Christians Need Not Apply - by David Cortman

How exactly do we move from a nation whose founders and first public servants included many Christians, to a place where Christians are no longer fit to participate in public life? Because if the “Freedom From Religion Foundation” (FFRF) has their way, that’s exactly what our country will look like.

Let’s take a recent example. A school district in Texas implements a “character initiative” program for its students and decides to include an assembly on that same topic. Sounds pretty good so far, so what is the problem? Of all the people that it could possibly invite to speak, whom does it choose? A Christian group called “The Seven Project.”

This is nothing less than a constitutional crisis, according to the FFRF.

How could Christians possibly have anything relevant to say about character? And by the way, this objection is not even about the assembly itself being religious, the school district ensured that it would not be. The objection, as expressed in FFRF’s own words, is: “regardless of the motives of the presenters, allowing a Christian organization access to your student body gives the appearance that Northwest IDS endorses the program’s message.” But if the program has a secular message of character development, where is the objection?

Ok, let’s try again. The FFRF goes on to say that “it would have taken only a cursory glance at the Seven Project’s website to verify its religious agenda.” Now we got it. Because the group is Christian, they should be automatically disqualified from ever presenting at any school. After all, if they identify as a Christian organization, and have a Christian agenda, it must be unconstitutional to allow them to speak.

Or is the FFRF turning the constitution on its head? Is it permissible to disqualify someone from public service simply because of their faith? Not a chance. This idea is so radical, so distorted, that there have been few cases that even discuss the concept. One was heard by the Supreme Court several decades ago.

You see, in Tennessee there was a law that prohibited ministers of the Gospel from serving as delegates. Sound like a familiar theme? The Court had no problem striking down the law as unconstitutional and stating that the prohibition “effectively penalizes the free exercise of constitutional liberties.” So too does FFRF’s request.

With no evidence of any impropriety, FFRF demands that the school disinvite the Seven Project from speaking at the assembly merely because they are a religious group. But what would the FFRF say if a school refused to invite an atheist to speak on character just because they were atheist? Yep, they’d be crying that it was a constitutional violation. Can anyone say double standard?

FFRF is one of the most far-left radical groups in our country, and one of the most aggressive religious censors. They send out threatening letters to schools across the country on a regular basis. They wish to impose their (religious) atheistic views on the rest of us, while crying foul anytime a Christian worldview – or even a Christian – is involved. Their lack of “tolerance” and lack of attention to the actual facts of many situations exposes their true agenda – as stated in their own words – “Imagine no religion.”

David Cortman
David Cortman serves as senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund at its Atlanta Regional Service Center in Georgia, where he heads litigation efforts to defend and reclaim the First Amendment rights of public school students across the nation. Cortman joined ADF in 2005, and is admitted to the bar in Georgia, Florida, and the District of Columbia. He has practiced law since 1996 and graduated magna cum laude from the Regent University School of Law, where he earned his J.D.

via townhall.com