NEWS
Emboldened ACLU Mounts Concerted Attack
on Grand Canyon State
During a typical day on the south rim of the Grand
Canyon, many visitors are enthralled with the 9 ½-foot wingspans of the
California Condors soaring over the abyss. Few of the 5 million annual
visitors to the Grand Canyon are aware that "vultures" have descended
upon the South Rim souvenir stores that posted small wooden
scriptural plaques on its stone walls.
The "vultures" are the representatives of the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU) who intimidated the National Park Service into removing the
tiny scripture plaques from Hermit's Rest, as well as from Lookout
Studio and Desert View Tower.
In the canyon below are buttes and landmarks named for Hindu gods. In the
view of the Constitution-challenged ACLU, the plaques represent an
establishment of religion; the buttes do not.After several days of
protest from people opposing the ACLU attack on Christianity, the
National Park Service relented. The plaques were posted in the three
locations again July 23.
Nevertheless, there is no denying that the ACLU has been greatly emboldened by its willing allies in the judicial system.
The ACLU is still attempting to force removal of a Ten Commandments display
in Wesley Bolin Plaza, near the state capitol in Phoenix.
First Amendment Abuse of the First Order
Maureen Oltrogge, spokeswoman for the Grand Canyon National Park, said
the Department of Interior determined -- following the ACLU's threat of
a lawsuit -- that the plaques are not
appropriate for federal public facilities. "The First Amendment
prohibits the government from supporting a particular religion. It's a
difficult issue, but it is supported by numerous court decisions."
Actually, Arizona has never ratified the First
Amendment, or amendments 1-10, for that matter. Only 14 states ever
ratified the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. It would not
have mattered if Arizona did ratify the First Amendment because
religious plaques don't violate the amendment. A plaque in a souvenir
store in a national park does not represent the establishment of a
national religion. Congress never passed a law that stated Biblical
scriptures cannot be displayed in Arizona's public places.
The issue was not a difficult one in the first 150
years of American history, when the phrase "separation of church and
state" entered court records exactly two times. The ACLU began
distorting the meaning of the First Amendment several decades ago, and
the government has all too often gotten in bed with the leftist,
un-American organization which self-righteously cloaks itself in the
U.S. Constitution.
Quoting the Biblical Psalms 68:4, 66:4 and 104:24, the plaques had been
on display for more than 30 years. The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary in
Phoenix had installed the plaques in the late 1960s. An unstated number
of letters and a recent inquiry by the ACLU stampeded the park service
into its decision. Officials in the Department of Interior's
Intermountain Region Office in Denver recommended that Grand Canyon
National Park Superintendent Joe Alston order the removal of the
plaques. The sisterhood is still hopeful that the plaques can be
displayed somewhere within the park.
When it comes to the validity of the ACLU's claim about the First
Amendment, the fix is in. It's a lie. Government units around the nation
frequently duck and cover when the ACLU takes aim on Christian signs and
plaques displayed in public squares, then yields to the demands rather
than uphold the U.S. Constitution.
The truth of the matter is that the First Amendment does not apply to
individual states, the National Park Service, to public schools or to Wesley Bolin Plaza where the
Ten Commandments plaque has resided for 40 years.
The First Amendment applies only to the U.S. Congress and instructs that
congress make no law in the interests of establishing a national
religion. The First
Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights in order to protect
religion from the government.
When the First Amendment was ratified by the original states in 1791,
five states recognized their own state churches. None of these states
would have ratified the First Amendment if it meant that they were
violating its principle. State-sanctioned religion in America continued
for another 42 years, up until 1833 when Massachusetts discontinued its
recognition of a state church. The government understood the true
meaning of the First Amendment until it was co-opted by the ACLU well
into the 20th century.
Communist Roots
The ACLU's roots extend into communism, and the organization has
diametrically opposed Christianity and freedom through the execution of
a well-orchestrated agenda to distort history and the meaning of the
Constitution. The organization cloaks itself in the guise of defending
the Constitution from religion, but actively opposes only Christianity.
ACLU founder Roger Baldwin stated in 1935, "Communism is the goal." A
year before, he had said: "When the power of the working class is once
achieved, as it has been in the Soviet Union, I am for maintaining it by
any means necessary." Then in 1978, Baldwin said, "We've depended on the
courts as the vehicle by which we assert our interpretation of the
Constitution."
It's that communistic interpretation of the
Constitution which is at odds with American history and the intent of
the founding documents, particularly the First Amendment. The ACLU has
used its purposely skewed interpretation to defend pedophiles,
communists, draft dodgers, the abortion industry, to attack crisis
pregnancy centers, and to single out from all other religions Christianity as a target. Former Gov. Jane Hull's declaration of Bible
week was vigorously attacked by the ACLU, but when she declared a Buddhist
week, the ACLU yawned and looked the other way. Gilbert also backed down
to ACLU legal intimidation when former mayor Cynthia Dunham declared a Bible week
and the town declared itself a city of character.
