Real life can be a great teacher. The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide a case that shows how far America has drifted from its constitutional and religious roots.
The Milford Central School District, situated between Syracuse and Albany in New York State, allows district residents to use its school facilities for purposes “pertaining to the welfare of the community.” The district’s written policy, however, expressly prohibits use for “religious purposes.” The district denied the Good News Club’s application to hold meetings in school facilities because, as the superintendent put it, those meetings were “the equivalent of religious worship … rather than the expression of religious views or values on a secular subject matter.” The club filed suit, arguing this discrimination violated the Constitution’s First Amendment guarantee of free speech.
The U.S. District Court agreed with Milford, concluding the club’s activities constituted “religious instruction and prayer.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit voted 2-1 to uphold this decision, again characterizing the club’s activities as “religious instruction and prayer” rather than “a religious perspective on the secular subject of morality.” The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in this case on Feb. 28, and the court will announce its decision by the end of June.
The first sobering lesson here is that Milford believes that “religious purposes” have no place on the list of “uses pertaining to the welfare of the community.” That’s a long, long way from the view of America’s founders. By proclamation of Oct. 3, 1789, President George Washington said it was “the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” And in his farewell address delivered on Sept. 17, 1796, he said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
The first Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance, along with the Constitution and Declaration of Independence one of the organic laws of the United States, setting conditions for admitting states to the union. It states, “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
The second sobering lesson comes from why Milford would conclude that religious expression and activity have nothing to do with community welfare. No doubt the explanation is that familiar clich?, the “separation of church and state.” As anyone can read for himself, of course, the Constitution neither requires nor even mentions any such separation. The First Amendment instead prohibits Congress from passing laws “respecting an establishment of religion.” The Supreme Court, however, turned from merely interpreting the real Constitution to making up its own Constitution. The First Amendment it invented made an “establishment of religion” so broad that it now prohibits everything America’s founders allowed, and even encourages Milford to discriminate against religious expression and activity.
Consider just how radical this transformation has really been. While Milford believes that religious expression and activity have nothing to do with community welfare, presidents since Washington have declared days of public thanksgiving and prayer and both Congress and the Supreme Court open each session with an invocation. The same Congress that proposed the First Amendment passed legislation providing for paid chaplains in the Senate, House of Representatives, Army, and Navy.
While Milford bans what it considers even the equivalent of religious worship, the same Congress prohibiting an establishment of religion authorized use of the House of Representatives and the Capitol for actual religious services. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson himself — author of the infamous “separation” clich? — attended church services in the Capitol.
While Milford excludes religious expression or activity from its buildings, Congress for a century appropriated funds to support missionaries and build churches among Indian tribes. While Milford discriminates against groups wanting to use Bibles in their activities, Congress once imported Bibles and appropriated funds for the printing of an American edition of the Scriptures. Thomas Jefferson himself chaired the District of Columbia school board and authored the plan to use the Bible as a public school reading text.
Though the real First Amendment allows all these things, the Supreme Court’s made-up First Amendment bans them. While the real First Amendment prohibits an “establishment of religion,” the court’s made-up First Amendment requires a “separation of church and state.” The court itself does not even know what this made-up provision really means, saying in 1947 the wall was “high and impregnable” and in 1963 that it was “complete and permanent” but in 1971 that it was “a blurred, indistinct, and variable barrier” and in 1982 that it was a mere “useful signpost.”
Which brings us back to Milford. The court’s made-up First Amendment and America’s drift toward secularism have spawned this case. A school district now insists that the mere presence of private religious expression and activity in its public buildings is not only unrelated to community welfare, but actually establishes religion. The First Amendment, it seems, actually violates itself; in order to avoid violating the First Amendment ban on an establishment of religion, the government must violate the First Amendment protection of free speech. From a Constitution embracing religion comes a Constitution requiring discrimination against religion.
You’ve come a long way, America.
