March / April 1999

THE FILTERING OF FREEDOM?

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."--Blaise Pascal

Rebutting a Narrow Reading of the Religion Clauses

A Chilling Example of What Happens When Government Promotes Religion

Especially With a Little Help From a Federal District Court


Would placing Ohio's official state motto, "With God All Things Are Possible," on the state seal at the statehouse violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment? The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio thought so--and sued to stop the motto from being placed there.

The District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio, in ACLU v. Capitol Square, disagreed, ruling that the motto could go up. And however minor the particulars here, the principle behind them is significant. This case is no exception; in fact, it goes to the heart of the fundamental issues regarding the scope of the Establishment Clause and this nation's relationship to the religious character of its history.

The issue in ACLU v. Capitol Square isn't just about a motto in a seal, but about just what values may properly inform and mold public policy. Will they be exclusively secular, or will they include the values embodied in the nation's religious heritage? Some argue that government's position must be one of strict neutrality; others that in the realm of values, there is no such thing as neutrality.

A Major Battle Ended Last Year. The Good Guys Won. But the War Is Hardly Over.

The Structural Limits of the Establishment Clause


The purpose of the Establishment Clause is not to safeguard individual religious rights. That is the role of the Free Exercise Clause--indeed, its singular role. The purpose of the Establishment Clause, rather, is as a structural limit, one placed in the Constitution to restrain government from legislating or acting on any matter "respecting an establishment of religion."

What powers fall within the scope of these words and hence are denied to government? The answer greatly affects the authority of the modern nation-state as it interacts with religion and religious organizations.