Goes over to Kerry. Dan Drezner makes the case.
EMAIL OF THE DAY: “Your post concerning David Barton wrongly implies that the following views are extreme: 1) the separation of church and state is a myth, 2) America is a “Christian nation,” and 3) pastors are allowed to endorse candidates from the pulpit. The trouble is that none of these views are extreme; on the contrary, it would be hard to gainsay any one of them.
First, the Supreme Court’s decision in 1947 to apply the Establishment Clause against the states has been subjected to sustained scholarly criticism. No scholar disputes that the Establishment Clause originally protected each state’s right to establish a religion (many states in 18th and 19th centuries in fact had established churches). To incorporate the Establishment Clause into the Fourteenth Amendment therefore is incoherent, for it is impossible to protect against state infringement a right that belongs to states in the first place. The Harvard Law Review has written on this subject, as have other publications.
Second, America has always been and continues to be a Christian nation in the sense that most of its citizens are Christians. There is nothing extreme about making this rather banal observation.
Finally, not only are pastors allowed to endorse candidates from the pulpit, but their right to do so is protected by the First Amendment. To be sure, there is a question as to whether churches will lose their tax-exempt status if they endorse candidates, but the only reason that the tax code potentially denies churches the power to endorse candidates is that in 1950s Lyndon Johnson managed to usher a bill to that effect through Congress in order to punish some of his political opponents. It has nothing to do with “separation of church and state” at all.” Much more feedback on the Letters Page.
The Dish 