The Washington Report

 

Supreme Court Justice Scalia: 

Honoring God Publicly is Protected in the U.S. Constitution

We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being." ----Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia 

  U.S. Supreme court Justice Antonin Scalia chose the banquet of a large group of Orthodox Jews to declare that the Constitution should not be read to "banish the Almighty from the public forum."

 Pointing out the difference between U.S. law and European law, Justice Scalia referenced a speech made by President George W. Bush shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in which he said, "God bless America."

That statement, said Scalia, would be "absolutely forbidden" in many countries in Europe.

He reportedly lauded a 1952 opinion by Justice Douglas declaring: "We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being," and said that the issue of displaying the Ten Commandments on public property, such as a courthouse," cannot be reasonably understood as a government endorsement of a particular religious viewpoint" because Christianity, Islam and Judaism all believe the Ten Commandments were given by God.

Scalia reportedly believes the display of the Ten Commandments is a public honoring of God and therefore acceptable under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.   (Source: New York Sun -- 06/2/08)