Watchdog Group Says Roberts is a Threat to Church-State Separation

August 29, 2005

Source: Beliefnet

Wire Service: RNS

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/173/story_17392_1.html

On August 29, 2005 the Religion News Service reported, "A leading church-state watchdog group said Monday that Judge John Roberts would allow public life 'to be hijacked by those with a religious agenda' if he is confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Americans United for Separation of Church and State said Roberts' judicial philosophy -- gleaned from legal briefs he wrote in the Reagan administration -- would throw church-state case law into 'disarray.' 'He has been a faithful soldier in the far right's campaign to roll back the church-state safeguards protecting all Americans, especially religious minorities,' said the group's director, the Rev. Barry Lynn. Lynn's 19-page report said Roberts would overturn a 1971 Supreme Court standard that prohibits state-sponsored activity that has a primarily religious purpose. In its place, Roberts would allow such activity as long as people are not 'coerced' into participating, AU said. The result would be government officials delivering prayers at civic ceremonies, allowing religious symbols such as the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public buildings and permitting government to be used for religious programs, the report said. That will be dangerous for non-Christian minorities, the report said."