The G.O.P. War on Christianity

The House recently voted along partisan lines for a bill that would cut down on First

Amendment establishment cases so that Americans (including Christians!) who
want to go to court to challenge episodes of government sponsored acts of
religious establishment will have a harder time of it. 

That headline seems a little weird, doesn’t it?  But you read it correctly.  Recently the House voted along partisan lines
to pass H.R. 2679 or “The Public Expression of Religion Act” which would
prevent citizens who file successful lawsuits under the Establishment clause
of the First Amendment from recovering legal fees from the government.  Current law allows plaintiffs to recover some
costs from a wide range of successful constitutional and civil rights cases under
the theory that these types of cases are expensive to file and that successful
cases in these areas are good for the whole country.

The proponents of the bill want to cut down on First
Amendment establishment cases so that Americans (including Christians!) who
want to go to court to challenge episodes of government sponsored acts of
religious establishment will have a harder time of it.  Some of the proponents mistakenly think that
there is a secular conspiracy afoot that is trying to denude the public square
of all expressions of religion and sees the establishment clause of the First
Amendment as the primary tool to make this happen.  What this partisan view misses is the great
blessing the establishment clause has been to religious freedom in American,
including Christianity!  The amazing
religious pluralism in America
is due in part to the disestablishment of religion in our country.  What the sponsors are doing is carrying water
for a handful of right-wing Christian groups who are intent on empowering
government to endorse and sponsor their particular form of belief over other
forms of belief, including the larger forms of Christianity in the
country. 

This strategy may appear good to right wing Christian
partisans.  And in the short run it
allows Republicans to crow to fundamentalists that they are fighting for their
values.  In the long run, if these
Christians become dependent on state dollars and sponsorship for their success,
the failure of their churches are pretty well assured.  Christians should reject this form of state
sponsorship and pray that cooler heads in the Senate prevail and reject this
dangerous legislation.  Let’s work to
keep the Church free of government establishment impulses and celebrate our
freedom.