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Religion and Belief
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Direct Grants of Taxpayer Funds to Favored Houses of Worship Clearly Unconstitutional
A Louisiana federal judge has issued an order blocking the payment of taxpayer-funded grants to two Louisiana churches, a result of a lawsuit filed in August by the ACLU and the ACLU of Louisiana.
> Federal Court Blocks Louisiana from Funneling Taxpayer Funds to Favored Churches (10/5/2007)
> ACLU Cases Defending Religious Freedom
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Cautioned Against Myth of Anti-Catholic Bias
The ACLU sent a letter to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights cautioning them not to be misled by opponents of the so-called "Blaine Amendments" (state laws prohibiting government funding of religious education). They raise the specter of anti-Catholic bias, wholly unsupported, to distract the Commission from its mandate, to focus on discrimination, not to promote taxpayer funding of religious education. More >>
ACLU Successfully Challenges Bible Classes in Texas Public Schools
The ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief scored a resounding victory on March 5, 2008, when it settled a highly-publicized lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a curriculum used in a bible course taught in a west Texas public school district.
> Learn more about the case, Moreno v. Ector County School Board
> ACLU Cases Defending Religious Freedom
The American Constitution and Bill of Rights introduced a new relationship between religion and government. Prior to 1789, almost every European country maintained a close relationship between church and state. James Madison, the principal drafter of the First Amendment, proposed that, unlike European states, the government should not tax its citizens to support religious activities, nor should it promote religious beliefs, and that all religious beliefs should be treated equally and fairly. He believed that religion would thrive best when the government did not promote some religious beliefs to the exclusion of others.
Madison’s ideals, now embodied in the Constitution, were exactly right. Americans enjoy more religious freedom than do people in any other country in the world.
Unfortunately, some people are now trying to use government power to promote religion in exactly the way the Constitution wisely rejected. The ACLU works to ensure that people remain free to choose which religious beliefs (or none) they wish to express and that governments, school boards, and legislatures do not become involved in deciding which religious beliefs should be promoted or in spending taxpayer dollars to support religious activities and symbols.
FAQs ABOUT THE ACLU AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
> Does the ACLU want to remove crosses from federal cemeteries?
> Does the ACLU object to federal employees bowing their heads? |
Court Agrees Public Schools Cannot Hand Out Bibles to Students (4/22/2008)
NEW ORLEANS - Today, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled against a public school in Tangipahoa Parish that handed out Bibles to 5th-graders, saying the school infringed students' religious freedom. On May 9, 2007, the principal at Loranger Middle School invited the Gideon group into the school to distribute Bibles. Students were pulled out of class, brought outside of the principal's office and put in a line to receive Bibles.
Design Should Not Be Taught in Floridas Public School Science Classrooms (3/12/2008)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida today spoke out against Florida Senate Bill 2692, following a news conference held by TV personality Ben Stein. The following can be attributed to Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida:
“The presumption of this bill is that all you have to do to teach something in a science class is to call it science. Simply saying something is science does not make it so and calling Intelligent Design science, does not make is science. Intelligent Design relies on the assertion that there is a supernatural creator, which inherently precludes it from being scientific, as the ACLU proved in our landmark case in Dover, PA.
Texas School Board Agrees To Stop Teaching Unconstitutional Bible Class In Public Schools (3/5/2008)
ODESSA, TX – The Ector County School Board agreed today to stop teaching a course in its public schools that unconstitutionally promotes a particular interpretation of the Bible that is not shared by Jews, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and most Protestants.
ACLU Sues To Protect Marriages Threatened By Recent Court Decision (2/14/2008)
PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed the first three lawsuits today in a planned statewide challenge of a recent judicial declaration stating that marriages are invalid if presided over by a minister who does not regularly serve a church or preach in a physical house of worship. The ruling potentially endangers thousands of marriages in Pennsylvania.
ACLU Urges House Committee to Fix Flawed Workplace Religious Freedom Act (2/12/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today called on the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions subcommittee of the House Education & Labor Committee to fix the flawed Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA). As written in the 110th Congress, the legislation threatens the personal and civil rights of religious and racial minorities, women, LGBT individuals, and persons seeking reproductive health care.
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