Kamil Pasha

An interesting comparison can be made between the use of the judiciary to combat creeping religionism in the public arena in Turkey and in the US. Some of the issues are similar, although the role of the judiciary in resolving them is quite different. I just received the following message from the People for the American Way Foundation (PAWF), a progressive advocacy group, containing this update about two religious-rights cases PAWF is pursuing through the US courts:

As our new president Kathryn Kolbert mentioned in her message to you last week, it’s been a rough few years for our constitutional rights. Nevertheless, we’re out there fighting to preserve religious liberty. We recently scored a victory over an unconstitutional public school Bible course in the heart of the Bible Belt — Odessa, Texas — and we’re forging ahead with a court battle to defend the right of the Fredericksburg, Virginia City Council to prohibit Council members from starting Council meetings with sectarian prayers.

Texas School District Bible Course Yanked

Thanks to the efforts of a legal team that included PFAWF attorneys, the school board in Odessa, Texas has yanked a course from its public schools that promoted a particular religious interpretation of the Bible — an interpretation that Jews, Catholics, Orthodox Christians and most Protestants do not share. One of the school board members had welcomed the Bible course by saying, “this is America, it’s a Christian nation.” The course has been blasted by Bible scholars for religious bias and unsound scholarship.

The legal team represented eight parents and taxpayers who sued the school board, which settled rather than go to trial. Read more about the case here [link].

Virginia City Council Prayers

Just last week, a federal appeals court heard arguments in a case filed by Rev. Hashmel Turner, a member of the Fredericksburg City Council who claims he has a free speech right to open Council meetings with a prayer in the name of Jesus — a sectarian prayer that would exclude many Fredericksburg citizens. He also claims that the City Council’s policy requiring that its prayers be nondenominational is unconstitutional.

We, along with the law firm of Hunton & Williams, are defending the City Council. We’ve already won in the district court, since government prayers at a government meeting are obviously “government speech,” not “private speech,” and therefore can’t be sectarian. But the right-wing Rutherford Institute is representing Turner, and hopes to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court. I can promise you we’ll fight them every step of the way — battling to protect the First Amendment and the separation of church and state that protects religious freedom. That’s the American Way. You can read the district court’s ruling here [link: http://media.pfaw.org/PDF/MFSJ_ruling.pdf].

As always, we’re proud to share news of our work with you, and we’re extremely grateful for your support.

Judith E. Schaeffer, PFAWF Legal Director

Tags: AKP closure case, Politics, Religion, Rights //