ADF helps communities fight ACLU

As you may know, the ACLU receives taxpayer funds so it can fight government intrusion on personal Constitutional rights. That seems OK on its face. Individuals rarely have enough time or money to fight the government when the government abrogates individual rights. Historically, the ACLU fought the good fight, and it seemed OK that the ACLU could use governmental taxpayer monies to fight the government. The little guy could get his/her day in court. Wonderful.

However, the ACLU has been, for quite some time, dedicated to protecting individuals
from having to tolerate any intrusion of religion (especially Christian religious symbols, prayer, etc.) into their visual or auditory sensory intake systems. It appears that the ACLU believes that the mere existence of a cross, or the recitation of a simple dedicatory prayer, abrogates an individual's right to be free of religious influence.

The argument is, basically, that because the government provides the land, the building, the time, the space for the religious message, that is a de facto violation of the First Amendment. Even if the government sells the property or transfers the property to a private individual or group to avoid "sponsoring, endorsing, promoting, or financing religious symbols." Therefore, if a cross was placed on private property, say, in 1950, and the private property was given to a public park, say, in 1989, then the cross is, according to ACLU, now (2007) being "sponsored" by the government. If the government mows the law, pays for repair of the cross, allows religious groups a permit to gather around the cross for prayer, etc., that is governmental endorsement, promotion, and financing of the religious symbol. Therefore, the government chose which religious symbol it would endorse. Since a cross is Christian, the government impermissibly chooses one religion over another.

The separation of church and state notion, derived from the First Amendment and a phrase in a Thomas Jefferson letter, seems to require (according to the ACLU) total exclusion of religious ideas, symbols, and programs from the public sphere.

Moreover, the ACLU attends government meetings. What does the ACLU do at these meetings? It objects to dedicatory prayers at the start of meetings. The ACLU bullies small governmental entities into forgoing long-standing practices on the notion that the U.S. Constitution requires that governmental actors refrain from mentioning God or any other religious idea.

And the government folds. It gives up. It hands the ACLU exactly what it wants (elimination of God from the public sphere) without a fight. Why?

You see, governmental entities know that a legal defense of their practices will cost, perhaps, more than their annual intake of property and income taxes. The ACLU is paid, partly, by taxpayer funds. The government has to pay for its own defense. Therefore, the government gives up. The ACLU wins without having to actually take every case to court. Bully tactics work.

Thank goodness that the Alliance Defense Fund is stepping it to help government actors understand their Constitutional rights and to help them understand how to protect their own interests.