News from the week Jan. 10 – Jan. 14, 2022

Friend:

I usually write these Week in Review emails at the end of each week, to give you a good idea about what’s going on with church-state separation. But as it happens, late yesterday afternoon, the Supreme Court announced it will hear oral arguments in Kennedy v Bremerton School District—a critically important school prayer case in which we at AU represent the school district. If you missed our breaking-news email yesterday, find out more HERE: [link removed]

What we WANTED to tell you about today was another Supreme Court case that will be argued this coming Tuesday. Boston’s City Hall welcomes visitors with an eight-acre brick plaza that includes a trio of flagpoles—the U.S. flag atop one, a state flag atop another, and the city’s flag on a third pole. The latter is sometimes swapped out for flags of visiting foreign dignitaries’ countries or that are requested to recognize community events like Juneteenth and Mother’s Day. The city has not displayed overtly religious flags, because city officials understand that displaying those would signal that they favor a particular faith.

Enter Christian nationalist agitator Hal Shurtleff, who was planning an event on the plaza to commemorate Constitution Day in 2017—not the secular document most of us know and love, but “to enhance understanding of our Judeo-Christian moral heritage.”

As proposed by Shurtleff and his “Camp Constitution,” the city would display a Christian flag while attendees would hear several pastors “commemorate the historical civic and social contributions of the Christian community to the City of Boston.” The flag, flying from a city-owned poll, would constitute Boston’s official recognition of the event and its message that our Constitution established a Christian nation.

City officials rightly said no, and Shurtleff sued. He lost in District Court and the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. You can guess what happened next: Right on schedule, at least four members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority agreed to hear his appeal. Arguments in Shurtleff v. Boston are on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court had no compelling reason to take Shurtleff’s case. But its activist majority saw yet another opportunity to weaken separation of religion and government and smile on the aspirations of Christian nationalists.

As Americans United noted last month in a brief filed in the case on behalf of 18 religious and civil-rights organizations ([link removed]), the First Amendment does not require Boston to amplify a private third party’s religious views. Rather, the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause requires Boston not to endorse or favor any religious views or displays.

In its current makeup, there’s no guarantee the Court will agree. But AU is proud to be on the side of the city still known as the Cradle of Liberty in America, and we will never stop flying our flag of freedom without favor, and equality without exception.

With hope and gratitude,

Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO

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Religious Freedom: What It Is – And What It Is Not:
Sunday is Religious Freedom Day, which commemorates the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom on Jan. 16, 1786. This pioneering legislation laid the groundwork for the American principle of church-state separation by inspiring the wording of the First Amendment’s religious freedom clauses.
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Okla. Legislator Puts Bounty On School Library Books:
Christian nationalist groups are excited over a bill a state legislator in Oklahoma has introduced that, if enacted, would decimate public school libraries across the state.
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Federal Court Blocks Compelled Support For Religion In S.C.:
A federal court tossed a lawsuit that challenged South Carolina's constitutional provision that bars direct taxpayer funding of religious and other private educational institutions.
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Want To Fight Christian Nationalism? Begin By Arming Yourself With The Facts:
The first step to opposing Christian nationalism is to understand what we’re up against.
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