Ten Commandment Case: Ostensibly Bad

Anyone who knows the religious history of the United States would cheer parts of today's Supreme Court decision on displays of the Ten Commandments. The court found that a frieze like the one that adorns its own chambers is allowable because it is "neutral" and honors the nation's religious freedom. Under that language, it seems the ACLU would have lost its case against the seal of the City of Los Angeles.

Yet, somehow, a framed rendering of the Ten Commandments in a Kentucky Courthouse was found to violate a principle laid down by Justice Souter:

"The touchstone for our analysis is the principle that the First Amendment mandates government neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion. When the government acts with the ostensible and predominant purpose of advancing religion, it violates the central Establishment clause value of official religious neutrality."

What a mess that quote is. It's from two paragraphs in an AP story, so the context isn't clear. Nevertheless, the first sentence is acceptable. We don't want our government to be in the business of promoting one religion over another. But the second sentence is mystifying and troubling.

We live in a time when "morality" is becoming more and more synonymous with "religion" thanks to the rantings of the secular Left, so Souter's decision will be interpreted to say, "When the government acts with the ostensible and predominant purpose of advancing morality, it violates the central Establishment clause value of official religious neutrality."

That worries me, but it's not the most troubling part of the ruling, since we should not be looking to government to teach our children or our society morality. What worries me the most about this decision is the "ostensible ... purpose of advancing religion" language. I welcome the word "predominant" because that is a good wiggle word. But "ostensible" will lead to much more restrictive interpretations.

We have entered the day where Christmas displays, Easter egg hunts, greetings of "Merry Christmas," Thanksgiving pagents and even government-issued Korans in Guantanamo will no longer be permitted because they have the ostensible purpose of promoting religion.

And that is a victory for that other religion, Secularism. Government will still be promoting religion, but a religion that doesn't allow itself to be called one. Satan couldn't have planned it better.