Religious Liberty, Part I

This morning I was listening to the radio broadcast of Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk program.  The guest was Kelly Shackelford, the president of the Liberty Institute which provides legal defense for attacks against religious liberty.  Shackelford was talking about the case of the Mojave Desert Memorial Cross, which was constructed more than 75 years ago in the middle of the desert to honor veterans of World War I.  The ACLU sued to force the removal of this memorial -- since we all know what a threat to our Constitution this is! -- and a lower court and a court of appeals both agreed with the ACLU that it was unconstitutional.  During the appeals process, the court ordered the deeply offensive cross to be covered with a bag and chain so that no one who happened to be passing by in the middle of the desert would be subjected to looking at anything that could be construed as a religious symbol.  Eventually, the case made its way to the Supreme Court, where the memorial was upheld as constitutional in a 5-4 decision.  After the Supreme Court's decision, some brave champions of the Constitution tore down and stole the monument.  An exact replica was quickly constructed, but the Obama Administration has refused to allow it to be put up despite the Supreme Court's ruling and despite the pleas of numerous veterans' organizations across the country, since the legal proceedings apparently have not yet been officially closed.  This is just one of many attacks by the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation against veterans' memorials and other public displays that include religious symbols, with the goal being the complete of eradication of religious expression in the public square. 

Although it is sad that so many judges, as well as the Obama Administration, have bought into an interpretation of the Constitution which is completely contrary to the intentions of the Founders and which threatens our fundamental First Amendment freedoms, it is encouraging to hear that groups like the Liberty Institute are fighting back and winning some key victories.  It is also a warning about the importance of defeating Obama in November.  If Obama gets the chance to appoint even one additional Supreme Court Justice, then all hope of winning most of these religious liberty cases is gone for probably decades.  I realize that there is some concern about the type of justices Romney would appoint as well, but his public statements as well as his website make clear that he believes in the concept of original intent and does not believe unelected judges should impose their policy preferences from the bench.  And conservatives would at least have hope of influencing his nominating decisions, unlike Obama's.  This issue alone should be sufficient reason for every conservative to cast a vote for Mitt Romney in November.