Desegregating Church and State

Did you know that Bush's Justice Department has quietly established a new litigation department designed to promote the expansion of theocracy in America? It's called the Religious Rights Unit, and its been intervening in case after case in a way designed to tear down the wall of separation between Church and State.

The Los Angeles Times yesterday had a major profile of the Religious Rights Unit's activities that should scare the pants off of anyone who believes that government's mission is secular, not religious. This indepth dissection by the paper's Richard B. Schmitt, reports that, "Judging from the cases and investigations the religious unit has launched, the new mission of the Justice Department is overwhelmingly focused on protecting the rights of religious organizations."

The paper notes the following disturbing cases in which the Justice Department's pro-religion branch has intervened:

--It has come into court on behalf of the Salvation Army after a dozen workers in its Social Services for Children division filed a job-discrimination suite in federal court after they refused to embrace a new requirement that they pledge to "preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in his name."

--It hs filed briefs in three separate lawsuits supporting the Child Envangelism Fellowship's right to establish "Good News Clubs in public elementary schools around the country in which children learn Bible stories and pray, among other activities."

--on a complaint from a group of lawyers who are religious primitives in Texas, the Justice Department launched a formal two-year investigation of Texas Tech University biology professor Michael Dini because he would not write letters of recommendation for students unless they affirmed a belief in the theory of evolution, which--as Dini pointed out--was to ensure his studets understood "the central, unifying principle of biology. This was the sixth Justice Department investigation launched after complaints by this group of Know-Nothing fundamenalist Christians.

There's a lot more in the entire L.A. Times report, which you can read by clicking here.
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