Lexington Council 293

Recently, a New Mexico federal district judge ruled that a monument of the Ten Commandments on a municipal building lawn violated the First Amendment, specifically the “Establishment Clause” which forbids the government from favoring one religion over another or establishing a religion.

The monument was part of a large display that included other monuments to the Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg Address, and Bill of Rights. Some individuals objected to the Ten Commandments monument, saying that they were offended by it as they drove by on their way to work.

As the Becket Fund has said before, simply disliking a government monument does not mean that anyone can just run into court to make a federal case about it.

This ruling shows how confused the courts are on the Establishment Clause—something the judge admitted himself. In his words, he had to decide the case based on “confusing jurisprudence” and his “own imagination.”

We’ve seen this before. The Becket Fund has repeatedly argued that the Establishment Clause does not require courts to scrub every religious reference from public life. If we did, where would that leave us?

Five years ago, we filed a brief in a Supreme Court case that also dealt with a Ten Commandments monument. The Supreme Court ruled that a city has the right to choose which monuments to display in its public parks, even if it does not reflect every church or belief. The decision followed our logic that government displays are government speech, meaning that governments can choose what to say—and what not to say.

Courts continue to be confused about all this. In fact, one Virginia judge tried to strike a deal, suggesting that a public school, sued by the ACLU for displaying the Ten Commandments along with the Declaration of Independence, remove four of the Ten Commandments on display—the ones that mentioned God. This would leave, he argued, the “more secular” ones on display. Whenever I tell this story to audiences of incredulous pastors, priests, ministers and advocates I carry with me the clip of the newspaper article. You can read the story here.

Rulings like this damage the American commitment to religious freedom, a principle that promotes a vibrant and diverse culture. City governments often recognize the values of their citizens, and that is a good thing.

For instance, a Pennsylvania city displays a menorah at Hannukah, with the understanding that by recognizing the Jewish holiday it recognizes its own citizens. The city of San Antonio puts on an annual Diwali festival, recognizing the Hindu holiday with food, fireworks, Indian dance, and traditional lighted candles. And who could forget the celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day in Chicago? Granted, this is more an ethnic festivity than a religious one. But why should recognizing purely religious symbols be any different? Religion is part of culture. It is part of human nature. It is part of who we are.

Religious symbols do not need to be hidden behind church walls or temple doors. Religious words do not need to be whispered in the dark, and only among believers. Americans have the freedom to believe and express their beliefs—that’s what makes our country great. And our city governments have the right to recognize our many different beliefs.

The days that followed were eerily quiet. All air traffic in and out of Washington DC ceased. We were frantically trying to find out who had been killed at the Pentagon. Many of my husband’s friends were stationed there. A little over a year later the Marine Corps would recall my husband and he would deploy to Iraq.

I remember the rubble and the rescuers and first responders. I remember the 17-foot steel beam cross emerging and giving hope to the rescuers. It resembled a Latin cross.

That cross, along with hundreds of artifacts recovered that day were to be displayed in a private New York museum.

However, a group of American Atheists sued. Initially they demanded the courts remove the steel beam cross. But afterwards they changed their mind and insisted on adding a plaque to it.

In our amicus brief, we explained to the court that mere offense does not give the American Atheists the right to sue.

The group admitted they had never seen the cross in person. They had seen it on TV.

They claimed that mere knowledge of the display’s existence was sufficient to support standing—or their ability to sue—because this knowledge has caused them “symptoms of depression, headaches, anxiety, and mental pain and anguish.”

They also claimed that should the cross be displayed, it had to be “contextualized.” This means that they demanded to choose what the cross meant and to put a plaque next to it.

These claims are both absurd and dangerous.

No one in America gets to rewrite the past. No one in America gets to edit history.

As we said in a recent letter to the court:

“In truth, whether a museum may display a historical artifact that happens to be religiously significant to some people ought to be a no-brainer.”

The only “significant and important issue” in this case is whether taking self-proclaimed offense at a religious symbol displayed in a museum, despite the absence of any evidence of government coercion or endorsement, entitles the American Atheists to invoke the power of the federal courts to assuage their hurt feelings.

We think not.

Yesterday, the Court agreed. It is a no-brainer to allow the display.

The 9-11 cross will be included among the artifacts in the museum.

Just a few months ago, we walked down the steps of the Supreme Court, arm-in-arm with Hobby Lobby’s owners David and Barbara Green, into snow flurries and a crowd chanting “Hob-by Lob-by!” On Monday, our lawyers walked down the steps once more, this time into the blistering sun and the roaring cheers of our friends and supporters.

We won! The Green family and other families that own business like them are free to go about their business according to their faith without fear of government bullying. The Supreme Court has ruled once and for all: Americans do not have to forfeit their faith to start a family business. What a beautiful thing to celebrate on this Independence Day!

The crowd parted as one of our star attorneys, Lori Windham, stepped up to the podium and spoke into scores of microphones and a sea of flashing cameras.

Have 2 minutes? Watch this. It is so exciting!

She said, “Today’s decision is a landmark decision for religious freedom. The Supreme Court recognized that American families do not lose their fundamental rights when they open a family business.” She also made it clear that, contrary to much of the media narrative, this was a victory for women. “Women like Barbara Green and Elizabeth Hahn fought for their religious freedom. And today, they won. Women like the Little Sisters of the Poor will continue that fight. Women’s voices are heard, standing up for religious freedom.”

The press was immediately flooded with kudos and congratulations from our colleagues and allies. Dr. Russell Moore, last seen giving the invocation at our Canterbury Medal Dinner, tweeted, “Halleluiah! #HobbyLobby.” Our board member and chair of the International Commission on Religious Liberty, Robert P. George, wrote a great piece over at First Things. Ed Whelan had an excellent analysis for National Review Online, and our own Mark Rienzi had a fantastic guest postfor UCLA professor and renowned legal scholar, Eugene Volokh, at the Washington Post.

They all affirmed what Justice Alito wrote for the Court when he said that the Religious Freedom Act makes it “perfectly clear” that Congress did not intend to discriminate against “men and women who wish to run their businesses as for-profit corporations in the manner required by their religious beliefs.”

This was a huge victory for family-owned businesses, but there is more left to fight. And Hobby Lobby is already helping to win that fight.

On Monday at midnight, the fines were set to go into effect for one of our clients, Mother Angelica’s Catholic news network, Eternal Word Television Network, which is still waiting on its day in court. Just hours after the Supreme Court issued Hobby Lobby, Eternal Word received a last minute emergency injunction against the mandate from a federal appellate court. In a concurring opinion to the grant of the injunction, Judge William Pryor referred to the government’s arguments supporting its so-called “accommodation” as “[r]ubbish.” Wheaton College also got an emergency injunction, as did two other religious ministries facing impending disaster.

America is most definitely the land of the free and the home of the brave, in no small part due to its commitment to religious liberty. And that’s precisely what one member of the Supreme Court, Justice Anthony Kennedy, said yesterday: “Among the reasons the United States is so open, so tolerant, and so free is that no person may be restricted or demeaned by government in exercising his or her religion.” Ultimately, America stays free because of brave people, people like the Green family, willing to run the gamut of the press and public smearing in order to defend our most cherished freedom, that which sets us apart from all other nations, religious freedom. And they are joined by so many others, like the Little Sisters of the Poor, who keep on fighting and continue to need your support.

So on this Fourth of July, please accept a special thanks from the Becket Fund for your own role in this resounding victory for freedom, the fruits of which will be enjoyed by generations to come.