I think this might be a very important case -- or,
at the least, an omen ofthings to come, in a range of cases involving
charitable choice, school vouchers, etc. Indeed, it's the classic "Wiccan"
hypo -- that many of us have been invoking, and wondering about, in various
discussions of
The entire situation reminds one of Martin Niemöllers lines about moral failure:
'First they came for the
Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for
the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then
came the trade unionists,
As the Court of Appeals found in Montgomery County Public
Schools, the school district was distributing fliers for hundreds of community
groups, including numerous religious groups. The fact that they were
distributing religious groups' fliers was not critical to the
Court'sholding; the
But, leaving all else aside, not all cults, or groups that operate in the
way that Stanford describes, are religious. Stanford's implication that
only groups identifying themselves as religious engage in the warned
against conduct is simply wrong.
Alan Brownstein
UC Davis
At 06:33 PM
I agree that this is an indefensible decision. (I would probably have
described it as shameful, but indefensible will do.) But it does
illustrate the problem with the argument that government may display
religious symbols and sponsor religious activities such as prayer as long
as it does so in a
Title: Message
Although I object (for religious reasons) to public prayers, such as
those before meetings of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, aren't
those of you who consider the Fourth Circuit's decision to be indefensible or
worse overlooking the distinctive nature of this
On Fri, 15 Apr 2005, West, Ellis wrote:
[snip] If, however, the reason for these prayers
is because the members of the Board truly want divine guidance or
blessing from the deity in which they believe, the God of the
Judeo-Christian faith, [snip]
Does that count as a *secular* purpose?? I
Title: Message
I cant imagine that it is
constitutionally permissible for public officials to have prayers said for divine
guidance or blessing from the deity in which they believe. If that isnt
establishment, then the term has no sensible meaning.
-Original Message-
From:
The Marsh opinion justified legislative prayer on the basis of a very crude
version of a historical argument -- the first Congress did this, and it's
been done consistently since -- not really on the basis of a coherent,
generalizable analytical principle such as it's just solemnization or
it's
I was going to express similar thoughts, but Tom sent his post first (and
probably did a better job in expressing this analysis than I would have.)
County boards, city councils, school boards and the like conduct
interactive sessions. The public addresses the board directly. On some
occasions,
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