Channel: The Atheist Voice

Category: People & Blogs

Tags: supreme courtatheismlgbtqatheistreligionlgbtq rightschurch/state separationchurch state separationabortion rightsthe death penaltyjusticeaffirmative actiongodjustice anthony kennedyanthony kennedy

Description: Justice Anthony Kennedy's Spotty Legacy on Church State Separation Hemant Mehta (friendlyatheist.com, patreon.com/Hemant , facebook.com/friendlyatheist) As you've surely heard by now, Anthony Kennedy is retiring from the Supreme Court. A lot of the discussion has revolved around what this will mean for abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, affirmative action, the death penalty -- basically, all the issues on which the conservative Kennedy sided with liberals in 5-4 decisions. But because Kennedy was pivotal on a lot of cases involving church/state separation, I wanted to talk about his legacy there. Because it's mixed. Let's start with the good. In 1992, he wrote the 5-4 majority opinion in a case called Lee v. Weisman, which said formal prayers at public school graduations were unconstitutional. The reason you don't have an opening prayer at your graduation ceremony is because of him. In 2000, he was part of a 6-3 majority in a case called Santa Fe School District v. Doe that said prayers over the loudspeakers before high school football games, even if they were student-initiated, were illegal. Kennedy agreed that those prayers were still school-sponsored because it's a school event, you're using school equipment, etc. And by the way, besides Kennedy, only two other justices from that majority remain on the Court. So that's great! Good on him! But then there's the other side of the story. In 1989, in a case called County of Allegheny v. ACLU, there was a question about whether a stand-alone Nativity Scene outside the Allegheny County Courthouse was legal. It was a complicated case for a number of reasons, but the 5-4 majority correctly said the display was illegal. The government was clearly promoting Christianity. Justice Kennedy? He was one of the four who didn't think it was a problem. In 2005, there were two separate cases involving a Ten Commandments monument on government property. In one case, in Texas, the Commandments were part of a larger display with a lot of other monuments. Taken as a whole, those displays didn't focus on Christianity even if that was kind of the point of the Commandments. Kennedy was part of the 5-4 majority that said that was legal. The other case, in Kentucky, involved a stand-alone monument outside a courthouse. It didn't matter that it had been there for decades. That was absolutely a promotion of Christianity. And the court said, 5-4, that that was illegal. Yay! But Kennedy was part of the minority that was okay with it. Just like he was okay with the Nativity scene. What the hell. . . . . . Join the conversation. Leave your questions and comments below and we'll try to address them in future videos. Don't forget to subscribe for more! Also, follow us at ... twitter.com/atheistvoices facebook.com/TheAtheistVoices plus.google.com/u/0/b/106662137332631352312/106662137332631352312/posts/p/pub theatheistvoice.tumblr.com theatheistvoice.com The Atheist Voice provides a platform for discussion for atheist leaders, authors, bloggers, activists, and everybody else who is passionate about atheism, and secularism. Join the discussion by commenting under the videos or submitting video responses. If you'd like to collaborate on this channel or if you'd like to appear in our videos please visit our website TheAtheistVoice.com