Iowa governor attempting to impose Christianity as state government’s religion, say rights groups

[Brainstormy]

What next?

Advocates for the separation of church and state are acting swiftly to scuttle a plan by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) to flood the state’s 99 courthouses with praying, Bible-reading Christians activists for four days.

The Des Moines Register reported that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) and the group Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers have roundly condemned the action as a high-handed attempt to establish Christianity as the official religion of the state government. The plan, they say, is a direct violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/iowa-governor-attempting-to-impose-christianity-as-state-governments-religion-say-rights-groups/

[AlbertCat]

1. Oy vey!

"One of the event’s top organizers, Iowa Prayer Caucus director Ginny Caligiuri, has dismissed the idea of a separate church and state as “a fallacy.” Those rules are in place, she told the Register, to protect churches from government overreach, not the other way around."

Like, what.... making them pay their fair share of taxes.....

Religious privilege again.

Go have a marathon Bible reading at Iowa churches. Isn't that what churches are for? Who needs it at courthouses?


Religon is ridiculous.

[edhopper]

2. That

is one of the bullshit memes the Xians are now using. Like we were founded on "Christian principles".

[awoke_in_2003]

3. is it a coincidence...

that you can spell "bastard" with the letters in his last name?

[onager]

4. Best comment

(((doubt'n T))) - “Requests come from a broad spectrum of Iowans that reflect the broad diversity of Iowa.”

Total population 2,926,324

White 2,748,640 93.9%

Christian 77% (from Pew Research Center)
Unaffiliated 21%

Now THAT's ONE DIVERSE STATE right there, ya'll.

The state I'm in, SC, will probably think this is just a peachy idea. And do their own Christ-o-phile Rally.

I see the "Xian nation" argument almost every week in the local paper. A few God-botherers have actually glanced at the US Constitution for a few seconds, and know what it says.

So they've come up with an even more exciting interpretation of the First Amendment: "When it was written, the Founding Fathers and nearly everybody else were Xian. If they had known how it would be interpreted in the future, they would have written that this is a Xian nation."

So there you have it - Jefferson, Madison, Adams et. al. really MEANT to declare the U.S. a Christian nation. They just sort of forgot to put it in the Constitution. Buncha morons!

[rurallib]

5. He pulled something like this last year too

The guy is really getting fucking weird.
He wants to be one of the leading edge dog - like Brownback or snotty Scotty up in Wisconsin, but so far we still have enough dems to stop some of his shit.
So throwing in with the goofball religionists must get him some cred. Remember Iowa is the home to Bob VanderPlaats and Steve King.