Freedom OF Religion vs. Freedom FROM Religion

 

In Ohio, the goal of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is to make sure citizens are able to freely express their religion in public in ways such as wearing a cross to work, posting Christian artwork or hosting student-led prayer at school events. In the wake up lawsuits filed against various school districts in the state by the ACLU and the FFRF (Freedom From Religion Foundation), the act, if passed, will stop anything Christian from the battering ram techniques used to remove Jesus from public view.

 

The bill was introduced to the state legislature earlier this week by Rep. Bill Patmon (D-Cleveland) and Rep. Tim Derickson (R-Oxford) with over three dozen co-sponsors. It is similar to a federal law passed in 1993 under President Clinton that restored a requirement for courts to use "strict scrutiny" in cases about religious freedoms. A court would only be allowed to rule to restrict religious freedom in a case if the ruling supports "compelling government interest," the bill states. If passed, Ohio will join 17 other states that have implemented religious freedom laws mirroring the federal one.

The Zaneville Times Recorder reported that Rep. Derickson said the bill would allow "public teachers or workers in Ohio" to "wear a cross necklace or display a Nativity scene."

Rep. Patmon was quoted in the Columbus Dispatch as saying, "A court being asked to remove Jesus in a manger would have to prove it is in government’s interest."

Religion in public settings in the state has taken two costly and/or public hits in the last two months. In October, the ACLU and the FFRF went after the Jackson City School District over a portrait of Jesus that had hung in a local high school's "Hall of Fame" since 1947. The district reached a settlement with the two groups after they initiated legal action. In the end, the school district removed the portrait and agreed to pay a $95,000 fine. In November, the East Muskingum School District agreed to remove a painting of Jesus from one of its local high schools in order to avoid the same type of costly litigation.

Perhaps if South Carolina and Colorado had bills in place protecting religious freedoms, the the American Humanist Association wouldn't have been able to bully them into pulling out of allowing their school children to participate in Operation Christmas Child this year.

Tags : Religious Freedom