About a week ago, I wrote about an atheist lawsuit to get the slogan “In God We Trust” off of our money. Now it seems the lawsuit has a different angle, and atheists just might have a better chance at success.
Attorney Michael Newdow is at the helm for this new case. Here are some of his comments about it, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, on the Friendly Atheist blog:
“Although the arguments demonstrating that the godly inscriptions violate the Establishment Clause will again be raised, the RFRA claim will (for the first time) be the lead argument in each case. Hopefully, in at least one of those circuits, two appellate judges will be willing to acknowledge the statutory violation.”
The Inquisitr also reported on Newdow’s call for support where he writes:
“If you wish to participate — especially if you have minor children who you think will look back with pride as adults, knowing their parents gave them the opportunity to personally take part in strengthening civil rights in our country — please write to [email protected].”
Previously, these and similar lawsuits have used the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to argue the case. This clause in the First Amendment basically says that the government cannot favor one religion over others. Well, now Newdow is using the recent “religious freedom” laws that have passed to justify taking the slogan off of the money.
These laws, such as the one in Michigan, allow people to refuse services such as, housing, employment, etc., because of their religious views. This is basically allowing Christians to discriminate against non-Christians whenever they want to. Kentucky is also joining those in the Stone Age with their own anti-discrimination laws.
Judges have struck down similar lawsuits before by saying that the slogan has a secular purpose being the nation’s motto.
Now the atheists suing to get the slogan off of the money are using the religious-right’s own rules against them, and it’s beautiful! These religious freedom bills are being used to argue that the government is placing undue burden on people’s religious beliefs (or lack thereof) by forcing them to see “In God We Trust” every time they pay for something.
It will be interesting to see how judges react to these laws, that are made by and for religious people, being used by secular people for secular means.
