{"id":1112,"date":"2018-06-28T22:47:07","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T02:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionnow\/?p=1112"},"modified":"2018-06-28T22:57:48","modified_gmt":"2018-06-29T02:57:48","slug":"no-muslim-ban-religious-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionnow\/2018\/06\/no-muslim-ban-religious-liberty\/","title":{"rendered":"#NoMuslimBan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"george_washingtons_letter\"<\/a>Religious liberty is rightly called \u201cthe first freedom\u201d and it has defined us as a nation. At least up until Tuesday, June 26, 2018.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court of the United States, the very body charged with protecting constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, has put that freedom in jeopardy by their decision in \u201cTrump v. Hawaii\u201d<\/a> to allow a policy to stand that targets people just because they are Muslim.<\/p>\n

In a verbal gymnastics exercise that would probably score a 10 at a Judicial Olympics, the majority opinion of the Supreme Court argues that a policy that manifestly discriminates against people based on their religion actually does not. It doesn\u2019t fly.<\/p>\n

Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed out, in her vigorous dissent, that \u201cWhat began as a policy explicitly \u2018calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States\u2019 has since morphed into a \u2018proclamation\u2019 putatively based on national-security concerns\u2026But this new window dressing cannot conceal an unassailable fact: the words of the president and his advisers create the strong perception that the proclamation is contaminated by impermissible discriminatory animus against Islam and its followers.\u201d<\/p>\n

I must say I am not surprised by this decision from the court of Chief Justice John Roberts. In 2005, I was invited to be an expert witness, due to my academic training in American Religious History, in the Judiciary Committee\u2019s confirmation hearings on John Roberts appointment to be Chief Justice. You may find my testimony on C-Span<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I argued before the Judiciary Committee that I saw very disturbing trends, even in the limited amount of his papers released by John Roberts. In my oral testimony I said, \u201cthere is evidence \u2014 and I have cited detail in my written testimony \u2014 that his [Roberts] judicial posture is more toward permissiveness in religious establishment and is less than vigorous in the defense of religious minorities and their freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you watched those hearings, you might recall that John Roberts had promised to bring \u201cno agenda\u201d and to take a minimalist approach to Constitutional interpretation. He compared his way of interpreting the law to that of an \u201cumpire calling balls and strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, the \u201cEstablishment Clause\u201d of the First Amendment just struck out in my view, despite the fact (or because of it?) that the majority opinion takes the extraordinarily contradictory position of chiding Donald Trump for his inflammatory statements such as \u201cIslam hates us\u201d or his repeated calls to \u201cban Muslim immigration,\u201d while at the same time upholding the Trump approach that is manifestly a Muslim ban.<\/p>\n

The majority opinion actually quotes the outlandish statements by Donald Trump re Muslims as a group, and then going on to quote the balanced and rational views of his predecessors on protecting religious liberty. The majority opinion goes to great lengths in this peculiar argument, from citing George Washington\u2019s famous 1790 argument that \u201cthe Government of the United States\u2026gives bigotry no sanction,\u201d to both Presidents Eisenhower and George W. Bush speaking at the same Islamic Center, at different times, both urging that religious liberty and \u201crespect and dignity and human worth\u201d make America a \u201cgreat country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, two previous Republican presidents thought it was \u201creligious liberty\u201d that made America great. And they were very explicit that they did not mean \u2018religious liberty for only certain sects of Christianity.\u2019<\/p>\n

What is particularly astonishing to me is that the majority opinion in this decision waxes eloquent on religious liberty for all faiths, while denying it with their decision.<\/p>\n

This is politics, not the plain reading of the Constitution. In fact, Justice Roberts, you looked away from the plate while the batter struck out and called it a home run.<\/p>\n

I further believe with Justice Sotomayor that the \u201crepackaging\u201d did nothing to change the fact that \u201ca reasonable observer would conclude that the Proclamation was motivated by anti-Muslim animus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justice Sotomayor concludes \u201cThe United States of America is a Nation built upon the promise of religious liberty. Our Founders honored that core promise by embedding the principle of religious neutrality in the First Amendment. The Court\u2019s decision today fails to safeguard that fundamental principle.\u201d<\/p>\n

I concur.<\/p>\n

This was a very bad call, Justice Roberts.<\/p>\n

As Americans, we need to do everything we can to protect the First Amendment of the Constitution, and not only the free exercise of religion, but also the indispensable freedoms of speech, of the press, to assemble peaceably and to petition the government. They are all threatened in this time.<\/p>\n

We are facing a titanic struggle for the next Supreme Court appointment. Let\u2019s make sure anyone nominated has a strong track record on protecting all these freedoms.<\/p>\n

Nominees for the Supreme Court should be asked if they agree withGeorge Washington\u2019s Letter to the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island (1790)<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And Washington\u2019s concluding paragraph is of particular value as reminder exactly why Trump v. Hawaii should not have been upheld.<\/p>\n

May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dr. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite\u2014Professor of Theology and President (1998-2008), Chicago Theological Seminary<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Religious liberty is rightly called \u201cthe first freedom\u201d and it has defined us as a nation. At least up until the Supreme Court decision in “Trump v. 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