ACLU is anti-Christian
Originally posted by Unintentional@Jun 27 2004, 09:01 PM
http://archive.aclu.org/library/pbp16.html
Q: What about nonverbal symbols, like swastikas and burning crosses -- are they constitutionally protected?
A: Symbols of hate are constitutionally protected if they're worn or displayed before a general audience in a public place -- say, in a march or at a rally in a public park. But the First Amendment doesn't protect the use of nonverbal symbols to encroach upon, or desecrate, private property, such as burning a cross on someone's lawn or spray-painting a swastika on the wall of a synagogue or dorm.
That is from ACLU own website. They have no problem with swastikas or burning crosses displayed or worn in a public place. But since the cross in a public place is not promoting hate speech, according to them it's got to go! They also say on their website that the answer to hate speech is more speech and speech should never ever be censured, but again that clearly doesn't include Christianity speech.
Time Travel Forum
The problem is that the Constitution prohibits the sponsorship of any religion-- it's "establishment," by means of promotion, support, or sharing of power-- and so the legal issues have centered on those instances in which government officials and government institutions (and those who receive public money) have made use of religious symbolism in such a way as to give the perception of such support. The most recent notorious example was the monument to the Ten Commandments at the court house-- which document is, by the way, particularly suitable to stone, but is not Christian.
You can parade around in swastikas and otherwise make a fool of yourself if you are not a government official or it is not government action. You can have goddesses on the seals (Minerva is on the State seal of California because she represents Commerce, Mining, and Agriculture, as well as War) because no one would ever seriously connect it to a religious practice, and thus there is no government action to support a religion of Pomona or Minerva, or of the floating eye above the pyramid on the dollar bill.
Pomona is a city in L.A., where they have the County Fair. The County Fair is not a religious event, even though it's held in the goddess' namesake city-- no more than the Athens Olympics will be a religious festival to which the U.S. government cannot send its athletes (even though it's named for Athena). On the other hand, if the government made Christian faith a requirement for being able to vote... well, you see the distinctions, I'm sure.
As for the ACLU, they represent no one. They are not a political group. In theory, they would "attack" any use of religious imagery by the government, but they are not going to go after ridiculous old icons and slogans that no one even notices anymore. Most Americans-- and I mean almost all Americans-- believe in God, and so no one is going to complain about the assertion of faith on the currency "In God We Trust." Who else are you going to trust?
The sticky part comes in when the government assumes that that "God" does not include Allah, Jehovah, and the Widening Blind Spot At the Center of the Universe to which all creation Appends. Go down to the diamond district and ask the merchants if this is a "Christian Nation," as our leaders now say; come over here to Kerman and ask the Punjabi usedcar dealers if it is. Go across the street to the mosque.