Saying Grace at the Naval Academy
Bruce Tomaso, in The Dallas Morning News Religion blog, reports on a complaint by nine Naval midshipmen at Annapolis who object to noon prayers at meals. Tomaso quotes from a column by Phyllis Zagano in Religion News Service:
"The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland is in an uproar because midshipmen are praying before lunch at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. Heaven forbid!"It's not the ACLU that's in an uproar. In fact, I'm not sure anyone is in an uproar, other than Phyllis Zagano. She shouldn't attack the ACLU. They are only representing the Naval midshipmen. If she wants to defend compulsory prayer in the military, she has to attack those men in uniform who object, not the lawyers they hire to represent them.
The Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance are not prayers. What's said at meals in the Naval Academy is a prayer. Big difference.
Whether any of this rises to the level of Constitutional violation is debatable. But that's up to the courts to decide. It's not for the rest of us to tell those men in uniform that freedom of religion (which includes freedom from religion) doesn't apply to them.
Mark Davis' Veep Pick
Mark Davis, in The Dallas Morning News, picks his choice for John McCain's vice president. It's Ohio's Rob Portman, former Congressman and director of the Office of the Budget. McCain needs Ohio and McCain himself has a "lack of economic street cred." For once, I find myself in agreement with Mark Davis. See my own analysis of vice presidential possibilities. I haven't yet singled out Rob Portman as the choice, but he's one of the few who haven't been ruled out yet, either.
Beijing Olympics: Bush vs Obama
James Mitchell, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, finds an inconsistency between Barack Obama's statement that if he were President, he wouldn't attend the Olympic opening ceremonies, and his statement that he is open to face-to-face negotiations with our adversaries with no preconditions. Mitchell also asks, if Obama is intent on making a statement, why not call for a full Olympic boycott.
There's no inconsistency. Bush attending the Beijing Olympics is giving a Presidential endorsement to a huge Chinese commercial endeavor, the kind of thing you do *after* a successful negotiation, maybe. And a full Olympic boycott is the kind of action you might take *after* a failed negotiation. Obama talking with a foreign leader is a part of the negotiations that you do first. Obama has things in the right order.
1 comment:
"john", a commenter on The Dallas Morning News Religion blog, challenges my statement that the ACLU is only the lawyer in this case, that it's men in uniform, the naval midshipmen, who are objecting to the government's action here.
john says, "The ACLU is attacking Christianity like they always do. They do this because they are mostly made up of atheists that loathe Christians."
Absolutely not true. Here are just a few cases from just the last year that the ACLU has taken the side of Christians.
The ACLU of Southern California (2008) filed suit on behalf of members of a faith-based charity organization after park rangers threatened to arrest the members for serving hot meals and distributing Bibles to the homeless on Doheny State Beach.
http://www.aclu-sc.org/releases/view/102880
The ACLU of Louisiana (2008) filed a brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit supporting an individual's right to quote Bible verses on public streets in Zachary, Louisiana.
http://www.laaclu.org/News/2008/NetherlandAmicus060408.html
The ACLU of Florida (2007) argued in favor of the right of Christians to protest against a gay pride event held in the City of St. Petersburg.
http://www.aclufl.org/pdfs/StPeteLetter.pdf
The ACLU of Oregon (2007) defended the right of students at a private religious school not to be pressured to violate their Sabbath day by playing in a state basketball tournament.
http://www.aclu-or.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Lit_tp_nak
http://www.aclu-or.org/site/DocServer/Lit_OSAA_mtgmry_3_07.pdf?docID=1861
The ACLU of Wisconsin (2007) filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that individual pharmacists should be able to refuse to fill prescriptions that violate their religious scruples, provided that patients can obtain prescriptions from willing providers in a safe and timely manner.
http://www.aclu-wi.org/wisconsin/rights_of_women/20070201_Pharm_Refusal_amicus_complete.pdf
The ACLU of New Jersey (2007) defended the right of an elementary school student who was prohibited from singing "Awesome God" in a voluntary, after-school talent show for which students selected their own material.
http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/25799prs20060605.html
The ACLU of Georgia (2007) filed a federal lawsuit to help obtain a zoning permit for a house of worship on behalf of the Tabernacle Community Baptist Church after the city of East Point denied the request.
http://www.aclu.org/religion/discrim/25518prs20060419.html
http://www.acluga.org/press.releases/0707/church.east.point.html
The ACLU of Eastern Missouri (2007) represented Shirley L. Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, whose religious beliefs led her to condemn homosexuality as a sin and insist that God is punishing the United States.
http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/protest/26265prs20060721.html
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