Stupid Legislator Tricks : Dispatches from the Culture Wars

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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)

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Stupid Legislator Tricks

Posted on: December 14, 2007 9:02 AM, by Ed Brayton

John McKay has the story of a ridiculous and pandering resolution by Rep. Steve King demanding that Congress recognize Christianity as a truly wondrous thing. I agree with pretty much everything McKay has to say on it.

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In a similar vein, we've got a state senator in Indiana trying to amend our constitution to prevent the state from taxing religious property, even though it's utterly unnecessary:

http://www2.indystar.com/articles/6/253789-5166-127.html

Lawmakers are considering a proposal to amend the state's constitution to exempt churches from property taxes _ even though they are currently exempt and there seems to be little threat of that changing.
Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, sponsored the resolution, which would start the years-long process of amending the state constitution. The amendment would prohibit property taxes from being charged on buildings and personal property used for religious worship.

"We do not have a crisis today of taxing religious property," Miller said. "My concern is for the future."

Posted by: Michael LoPrete | December 14, 2007 9:50 AM

So what I want to know is what effect this will actually have. I admit that it makes me very nervous, but is it the thin end of a wedge? Is the religious right going to point at it the next time abortion laws come up to try to get their way? Will it be usable by dominionists to push for a theocracy or christian nationalists to oppress non-xians? I really don't have an adequate understanding of politics to make a judgement on it and would appreciate some input.

Posted by: jba | December 14, 2007 9:55 AM

In regards to the amendment to Indiana constitution, where they say:

"The amendment would prohibit property taxes from being charged on buildings and personal property used for religious worship."

How are they planning to define religious worship? Can I start a church in my bedroom, congregation me, and refuse to pay taxes on my house, or are only approved religions allowed? Or can I simply avoid taxes by cutting my fingernails, as required by the Odinists? After all, it is a form of religious worship.

Posted by: Spike | December 14, 2007 10:54 AM

I know it would be too much to ask for the Congress to actually do something useful instead of wasting time and taxpayer money in idiotic posturing, but could they at least refrain from blatantly violating their Oaths of Office to uphold and defend the Constitution?

I mean, what part of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" do they not understand?

Posted by: The Mad Patriot | December 14, 2007 11:06 AM

A resolution isn't a law. Hence, it isn't against the letter of the constitution for Congress to pass a resolution. It is entirely against the spirit of the Constitution, of course, but we're talking about literalists here. They don't understand the concept of reading for meaning.

It is the very, very thin edge of the wedge, and it should be a national scandal.

Posted by: Michael Suttkus, II | December 14, 2007 12:52 PM

This thing passed the House:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hr110-847

Oh! The stupidity...

Posted by: GeekCyclist | December 14, 2007 4:37 PM

I hope that Congress is not going to adjourn yet. They have a lot more majorities in the US that need their support - white people, English speakers, right handers, ...

Posted by: Ex-drone | December 14, 2007 9:48 PM

Ex-drone-

As a lefty, I oppose having right-handers recognized in that way. Three of my four kids oppose it, too.

Gosh, I want nothing more than to keep the government out of my church. Doesn't congress have more iportant issues: hunger, poverty, war? Oh wait, they must have solved those while I was taking a nap today.

BTW I live in Indiana and am opposed to the state changing the constitution for churches. Wrong move for a state that is dealing with a screwed up property tax situation. Don't get me wrong, I'm not for taxing church property; it's just that I see our situation no different than any other not-for-profit.

Posted by: Rev. AJB | December 14, 2007 10:14 PM

Y'know, maybe we've got it all wrong. I mean, the European countries at the time of the revolution were theocracies, right? (In the sense that they had state religions and their excuse for their rule was that God put them in charge.)

Now they're mostly atheists. The cathedrals are empty. But here, we have no state religion. The wingnuts of various stripes fight over converts, which increases their numbers, and there are more churches than liquor stores within 5 miles of my house (an obvious injustice).

Posted by: BaldApe | December 15, 2007 11:27 AM

jba:

I'd say your wedge concerns are justified at least a little. Judges have kept the revisionist christian nation narrative out of school by stating the simple fact that its an imposition of religious belief. What this law basically does is ask Congress to declare the United States a christian nation with a christian founding. It seems clear to me that the point is to build a legal basis for defending such curriculum changes in the future.

Posted by: Julian | December 15, 2007 12:24 PM

I have to concur with Julian. It is just what I was thinking. This is the tip of the iceberg and, unfortunately, the cowards will probably pass the thing and all contacting them with our concerns does nothing. Perhaps because they've forgotten all about protecting minority rights and definitely because they're too short-sighted (even with screams of Mormon! Mormon! sounding eerily like Salem's witch! witch!) to realize the long term affects of endorsing something so blatantly unconstitutional as they pander to the masses. The egg on their face when this gets real ugly (if they have enough honor to be ashamed) will be small comfort. I do think this is the first step in trying to get Christianity coded into law.

Posted by: Donna | December 17, 2007 8:10 AM