Religious right has hijacked laws, speaker says

by Paul R. Kopenkoskey

GRAND RAPIDS—The fissures are growing wider in the wall separating church and state, an ACLU official says.

In some privacy and civil-rights cases, the bulwark that blocks religion from entangling itself in government has had sections carted off, enabling the religious right to gain a firm foothold in determining national and state laws, said Shellie Weisberg, legislative director for the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union in Lansing.

She said recent attempts to inject theocracy into the body politic have heightened her apprehension.

“Seems to me years ago, politicians took great care not to mix politics and religion,” Weisberg said last week at a meeting of the Freethought Association of West Michigan. “These days, they wear their religion on their forehead.”

She cited several examples she said showed the constitutional line being crossed:

  • Attempts to display the Ten Commandments in the state Capitol;
  • The halting of efforts to legalize gay marriage;
  • Unsuccessful efforts to work intelligent design into the high school curriculum Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed into law last month.

    Weisberg said she was frustrated by statewide apathy. “I don’t know how to get the general public to be more aware of their agenda,” she said.

    The potential loss of abortion rights and the Bush administration’s use of wiretaps to track terrorists has the ACLU standing vigilant, Weisberg said.

    “Sept. 11 gave them everything they needed to keep us in a culture of fear.”

    The ACLU is walking an internal tight rope of its own, Weisberg said.

    The debate centers on members of a Kansas church who travel nationwide to protest gay rights at military funerals. Weisberg said attempts nationwide to pass laws banning such protests are a constitutional slippery slope the ACLU is not willing to concede.

    “The ACLU’s position is, a ban is wholly unconstitutional,” she said.

    The Michigan Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved bills restricting such demonstrations. The issue goes to the House for final vote. Granholm is expected to sign the legislation.