As a First Amendment litigator, I would like to respond to “MY TURN: CLN violates First Amendment.”
The statements within this piece regarding comments made by CLN trustee Karen Campbell are legally untrue. They put forward an unfortunately common misconception of the purpose and longstanding precedent of the First Amendment.
The First Amendment contains two religion clauses, the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. The original purpose of the religion clauses was NOT to prevent governmental encouragement of religion (at that time, Christianity), but to prevent religious persecution and prevent a national establishment of any religion. In other words, the intent was to keep the federal government out of the church.
The misleading “separation of church and state” metaphor is not constitutional but is often used to bully government officials and censor religious people. In fact, the intentional omission of God in all circumstances within government entities creates religious hostility, which violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, a concept that the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed time and time again.
God is mentioned frequently throughout all levels of our government. This reflects the history and tradition of America and Idaho. Our money says, “In God we Trust.” Our state constitution and the Declaration of Independence mention God. The Pledge of Allegiance states that we are “one nation under God…” There are many more examples, and none of these violate the Establishment Clause as none of these things mandate a state-sponsored religion.
Although the author of this piece is rightfully exercising her own First Amendment right to publicly express her opinion of disgust at the mention of religion at a government meeting, her understanding of the amendment that recognizes her right to do this is inaccurate. The statements made by trustee Campbell that referenced God and the Bible in no way violate the Establishment Clause.
KATE HARTLEY
