Some more from the staff editorial in the UNC-Wilmington Seahawk:
And as for the Christian fraternity, whatever happened to the separation of church and state?6 If an organization refuses to sign an anti-discrimination clause and openly says they will not permit students of any other religion entrance into their organization, should they be permitted funding and acknowledgement by an institution of the state?7
But back to the latest issue. According to the Pope Foundation, there’s not enough free speech here at UNCW. The Pope Foundation thinks the wording of a school policy about discriminatory behavior is too vague. That must mean UNCW poses a “serious” threat to its students’ free speech. Everyone who feels repressed raise your hand. How many hands do you see?8
6. Were the supposed friends of the First Amendment at the Seahawk actually familiar with it, they would not ask such a spot-the-idiot question. There is no Constitutional language about a “separation of church and state.” The phrase is bastardized from Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. In that letter, Pres. Jefferson argues that since the Constitution had established a “wall of separation between church and state,” people in public places ? and public officials ? could practice their faiths and utter religious sentiments freely because their so doing would not constitute the establishment of a State Church (a point the president buttressed by closing that letter with a prayer).
7. Not that I expect the Seahawk to have done its homework, but the fact a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against UNC-CH’s attempt to prevent the fraternity from choosing its members based on religious belief should suggest to the student paper that their interpretation is likely wrong. Familiarity with past court rulings also suggests the Seahawk’s ad-hoc interpretation is wrong.
8. Some rhetorical devices are more suited for some audiences than others. Here is a splendid illustration of the futility of argument ad ostentationem manuum (by show of hands) when used in a print medium.
