In God We Trust

by digby

Ferchristsake. And I mean that literally:

A group of atheists filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to remove part of a state anti-terrorism law that requires Kentucky’s Office of Homeland Security to acknowledge it can’t keep the state safe without God’s help.

American Atheists Inc. sued in state court over a 2002 law that stresses God’s role in Kentucky’s homeland security alongside the military, police agencies and health departments.

Of particular concern is a 2006 clause requiring the Office of Homeland Security to post a plaque that says the safety and security of the state “cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon almighty God” and to stress that fact through training and educational materials.

The plaque, posted at the Kentucky Emergency Operations Center in Frankfort, includes the Bible verse: “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”

“It is one of the most egregiously and breathtakingly unconstitutional actions by a state legislature that I’ve ever seen,” said Edwin F. Kagin, national legal director of Parsippany, N.J.-based American Atheists Inc. The group claims the law violates both the state and U.S. constitutions.

But Democratic state Rep. Tom Riner, a Baptist minister from Louisville, said he considers it vitally important to acknowledge God’s role in protecting Kentucky and the nation.

“No government by itself can guarantee perfect security,” Riner said. “There will always be this opposition to the acknowledgment of divine providence, but this is a foundational understanding of what America is.”

Maybe atheists should just declare atheism a religion. Then they could sue for the right to have the statute also say that there is no proof that God exists and that people had better use their minds and free will to keep themselves safe (and stress that fact through training and educational materials.)

I’ve written before that I don’t think there’s any way to end this unconstitutional insistence on religion in government unless they are forced to share the public space with those they abhor.

Americans of the past were not being primitive and stupid when they put religion firmly into the private sector. They understood that it’s the only way to keep religion truly free as well as keep the church from dominating public life as it had done in Europe for centuries.

To a lot of these religious zealots, those were the best of times, I guess. Bring on the inquisition.