DH>  Explain to me how the display of a Nativity scene on the lawn of city
DH>  hall, as part of a larger display, makes Christianity public policy?
DH>  How is allowing a Christian group to use school facilities(as they
DH>  allow other groups), making Christianity a public policy? Both of thes
DH>  refer to actions of the ACLU, which have had the effect of limiting
DH>  the expression of Christianity as compared to the rest of society.
   There is the nagging issue of violation of nonbeliever rights.
Over 10% of the American people describe themselves as atheists,
freethinkers or skeptics of some kind in matters of religion.  Indeed,
the historical thrust of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause
was to end any religious test for the exercise of rights, and
abolition of  the compulsory support of religious bodies by the
citizenry.
   With a church on every corner, and very few with Nativity scenes,
why would you want more space?  Critics note that "charitable choice" is a
disingenuous use  of terms; there is little or no "choice" in the matter of
taxation.   Public funds -- used in what would otherwise be a secular,
nonreligious program -- are not "privatized" in the real sense
of the word.  One is compelled, through taxation, to support these
religious enterprises.
                          A Faith Consensus?
   While diverse, even competing religious groups at different ends of
the political spectrum may disagree on specifics, both right and
liberal/left churches and movements seem to concur that more -- not
less -- religious involvement is needed in American society.  This
"faith consensus" has been building around several core issues.  They
include  "life" questions such as abortion and bio-engineering;
opposition to the spread of legalized gambling; continued tax
exemptions and other perks for religious groups; general agreement on
the need to combat "immorality" in the form of alcohol consumption,
cigarettes, a need for government "to act" in controlling or banning
certain expressions in the public square which are "obscene" or
"violent; drug use; defense of marriage as an enshrined institution; a
growing opposition to public expression which criticizes, "insults" or
demeans religion (the case of author Salman Rushdie is a good
example); and the need to throw open the public treasury on behalf of
"faith based" programs and religious "solutions" to problems like
poverty, drug use and violence.
   In the end, this "faith consensus" poses an enormous challenge to
state-church separation in America; and it threatens to compel
millions of nonbelievers to support, through their taxes, an enormous
church social service bureaucracy.  This week's "invitation" for the
nation's governor to open their purses will talk about reconciliation,
community and solutions --but only for those willing to pay, pray and
believe.
 * MegaMail 2.10 #0: . .  un-circumcised  n  proud of it  .  .
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