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 Many
important religious liberty issues that will be working their way through the courts
in 2008 that require our attention and fervent prayers.
The
year 2008 will be a year in which election results, particularly for the
Presidency and the Senate, will likely result in Supreme Court appointments that
will set the course of American history for decades to come. There is no doubt that a culture war is going
on in America. One of the key battlegrounds in this war is our
nation's court system, primarily the Supreme Court, but also lower courts at
every level. Will America's future be decided by judges who want
to evolve our Constitution into a more malleable document that can move America even
farther away from its Christian foundations?
Or will our judges begin to look to the original intent of the
Constitution as a document that presumed America's
reliance on God to preserve the Union?
Sexual
Privacy vs. Religious Liberty
This
year, one of the most serious debates that will be occurring in the hallowed
halls of courts, law schools, and other legal organizations seeking to change
the direction of America is whether the right to sexual privacy (i.e. the
acceptance of all things sexual in America) should trump the religious free
exercise rights of those who oppose the current sexual agenda on moral and
religious grounds. This issue is
emerging as one of the most serious legal discussions of our time. We need to pray that our judges will make the
right decisions and protect what is often called the First Freedom of America (the
freedom of religion found in the First Amendment) against a trend toward sexual
license that has no foundation in the Constitution, but is a recent court
invention growing out of the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted civil rights
to former slaves.
It is
not a foregone conclusion that Christians will win this battle. If it is God's will to bring persecution to
churches that preach the Bible in America, we will endure and prosper
under His grace. But we should not
accept this outcome as inevitable. The
Christian Law Association is committed to fighting for religious liberty as
long as the Lord sustains us in battle, relying on Him to bring the victory.
One of the key legal questions in this area
involves the question of whose rights are more important in America-the
rights of gay activists or the rights of Bible believing Christians. One of the cases working its way through the
lower courts this year involves a book assigned to public school second graders
in Massachusetts
called King and King that promotes
the homosexual lifestyle and gay marriage.
When Christian parents tried to opt out their child from reading this
book because it violated their religious beliefs, a lower court sided with the
school. The judge said that allowing Christian students to leave the classroom
rather than read the pro-homosexual book would promote discrimination. Why? Because such obvious disapproval of
homosexuality by Christians would harm second grade homosexual students observing
this rejection.
The lower court said that requiring all
second graders, including Christian students, to read the pro gay marriage book
would serve the state's objective of teaching students to respect sexual differences
and would eliminate the "deep and scarring hardship that bans on same-sex
marriages impose." Instead, the court
said that requiring everyone to read the King
and King book would foster an environment that would "minimize the risk of
damaging abuse in school of those who may be perceived as different." Parker
v. Hurley, 474 F. Supp. 2d 261 (D. Mass.,
2007). This case and similar legal
issues in other states will work their way through our courts this year. They require our most fervent prayers if
religious liberty is to be preserved in America.
The
Right to Pray in Jesus' Name
One important legal principle that CLA has been
actively involved in preserving for many years is the right of Christians to
continue praying in Jesus' Name in public-in legislatures, in private
associations, and in every public venue.
There were some victories for prayer in Jesus' Name in 2007,
including a school board in Louisiana and the Indiana legislature, but
these victories were more procedural than substantive. Judges ruled that the plaintiffs in these
cases lacked the legal standing to take their cases forward. While it is important that courts are no
longer assuming that people who are offended by religion have sufficient legal
injuries to file lawsuits, these victories are not yet being won on the substantive
religious liberty issues being challenged.
Similar cases are ongoing in North
Carolina and elsewhere. This issue will remain on the front burner in many
towns and state legislatures across this nation throughout 2008.
Displaying
Religious Items in Public
Another area CLA has aggressively pursued that is
still front and center in 2008 is the matter of religious displays, which
includes displays of the Ten Commandments and of manger scenes at
Christmastime.
One
great victory being built on by lower courts in 2007 was a Supreme Court decision
that a Ten Commandments display does not automatically violate even the relatively
new legal principle of "separation of church and state." A lower court decision in 2007 involved
highway crosses to honor slain troopers.
(American Atheists vs. Duncan,
a Utah federal
district court decision) This court recognized that a small group of atheists could not control how
families of Utah
troopers honor their dead. The court
found no Establishment Clause (church/state) violation and noted, "It is not
the place of law or government, using Establishment Clause jurisprudence, to
exhibit hostility toward religion. Such
‘has no place in our Establishment Clause tradition.'" We agree.
It
appears that future decisions in religious display lawsuits will depend more on
the general context of the display than
on the actual religious content of
the display. Courts like the one in Utah are now asking the
question: what was the intent of the display?
Was it merely to promote religion?
Or is there a secular context? If
the intent was only to promote religion, the religious display is generally declared
unconstitutional. But if the context has
a secular purpose, often a historic one, the display, even if religious, is
permitted. In 2008, lower courts will
continue to sort out this distinction.
Government
Funding for Religious Education
One legal trend that could negatively
affect Christian schools and colleges in 2008 is seen in cases that are expanding
an earlier Supreme Court decision disallowing government scholarships for students
studying for the ministry or attending Christian colleges. Courts are upholding state laws that bar
Christian students from receiving state scholarship money that is otherwise available
to all residents. These cases are now in
the lower courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court may ultimately be required to make
a determination about how much government money can go to Christian students
and Christian schools when the funds are given to students or parents as
vouchers or scholarships, rather than directly to the school itself.
Good
News for 2007
There
was some good news on the legal horizon in 2007 that may lead to positive
trends in 2008.
- Prayer
in Jesus' Name is expected to be upheld on substantive as well as procedural
grounds.
- The
government will stay out of the business of licensing religious
seminaries. An important Texas Supreme
Court case, H.E.B. Ministries v. Texas
Higher Educ., upheld the religious liberty rights of Christian seminaries. Attorneys for CLA have been able to use this
case to successfully promote similar outcomes in other states.
- Tools
are in place for states and localities to prosecute pornography and to restrain
the growth of sexually oriented businesses.
The question for 2008 will be whether local legislatures and prosecutors
will see this as a priority matter. It
has been demonstrated that crime can decrease as much as 50% when sexually
oriented business operations are limited.
Small towns and states need to act decisively in 2008 to put legislation
in place that will help law enforcement eliminate this blight on society.
A Pivotal Year
Christians must understand that 2008 could be a
pivotal year that will either see religious liberty prosper or decline in America. Now is the time for earnest prayer that our
nation will retain its original purpose and design and that God will thwart the
plans of those who want America
to become a morally neutral or, worse, a decadent society devoid of all
religious influences. Will our nation
and its courts come to regard sexual rights and license as more important than
religious liberty, America's
First Freedom? The battle is already
ongoing. Every citizen needs to
volunteer for service in 2008-to pray, to vote, and to live Godly. What is God calling you to do to keep America free
for the Gospel this year?
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