Stay out of religion, Baptist scholar tells Senate subcommittee.A Baptist college professor has urged a Senate panel not to make it harder for Americans to bring church-state lawsuits, arguing that such legislation would reduce religious freedom rights. Melissa Rogers, visiting professor of religion and public policy at Wake Forest University Divinity School Divinity School may be:
Republican lawmakers have been pushing the measure, insisting it will prevent groups like Americans United and the American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. from filing cases to enforce the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which bans laws "respecting an establishment of religion." Rogers, testifying against the euphemistically eu·phe·mism n. The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive: "Euphemisms such as 'slumber room' . . . dubbed dub 1 tr.v. dubbed, dub·bing, dubs 1. To tap lightly on the shoulder by way of conferring knighthood. 2. To honor with a new title or description. 3. "Veterans' Memorials, Boy Scouts, Public Seals and other Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act of 2006" (S. 3696), told the subcommittee the bill would weaken religious freedom in America. Making it harder for people to challenge government promotion of religion would inevitably lead to more efforts by the state to use religion for its own ends, Rogers said. "I do not want the government to be involved in promoting the cross and the gospel," she said. "That is nay job as a Christian. That is not the government's job. I am very fearful that the day the government gets its hands on the cross is the day the cross is used as a means to a political end." The bill, Rogers asserted, "is an attempt to undermine the Establishment Clause by discouraging enforcement of it. There is something deeply disturbing about the notion that Congress would weaken certain constitutional provisions because it does not support some of the principles embedded Inserted into. See embedded system. in it or the results those provisions have commanded in particular cases. That would be conduct unworthy of a body sworn to protect and defend the Constitution." Marc D. Stern, general counsel of the American Jewish Congress
The American Jewish Congress describes itself as an association of Jewish Americans organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, , also testified against the bill. Testifying in favor was Mathew D. Staver of the Jerry Falwell-affiliated Liberty Counsel and Shannon Demos Woodruff, an attorney with TV preacher Pat Robertson's American Center The American Center is a high-rise tower in Southfield, Michigan. It was built in 1975 and stands at 26 floors, with one basement floor, for a total of 27. The building's main use is that of a typical office tower. It also includes a parking garage and retail spaces. for Law and Justice. |
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