Christians to suffer splodey heads again

In a unanimous ruling, the US Supreme Court has handed down a ruling that will shortly infuriate Christians in the United States.

Shurtleff v. the City of Boston saw all 9 justices say religious groups can fly their flag on a flagpole outside City Hall. The City denied a request from a Christian group to fly the Christian flag.

Here's a brief right from the link above: Boston usually flies the city’s own flag from the third pole. But Boston has, for years, allowed groups to hold ceremonies on the plaza during which participants may hoist a flag of their choosing on the third pole in place of the city’s flag. Between 2005 and 2017, Boston approved the raising of about 50 unique flags for 284 such ceremonies. Most of these flags were other countries’, but some were associated with groups or causes, such as the Pride Flag, a banner honoring emergency medical service workers, and others. In 2017, Harold Shurtleff, the director of an organization called Camp Constitution, asked to hold an event on the plaza to celebrate the civic and social contributions of the Christian community; as part of that ceremony, he wished to raise what he described as the “Christian flag.”

The High Court ruled 9-0 that Boston set a precedent of allowing other groups to fly their flags. The Justices said denying Mr. Shurtleff's request violated the First Amendment.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." 1A

In this case, the key part of 1A is "abridging the freedom of speech." As the decision says, "We agreed to decide whether the flags Boston allows groups to fly express government speech, and whether Boston could, consistent with the Free Speech Clause, deny petitioners’ flag-raising request." At the end of the majority decision opinion, the Court said, "As a result, the city’s refusal to let Shurtleff and Camp Constitution fly their flag based on its religious viewpoint violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment."

Do you see where this will cause splodey heads among fundamentalist Christians?

Because of Mr. Shurtleff, who had support from the ACLU and other liberal organizations, other religions can fly their flags. Like who? Any group that has a flag.

Satanist. Muslim. Buddhist. Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The Church of the Latter Day Dude. Mormon. Hindu. Voodoo. Jewish. Sikh. 

I hear splodey heads now, especially among some of my fundamentalist Baptist kin. "THAT'S NOT WHAT WE MEANT! YOU CAN'T LET SATANISTS FLY THEIR FLAG. THAT'S AGAINST THE BIBLE," they will scream.

Well, yeah, it is what the Supreme Court meant. It is what the Found Fathers meant. No? Yes! “(O)ur civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions.," so wrote Thomas Jefferson. He also wrote in his autobiography that 1A was written " “to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan [Muslim], the Hindoo, and Infidel of every denomination.”

Freedom, as defined in the Constitution and affirmed by the Supreme Court and the founders of this nation, is available to all regardless of faith or lack thereof. If this causes you a splodey head, then you are the reason 1A was created in the first place.