RE: Why only religious beliefs protected?
September 27, 2023 at 2:54 pm
(This post was last modified: September 27, 2023 at 3:07 pm by Nanny.)
In the USA, the Constitution places restrictions on government concerning establishment of religion and places limits on government's ability to limit individuals (and, groan, corporate) speech.
The government can't favor one religion over another (or no religion at all). Nor can it restrict speech without legal justification (e.g. conditions of pretrial release).
On paper. In practice we have one political party infusing one religion into our three branches of government, And they get away with it because Christian Nationalism sees its moment to undo the Establishment Clause, practically if not literally. They are using the states to do this, whith gerrymandering and super majorities.
ETA - SCOTUS chooses not to assert authority over states' decisions that chip away at the establishment clause. This was the real scary part about Dobbs. If a state declares abortion (and by extension birth control, gender counseling and medicine, limits on undesirable speech (e.g. drag story time)) then the SCOTUS says, "Not our problem because state's rights." But there's a thread on the SCOTUS stench already.
The government can't favor one religion over another (or no religion at all). Nor can it restrict speech without legal justification (e.g. conditions of pretrial release).
On paper. In practice we have one political party infusing one religion into our three branches of government, And they get away with it because Christian Nationalism sees its moment to undo the Establishment Clause, practically if not literally. They are using the states to do this, whith gerrymandering and super majorities.
ETA - SCOTUS chooses not to assert authority over states' decisions that chip away at the establishment clause. This was the real scary part about Dobbs. If a state declares abortion (and by extension birth control, gender counseling and medicine, limits on undesirable speech (e.g. drag story time)) then the SCOTUS says, "Not our problem because state's rights." But there's a thread on the SCOTUS stench already.
