Trump invokes religious rhetoric in praise of Iran rescue, drawing criticism [More]
Anybody care to hear FDR’s D-Day message?
Try again, Reuters. And the Russian reporter’s a nice touch. That and the Allahu Akbar crowd objecting…
Notes from the Resistance
“CAIR said the casual use of “Praise be to Allah” in the context of violent threats reflected a willingness to weaponize religious language while showing contempt for Muslims and their beliefs.”
And…?
“I’m an American and I know my rights!”
Well, in practice, you may well be but, even if so, you probably don’t.
What you probably know is what media and other citizens have told you about your rights which may or may not align with how SCOTUS has interpreted the Constitution of the United States (as amended).
And in this particular case, the First Amendment’s actual text reads:
“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”.
in other words, the text says absolutely nothing about “separation of church and state.” What it does say is that Congress is forbidden from establishing an official religion, or religions, that are somehow more favored by the Federal government over any other(s). There will be no “Church of the United States” as there is a “Church of England.” Federal government officials and their acts would not be inducted or ordained by any church officials as happens in many Europeans powers. Nor were there any requirements that they be members of any religion. There would be no Federal government sanctions imposed on any person who switched from one religion to another, such as capital punishment imposed in many Islamic countries on those who switch from Islam to anything else.
Note that these restrictions on Congress were not officially imposed on state and local governments until SCOTUS incorporated the First Amendment against the states under the language of the Fourteenth Amendment by several decisions not rendered until the 1920’s.
In short, The President of the United States can say anything he wants about his own personal faith, or lack thereof, as long as he doesn’t promote one religion over any other. And we are free to listen or not as we choose.
I seem to recall that in October 2001, the U.S. retaliatory mission in Afghanistan after 9/11 was originally called Operation Infinite Justice. Predictably, Muslims objected to that name because only Allah was capable of anything infinite. Just as predictably, the Bush (“Islam…is peace”) Administration caved and renamed it to Operation Enduring Freedom.