Basking in the mellow ambiance of the recent Conservative swell, it is tempting to imagine a turning of the political tide. Conservatives of all stripes can, after all, claim some effective control over the two democratic branches of government. Alas, our looming judiciary has a special gift for inelegant intrusions as evidenced by yesterday's Third Federal Circuit Court decision enjoining enforcement of the 1996 Solomon Amendment. We can only ponder the judicial contortions coming in February when the Supreme Court hears the Ten Commandments case. We are powerfully reminded that the wave we so wish to see is perhaps but a ripple of discontent, softly sloshing the granite flanks of a mighty liberal monolith.
However, in the interests of sustaining the will by means of hope (the Theological Virtue, not the secular humanist platitude), the following recent court decisions provide evidence of vestigial legal competence to countervail current judicial trends.
A Delaware Catholic school fired a religion teacher who signed a public affirmation of abortion rights. The teacher sued, arguing that her firing had nothing to do with religious faith but was simply another example of the Church's hatred of women. The Court would have none of it, upholding the school's right to hold religious views.
A Michigan public school scheduled a “Homosexuality and Christianity” panel discussion inviting compliant rouge clerics and ministers but declined to let a student express her Catholic viewpoint. The judge skewers the hegemony and hypocrisy inherent in “diversity.”
A South Dakota public school teacher was allowed to participate in after school Girl Scouts and guitar lessons, but not a Christian activity club. The school district’s claim that her Christian activities on school grounds violates the Establishment Clause is ruled discriminatory and is trumped by the teacher’s First Amendment rights.
Comments (1)
Welcome, John! Loved the post, especially the Michigan school panel bit.
Posted by Jason A. | November 30, 2004 7:08 PM
Posted on November 30, 2004 19:08