Click here to view original article www.kentucky.com
OPINION AND COMMENTARY Editorials and other Opinion content offer perspectives on issues important to our community and are independent from the work of our newsroom reporters. Op-Ed Freedom of religion should not be confused with enforced secularism, writes J. Larry Hood. DNY59 Getty Images Recently the Herald Leader published an essay by Rachel Laser, President of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. This essay challenges the assertions made in that essay. Laser argues that there is a separation of church and state in the nation’s ethos that forbids anyone expressing their religion in the public square. In reality this is a direct contradiction of the national ethos as expressed in the First Amendment’s prohibition against the government passing any law proscribing a citizen’s right to freely express their religion. She supports plaintiffs suing to end abortion restrictions who argue such restrictions are an unconstitutional insertion of other’s religion into public policy. Laser’s argument, with no historical or constitutional basis, would mean that a Baptist could not pursue prohibition nor a Catholic abortion bans. Laser and the plaintiffs are insisting that the entire national community accept their values. She and the plaintiffs are arguing for and pursuing fundamental […]