The Establishment Cause
You don't get to pick and choose
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Ah, the First Amendment. The most well-adored Amendment out of the original Ten by certain parts of the country …
… Except when it’s inconvenient, of course.
Today let us cast our eyes upon the first part of that Amendment, the so-called “Establishment Clause”: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion …”
This is the part that has become the guiding principle behind the demand that the Government must remain absolutely neutral in the matter of religion — neither promoting any one religion, nor negating any other religion. “All religions, or no religions” if you will.
It is the reason for government facilities having the bland, soulless “interfaith chapels”, “reflection rooms”, or “nondenominational sanctuaries” — so that no single religion has the appearance of being governmentally-sanctioned over any others.
When folks lose their minds over the Ten Commandments being erected at courthouses, the Establishment Clause is the justification for the courts to demand the removal of such display.
Indeed, the American Civil Liberties (That We Approve1 Of) Union has an entire department devoted to suing the Government any time the ACLU thinks that the Government may be touching the hem or the garment of religion — to quote:
This includes, but is not limited to, suing over such Governmental over-reach as:
Nativity scenes;
Christmas decorations; and
Christmas carols.
With that in mind, and re-reading the “… that our government and public funds are not used to favor, endorse, or promote religion generally or any specific faith over others” let us cast a judicious eye at recent news.
The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is jointly owned by the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. That makes it part of the government.
It is regulated by Federal agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Transportation, and the Transportation Security Administration, amongst others.
It is eligible for, and receives, grants from Federal agencies such as the US DOT and the US FAA — to the tune of almost 9 billion dollars. Grants that are, I should add, right out of taxpayer pockets, and thus are “public funds”.
Today I am made aware that DFW International has been planning to use said “public funds” to install Islamic religious washing basins in public areas.
Yes, I am aware that the initial report was that “private funding” would be used to facilitate the purchase and installation. They lied. Sources here, here, and here.
Folks, let me get something out of the way real quick: I actually don’t give a damn — personally — about the wudu stations. I really don’t. Matter-of-fact, the amount of water splattered around the men’s restrooms at DFW by Muslims attempting to wash their feet in the sinks is a slipping hazard.
HOW-SOME-DAMN-EVER
Constitutionally, I am sick and tired of the “All religions are equal, but some religions are more equal than others” game that is getting played these days.
I realize — I do — that this game is being played primarily due to cowardice and extreme moral decay …
… Yes, it is. Nobody is worried about Billy-Joe the Baptist getting all splodey over “Piss Christ”, or Mary-Margaret the Catholic getting all out of sorts about using elephant dung to portray the Virgin Mary, but a couple of little “Draw Mohammed” contests and Abdul the Moderately Rabid starts exploding and cutting off heads all over the place.
It’s ok to be a coward about it, but own your cowardice.
Anyhoo, off that rant.
If you can’t use public funds to install overtly Christian stuff, then the same applies to overtly Islamic stuff. Got your hips in an uproar about using taxpayer money to install holy water fonts at DFW? Sauce for the Catholic goose is sauce for the Islamic gander.
No Ten Commandments? No crucifixes? That’s fair … but no wudu basin is every bit as fair.
The Constitution isn’t a “pick and choose” affair. Deal with it.
Ian
Ask the ACLU about the civil liberties acknowledged by the Second Amendment. Go ahead, I dare you.
The way that the ACLU and others read the Establishment Clause is far too broad.
The Constitution was written in the recent memory of the Church of England, with the King as head of the Church, and with established authority taking control of both civil and Church law.
In this area, I have a particular problem with Islam, as it is both a civil / political authority, and is claimed to be a religion. (Yes, I did say that.)
As a political authority, Islam claims supremacy over all other laws, governments, and religions. We will have to find a way to effectively deal with Islam and Islamics without tearing down our either our society or our basic religious tolerance.
This may have to be defining Islam as a hostile political organization and excluding it and its adherents from the nation entirely.
John in Indy
Well, since Bush in Houston already had them, they thought it would be fine to put the installations in DFW too! Except Abbot is now looking at Bush and DFW for all the “other“ little things that they’ve been trying to do.