In a great victory for freedumb, the “Magnolia State Heritage Campaign” is pushing a ballot initiative that would finally give the state’s Christian heritage the recognition that it deserves, writing into law that Mississippi is a “principally Christian and quintessentially Southern state” and also acknowledging that the Holy Bible is where all the state’s laws really come from. But don’t worry, if this thing gets the 110,000 signatures needed to get on the ballot (likely) and actually passes…the law won’t violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, because it cleverly says it won’t.
For sheer comedy gold, there are few things which surpass stories in which the Derp Deep South meets archConservatism meets fire-and-brimstone Christianity. Somehow, the whole separation of Church and State thing manages to get lost (or, more likely, completely ignored) because…well, that’s what happens when folks who think all of the world’s necessary knowledge can be found in the Bible get their hands on the wheel.
The Magnolia State Heritage Campaign (MSHC) is exactly the reason why the Founding Fathers created the separation of Church and State. It’s what keeps our republic from becoming a theocracy on the order of Iran, Somalia, or Pakistan. American governance is designed to serve ALL American, not just those who profess to follow the majority religion. In effect, what MSHC is proposing is religious tyranny…which is OK, because when Christians do that sort of thing the intent is NEVER malevolent, right??
To be honest, the problem is far less religion than it is sheer, abject ignorance of the sort that allows people to think that they can do whatever they damned well please…because it’s What Jesus Would Do. Mention the words “Establishment Clause” and you’ll be greeted by a deer-in-the-headlights stare, as if you were speaking to them in Latvian. They’ll very likely be unable to comprehend the reality that simply SAYING that something doesn’t violate the 1st Amendment’s Establishment doesn’t make everything all better. If words were all it took to make something real, I’d simply say, “I have a $10 million winning lottery ticket!!”…and just wait for the champagne dreams and caviar wishes to wash over me. Unfortunately, here in the reality-based world, things don’t work that way.
The State of Mississippi hereby acknowledges the fact of her identity as a principally Christian and quintessentially Southern state, in terms of the majority of her population, character, culture, history, and heritage, from 1817 to the present; accordingly, the Holy Bible is acknowledged as a foremost source of her founding principles, inspiration, and virtues; and, accordingly, prayer is acknowledged as a respected, meaningful, and valuable custom of her citizens. The acknowledgments hereby secured shall not be construed to transgress either the national or the state Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
The Magnolia State Heritage Campaign, regardless of their undoubtedly good intent, is trying to do something that’s patently unconstitutional (I know; shocking, eh? ). If any of these folks cared about the Constitution as much as they beat their Bibles while claiming to, they’d understand that the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment proscribes government from establishing an official religion. What they’re attempting to do is to ignore the express intent of the Founding Fathers, who understood from personal experience what could happen when religion is conflated with governance.
It ain’t pretty.
The last sentence of the first paragraph in their proposed bill essentially negates what they’re trying to accomplish. If they were truly not intending to “transgress either the national or the state Constitution’s Bill of Rights,” they wouldn’t be introducing the bill in the first place…because their bill ABSOLUTELY transgresses. It’s not the Bill of Rights they should be concerned about; it’s the Establishment Clause, with whom the bill’s language is wholly incompatable.
Man, you’d think by now taxpayers would be tired of people wasting gobs of tax dollars tilting at religious windmills….
