O’Rourke’s campaign, said in an emailed statement: “Beto has enjoyed worshiping alongside the congregation at Friendship-West Baptist Church for years and is proud to call Pastor Haynes his friend. Pastor Haynes has long led the on-the-ground work of bringing people together to deliver for his community that Greg Abbott has absolutely failed and to fight for equality, justice, and opportunity across Texas.”

“My Dear Friend”: Hosting a Candidate

Some pastors introduced candidates during their sermons and allowed them to speak, while others interviewed them during church functions. The Johnson Amendment allows candidates to visit churches and speak to parishioners before elections, but it requires that churches maintain a “nonpartisan atmosphere” and give all candidates the same opportunity to visit.

St. Luke "Community" United Methodist Church

Location: Dallas

Pastor: Richie Butler

Context: On Oct. 23, a day before early voting began, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke visited the church. Butler introduced him as “the next governor of Texas.” He told parishioners: “We want to encourage him as he continues to run the race that is before him, and he needs us to get him across the finish line.” O’Rourke urged parishioners to vote and then gave a brief speech calling for fixing the state’s electric grid and expressing alarm over the high rate of school shootings and gun violence.

Expert Assessment:

Mayer: “This situation is a clear violation of the Johnson Amendment. Beto O’Rourke is introduced as the ‘next governor of Texas,’ which highlights both that he is a candidate and one whom the church supports. And O’Rourke’s comments are a sales pitch for his candidacy. There is no indication that any opposing candidate has been given a similar opportunity and, even if he had been, the favorable introduction of O’Rourke would still be across the line.”

Church and candidate response: In a statement, Butler said: “Black churches have been important hubs for civic engagement and organization in the fight for social justice since Reconstruction. The mixing of faith-based congregations and electoral engagement is not a new concept.” O’Rourke did not respond to a request for comment or emailed questions.

Grace Woodlands

Location: The Woodlands, Texas, north of Houston

Pastor: Steve Riggle

Context: Also on Oct. 23, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican running for reelection, visited Grace Woodlands. During the sermon, Riggle said that Texas needs leaders like Patrick who “will stand for values that are critical to the future of this nation.” Riggle praised Patrick as a “strong person” of faith whom “God has given us at the very top.” Patrick then spoke to the congregation and cast the election in stark terms. “This is not a race between Republicans and Democrats,” he said. “This is a race about darkness and light. This is a race about powers and principalities. And the devil is at full work in this country.”

Expert Assessment:

Brunson: “This is a clear endorsement of Patrick by the pastor of a church acting in his capacity as pastor in the course of ordinary church meetings. This violates the Johnson Amendment.”

Church and candidate response: Riggle said that his church did not endorse any candidate and said his introduction was focused on biblical values, not politics. He added that he believes the Johnson Amendment should be overturned.

“The government has no right at any time to, in any way, tell the church who it can have or who it cannot have to speak,” he said. “It can’t tell the church what it can preach on or not preach on. This is America, and we believe in a free church, not one controlled by the government.”

Patrick did not respond to requests for comment or emailed questions.

Location: Carrollton, Texas, north of Dallas

Pastor: Chris McRae

Context: During a May 1 sermon, McRae told parishioners that they were being lied to by an “invisible enemy” about issues of race, gender and abortion. He said they needed to “wake up” and confront the lies. McRae then invited Kevin Falconer, the mayor of Carrollton and a Republican candidate for Denton County Commissioner, to the pulpit to speak. “I can’t, as my friends will say, I can’t endorse him. But I do know that God loves Falcons,” McRae said. He also told his congregation he thought Steve Babick would win the upcoming nonpartisan mayoral election to fill the vacancy left by Falconer. Both Falconer and Babick won their elections.

Expert assessment:

Aprill: “That is campaign intervention to me, even though the pastor states that he is asking Kevin to speak about communion. Context makes it an indirect campaign intervention.”

Church and candidate response: Sojourn Church, McRae and Falconer did not respond to requests for comment. Babick said he was unaware of any statements McRae made about him or his candidacy. “I’m not necessarily in favor or against it,” Babick said of the Johnson Amendment.

Woodlands Church

Location: The Woodlands, Texas, north of Houston

Pastor: Kerry Shook

Context: On Jan. 16, Shook introduced Christian Collins to his congregation. Collins was campaigning for the Republican nomination for Texas’ 8th Congressional District, which includes parts of Houston and several surrounding cities. “And so, the primaries are coming up in March, and I just wanted y’all to get to know Christian, my dear friend, and his love for Jesus Christ and pray for all of those Christ followers who are doing something that I would never do,” Shook said. The sermon occurred two and a half months before the Republican primary election. Collins lost the race.

Expert Assessment:

Aprill: “Specifically naming the primary and the candidate and saying we need Christ followers makes it campaign intervention to me.”

Church and candidate response: Woodlands Church, Kerry Shook Ministries and Kerry Shook did not respond to requests for comment. Through a spokesperson, Collins declined to comment.

Location: Willis, Texas, north of Houston

Pastor: Dave Stovall

Context: At the end of his sermon on Dec. 5, 2021, Stovall introduced Collins as a candidate for the 8th Congressional District. He praised Collins for founding the Texas Youth Summit, a two-day conference that promotes conservative political activism among students. “Would you stand in honor of Christian Collins and the leader, servant-leader that he is and what he has done for this community?” Stovall asked. Collins had pledged to join the congressional Freedom Caucus, a voting bloc made up of some of the most conservative members of Congress, in contrast to his chief opponent, former Navy SEAL Morgan Luttrell, who won the Republican primary.

Expert Assessment:

Mayer: “This is a clear violation of the Johnson Amendment for the same reasons as the previous passage from Woodlands Church. (The similarity of this passage and the one from Woodlands Church makes me wonder if the pastors had been given suggested scripts from the same source.)”

Church and candidate response: Abundant Life Church and Stovall did not respond to requests for comment, including the news organizations’ question about whether it had invited Luttrell or any other candidate to speak at the church. Through a spokesperson, Collins declined to comment.

Location: Rocklin, California, northwest of Sacramento

Pastor: Greg Fairrington

Context: In a conversation with California gubernatorial candidate Anthony Trimino, a Republican, during a May 15 church service, Fairrington told his congregation that the state needs a leader with a “vibrant faith in Jesus Christ.” He praised Trimino for his effort to unseat Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and prayed for the Republican candidate. “Lord God, that you would inspire voters here in the state of California to cast their vote for the sanctity of life. Lord God, that they would get behind a conservative Christian candidate,” Fairrington said. Trimino came in sixth in an open party primary election on June 7. He did not advance to the November general election.

Expert Assessment:

Mayer: “This passage is a clear violation of the Johnson Amendment because it implicitly identifies Anthony as a candidate, specifically mentions voting and calls on the audience to get behind a conservative, pro-life Christian candidate (implicitly, such as Anthony).”

Church and Candidate Response: Destiny Christian Church, Fairrington and Trimino did not respond to requests for comment.

Location: Waco, Texas

Pastor: Gaylon P. Foreman

Context: On April 7, Foreman livestreamed a Q&A at the church with Marlon Jones, a candidate for the Waco Independent School District school board. “Again, I endorse him fully and completely, and I wish that you would prayerfully consider helping support this mighty man of God, so he can help make kingdom impact on the Waco ISD,” Foreman said. Experts said Johnson Amendment violations can occur at any church function, not just during sermons. Jones lost the May 7 election.

Expert Assessment:

Brunson: “This pastor doesn’t even pretend not to be endorsing the candidate, which is the honest approach. He’s clearly endorsing.”

Church and candidate response: Foreman defended his discussion with Jones. “I told him about the show and he agreed to appear. I didn’t hear from or have any other contact with any other candidates or I would have gladly allowed them to appear as well,” Foreman said. “On the show, I did acknowledge that I personally supported him and that I felt that he was the best candidate. I also asked about how our community could help him. For as long as I’ve been serving as pastor, I’ve always made it clear that I never tell others who to vote for but do encourage everyone to vote.”

Jones said in an interview with the news organizations that he thought Foreman provided information and did not violate the Johnson Amendment. “I think during the broadcast Pastor Foreman was very intentional about encouraging people to vote but not necessarily saying this is who we should vote for.” Jones, who is also a pastor, added: “Saying ‘this is something I am doing’ does not necessarily mean your congregation will do that.”

Praising Trump Before the 2020 Election

In the days leading up to the 2020 election, some pastors extolled the ways in which former President Donald Trump had delivered for Christians.

Location: Corsicana, Texas, southeast of Dallas

Pastor: Derek Rogers

Context: On Oct. 14, 2020, Rogers told his congregation that even though pastors aren’t supposed to talk about politics, parishioners needed to support Trump’s reelection bid. “I do not understand how anybody that calls himself a Christian could vote for the agenda and the platform of Joe Biden,” he said. “President Trump, he ain’t the greatest dude in the whole world, but he’s the closest thing that we got to what we need.”

Expert Assessment:

Mayer: “This is a clear violation of the Johnson Amendment because it identifies two candidates by name and explicitly tells the congregation for which of them they should vote.”

Church response: Rogers did not respond to requests for comment.

Location: Carrollton, Texas, north of Dallas

Pastor: Steven Ger

Context: Ger explained to congregants why they should support Trump over Biden for president two days before the election. “I like what our president has done. He made his promises. And he kept his promises.” He later called Trump the “most pro-life president ever” and said, “Vice President Biden would be the most pro-abortion president ever.”

Expert Assessment:

Mayer: “The passage is a clear violation of the Johnson Amendment because it identifies two candidates, describes their positions and then says which position (and therefore candidate) should be voted for.”

Church response: Executive Pastor Don Jones initially said he was willing to be interviewed, but neither he nor Ger responded to follow-up calls and emailed questions.

Trinity Family Church

Location: Forney, Texas, east of Dallas

Pastor: Marty Reid

Context: In a sermon two days before the Nov. 3, 2020, election, Reid told his congregation that even though Trump “doesn’t know much” about Christianity, “I believe God has raised up President Trump for such a time as this".

Expert Assessment:

Aprill: “Clearly an endorsement of Trump and campaign intervention.”

Church response: Trinity Family Church and Reid did not respond to requests for comment.

===

https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/mike-pence-freedom-from-religion/

an 10 22

Former Vice President Mike Pence claimed during a Wednesday appearance on Fox Business that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution does not protect Americans from having other people's faiths forced upon them.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," it states.

In fact, there are no references to a supreme being anywhere in the Constitution, because the Founding Fathers were adamantly opposed to centralized religious power as well as requiring individuals to subscribe to any particular denomination.

The concept of separation of church and state was sacrosanct to men like President Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in his 1776 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom that "setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time" and that "to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical."

Jefferson's condemnation of forced faith in the document was unambiguous, further affirming that "no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."

President James Madison, in whose hand the Constitution was penned, concurred with Jefferson.

"The settled opinion here is that religion is essentially distinct from Civil Government, and exempt from its cognizance; that a connexion between them is injurious to both; that there are causes in the human breast, which ensure the perpetuity of religion without the aid of the law," Madison explained in an 1819 letter, noting that "a legal establishment of religion without a toleration could not be thought of, and with toleration, is no security for public quiet and harmony, but rather a source itself of discord and animosity."

Benjamin Franklin took it one step further, arguing in 1780 that any religion that seeks to impose itself is simply "bad."

Yet Pence and host Larry Kudlow share an interpretation that strays wildly from what Jefferson, Franklin, and Madison clearly spelled out more than two centuries ago.

"These lefties want to scrap religion, Mike Pence, and I think it's a terrible mistake," Kudlow griped.

"Well, the radical left believes that the freedom of religion is the freedom from religion. But it's nothing the American founders ever thought of or generations of Americans fought to defend," Pence said.

As mentioned, that statement is completely false. Jefferson even concluded in his treatise that "such act will be an infringement of natural right."

But Pence was not finished. He also suggested that the Supreme Court's right-wing supermajority has a duty to side with one faith over another. Today, that means the GOP's embrace of Christian nationalism.

"You know, I said today here in Houston that the source of our nation's greatness has always been our faith in God, our freedom, andour vast natural resources.And the good news is, that after four years of the Trump-Pence administration, I'm confident that we have a pro-religious freedom majority on the Supreme Court of the United States. And I'm confident that come Election Day, November the 8th, you're gonna see that freedom majority around the country turn out and vote pro-freedom majorities in the House, and in the Senate, and in statehouses around the country," Pence said. "So stay tuned, Larry. Help is on the way."

Watch below or at this link.

===

**U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene** (R-GA) expanded her white Christian nationalist attacks on Monday, barely one week after again promoting the racist “Great Replacement” theory at a Trump rally.

Speaking with **Charlie Kirk**, a far right wing radio host, founder of Turning Point USA, and member of the highly-secretive Christian organization Council for National Policy, Greene repeatedly attacked **U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock** (D-GA), the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, which was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s church in Atlanta.

Greene has publicly embraced the “Christian nationalist” label for herself and has repeatedly made racist, antisemitic, and anti-LGBTQ remarks while also promoting Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that Joe Biden stole the election, COVID and vaccine misinformation, and Vladimir Putin’s falsehoods.

Less than two weeks ago Greene posted to Twitter that President Joe Biden “is Hitler.” Democrats are seeking to censure her for those remarks.

“I truly feel that Herschel’s going to win” the U.S. Senate race against Sen. Raphael Warnock, Greene told Kirk.

She said Rev. Warnock “calls himself a Christian, calls himself a pastor, but preaches abortion from the pulpit.”

NCRM could find no evidence that Rev. Warnock “preaches abortion from the pulpit,” but being a pro-choice Christian is actually the norm in America.

Kirk interjected into Greene’s rant, “it’s so sick.”

“It’s such an abomination,” Greene continued, to which Kirk agreed.

“It’s completely wrong and evil,” she concluded.

Americans United, which calls itself “the only organization dedicated solely to defending the separation of church and state,” last year called the Council For National Policy the “scariest Christian nationalist group you’ve never heard of,” and “probably the most dangerous group you’ve never heard of.”

“Formed in 1981, in part by Religious Right activist and author Tim LaHaye, the CNP is an umbrella organization of religious and secular far-right groups whose leaders meet regularly to plot strategy and share information. They’ve been quietly pulling the strings of ultra-conservative politics for four decades.”

Watch Greene below or at this link.

===

ref

https://www.au.org/the-latest/articles/cnp-secret-group/#

Some Christian nationalist organizations love the limelight. Their leaders revel in appearing in the media. They give speeches at major events, write books and basically do all they can to keep themselves front and center. Think of the Rev. Jerry Falwell when he founded the Moral Majority in the late 1970s. For a time, he seemed to be everywhere.

Then there are groups that prefer to work behind the scenes, in the shadows. They shun scrutiny. The people who run them are far from household names. They work to be unknown.

These groups are probably more dangerous because nobody knows what they’re doing, how they’re doing it and how much money they’re spending to influence public policy in an attempt to force everyone to live by their beliefs.

The Council for National Policy (CNP) is probably the most dangerous group you’ve never heard of. Formed in 1981, in part by Religious Right activist and author Tim LaHaye, the CNP is an umbrella organization of religious and secular far-right groups whose leaders meet regularly to plot strategy and share information. They’ve been quietly pulling the strings of ultra-conservative politics for four decades.

Every now and then, a journalist lifts the veil on the group. In 2004, New York Timesreporter David Kirkpatrick got unprecedented access to the group and attended a CNP meeting in New York City. Kirkpatrick wrote that the CNP consists of “a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country” who meet “behind closed doors at undisclosed locations … to strategize about how to turn the country to the right.”

Later that year, I wrote about the CNP for Church & State, observing, “What amazes most CNP opponents is the group’s ability to avoid widespread public scrutiny. Despite nearly a quarter century of existence and involvement by wealthy and influential political figures, the CNP remains unknown to most Americans. Operating out of a non-descript office building in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Fairfax, Va., the organization has managed to keep an extremely low profile – an amazing feat when one considers the people the CNP courts.”

Now another reporter, Robert O’Harrow Jr. of The Washington Post, has produced an article exposing the machinations of the CNP. O’Harrow’s piece, “God, Trump and the Closed-Door World of a Major Conservative Group,” examines in part how former President Donald Trump, a biblically illiterate figure of questionable personal morality, won over so many evangelical leaders in 2016. (Spoiler: The CNP had something to do with it.)

O’Harrow also provides an in-depth history of the group and information culled from recordings of CNP meetings. As O’Harrow notes, the CNP operates alongside a dizzying array of far-right groups, some of which backed Trump’s efforts to steal the 2020 election and are now involved in voter-suppression campaigns. The network O’Harrow describes is octopus-like in its reach and ambition. The CNP doesn’t just share Christian nationalists’ goal of a theocratic America, it seeks to roll back every bit of progress, social or economic, our country has made since the New Deal.

Near the end of the article, O’Harrow writes, “In their quest to remake our country – to purge it of the cultural and political decay they believe has sapped it of virtue – CNP members are looking backward to receding triumphs. But it’s clear they’re also looking forward – and they are as determined as ever to shape the nation’s future.”

From the shadows, the CNP has been working to remake America in its theocratic image for 40 years. Unfortunately, it has enjoyed many successes. The first step to reversing those is to throw a lot more light on this organization, its leadership, its tactics and its goals.

===

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/roe-supreme-court-justices-1378046/

no lnx

at? an evangelical victory party in front of the Supreme Court to celebrate the downfall of Roe v. Wade last week, a prominent Capitol Hill religious leader was caught on a hot mic making a bombshell claim: that she prays with sitting justices inside the high court. “We’re the only people who do that,” Peggy Nienaber said.

This disclosure was a serious matter on its own terms, but it also suggested a major conflict of interest. Nienaber’s ministry’s umbrella organization, Liberty Counsel, frequently brings lawsuits before the Supreme Court. In fact, the conservative majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which ended nearly 50 years of federal abortion rights, cited an amicus brief authored by Liberty Counsel in its ruling.

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In other words: Sitting Supreme Court justices have prayed together with evangelical leaders whose bosses were bringing cases and arguments before the high court.

Nienaber is Liberty Counsel’s executive director of DC Ministry, as well as the vice president of Faith & Liberty, whose ministry offices sit directly behind the Supreme Court. She spoke to a livestreamer who goes by Connie IRL, seemingly unaware she was being recorded. “You actually pray with the Supreme Court justices?” the livestreamer asked. “I do,” Nienaber said. “They will pray with us, those that like us to pray with them.” She did not specify which justices prayed with her, but added with a chortle, “Some of them don’t!”The livestreamer then asked if Nienaber ministered to the justices in their homes or at her office. Neither, she said. “We actually go in there.”

Nienaber intended her comments, broadcast on YouTube, to be “totally off the record,” she says in the clip. That’s likely because such an arrangement presents a problem for theOrlando-based Liberty Counsel,which not only weighed in on the Dobbs case as a friend of the court, but also litigated and won a 9-0 Supreme Court victory this May in a case centered on the public display of a religious flag.

The Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment.Liberty Counsel’s founder, Mat Staver,strenuously denied that the in-person ministering to justices that Nienaber bragged about exists. “It’s entirely untrue,” Staver tells Rolling Stone. “There is just no way that has happened.” He adds: “She has prayer meetings for them, not with them.” Asked if he had an explanation for Nienaber’s direct comments to the contrary, Staver says, “I don’t.”

But the founder of the ministry, who surrendered its operations to Liberty Counsel in 2018, tells Rolling Stone that he hosted prayer sessions with conservative justices in their chambers from the late-1990s through when he left the group in the mid-2010s.Rob Schenck, who launched the ministry under the name Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capital, described how the organization forged ministry relationships with Samuel Alito,Clarence Thomas, and the late Antonin Scalia, saying he would pray with them inside the high court. Nienaber was Schenk’s close associate in that era, and continued with the ministry after it came under the umbrella of Liberty Counsel.

Louis Virelli is a professor at Stetson University College of Law who wrote a book about Supreme Court recusals. He’s blunt in his assessment: “Praying with a group that filed an amicus brief with a court,” he says, “is a problem.”

Barbara Abshire, center, of Baltimore, and Peggy Nienaber of Lorton, Md., unpack flowers for use in the "Encircle the Court in Prayer," event led by Christian faith organizations on the eve of the Supreme Court arguments on President Obama's health care legislation, in Washington, Sunday, March 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Peggy Nienaber, right, at an event outside the Supreme Court led by Christian faith organizations on the eve of the Supreme Court arguments on President Obama’s health care legislation in 2012.

In the shadow of the high court, across the street from its chambers, sits a cluster of unassuming row houses known only to the initiated as “Ministry Row.” The strip is host to evangelical political groups that have spent the past several decades pushing Beltway conservatives to embrace the religious right’s political causes — and, most of all, reverse Roe v. Wade. The street view offers few clues as to what transpires behind the painted brick facades, save for a granite slab inscribed with the Ten Commandments planted in the grassy patch before a modest cream-colored Victorian with maroon trim.

The home serves as Faith & Liberty’s headquarters. The Ten Commandments statue had been placed there by Schenck, an evangelical minister famous for orchestrating high-profile anti-abortion stunts, such as shoving an aborted fetus in a plastic container into the face of former President Bill Clinton during the 1992 campaign. Schenck had opened the ministry in the 1990s as Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capital, a nonprofit dedicated to ending federal abortion rights. The organization operated on a “utopian ‘trickle-up’ theory” of influence: building access “higher and higher up within the government, until we got to the top, my ultimate target — members of Congress, U.S. senators, cabinet secretaries, Supreme Court justices — even presidents,” Schenck wrote in his 2018 autobiography.

The group established a strong foothold in both chambers of Congress and, eventually, the White House. But Faith and Action ultimately directed its energies toward the judicial branch. “There were no pro-life groups directly approaching the judges and justices, who shaped abortion law simply by their precedent-setting decisions,” Schenck wrote. “We knew we were stuck with members of the federal bench — they were appointed for life — so why not convert them while in office?” (Schenck has since reversed course: He is now a fierce critic of evangelical politicking and says Liberty Counsel assumed Faith and Action’s operations in 2018. He says he has no knowledge of the group’s inner workings after he left.)

At first, the high court regarded Faith and Action and its peer organizations as nuisances, according to Schenck. “Justice Thomas would say to me, ‘You know those groups outside? Are they crazy or are they good people?’” Schenck recalls in an interview with Rolling Stone. When Schenck first began his approach in 1994, prayer activities on the Supreme Court’s property was considered an act of demonstration, and therefore illegal. Eventually, Justices Alito, Scalia, and Thomas would embrace Schenck, he says, and pray with him in various corners of the high court’s grounds — including, occasionally, in their chambers. (Chief Justice John Roberts, meanwhile, remained more guarded and skeptical of such groups’ influence.)

To pray with the justices was to perform a sort of “spiritual conditioning,” Schenck explains. “The intention all along was to embolden the conservative justices by loaning them a kind of spiritual moral support — to give them an assurance that not only was there a large number of people behind them, but in fact, there was divine support for very strong and unapologetic opinions from them.” Prayer is a powerful communication tool in the evangelical tradition: The speaker assumes the mantle of the divine, and to disagree with an offered prayer is akin to sin. “It’s just not common to interrupt or challenge a prayer,” Schenck explains. “That’s not something a devout Supreme Court justice would ever consider doing.” That was true even for the devout Catholic justices, such as Scalia, who joined the evangelical Faith and Action members in prayer, Schenck says.

Sometimes the prayers would be general; other times, on specific subjects, such as ending abortion, according to Schenck. He says Faith and Action took assiduous care to avoid speaking blatantly about cases in the Supreme Court’s pipeline, discussing the political agenda only in broad strokes. Even so, under the time period Schenck describes, prayers with the justices occurred as Faith and Action signed onto several amicus briefs for landmark SCOTUS cases such as Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood, which ultimately upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.

:{Schenck walked away from his life on the Hill after receiving a late-career doctorate on the teachings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who questioned the collaborative relationship between Adolf Hitler and 1930s German evangelicals. He drew parallels between the Republican Party and American evangelicalism, concerned that he’d weaponized worship to fuel a hate-filled agenda.No longer an anti-abortion activist, Schenck views his past efforts with regret.“Prayer is a positive exercise, until it’s politicized — and too many prayers that I and my colleagues offered in the presence of the justices were political prayers,” he explains. He also believes the work “contributed to the internal moral and ethical corruption of the justices at the court,” he says.

“I was sure, while we were doing it, it would be a positive contribution to our public life,” Schenck says. “It didn’t have the effect I thought it would. In some ways, it set the stage for the reversal of Roe, which I now think of as a social catastrophe.”}:

When Liberty Counsel absorbed Faith and Action in 2018, Peggy Nienaber, who had worked alongside Schenck since at least 2005, continued with the group. In a July 2021 conversation with Staver, Liberty Counsel’s founder, Nienaber described the group’s new incarnation as similar to Faith and Action’s mission. It’s “the ministry right here on Capitol Hill,” she said, devoted to “changing the hearts and minds of not only our elected officials, but the staffers all the way down.” Nienaber highlighted Faith & Liberty’s proximity to the court by pointing to the window of the conference room where the justices decide their cases. ”When you’re sitting in that conference room, you cannot miss those Ten Commandments,” she said. (Faith & Liberty sits so close to the Supreme Court, in fact, that it has been included in the “buffer zone” surrounding the high court, shut off to protesters and the public. There’s irony here, given that Liberty Counsel has for decades litigated to abolish buffer zones near abortion clinics.)

“There’s a lot of things that Faith & Liberty does — and that you do — that obviously we can’t put in an email, can’t put in a newsletter, can’t put in a press release,” Staver said to Nienaber during their chat, “because it’s private relationships that are spiritually transformative.” Nienaber’s social media accounts show her hobnobbing with high-profile Republicans such as Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) and former Vice President Mike Pence. She hung close to the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018: She posted photographs from inside the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing room, as well as a screenshot of her invitation to Kavanaugh’s swearing-in ceremony.

Nienaber told Rolling Stone, “I do not socialize with the justices.” Yet she has posed for photos with Justices Kavanaugh and Thomas, calling the latter a “friend” in a Facebook post, praising him for “passing by our ministry center to attend church and always taking time to say hello.”

In addition to her proximity to conservative power players, Nienaber has championed the plaintiffs who have brought right-wing religious causes before the Supreme Court. Ahead of oral arguments, she prayed with Joe Kennedy, the football coach who recently succeeded in his suit to allow prayer during football games. Liberty Counsel also filed an amicus brief in that case, calling on the court to rule that the school district “engaged in viewpoint discrimination against Coach Kennedy’s private speech.”}:

Nienaber was recorded telling the livestreamer that she prayed with Supreme Court justices on June 27, the Monday after the high court issued the Dobbs ruling. She was at a celebration she helped organize with Sean Feucht, a prominent Christian-worship musician. Nienaber identifies herself only as “Peggy” in the footage, but she references the ministry she runs behind the court and its 850-pound replica of the Ten Commandments. For most of the interview, Nienaber is not on camera. But when the video pans on her briefly, she can be seen wearing the same dress and necklace she has on in a selfie with Feucht posted to Faith & Liberty’s website.

Last week, Rolling Stone spoke to Patty Bills, the director of constituency affairs at Faith & Liberty. Bills did not want to discuss Faith & Liberty’s ministry practices, citing privacy concerns. Bills would not, however, deny that Faith & Liberty ministers to Supreme Court justices. “I never said we didn’t — I just said we provide privacy,” she said.

Staver, in denying that members of Faith & Liberty prayed with Supreme Court justices, says that such prayers would have been inappropriate, especially given Liberty Counsel’s litigation efforts. “That’s why we wouldn’t do that,”he says. “And especially on cases that are pending before the Supreme Court, we would make a very clear firewall. We just would never do something like that.”

In a written statement to Rolling Stone, Nienaber says of her hot-mic comments: “I do not recall making such a statement. I listened to the livestream, and I did not hear such a statement.” She adds that Covid restrictions have limited public access to the Supreme Court: “The public has not been allowed access, and I am no different.” When she has had access to public areas of the court, she says, “I will generally silently pray for the justices, their staff, and the Court.”

But after this story was published, Nienaber acknowledged her remarks and conceded she has prayed personally with Supreme Court justices. Despite speaking in the present tense on the livestream, Nienaber asserted, “My comment was referring to past history and not practice of the past several years.” Nienaber added: “During most of the history up to early 2020, I met with many people who wanted or needed prayer. Since early 2020, access to the Supreme Court has been restricted due to COVID. It has been many years since I prayed with a Justice.”

Liberty Counsel was founded in 1989 by Staver. The organization is an uncommon hybrid of religious ministry and legal practice, dedicated to “advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the family through strategic litigation.” Staver is the organization’s senior pastor as well as its top litigator. This mix of law and religion is central to Staver’s career; he previously served as dean of the law school at Liberty University, founded by the televangelist Jerry Falwell.

Staver has argued numerous cases in front of the Supreme Court.He started in 1994 in a case that struck a blow against protest-limiting buffer zones near abortion clinics. In the court’s most recent term, Staver argued and won a 9-0 judgment in Shurtleff v. Boston, a case in which the court ruled a Christian flag couldn’t be excluded from a public flagpole that displayed a rotating assortment of secular flags.

Staver also wrote an amicus brief in the Dobbs case that purports to tie abortion and birth control to eugenics}:. Calling Roe “the low watermark in this Court’s history,” it argued that Dobbs was ”an ideal vehicle for the Court to finally overrule Roe v. Wade and its progeny, which have constitutionalized eugenic abortions as a fundamental right.”

In the Dobbs majority opinion written by Justice Alito, he cited this brief to impugn the motives of pro-abortion-rights advocates, arguing that “some such supporters have been motivated by a desire to suppress the size of the African American population,” adding, “it is beyond dispute that Roe has had that demographic effect,” because “a highly disproportionate percentage of aborted fetuses are Black.”

When Roe v. Wade was reversed, Staver was triumphant: “I have dedicated my life to defend life and overturn the bloody decisions of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey,” he wrote. “This global earthquake will impact the world.”

Prayer unto itself in no way presents a conflict of interest for the justices, says Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, not even with a group like Faith & Liberty that has business before the court. Justices are allowed to visit there with whomever they’d like in their private chambers, and have socialized with interested parties throughout the court’s history. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, for example, routinely played cards with the high court’s magistrates, and Scalia went duck hunting with former Vice President Dick Cheney. What would amount to an ethical concern would be if they’re discussing those cases as they pray — “or if the prayer sessions would influence how justices rule in a particular case,” says Adam Winkler, a Supreme Court expert at the University of California Los Angeles.

But even among legal experts troubled by the court’s ties, they acknowledge there are few remedies to address ethical conflicts. A federal statute governs when judges and justices should step away from cases, but the Constitution leaves questions of partiality to the justices themselves. Their general unwillingness to step aside isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Virelli, the Stetson law professor, says: When justices recuse themselves from a case, no one replaces them, a scenario that can create more problems than it solves. “The court changes shape,” he explains. “That makes the decision to recuse difficult.”

That the justices are their own keepers in regard to those rules creates complications, however, says Steve Vladeck, a constitutional-law expert at the University of Texas Law School. The relationship between Faith & Liberty and Liberty Counsel, as described by Rolling Stone, “could make a reasonable observer worry about the appearance of partiality,” he says. But the concerns the scenario raised shouldn’t be about recusal. “What that really reveals is how problematic it is that there isn’t an objective mechanism to resolve these sorts of questions.”

For Winkler, the greater concern is not prayers, but the “religious-themed” decisions he’s seen come down from the high court this term, pointing to not only the Roe reversal but also opinions that permit unchecked free exercise of First Amendment rights. “The problematic aspect isn’t whether they’re praying,” Winkler says, “but that several justices seem committed to reading their religion into the Constitution.”

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/charlie-kirk-church-and-state/

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an 6 22

It’s clear the Supreme Court couldn’t care less about history, judicial precedent, basic consistency or common decency.

Rather than follow a coherent judicial philosophy, the rightwing swings wildly from one theory of interpretation to another to suit their political agenda, not legal principles.

While cases on guns strike down state’s rights and cases on abortion valorize them, there is one consistent underlying principle to the majority of decisions in the last two years.

A movement toward white Christian theocracy.

This past term the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade (removing federal protections for abortion), allowed state tuition to go to religious schools and ruled that a public school football coach had a right to pray on the school’s football field

While these cases are extreme and violate precedent, many cases in the court’s history have privileged Christianity.

Christmas trees and other Christmas holiday decorations have been treated as “secular” celebrations of a national holiday. “Blue laws” that require businesses to be closed on Sunday are constitutional (they apparently somehow have a “secular” purpose because Christian practice is secular and neutral), but laws protecting the right to take off on the sabbath (you know for those pesky non-Christian people) are not.

Time and again Christianity is treated as the default and therefore the protection of the practices as “secular” while other religious practices are treated as explicitly religious.

In the latest bad decision in a string of bad decisions issued this term, the rightwing ruled that a football coach, Joseph Kennedy, had a constitutional right to pray on the 50-yard line on a public school’s football field after the game.

The coach didn’t just quietly pray for himself after the games. Students and others joined the prayers he publicly led.

To side with Kennedy, Justice Gorsuch claimed he wasn’t acting in his role as a coach when he prayed postgame.

However, if he wasn’t acting as the coach why was he even praying on the 50-yard line after the games?

Additionally, whether students joined or not could very possibly affect the students’ relationship with their coach. So the actions necessarily relate to his professional role.

Gorsuch argued that students not only wouldn’t feel pressured to join the prayers but that “learning how to tolerate speech or prayer of all kinds is ‘part of learning how to live in a pluralistic society,’ a trait of character essential to ‘a tolerant citizenry.’” (Clearly something Justice Gorsuch thinks only needs to be learned by non-Christians and marginalized groups.)

To come to this decision, the court had to ignore precedent about the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment that prohibits the state from “establishing” a religion.

The accepted test for considering the Establishment Clause came out of *Lemon v. Kurtzman* (1971). The three-part test required that law have a primarily secular purpose, that it neither aid nor inhibits religion in its principal effect and that government and religion must not be excessively entangled.

A coach employed by a public school praying after football games clearly has no secular purpose and aids religion in its principal effect. However, Gorsuch dismissed the test as having been “long ago abandoned.” Instead, Gorsuch uses some vague appeal to “historical practices and understandings” to analyze the Establishment Clause.

The historical interpretations of the Establishment Clause treat non-Christian religions differently from Christian practices. Gorsuch’s suggestion to adhere to historical understandings for analysis would likely necessitate a more Christian application of the law. After all, historically, freedom of religion (especially at the state level) meant freedom of any Christian (or even just Protestant) religion.

In an earlier decision this term, *Carson v. Makin*, the Supreme Court ruled that a state tuition program can’t exclude religious schools. Doing so violates the free exercise of religion.

Maine has a tuition-assistance program that allows students to go to certain secular private schools, especially students in rural areas of the state where a public school isn’t close by.

The court ruled that if money is given to private schools, it can’t exclude religious ones. Makin is distinguished from court precedent that allowed federal funds to go to religious institutions that use the funds for non-religious activity.

In this case, if federal funds are being used for religious school tuition, those funds will be supporting explicitly religious activity as the education in such schools is not purely secular.

While Justice Alito’s opinion in *Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health* doesn’t explicitly cite Christian support for overturning Roe, white Christian myths about abortion are the entire foundation for the opinion. This country was built on white Christian principles so any appeal to only supporting rights that are “deeply rooted in the nation’s history” will privilege white Christianity. The entire history of reproductive control as well as the anti-abortion movement is deeply linked to slavery and the racist “white replacement theory.”

Conservatives and even justices have not been shy about their plan to use a dismantled Roe as a first step toward undoing a number of other civil-rights cases. Alito links the legal foundations of Roe to Griswold v. Connecticut (the right to birth control), Lawrence v. Texas (protection of private sexual acts concerning gay men), Obergefell v. Hodges (same-sex marriage), and even Loving v. Virginia (interracial marriage).

While Justice Alito claims this connection is not meant to suggest these cases be overturned (it's not convincing), Justice Thomas’ concurrence explicitly calls for revisiting all these cases (except for Loving). There is no justification to treat gay sex or gay marriage differently except for religious reasons (or the white Christian history of the country).

While the conservative justices and politicians typically cite Brown v. Board of Education (which overturned Plessy v. Ferguson to outlaw segregation in public schools) to justify overturning long-held precedent, overturning *Loving* and *Brown*seems to be the logical endpoint of this journey.

Some conservatives openly call for such action. Others directly link overturning Roe with racist motivations and white supremacy, like Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller, who called the Dobbs decision a “victory for white life.”

Carsonis also a big win to chip away at Brown, as a strategy to fight desegregation in the south was to send kids to private “white” academies. The more money that can go to private, Christian schools, the more segregated public ed can be.

Most of the decisions discussed in this article have a fig leaf of justification. They aren’t explicitly racist or explicitly Christian-focused. But when analyzed together, the only logical consistency is their reliance on white Christian supremacy.

Would the court rule the same if a Muslim coach had led prayers on the field? Will they ever see a “secular purpose” in the religious practices of people who are not Christian? And how will they support the rights of nonwhite non-Christian people if such rights are not “deeply rooted” in American history?

We must call these decisions what they are – a call to white Christian supremacy – and fight them as such.

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/supreme-court-states-establishment-clause/

no lnx many twt

A far-right legal group believes states are exempt from the Establishment Clause. Some Supreme Court justices agree

Alex Henderson June 29, 2022

During the 1990s, Justice Clarence Thomas and the late Justice Antonin Scalia were viewed as the lunatic fringe of the U.S. Supreme Court. But their theocratic views and far-right social conservatism were balanced out by other justices, from liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to moderate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to Justice Anthony Kennedy — a Ronald Reagan appointee and right-wing libertarian who, although fiscally conservative, was quite protective of abortion rights and gay rights.

Those days are long gone. Theocrats, thanks largely to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former President Donald Trump, now dominate the High Court — a fact that was painfully evident when the Court announced, on Friday, June 24, that it had voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and Thomas argued in favor of reconsidering protections for contraception and gay rights as well.

Freedom of religion is guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution — specifically, the 1st Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Establishment Clause makes it abundantly clear that while people of all faiths can freely practice and promote them, the government cannot establish an official religion. This means that while Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Bahais are more than welcome to gather on New York City’s 5th Avenue and promote their faiths, the government itself has a strict separation of church and state.

[Read more: Columnist likens U.S. Supreme Court’s right-wing supermajority to a ‘junta in long black robes’

But in Christian Right legal circles, some theocrats, including the far-right group America First Legal, are arguing that individual states are exempt from the Establishment Clause — and Reuters reporter Lawrence Hurley notes that the group believes that states have a right to decide “whether and to what extent they will establish religion within their borders.”

Moreover, America First Legal is hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court will officially take that position in a future ruling.

According to Religion News Service (RNS) reporter Jack Jenkins, Thomas and Justice Neal Gorsuch share America First Legal’s view of the Establishment Clause — and Justice Amy Coney Barrett has “expressed interest in the idea.”

Thomas, Gorsuch and Barrett are among the justices who voted to strike down Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Women’s Health Organization.

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ref

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/united-states-supreme-court-junta/

june 28

much of the criticism of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has been coming from liberals and progressives along with centrist Democrats. But on the right, a combination of Never Trump conservatives and libertarians have also been slamming the Dobbs ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade after 49 years — allowing a long list of red states to pass draconian statewide abortion bans if they choose.

The naked authoritarianism of the U.S. Supreme Court’s socially conservative majority threatens a lot more than abortion rights. Justice Clarence Thomas has called for the U.S. to “reconsider” High Court rulings that have been protecting access to abortion and gay rights. Thomas specifically mentioned 1965’s Griswold v. Connecticut, 2003’s Lawrence v. Texas and 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges.

This authoritarianism is the focus of two Washington Post opinion columnists: liberal Eugene Robinson in a June 27 column, Never Trump conservative Max Boot in a June 25 column. Robinson and Boot have their political differences, but one thing they obviously agree on is that the Trumpified U.S. Supreme Court has taken a tyrannical turn.

Robinson likens the U.S. Supreme Court’s socially conservative majority to a “secretive and unaccountable junta in long black robes.” Junta is a strong word, but considering that one-third of the justices were appointed by former President Donald Trump — the most authoritarian and dangerously corrupt president in U.S. history — it doesn’t seem like an exaggeration.

“I describe them with a term more commonly used for Latin American military regimes because, well, that’s what it feels like,” argues Robinson, who once worked as a foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires, Argentina. “They want a country where women, once again, are at best second-class citizens. Their decision Friday to strike down the landmark Roe v. Waderuling that protected the constitutional right to abortion means that women, unlike men, no longer have dominion over their own bodies.”

Robinson adds, “They want a country where every pregnancy, wanted or unwanted, is carried to full term. They want women who seek terminations, and the doctors or nurses or friends or Uber drivers who help them in any way, to potentially be subject to criminal charges or civil lawsuits.”< this “junta,” Robinson warns, “does not believe the nation’s Founders were serious about the separation of church and state” and sees the U.S. as a “Christian nation, not a secular one.”

“A ruling Monday found that it was fine for a football coach at a public high school to lead his team in prayer at midfield after games,” Robinson observes. “A decision last week decreed that if states give grants of public money for students to attend private schools, religious schools must also be eligible for those funds…. Previous Supreme Court majorities have expanded the rights and opportunities of the marginalized — women, of course, but also, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ citizens, the disabled. The junta clearly sees these rights as suspect.”

Robinson continues, “Our black-robed rulers will, in the future, be asked to vote up or down on affirmative action, same-sex marriage and other questions that involve the concept of equity. I shudder to imagine what they will do.”

Boot, in his column, notes that the United States’ Founding Fathers built “many checks and balances into the Constitution” because they feared “the tyranny of the majority.” But the conservative columnist emphasizes that the Founders, including Alexander Hamilton, also feared “the tyranny of the minority,” which, Boot argues, is the problem the U.S. is facing in 2022.

“Hamilton’s nightmare has become the reality of 21st-Century America,” Boot laments. “We are living under minoritarian tyranny, with smaller states imposing their views on the larger through their disproportionate sway in the Senate and the Electoral College — and therefore, on the Supreme Court. To take but one example: 21 states with fewer total people than California have 42 Senate seats. This undemocratic, unjust system has produced the new Supreme Court rulings on gun control and abortion.”

Boot points out that the High Court “has no obligation to follow the popular will,” but he has a problem with the Court being openly contemptuous of the majority — a majority that, he notes, wanted to keep Roe v. Wade, according to polls.

“It is hard for any disinterested observer to have any faith in what the right-wing justices are doing,” Boot argues. “They are not acting very conservatively in overturning an abortion ruling, Roe v. Wade, that is 49 years old and a New York state gun-control statute that is 109 years old. In both cases, the justices rely on dubious readings of legal history that have been challenged by many scholars to overturn what had been settled law. boot argues that the United States’ “perverse political system” has “allowed a militant, right-wing minority to hijack the law.”

“In all likelihood, Roe would not have been overturned if then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had not broken with precedent by refusing to grant President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, a vote in 2016,” Boot explains. “McConnell brazenly held the seat open for President Donald Trump to fill. Now, Trump’s appointee, Neil M. Gorsuch, is part of the five-justice majority that has overturned Roe. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. joined with the other five justices to uphold the Mississippi abortion law but not to overrule Roe.”

Boot wraps up his column by lamenting that “public faith in the Supreme Court” continues “eroding.”

“We are experiencing what the Founders feared: a crisis of governmental legitimacy brought about by minoritarian tyranny,” Boot warns. “And it could soon get a whole lot worse. In his concurring opinion in the abortion case, Justice Clarence Thomas called on the Court to overturn popular precedents upholding a right to contraception, same-sex relationships and marriage equality. So much for Hamilton’s hope that ‘the sense of the majority should prevail.’” ...

Succeeded by Shana M. Broussard

James Edwin "Trey" Trainor III is an American Republican lawyer and government official. He became a member of the Federal Election Commission after President Donald Trump nominated him and the Senate confirmed him. He served as chair of the commission in 2020.

Career

Trainor was admitted to the bar in Texas in 2003.^[1] He practiced election law, campaign finance, and ethics^[2] as a partner in Akerman LLP's Austin office.^[3] He has long supported reduced regulation of money in politics,^[3] and represented the right-wing advocacy group Empower Texans in lengthy disputes with the Texas Ethics Commission over whether the group was obligated to disclose its donors.^[3][2]

During the 2012 Republican primaries, Trainor was counsel for the presidential campaign of Texas Governor Rick Perry.^[3] In the 2016 Republican primaries, Trainor initially supported Ted Cruz, but later worked for Donald Trump.^[2][3] As general counsel to the 2016 Republican National Convention platform committee, Trainor led the party's efforts to stymie last-ditch Never Trump efforts from anti-Trump Republican convention delegates.^[2][3] In 2017, Trainor was appointed assistant general counsel to the Texas Republican Party; newly elected party chairman James Dickey named him to the post.^[2] Trainor was also general counsel to the Secretary of State of Texas.^[3]

After Trump became president, Trainor joined his administration as special assistant to Secretary of Defense James Mattis.^[4]

FEC tenure

On September 14, 2017, Trump nominated Trainor to be a member of the Federal Election Commission for a term expiring April 30, 2023.^[3] Trainor's nomination languished in the Republican-controlled Senate for years,^[5][6] with Trump re-nominating him twice (in 2019 and 2020).^[5][7][8] During his FEC confirmation hearings, he refused to recuse himself from matters related to the Trump campaign.^[9]

On May 19, 2020, the Senate voted to invoke cloture on his nomination by a 50–43 vote^[10] and later that day confirmed his nomination by a 49–43 vote.^[11] Trump's nomination of Trainor broke a precedent; traditionally, presidents have made nominations to the FEC in pairs (simultaneously nominating one Republican and one Democrat); Trump's decision to nominate Trainor alone was criticized by Democrats.^[9]

Trainor's confirmation gave the FEC a quorum, with four of the six commission seats filled (two Republicans, one Democrat and an independent who mostly sides with the Democrat).^[9] This theoretically allowed the FEC to move forward on a large backlog of enforcement matters that had effectively halted FEC activity for months during a presidential election year.^[9] However, the FEC was still expected to deadlock frequently (as the commission had done for more than a decade) along party lines, since many actions of the commission require a unanimous vote.^[9]

On June 18, 2020, Trainor was elected as chair for the remainder of 2020, with Steven T. Walther selected as vice chair.^[12]

In interviews in September 2020 with the Religion News Service, as well as Michael Voris of the right-wing Catholic website Church Militant, Trainor said that churches could endorse political candidates, contrary to common understandings of the Johnson Amendment, which bars tax-exempt nonprofits from endorsing political candidates.^[13] He justified this by pointing to Trump's 2017 executive order that the amendment should not be enforced.^[13] In the same interviews, Trainor called the separation of church and state a "fallacy" and accused Catholic bishops of "hiding behind" the church's nonprofit status to avoid involvement in the 2020 U.S. elections, which Trainor called a "spiritual war."^[13] FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub disagreed with Trainor's statements on the Johnson Amendment (saying that the amendment remains law and "cannot be undone with an executive order") and took issue with his depiction of elections as "spiritual wars."^[13]

References

^ Mr. James Edwin "Trey" Trainor III, State Bar of Texas.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Svitek_2-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Svitek_2-2) ^d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Svitek_2-3) ^e(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Svitek_2-4) Svitek, Patrick (September 12, 2017). "Trump nominates Texas lawyer Trey Trainor for Federal Election Commission". Texas Tribune. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Gold_3-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Gold_3-2) ^d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Gold_3-3) ^e(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Gold_3-4) ^f(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Gold_3-5) ^g(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Gold_3-6) ^h(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Trainor_III#cite_ref-Gold_3-7) Gold, Matea (September 13, 2017). "Trump nominates conservative Texas lawyer to Federal Election Commission". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
^ Svitek, Patrick (January 25, 2017). "Austin lawyer Trey Trainor joins Trump administration". Texas Tribune. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Trainor_III#cite_ref-Bubl%C3%A9_5-1) Courtney Bublé, Commissioner’s Resignation Renders FEC Toothless as 2020 Elections Heat Up, Government Executive (August 27, 2019).
^ The Election Watchdog That Can't Bark, New York Times (August 29, 2019).
^ PN197 — James E. Trainor III — Federal Election Commission, 116th Congress (2019-2020), Congress.gov.
^ PN1600 — James E. Trainor III — Federal Election Commission, 116th Congress (2019-2020), Conress.gov.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-:1_9-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-:1_9-2) ^d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-:1_9-3) ^e(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-:1_9-4) Ruiz, Rebecca R. (May 19, 2020). "Election Watchdog, Dormant for Months, Can Finally Move Into Action". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
^ "U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 116th Congress - 2nd Session". United States Senate. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
^ "U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 116th Congress - 2nd Session". United States Senate. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
^ "FEC elects James E. "Trey" Trainor as Chair, Steven T. Walther as Vice Chair for the remainder of 2020" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: United States Federal Election Commission. June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Jenkins_13-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E.Trainor_III#cite_ref-Jenkins_13-2) ^d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Trainor_III#cite_ref-Jenkins_13-3) Jack Jenkins (September 18, 2020). "FEC chairman, in interviews, says this year's election amounts to a 'spiritual war:{'}:". Religion News Service – via The Washington Post.

Categories:

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wm j olson

illiam J. Olson	William J.Olson, P.C.	(703) 356-5070
	370 Maple Avenue West, Suite 4
	Vienna, VA 22180-5615
	wjo@mindspring.com	wjo@mindspring.com
Party name: Citizens United Foundation	Party name: Citizens United Foundation	Party name: Citizens United Foundation

sep church & state pledge alleg under God

many amicus

No. 02-1624

Vide 02-1574, 03-7

Title:

Elk Grove Unified School District and David W. Gordon, Superintendent, Petitioners

Michael A. Newdow, et al.

Docketed:

May 9, 2003

Linked with 03A608

Lower Ct:

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Case Nos.:

(00-16423)

Decision Date:

February 26, 2002

Rehearing Denied:

February 28, 2003

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