It’s always fantastic to be able to report on a win for true religious freedom, and we’ve got one for you this week thanks to the excellent lawyers of AU. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Brevard County, Fla., Commissioners' invocation policy of preferring Christians and locking out nontheists and many people who practice minority religions from opening any public meeting is unconstitutional.
Brevard County Commissioners’ exclusive policy has been going on for years: Out of 195 invocations over six years, 188 of them were given by Christians. Americans United, joined by the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, took Brevard County to court and on Monday, the court ruled in our favor.
As Judge Stanley Marcus wrote in his opinion: “We need go no further today than to say this: in selecting invocation speakers, the Commissioners may not categorically exclude from consideration speakers from a religion simply because they do not like the nature of its beliefs.” Obvious to us, right? But sadly not to everyone.
With you behind us, AU’s staff just put one more win on the board for true religious freedom.
Just as I must let go and let my adult children make their own decisions, our American principle of church-state separation is rooted in the notion that religious beliefs are stronger when the government lets go and people come to them on their own.
A secular state allows its people to explore religious questions as guided by individual conscience but does not take sides itself. In an ideal secular state, your decision to worship one, five, twenty or no gods is irrelevant to your standing as a citizen.
All too often, kids’ education is put secondary to discredited beliefs, whether that is teaching a version of creationism or promoting bogus 'Christian nation' views in social studies classes.
The Fort Worth government in this case treated a non-religious viewpoint the same as a religious one. It was the right thing to do. It’s too bad the vandals don’t agree.
