Atheist Group Demands AR Governor Stop Sharing Bible Verses

Religious Freedom, , ,

Last week the atheist Freedom From Religion Foundation based in Wisconsin sent a letter to Governor Asa Hutchinson demanding he stop sharing scripture verses via social media.

The letter reads in part,

We understand that every Sunday, you post or tweet an image with a bible verse from your official, government Facebook page and Twitter account.

But it is not for the government in our secular republic to promote one religious book over others or to promote religion over nonreligion. Doing so violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

We’ve written before about similar efforts to purge religious references from public life in Arkansas.

Here’s the bottom line:

By most accounts, the Bible is the single most widely-read book in the history of human civilization.

In Europe and America, public speakers, writers, and elected officials have quoted it routinely for centuries.

The President of the United States typically takes the Oath of Office on a Bible.

Elected officials often share well-known, popular, or inspirational quotes via their official social media accounts.

Given all of this, why shouldn’t an elected official be able to post a Bible verse on Facebook or Twitter?

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Rebuilt Ten Commandments Monument One Step Closer to Capitol Lawn

Religious Freedom, ,

In 2015 Sen. Jason Rapert (R – Bigelow) sponsored a law authorizing a monument of the Ten Commandments on the Arkansas State Capitol Grounds. It was placed on the Capitol lawn on June 27, 2017.

Less than 24 hours later, a man plowed a vehicle into the monument, completely destroying it.

In late October we learned the monument had been reconstructed and would be placed on the Capitol lawn in the near future.

Today a subcommittee of the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission approved a proposal to reinstall the monument and make it more secure by adding concrete barriers to prevent a vehicle from destroying it again.

The Associated Press reports a public hearing on the proposed changes will be held this week before they go before the full commission next week.

Meanwhile, the ACLU has said it plans to file a lawsuit against the State of Arkansas as soon as the monument is back on the Capitol Grounds. They say the monument is unconstitutional and has no place on public property — even though the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled an identical monument constitutional in Texas.

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Federal DOJ Files Brief in Support of Religious Liberty at Supreme Court

Religious Freedom,

Earlier this month the federal Department of Justice filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting a baker in Colorado in an important religious liberty case.

Jack Phillips is a baker and cake designer. He is also a Christian. In 2012 he was asked to design a custom cake for a same-sex ceremony. Phillips declined and was promptly sued for discrimination under the state’s public accommodation law.

It’s important to note that Mr. Phillips sells cakes and baked goods to people regardless of their sexual-orientation. However, he does not prepare cakes for every occasion, based on his Christian beliefs. For example, according to documents filed with the court, Mr. Phillips does not operate his business on Sundays; does not sell products containing alcohol; and does not provide goods related to Halloween.

His case has gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and earlier this month the federal Department of Justice filed an amicus brief in the case supporting Mr. Phillips.

Attorneys at the DOJ write, “Forcing Phillips to create expression for and participate in a ceremony that violates his sincerely held religious beliefs invades his First Amendment rights . . . . Colorado has not offered, and could not reasonably offer, a sufficient justification for that compulsion here.”

Mr. Phillips’s case highlights a growing threat to religious liberty: State and local “nondiscrimination” policies. While these laws are often touted as ways to protect people from discrimination, they can run roughshod over religious liberty and force people to say or do things that violate their deeply-held religious beliefs.

Fortunately the federal government is standing with Mr. Phillips, but ultimately this case rests in the hands of the nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court.

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