Does something seem wrong with the fact that our most fundamental and hard-fought freedoms can be crushed by a majority vote among nine lawyers? That's what happened yesterday when the Supreme Court overturned, by a six to three vote, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Following a major lobbying campaign by religious and civil liberties groups, Congress had passed this act in 1993 to protect the First Amendment rights of Americans to free religious exercise. But the Supreme Court has just ruled that the 1993 act gave Americans too much protection from government regulation.
The case started with the battle of a church in Texas to expand its building to accommodate its growing congregation. You, foolish outrage reader, might think that a bigger building for a growing religious gathering would be a pretty innocuous matter. Kinda like mom and apple pie.
Town bureaucrats thought differently. The town ruled that because the church was located in a historic district, the expansion was a violation of zoning laws.
Bureaucrats across America cheered the Supreme Court decision for removing an obstacle to the enforcement of scores of their rules and regulations.
Religious groups had a different take on the ruling. Brent Walker, representing the Baptist Committee on Public Affairs, called the ruling "momentous." "It has completely left the citizens of this country without any protection for their religious freedom," Walker says.
(Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram.)
