It is always gratifying and sometimes downright hilarious when fundamentalist Christians, who have no clue as to the rights of others, are completely shocked to find out that the Constitution is not a "Christians only" document. This is one of those moments.
A Detroit suburb that allows a “prayer station” set up in city hall must also permit an atheist to set up a “reason station,” a federal judge ordered. Warren, Michigan must also pay a $100,000 fine.
Judge Michael Hluchaniuk ruled Monday that Warren resident Douglas Marshall's proposal to distribute information and engage in discussions on atheism in the atrium of city hall must be approved, and that the city must apply policies equally to both his reason station and an existing prayer station operated by a local church. The $100,000 fine was included in the settlement to pay for attorney fees and damages. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Last summer the ACLU, along with Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sued the city and Mayor of Warren Michigan, Jim Fouts, on behalf of Mr. Marshall's constitutional right to set up a "Reason Station."
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Hluchaniuk never mentioned the words "freedom of religion" or "separation of church and state" in his order, but rather focused on ensuring that believers and non-believers receive the same type of access to city hall. http://www.freep.com/...
It seems pretty simple that if a preacher can set up a prayer station inside city hall, then an atheist can have a reason station there, too.
Fouts told the Detroit Free Press he denied Marshall's station because he wanted to avoid conflict in city hall and he thought Marshall wanted to put an "antagonistic" sign next to the prayer station.
In an April letter to Marshall, Fouts said he believed the FFRF intended "to deprive all organized religions of their constitutional freedoms or at least discourage the practice of religion."
Of course Fouts' justification follows the typically predictable persecution of Christians playbook that argues any attempt to apply freedom of religion and separation of church and state to all citizens equally, religious or not, Christian or not, amounts to denying Christians their constitutional rights. But time and time again they are befuddled when that line of logic, which is exactly the opposite of what the Constitution says, winds up losing in court. Damn those "activist" judges!
When the poor persecuted Christian tactic doesn't work, another favorite of the right is to compare their progressive oppressors to Nazis.
Fouts told The Huffington Post last year that allowing the reason station to operate would “end up being a problem, just as if I were to allow a Nazi group during our MLK celebration."
Well sure, that makes sense, except that MLK Day is a one day national holiday, and that the prayer station had been up since 2009, and that Nazis killed millions of Jews and are generally considered hate groups, none of which are remotely equivalent to an atheist wanting to set up an information booth.
What continues to confound these Fundamentalist groups and their political enablers is the fact that, as Dan Korobkin, deputy legal director of the ACLU of Michigan, put it, “The First Amendment guarantees us all the right to speak freely about our beliefs -- or lack thereof.”
So this is good news. You can fight city hall.