I gotta admit, sometimes the tactics that the ACLU employs gets on my nerves. However, in this case, I think they are totally justified. The government has no business putting up pictures of Jesus (I'm pretty sure Jesus never sat down for a portrait, but I digress) in the lobby of a courthouse. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1182409232176630.xml&coll=1 Jesus has no place in Slidell City Court, says the Louisiana ACLU, which has asked court officials to remove his portrait from the lobby within a week or face the possibility that the organization will file a lawsuit to force the issue. Several people have complained to the ACLU about the picture, and one has filed a written complaint, prompting the organization to intervene, said Joe Cook, the Louisiana chapter's executive director. The ACLU also wants the court to remove lettering beneath the portrait that says, "To know peace, obey these laws." The organization sent a letter Wednesday to court officials saying the display violates the First Amendment and therefore must come down. Specifically, it violates the Establishment Clause, which holds that church and state must remain separate, the ACLU says. The organization says the portrait's presence in the court building serves to advance religion. Cook said it would be impossible for the court to oblige every religious group with a similar display in the court's lobby, as there are more than 1,500 such groups in the United States. Therefore, the display has to go, he said. "If you can't accommodate, you must separate," Cook said. "That's the beauty of the First Amendment." Slidell City Court Judge Jim Lamz, who was unavailable for comment Wednesday, issued a statement through Ann Barks, a court spokeswoman. Barks noted that the display had been in place for several years. "I was shocked and disappointed to receive the letter," Lamz said in the statement. "To my knowledge, no one has made a complaint. I'm disappointed the ACLU released their letter to the press either before or simultaneously to us, which indicates they're not interested so much in a resolution, but in confrontation and publicity." Katie Schwartzmann, the ACLU attorney who wrote the letter, said the display conveys a religious message and instructs those who see it to obey Jesus' laws. "The display is prominently placed in the lobby of the courthouse, such that every person entering the courthouse is subjected to it," Schwartzmann said. "Moreover, as an admonition hanging in a court of law, it clearly gives the impression that only believers in the law of Jesus Christ will receive justice in that courthouse." The ACLU has given court officials until Wednesday to remove the display. Schwartzmann said the organization is prepared to file a lawsuit in the matter, but legal action could be avoided if the court cooperates.
Hypothetical: If you were on trial in Detroit, home to a very large Muslim population, and right in the lobby was a prominent sign saying "There is no God but Allah, and His messenger is Muhammed", would you feel comfortable that you were going to get a fair trial?
WRONG john 3: 34: "and jesus said unto the flock, forsooth, go now and spread the good news, and i wll have judas come up in here and sketch up my countenance, it shall be glorious"
Oh yes, I recall now. That was before the next verse, John 3:35 says: "And the countenance will resemble no man native to this land. Verily, I will have white skin to signify the cleanliness of my spirit, blue eyes that pierce into the fires of evil, long straight hair to cover my receding hairline, and a beard trimmed in the manner of a hippie. Oh, and verily there will be crazy sunbeams emanating from mine own head, because the natives of Mexico doth so enjoy it on the back of their lowrider pickups. And so it came to pass that Judas did sketch, and it was good."
Yeah I love it how the ACLU and some Americans are offended by christianity and yet this country is bending over backwards to accomodate the Muslim faith and Allah.
Yeah, the alliance between the modern far-left and Islam has always seemed really odd to me. I guess hating America trumps all other principles?
I'm sorry but I totally disagree. There is a big difference between the establishment of a religion and a general statement of religiousity. The First Amendment that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or preventing the free exercise thereof" has been widely, almost willingly, misunderstood in recent years. It has been interpreted to mean that federal, state and local governments (despite the fact that the amendment does not even mention state or local governments, but is intended to be applied only to the federal government) are forbidden by the Constitution to contenence or subsidize even indirectly the practice of religion. That interpretation would have astonished the framers of the Constitution. What the framers were concerned with in the First Amendment was to prevent Congress from setting up a state religion along the lines of the Church of England. It was an anti-establishment clause. So many people today forget about the second half of that clause which states that Congress may not interfere with the practice of any religion. The manner in which the Constitution is now being interpreted is contrary to the intent of the Founding Fathers. The First Amendment simply forbids Congress from favoring one religion over another; it certainly does not inhibit Congress from identifying itself with a religious impulse. As evidence of this it should be noted that the House of Representatives passed the First Amendment on September 24, 1789. The very next day it also passed, by a two-to-one majority, a resolution calling for a national day of prayer and thanksgiving. Apparently the framers of the Constitution saw no conflict between the resolution and the First Amendment.
Come on. The far left does not hate America. They just interpret the Constitution differently than you or I. Can't we have a difference of opinion without turning it into something personal?
