Tremendous Victory for the 1st Amendment

I have no idea how we got to where we are, when the 1st Amendment of the Constitution reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

establishment does not equal existence.

reading the establishment clause does not exclude from reading the protection clause into law as well.

It's about freaking time we have some judges with the balls to repeal that garbage ACLU agenda of the 1st Amendment.

Next, Pastors in the military need to be protected to speak their Faiths.

jls




A Victory for Religious Freedom

Religious schools should not have to fight legal battles with the government over their right to operate without state accreditation. Texans won that right last week.

The Texas Supreme Court reversed lower court decisions late last week and ruled that state restrictions on what unaccredited religious institutions can call themselves and their education training violate the First Amendment.

The 8-0 ruling overturns two lower-court opinions and a Texas law that gave the state power over seminaries and their training of pastors and religious leaders for the ministry. The court ruled that banning an institution like the Tyndale Theological Seminary in Fort Worth from using the term "seminary" in its name violates the Constitution.

No state government is in a position to regulate how pastors and other church leaders are trained. So, this decision represents a significant victory, not only in Texas but nationwide.

Three religious organizations waged the legal fight. Tyndale, one of the schools, was cited in 1998 for violating a law that requires seminaries to be accredited and prevents unaccredited institutions from awarding degrees. It was fined $173,000 by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The Southern Bible Institute in Dallas and the Hispanic Bible Institute in San Antonio joined in the suit seeking to overturn the fines and the law.

Although the intention of the law was to crack down on degree mills that issue certificates but require little or no coursework, the effect was much broader.