Teh One Who Knocks
11-19-2012, 04:16 PM
Written by Peter Smith | The Courier-Journal
http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8002/25728297.jpg
Citizens represented by the group American Atheists are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal of a lawsuit challenging a Kentucky law that credits Almighty God with homeland security.
The Kentucky Supreme Court refused to review the law earlier this year.
In a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, attorney Edwin Kagin argues that the state General Assembly has been flouting a constitutional prohibition against the public sponsorship of religion. He cited decisions in 1980 and 2005 that curbed public displays of the Ten Commandments in Kentucky.
At issue is legislation passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A 2002 “legislative finding” said the “safety and security of the commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.”
A 2006 act creating the state’s Office of Homeland Security required its executive director to publicize “dependence on Almighty God” in agency training and educational materials and through a plaque at the entrance to its emergency operations center.
After the plaintiffs sued in 2008, Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate upheld their claims, ruling that the state had “created an official government position on God.”
But the Court of Appeals in 2011 voted 2-1 to reverse that decision, saying the law “merely pays lip service to a commonly held belief in the puissance (power) of God.”
The Kentucky Supreme Court declined to review it.
“This new legislation should not be swept under the ceremonial deism rug, especially as it ostracizes atheists from politics,” wrote Kagin, the national legal director for American Atheists, in his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was referring to the legal doctrine that a passing reference to God in official statements does not amount to a religious endorsement.
The legislation, Kagin wrote, implies that atheists are “dangerous to the post-9/11 security of the Commonwealth and contributes to bias and stereotypes about atheists.”
He described the laws as part of a larger “misguided push to improperly mix religion and government” by Kentucky lawmakers.
Shelley Johnson, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Jack Conway’s office, which defended the law, said it could not comment on pending litigation.
http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8002/25728297.jpg
Citizens represented by the group American Atheists are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal of a lawsuit challenging a Kentucky law that credits Almighty God with homeland security.
The Kentucky Supreme Court refused to review the law earlier this year.
In a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, attorney Edwin Kagin argues that the state General Assembly has been flouting a constitutional prohibition against the public sponsorship of religion. He cited decisions in 1980 and 2005 that curbed public displays of the Ten Commandments in Kentucky.
At issue is legislation passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A 2002 “legislative finding” said the “safety and security of the commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.”
A 2006 act creating the state’s Office of Homeland Security required its executive director to publicize “dependence on Almighty God” in agency training and educational materials and through a plaque at the entrance to its emergency operations center.
After the plaintiffs sued in 2008, Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate upheld their claims, ruling that the state had “created an official government position on God.”
But the Court of Appeals in 2011 voted 2-1 to reverse that decision, saying the law “merely pays lip service to a commonly held belief in the puissance (power) of God.”
The Kentucky Supreme Court declined to review it.
“This new legislation should not be swept under the ceremonial deism rug, especially as it ostracizes atheists from politics,” wrote Kagin, the national legal director for American Atheists, in his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was referring to the legal doctrine that a passing reference to God in official statements does not amount to a religious endorsement.
The legislation, Kagin wrote, implies that atheists are “dangerous to the post-9/11 security of the Commonwealth and contributes to bias and stereotypes about atheists.”
He described the laws as part of a larger “misguided push to improperly mix religion and government” by Kentucky lawmakers.
Shelley Johnson, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Jack Conway’s office, which defended the law, said it could not comment on pending litigation.