Posted by
Jason on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 1:55:56 PM
Disclaimer: I'm just an average guy...
In his Letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, Thomas Jefferson interpreted the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as "building a wall of separation of Church and State." Liberals have seized on his commentary as an excuse to evict any mention of Judeo-Christian principles from the public square. However, Jefferson's comments also imply his desire to limit "the legitimate powers of government reach" into the Church. It's a two-way street... but not to Liberals.
The state of New Jersey is investigating a private Methodist ministry called the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (OGCMA) because, out of their own religious convictions, they will not allow civil union ceremonies between same-sex couples to be performed at their facility.
This episode started when a Lesbian couple, Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster, applied to use the property for a civil union ceremony, recently legalized under New Jersey law. When OGCMA turned down their application and said that they "did not allow civil unions to be held," the women filed a complaint under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.
Bernstein also had this to say: "In an apparent distortion of the First Amendment, they are claiming that they have the right to discriminate against people who do not share their religious tenets." And her statement is mostly correct, except for the part about it being a "distortion of the First Amendment." In reality, this is the very abuse it protects against! As a private organization, they absolutely have the right to decide how and by whom their own property is used.
The question that needs to be asked is this: Do Liberals really believe in the separation of church and state, or does their true intent lie in subjecting the church to the state?