The outlawing of religion in America.

• Author: Briggs, William O., Jr.

Utter the word "God" in public and you may find yourself guilty of a misdemeanor carrying a fine of $150 for the first offense, $500 for the second, and six months to one year in jail for the third. "Nonsense," you say?, "It can't happen here." Before basking too long in the warmth of that assumption, it is best to recognize the cold reality of the ever-increasing attacks upon religion.

These assaults are coming from five fronts: judicial, political, education, entertainment/arts, and social. Actually, the latter four usually are united and give rise to the first by purposely initiating actions to serve as springboards for an all-too-eager judiciary to deliver the coup de grace. The courts achieve this result by grossly misinterpreting the first sentence of the First Amendment to the Constitution - sometimes referred to as the establishment clause: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

The most outrageous such judicial misinterpretation since the school prayer ban of 1962 was the 1992 Supreme Court decision in Lee v. Weisman, wherein the majority opinion held that invocations and benedictions at public school graduation ceremonies were unconstitutional, thus censoring a large part of the nation's cultural heritage. It is patently obvious that the innocuous prayers given by local ministers, teachers, and/or guest speakers has not even the remotest connotation as to the "establishment" of a state religion. Moreover, logic dictates even to the non-legal mind that the intent of the framers of that First Amendment language was to prohibit the making of one religion the official state religion, to be supported by governmental funds.

Court justices and secularist special-interest groups alike should take more note of the second part of that First Amendment sentence, which reads: "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Yet, decisions such as Lee tend to do just that. Thus, there is reversal of the true intent of this First Amendment language - instead of working to prevent the actual establishment of a state religion, the result instead is a virtual ban of the free exercise of religious practices in many places.

An anti-religion alliance?

An anti-religion force made up of a combination of political, education, entertainment/arts, and social groups has an agenda intent on bringing about the total abolition of any display of religion in public places. They also wish to...