First Amendment Rights

I guess Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is in hot water again. You remember him as the object of a recall election in 2012. That was when union bosses from around the country sent masses of temp workers into the state to act as protesters against his alleged “union busting” policies. Whether union busting or necessary for job growth, as Walker contends, I don’t know. I do know that he campaigned with this policy proposal being presented publicly and the people of the state elected him. Just why his opponents then had a recall election, I don’t quite understand. Sore losers, presumably. But back to the current controversy. Walker professes to be a Christian. As a Christian, he posted a scripture reference from the New Testament on his personal Twitter and Facebook accounts. The verse is the familiar Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” But please do not misunderstand. He did not quote the verse. He merely cited it. His Twitter and Facebook accounts read simply, “Philippians 4:13”. For this citation of Philippians 4:13, an aggressive atheist group called The Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote a letter to Walker asking him to delete the message from both accounts. Rather than considering his accounts personal, the argument made by the atheists is that “it is improper” for a politician to promote personal religious views using the “machinery of the state.” Dan Barker is the co-President of The Freedom From Religion Foundation (the other co-President is Barker’s wife, Annie Laurie Gaylor). Barker and Gaylor have become adept at mailing letters threatening legal action whenever any public mention is made of God - and making certain the press is told about these letters. The website for his organization is curious for sure: tabs at the top of the page are a pretty color of blue, with a garish gold tab sticking out like a sore thumb. The garish tab that is impossible to miss is inscribed with the word DONATE. One could reasonably conclude that the website is designed not so much to inform but to fleece. Sort of like having the press report on letters sent: the more press, the more donations. What little bit of information is on the website is mostly sterile, easily refuted and belligerent diatribes that parade as “Free Thought.” There is also an atheist radio broadcast, listened by someone, somewhere I suppose, that is promoted on the site. Barker and Gaylor’s comment on their website, regarding Scott Walker posting “Philippians 4:13” on Twitter and Facebook, was “seems more like a threat, or the utterance of a theocratic dictator, than of a duly elected civil servant.” Posting “Philippians 4:13” is a threat? By a “theocratic dictator”? See, I told you the web site was, um, let’s just say bereft of intelligent discourse. Their comments seem more like an attempt to bully a duly elected civil servant into silence. “Don’t tell us about the core of your being and the values that mean the most to you and influence public policy. We don’t want to know. Keep silent about your faith!” I prefer knowing what the core values are of my elected officials. I may or may not share them, but I find it helps to know. Okay, here is my take on it. The last time I looked, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of Religion, Assembly, Petition, Press, Opinion, and Speech. I know this is tough for The Freedom From Religion Foundation to accept – but there it is. I do not read in the First Amendment where an exception is made for an elected official. Particularly one who happens to cite a verse from the Bible on Twitter and Facebook. This is not like sending out the troops to convert people to his religion. So, I say Hurrah for Scott Walker! Way to keep freedom of speech alive, Scott. Way to protect the right of all Americans to practice the freedom of Religion, Assembly, Petition, Press, Opinion, and Speech, or what we commonly call… First Amendment rights.