An Attack on Religious Freedom - Where is the ACLU Here?

If recent history is any guide, they are shooting lay-ups on 10 commandment displays while ignoring the State’s persecution of religion.

Currently, advocates of religious rights continue to focus on the abstract limits of the establishment clause while ignoring the more relevant free exercise clause. The establishment clause in the First Amendment, a prohibition on the establishment of a national religion, is the focus of the ACLU’s frequent suits against displays of the 10 commandments.

Victories in establishment clause cases are generally symbolic though the cost in political capital makes them losers for the ACLU. The link between displaying the commandments and the State proselytizing/discriminating for/against a religion is tenuous at best. It follows that the fight comes off as obnoxious grand standing to people who would otherwise be neutral on the issue. There or not there, the displays existence doesn’t affect anyone’s rights directly. At the same time restrictions on the practice of religion are overlooked.

More thorny issues of prohibition of religious practices are raised by the free exercise clause which guarantees freedom from Government inference in such practices. In this recent case, a California minister’s religion requires the use of marijuana; the State called him a drug dealer and brought charges. This case is a prime candidate for jury nullification, in a “trial by country” this would never result in a conviction:

A Hollywood church that burned marijuana during services and distributed it to members is protected under federal law because the drug is a religious sacrament, the leader of the congregation argued in a hearing before his drug possession trial Tuesday.

The Rev. Craig X Rubin, 41, the leader of the 420 Temple who has appeared in episodes of the Showtime comedy "Weeds," faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of possessing marijuana for sale. Jury selection was set to begin Tuesday afternoon.