Humanists Determined to Stop Public Expression of Religion Act
September 27, 2006
For Immediate Release
Contact: Roy Speckhardt, (202) 238-9088
rspeckhardt@americanhumanist.org
- www.americanhumanist.org
(Washington D.C., September 27, 2006) The House of Representatives yesterday passed the so-called Public Expression of Religion Act (HR 2679) by a vote of 244-173. This bill, introduced by Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN), would eliminate compensation fees awarded to attorneys who succeed in proving that the U.S. Constitution has been violated regarding a church-state matter.
“This legislation is nothing more than an attempt at backdoor corrosion of church/state separation,” commented Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. “Congress knows a bill permitting the government to put the Ten Commandments in front of courthouses or mandating prayer in public schools would be unconstitutional. This legislation offers the next best thing by preventing the average citizen's access to the legal tools necessary to challenge those violations.”
Establishment Clause litigation often is very complicated and time consuming; most lawyers simply don't have the resources to work on these cases on a pro-bono basis. Thus, passage of this law would severely limit the ability of average citizens to use the legal system to remove unconstitutional religious expressions and objects from the public sphere.
Moreover, “In these cases compensation is only awarded when the plaintiff wins, which is a common practice in the legal system,” said Mel Lipman, president of the American Humanist Association and a constitutional law attorney. “What makes these particular cases different for Rep. Hostettler is his belief that government should be free to promote religion without consequences even though that is a clear violation of the Establishment Clause. Somebody needs to remind the majority of House members that they swore an oath to uphold the Constitution.”
Hostettler has been a previous supporter of legislative measures that would allow for religious organizations to play a greater role in government. In 2002, he supported The House of Worship and Political Speech Protection Act (HR 2357), which would have altered the tax code to allow religiously affiliated groups to carry out political campaign activities and still maintain their tax-exempt status. The motion to suspend House rules to allow consideration of this measure was defeated and the bill was rejected.
With passage in the House this bill now moves to the Senate. “The American Humanist Association is committed to defeating this bill in the Senate,” added Speckhardt. “After all, if legal fees can be denied to attorneys defending religious liberty, which one of our freedoms will be next? Will there be no more legal fees for free press and free speech cases?”
