Yes, Virginia, the ACLU fights for Christians, too!

(Vacation Notice for both of my readers : This will probably be my last post until my significant other and I return from winter solstice vacation in Silver City, New Mexico on the first of the new year. As we'll only have intermittent internet service while we're there, I also won't be able to timely answer emails until we return.)

According to the ACLU-haters, the American Civil Liberties Union is anti-Christian, anti-prayer, anti-religion, and anti-Christmas. 'Tain't so, Virginia. The ACLU's mission is to preserve the Bill of Rights' protections and guarantees for all people--even for Christians!

Want some proof? Following are three cases this year where the ACLU defended the right of a Christian to speak as a Christian or to practice Christianity:

October 26, 2006:

ACLU Files Suit to Protect Free Speech Rights
of Christian Wal-Mart Protestor

NATCHITOCHES, LA--[T]he American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana filed a lawsuit on behalf of a lone protestor who was denied his free expression rights by the City of Natchitoches. Edwin Crayton, a devout Christian, sought to stand in front of Wal-Mart in Natchitoches with a sign protesting Wal-Mart's alleged position on gay marriage.

"Government violates the principles in the First Amendment when it puts an overbroad permit scheme in place to restrain free speech in a public place," according to Joe Cook, Executive Director, ACLU of Louisiana. "The sweep of the ordinance is so wide that it could encompass a chance meeting on the street corner by two strangers." (rest of story here)

April 19, 2006:

ACLU of Georgia and Baptist Church File
Religious Discrimination Lawsuit

Zoning Ordinance Illegally Bars Church from Establishing
House of Worship in East Point, ACLU Says

ATLANTA - The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia...filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Tabernacle Community Baptist Church, charging that the city of East Point, Georgia violated a federal religious discrimination law when it denied the church a zoning permit needed to establish its house of worship. (rest of story here)

January 12, 2006:

Rhode Island ACLU Files Appeal on Behalf of Christian Prisoner

Barred from Preaching at Religious Services

Wesley Spratt had been preaching during Christian services for seven years at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) until 2003, when a new warden unilaterally stopped him from doing so based on vague and generalized "security" concerns. In its appeal, the ACLU argues that the preaching ban violates a federal law known as RLUIPA, which was designed to protect the religious freedom of institutionalized persons. (rest of story here)

The American Civil Liberties Union's mission is, of course, to preserve the Bill of Rights' protections and guarantees for all people and the above are but a few of the many cases across the country where the ACLU has defended the right of a Christian to speak as a Christian or to practice Christianity. California Attorney Allen Asch has done a nice job of compiling a list of such cases, which I drew on for the above examples.

But maybe the best example of ACLU's position supporting an individual's free exercise of religion is the 2004 Michigan case where the ACLU fought to get a Bible verse put back into a public school yearbook:

Michigan ACLU Wins Fight for Christian Free Speech

By Jim Brown
May 17, 2004

(AgapePress) - The American Civil Liberties Union has waged a successful battle to get a Bible verse put back into a public school yearbook.

Stevenson High School in Sterling Heights, Michigan, deleted student Abby Moler's entry from its 2001 yearbook because it was religious in nature. As valedictorian of her graduating class, Moler had submitted a biblical quote from Jeremiah 29:11 to be included in the high school yearbook.

The verse, which reads in the NIV, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,'" was significant to the graduating senior, and she chose its message to share with her class. However, school officials rejected the student's choice and removed it from the yearbook before sending it to print.

The ACLU took up the cause and eventually reached a settlement with the school district over its censorship of the biblical verse. The school has agreed to place a sticker with Moler's original entry in copies of the yearbook on file at Stevenson High School, and the current yearbook staff has been instructed to write her a letter of regret. Also, the yearbook staff has been ordered not to censor other religious or political speech.

ACLU of Michigan legal director Michael Steinberg explains that the school was misguided in its apparent attempt to prevent a state endorsement of religion. "Although the school itself is prohibited from promoting one religion over another, it cannot suppress private speech that was religious," he explains, "and this was clearly a situation where they were confused. It was the private speech of the student, who was a devout Christian."

Although the ACLU is often associated with arguments against religious expression in cases involving the so-called separation of Church and State, Steinberg says his group is not averse to representing Christians. "We represent people of all religions -- usually minority religions because those are the types of religions that are most often suppressed or their free exercise rights are limited," he says.

The ACLU regularly intervenes in cases in which individuals' civil rights are being denied, including "situations where you have government suppressing the private exercise of religion by individuals," Steinberg asserts.

© 2004 AgapePress all rights reserved.

As stated by Allen Asch on his web site, the ACLU fights just as hard for individual free exercise of religion as they fight against government endorsement, sponsorship, or establishment of religion. The ACLU-haters will never recognize that fact because they never permit the truth to stand in the way of their civil liberties-ignorant denouncements.

And on that cheerful note, I wish everyone, even los pendejos, a safe, healthy and happy holiday season.