H.R. 2679, The "Christian Supremacy Act", To Hit House Floor
by Troutfishing
Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 08:54:44 PM PDT
Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society. - D. James Kennedy
[ UPDATE, and a cautionary note --
First: is this bill just about religious displays in literal "public squares" ? No, it is vastly farther reaching. H.R. 2679 is sponsored by John Hostettler (Rep Indiana 8th District) currently in a tight race with Dem challenger Brad Ellsworth (see this dKos story re Ellsworth vs. Hostettler**) and is designed to gut the Establishment Clause, to render it largely meaningless. See text of bill, below.]
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Second: a word of caution: It is very important to recognize that H.R. 2679 is only one of a number of bills, proposed by by the Christian right and somewhere in the legislative process or which - if not succesfully passed in any given year - will simply be resubmitted the following year, and which have been crafted to advance Christian nationalist, theocratic, theonomic, or reconstructionist agendas ( or any combination of those .
In other words, please don't come away from this post with the impression that if H.R. 2679 is not turned into law that all will be hunky-dory. Far from it. Freedom takes constant vigilance.]
H.R. 2679 has emerged from the House Judiciary Committee and is ready to hit the floor. What is H.R. 2679 designed to do ? Well, it's designed to defund plaintiffs in Establishment Clause cases by eliminating awards for attorney's fees. What will that mean ? Well, let's take a case that's not hypothetical at all, a real incident.
So - to take a real example [ link directly below to "Jews On First" who have the best coverage of the case in question ] - if you're a Jewish family living in Southern Delaware and you complain about the rather blatant and exclusionary promotion of Christianity in the local public school and you and your family are subsequently harassed and your children called "Christ killers", subject to death threats, and eventually hounded out of town ( and along the way you have to sell your house of 18 years under duress ), the point of the law is to make it harder for you to seek some sort of legal redress.
So, if H.R. 2679 ( ironically titled "the Public Expression of Religion Act" ) passes the US House and Senate, that family hounded out of its home in Southern Delaware would be hard pressed to scratch up the money to take the school board - that was defending (and even condoning) the "Christianizing" of local schools - to court. It would be financially prohibitive. Now, somebody might start a petition "Regarding Religious Intolerance In Public Schools" ( in fact, someone did and you can even sign it - please do* and if your org. wants to join the coalition let me know ) but that would be unlikely to help your family out directly.
Or - to bring up another recent and notorious case ( see below, "the 2% Solution" ) you might be told by the speaker of the Indiana House, Brian Bosma, to buzz off because you only represent about 2% of the Indiana population.
So, in the words of one excited rightwing blogger :
Hostettler's proposal would amend the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. Section 1988, to prohibit prevailing parties from being awarded attorney's fee in religious establishment cases, but not in other civil rights filings. This would prevent local governments from having to use taxpayer funds to pay the ACLU or similar organization when a case is lost, and also would protect elected officials from having to pay fees from their own pockets.
So, in other words, local officials could stomp on minority religious beliefs and get away with it. Charming.
It sounds like dhimmitude to me : religious second class citizenship, with vague guarantees of protection as long as the dhimmi class keeps quiet and out of the way.
Not that Hostettler and his fellows seem to care. This bill is - purely and simply - about the advancement of Christian Nationalism and Christian supremacy.
daily kos
― Grey, Ian (IanBrooklyn), Saturday, 16 September 2006 20:44 (nineteen years ago)
I think Hostetler is toast this time, as his district seems to have really turned upon him. That dude is a serious jerk. Hostetler's congressional district is a gerrymandered joke that was setup by cutting Bloomington, Indiana (which is about as liberal as you get in the Hoosier state) into two congressional seats back in 94. It has worked as that lunatic has held the seat for 12 years, but I think Hostetler has gone so far out people are ready for a change.
Indiana is historically a Republican state, but they are usually a bit more of the old school button down boring efficient types. The God, guts and guns made America great types like Hostetler or that idiot loudmouth Mark Souder, who usually makes a national news wire story once a year for saying something completely idiotic on the house floor, are more of something that came in the door with the rest of the trash around 94.
― Earl Nash (earlnash), Sunday, 17 September 2006 02:37 (nineteen years ago)