Judicial Activism, Religious Liberty Focus of Weekend TV Special
by Allie Martin
June 11, 2004
(AgapePress) - A television special examining the assault on religious liberty in America is set to air nationwide this weekend.The hour-long special from Dr. D. James Kennedy and Coral Ridge Ministries, titled The First Amendment on Trial, features former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, writer David Limbaugh, Christian historian David Barton, and others. Coral Ridge describes the broadcast as a look at the "shocking erosion of religious liberty due to activist judges," and states that America's founders "gave us 'freedom of religion' -- but activist judges and the American Civil Liberties Union have changed that to 'freedom from religion.'"
Dr. Kennedy says most Americans do not realize that the nation's founders never intended for the First Amendment to be used to squelch religious liberty.
"The problem with a wall of separation between Church and State is that it impedes equally people on one side and the other," the pastor explains. Kennedy, emphasizing that the First Amendment states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, maintains the amendment was designed only to impede the federal government.
Kennedy says the television special documents what many say is a modern assault on religious expression. According to the ministry leader, the only solution to a runaway federal judiciary is passage of the Constitution Restoration Act (H.R. 3799).
"What [the Constitution Restoration Act] does is remove from the purview of the courts -- the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court and the others -- any right to deal with any matters that involve the relationship of God to the public life of this country," he explains.
Among other things, the legislation would allow lawmakers to impeach Supreme Court justices who make faulty rulings, exceed their jurisdiction, or rely on anything other than the U.S. constitutional and English common law in their interpretation and application of the U.S. Constitution.
The First Amendment on Trial runs this weekend during The Coral Ridge Hour on more than 600 stations nationwide. It is also available in VHS and DVD format through the ministry's website.
