LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY lullabypit)

I received an e-mail from a friend today - very smart guy, a former colleague I like and respect a great deal. He was forwarding on a piece from Ben Stein (actually, only part of it was by Stein - someone added some stuff to the end as it made the rounds) and thought it was worthy of passing on. The Stein piece and a fuller analysis of it can be found at Snopes.
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I have some issues with this, actually. Bear with me as I work through it.

Stein acknowledges that he doesn't like being pushed around because he's a Jew. Let's start there. I hear him loud and clear and don't blame him a bit. And we live in a society with plenty of anti-Semitism, so he has no doubt been on the wrong end of prejudice.

But - there's a huge "but" here - what about people who aren't Jews or Christians who don't like being pushed around for their beliefs? What if you're a member of a religion that the Christian majority either thinks is evil or false or maybe some of both, and there are actually some among them who believe that you should be put to death for those beliefs (folks who take this passage literally, for instance)?

(And for the record, don't we really have to get past the idea that Christians are some kind of tormented minority? I mean, come on, let's look at the White House, the Supreme Court, and both houses of Congress and count the number of people who don't openly practice and profess Judaism or Christianity. Let me know if the count climbs anywhere near 1% of the total.)

What if Christians have burned crosses in your yard for what you believe?

What if Christian legislators introduce and pass laws that are explicitly aimed at those of your faith?

What if your kid went to school and found himself/herself in the midst of a daily sanctioned prayer ritual to a deity he didn't believe in, and worse, found himself ostracized (or worse) when he failed to participate enthusiastically? Do you want your children feeling compelled to pray publicly to a god you don't endorse?

With all due respect to Mr. Stein, who is clearly an intelligent man, everything I describe here is reality. In some cases it's been aimed at me, and in some cases I'm describing the cases of people I personally know.

In all cases I know of where people who aren't Christian or Jewish have taken some kind of action that might be interpreted as anti-religious, they have done so because they have felt the weight of the majority leaning on them in ways that made them uncomfortable at best and legitimately afraid for their well-being and freedoms at worst. This isn't abstract - I can quote you names and dates and details (although I'm unlikely to give up the names of people who are trying to keep their heads down out of fear).

The Constitution is there to protect the minority - the majority doesn't need protection. And a lawyer of Ben Stein's status ought to know this. Nobody is preventing him or anybody else from practicing their religion in any way. You have the freedom to worship as you will, but show me where you're granted the right to have your version of god acknowledged by the state. All the screeching about kicking God out of schools is irrational and hysterical. Nobody has ever prevented a child from praying in school, but if we'd like to know where the Constitution says you can't do certain things, let's start with the 1st Amendment. Public schools are official state organizations, and when they sanction prayers to one god over another, that's official state action. That's awfully darned close to establishment, in fact.

Hey, I'm not lobbying against anybody. Whatever people believe is cool with me, so long as we all understand the most basic premise of Libertarian doctrine: your freedom ends when it reaches me. How accepting am I of other religions? Well, my best man and one of my groomsmen were Christians. The larger wedding party and the list of invited guests included a variety of Christians (including Mormon), Jews, atheists, agnostics, and pagans of various stripes.

All I want is to know that we do believe what the Constitution seems to clearly intend - we're all equally free and official state organizations have no business establishing structures or policies that favor one set of beliefs over another.

A Christmas tree on church grounds? Great. One on the campus of a private Catholic university? Ditto. But one on the grounds of the courthouse? Ask yourself how you'd feel if those same courthouse grounds were host to a Wiccan rite to the god and goddess on Samhain? If eight times a year, on the Sabbats, they erected a giant pentagram? And if, when they went to school that day, all children were "encouraged" to join in a circle and asked to help summon the goddess?

If you're not okay with that, can you show me in the Constitution where it says one is okay but the other isn't? And if not, can you then make some sort of legal case that explains why your faith is more important than somebody else's?

In the end, I guess I'd be more willing to respect the practices of Christians and Jews like Stein if they'd demonstrate they have an equal respect for mine in return. So far I'm still waiting, though.

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