{"id":4587,"date":"2009-05-20T08:02:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-20T14:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/05\/first-amendment-battles-continued\/"},"modified":"2009-08-22T14:08:10","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T20:08:10","slug":"first-amendment-battles-continued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/05\/first-amendment-battles-continued\/","title":{"rendered":"First Amendment battles continued"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By Carter Bundy<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Last week I criticized Hawaii for declaring \u201cIslam Day.\u201d<\/a> But despite the assault on the wall separating church and state from all directions, the United States is still the world\u2019s leader in the area of free speech, free thought and freedom of religion.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

We\u2019re not that way by accident. Advocates stand vigilant every day to ensure we remain the freest country in the world. To do that, we can\u2019t pick and choose when to support free speech or separation of church and state. It has to be a consistent, all-the-time watch.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Subsidizing religion<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Some Americans who railed against Hawaii\u2019s Islam day don\u2019t mind government support of religion as long as it\u2019s their religion. That doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Thomas Jefferson, in his Virginia Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom<\/a>, noted that intertwining of government and religion \u201ctends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage\u2026 the opinions of men are not the object of civil government.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Not only is government sponsorship of religion tyrannical (Jefferson\u2019s word), it\u2019s bad for the religion itself. Look at Europe, which has historically had some of the closest ties between church and state. Over time, the church became merely another appendage of the state. Not even cabinet-level, really.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Insisting the government support any particular religion, or even religion generally, is a sign of weakness of religion. Any religion with something important to say is stronger than that.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

For a great read on the durability of religion in the face of even a hostile government, nothing beats Graham Greene\u2019s The Power and the Glory<\/a>. Despite a Mexican government bent on eliminating the Catholic Church, and a flawed \u201cwhisky priest,\u201d Catholicism survives and eventually thrives.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Imagine how much better religion can do in a country like America, where government merely stays out of the way of religion. By avoiding Europe\u2019s mistake of propping up religion, and old Mexico\u2019s mistake of suppressing it, we allow religions to thrive as much as their adherents and our citizens want them to.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Since when did real faith need a government bailout anyhow?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Political protest done right<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty rare, but there are times when speech should be limited. When there\u2019s an event that others have planned, it\u2019s not really the place of any of us to interfere with others\u2019 speech. That\u2019s why it\u2019s OK to remove an anti-Obama heckler at Notre Dame, or to kick anti-war protesters out of a Bush event.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Still, there shouldn\u2019t be punishment other than removal from the facility, and there should be as unrestrained freedom of protest right outside the event as is practical. One of the kindest columns I ever wrote about President Bush was in praise of his response to a heckler at an immigration swearing-in ceremony in Charlottesville, Virginia. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

C\u2019ville, as it\u2019s known, is home to Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Monticello, the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As the heckler was removed, the president told the new citizens that they were seeing the beauty of a free country at work, where even the most powerful man in the country is subject to criticism. For a president who often, to be kind, skirted the constitution\u2026well, maybe the ghost of Jefferson moved him. It was a class act by W.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I liked the way Obama handled Notre Dame, too — he calmly told everyone that the protest was OK, and went on to discuss the importance of a vibrant debate on even the most controversial of issues. Sometimes leaders in both parties get it right. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Of course, as shown by the shameful confined protest areas far away from both DNC and RNC convention sites, sometimes both parties get it wrong. The Democratic and Republican parties should follow the presidents\u2019 example and learn to live with disagreeable speech.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Stifling some ‘speech’<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Santa Fe occupies the loftiest perch, arguably in the entire world, when it comes to small-town arts. It\u2019s not just that our capital is in a virtual three-way tie for art sales with L.A. and San Francisco, behind only New York. It\u2019s that art permeates everything from architecture to sidewalk sales to conversation to hobbies to formal education. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

On the latter front, Santa Fe Community College does a terrific job of offering locals the opportunity to explore the performing arts. At a recent end-of-semester recital, outstanding student performances were turned in, in fields as diverse as drama, hip hop dance, flamenco, singing and even belly-dancing.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But about eight Santa Feans unintentionally spoiled the drama performances by bringing screaming babies — and keeping them through the whole recital. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a difference between protesters temporarily disrupting a political event to make a political point and bringing disruptive babies to an apolitical artistic event. Our First Amendment does not cover lack of courtesy to get a babysitter (or neighbor, or relative, or friend, or co-worker, or teen of any of the above).<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

SFCC should show respect for its students and teachers by politely turning away adults who don\u2019t have the common sense to make other arrangements for kids under four. Alternatively, they can provide on-site child care next semester.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Best of all, neither solution runs afoul of the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Bundy is the political and legislative director for AFSCME<\/a> in New Mexico. The opinions in his column are personal and do not necessarily reflect any official AFSCME position. You can learn more about him by clicking here<\/a>. Contact him at carterbundy@yahoo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Carter Bundy Last week I criticized Hawaii for declaring \u201cIslam Day.\u201d But despite the assault on the wall separating church and state from all directions, the United States is still the world\u2019s leader in the area of free speech, free thought and freedom of religion. We\u2019re not that way by accident. Advocates stand vigilant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bundy-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}