They were without significant success until 1947, when the United States Supreme Court outrageously opined that the First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and irreligion (or non-religion) and bans governmental support for religion generally.
America’s greatest chief justice, John Marshall, proclaimed in 1833: “[W]ith us Christianity and Religion are identified. It would be strange indeed, if with such a people, our institutions did not presuppose Christianity, and did not often refer to it, and exhibit relations to it.”
The secular extremists tried to end the military chaplaincy during the nineteenth century. But both houses of Congress studied the matter carefully and rejected the secular extremist position in the clearest possible terms.
The Senate Judiciary Committee issued a report explaining the establishment clause:
The clause speaks of “an establishment of religion.” What is meant by that expression? It referred, without doubt, to the establishment which existed in the mother country, its meaning is to be ascertained by ascertaining what that establishment was. It was the connection with the state of a particular religious society, by its endowment, at public expense, in exclusion of, or in preference to, any other, by giving to its members exclusive political rights, and by compelling the attendance of those who rejected its communion upon its worship, or religious observances. These three particulars constituted that union of church and state of which our ancestors were so justly jealous, and against which they so wisely and carefully provided….
The report further stated that the Founders were “utterly opposed to any constraint upon the rights of conscience” and therefore they opposed the establishment of a religion in the same manner that the Church of England was established.
But the Founders
had no fear or jealousy of religion itself, nor did they wish to see us an irreligious people…. They did not intend to spread over all the public authorities and the whole public action of the nation the dead and revolting spectacle of “atheistic apathy.” Not so had the battles of the revolution been fought, and the deliberations of the revolutionary Congress conducted.
A similar House Judiciary Committee report explained that “an establishment of religion” was a term with a specific meaning:
What is an establishment of religion? It must have a creed, defining what a man must believe; it must have rights and ordinances, which believers must observe; it must have ministers of defined qualifications, to teach the doctrines and administer the rites; it must have tests for the submissive, and penalties for the nonconformist. There never was an establishment of religion without all these.
But the sly secular extremists persevered and eventually prevailed upon the United States Supreme Court to declare neutrality between religion and irreligion as constitutionally mandated, and governmental support for all religions to be constitutionally prohibited.
Now “under God” in the “Pledge of Allegiance” and “In God we trust” on America's currency and coins are under attack and, unless their original religious significance is stripped from them, Thanksgiving (when we thank God, not Indians) and Christmas (when we celebrate the birth of Christ, not Santa Claus) eventually will have to go too.
The so-called non-existent war just reached my town. The Christmas tree lighting ceremony in the town of Huntington, on Long Island, New York, was targeted by a young attorney who got his name in Newsday, Long Island's notorious secular extremist newspaper, which reported:
Huntington officials worked all night readying staff for the coming snow, but instead they woke up to a different storm Friday: a local lawyer sued to remove a nativity scene from the town's public lawn and stop Friday's Christmas tree-lighting ceremony.
His position: the nativity scene, Christmas tree and two signs on the Village Green that read “Peace on Earth” violated his constitutional rights because of their religious overtones.
The display included a menorah, which he claimed was “dwarfed in significance and stature” and “appears as nothing more than a token attempt to be inclusive to the Jewish population.”
He apparently did not sue to remove the menorah.
Judge Leonard Wexler negotiated a compromise between the complainer and the town that allowed the tree ceremony to take place. Good for him!
The compromise: the town will put up large signs stating the nativity scene was donated by Huntington's Knights of Columbus and that the menorah came from the Chabad-Lubavitch in Melville, and that that the nativity scene and the menorah are not town property.
That's fine with me. The town should give due credit to the donors. Apparently the complainer's petty gripe is that Huntington's Knights of Columbus provided a bigger display than the Chabad-Lubavitch in Melville. Frankly, if the complainer wants a bigger menorah, he should donate one. I think the town, the Knights and the Chabad-Lubavitch all acted reasonably.
The town board is scheduled to vote to approve the settlement tomorrow. Judge Wexler will hold a hearing that evening in case the board does not approve the deal.
Of course, the complainer insists that he is not “anti-religion or against Christmas.” “This is not an attack on Jesus or Christians,” he said, while declining to disclose his faith. “I just don't want the town endorsing one religion. Lots of people out there don't celebrate Christmas.”
This nuisance lawsuit followed the recent uproar over North Hempstead Supervisor John Kaiman's handling of the town's tree-lighting ceremony in Manhasset, New York. Believe it or not, during the dedication, the Reverend Nick Zientarski invoked the name of Jesus Christ when he blessed the tree! Imagine that! A Christian cleric invoking the name of Christ while blessing a Christmas tree! The supervisor immediately and stupidly told the crowd, “I just want to make it clear that this is in no way a religious ceremony.” He has since apologized.
Instead of correcting its egregious error, the United States Supreme Court has tried to set broad guidelines for local officials in such cases. If religious symbols are displayed on public property, there need to be enough diverse symbols so a “reasonable observer” would think it was a “holiday” display.
Outgoing Brookhaven Supervisor John Jay LaValle commented: “I don't know what's wrong with people today. This is an ideological situation where “progressives” are trying to destroy a Christian holiday.”
He's right.
The Reverend Barry W. Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, argues that there is something wrong with the battle over religious symbols, and assures us that “[p]eople who have a spiritual interest in the holiday are going to get the experience from their church, not the town.”
But George Washington was right: “it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor….”
Reverence for God was not supposed to be restricted to churches and synagogues (and mosques), and a small, but insidiously growing, secular extremist minority was not supposed to have a veto power over the right of the overwhelming majority to have their governments federal, state and local acknowledge God and support religion generally without establishing an official religion or violating the private right of conscience of nonbelievers.
Michael J. Gaynor is a New York attorney admitted to practice in the New York State courts, the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He has written articles for The National Law Journal, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and the Long Island Catholic as well as numerous online publications and recently appeared on The World Over With Raymond Arroyo (EWTN).