In Johnson County, Tennessee, the local government used the courthouse lobby for propaganda for Christian Nationalism -- specifically, a Ten Commandments display that included Christian literature. They said that it was part of a display about the history of law and that other documents would be welcome. That was put to the test when Ralph Stewart sought to put up posters about the history of church/state separation.
Johnson County officials refused to allow the posters, thus demonstrating that they were only interested in promoting their brand of Christian Nationalism and that their justification about "history" and "heritage" were lies. Americans United for Separation of Church got involved and a settlement in the legal case has been reached: Ralph Stewart's posters will be displayed in prominent place and the policy itself will be changed in order to make it easier for other displays to appear.
The dispute began in 2008 after the Johnson County Commission adopted a policy that purported to create a public forum for displays on the walls of the county courthouse lobby. Displays were to relate to development of the history or heritage of the law.
After adopting the policy, the Commission unanimously approved a display sponsored by the Rotary Club of Mountain City and the Ten Commandments Warriors that features the Ten Commandments alongside excerpts from the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the nation's founders.
But the Commission rejected Stewart's display, saying it did not fall within the subject matter of the public forum their policy creates - even though Stewart's material draws on many of the same historical sources as the Ten Commandments displays.
AU's lawsuit asserted that the Commission engaged in impermissible contentâ€'based and viewpointâ€'based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech. The complaint also charged that the Commission's actions were undertaken with a religious purpose, had a predominantly religious effect, endorsed religion and preferred religion over nonâ€'religion.
Source: Americans United
Every time any government agency attempts to promote or endorse some facet of Christianity, one of two arguments are likely to be used to excuse it: either what they are promoting isn't "really" religious or if it is religious then it's part of a "neutral" display where other views are "allowed" -- yet somehow other views never show up. Convenient, no?
One sure way to test the sincerity of Christians who establish some forum or opportunity which benefits them but which they insist is really "neutral" is for others to apply to benefit as much as Christians. The results tend to be pretty consistent: howls of outrage from Christians that atheists, pagans, Muslims, or some other minority would intrude and expect equal treatment before the law.
Quite often, the program or forum is shut down -- basically, if Christians aren't given exclusive use, then no one can have it! I'm surprised that that's not what happened here. It's to the credit of officials in Johnson County that they have agreed to allow alternative viewpoints equal space and time -- though it's a pity that they didn't do it willingly and without threats of legal action.
Under the new agreement, county commissioners are officially forbidden from rejecting a proposed display merely because they personally dislike or disagree with it. Any rejections must be detailed, written, and in accordance with policy. What's wrong with this country that government officials actually need to be told to do this? What's wrong with Johnson County that their elected officials need to be told this?
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