Subject: [AthofSV] AU @ctivist :: AU Criticizes Judicial Nominee's Claim that America is Engaged in a Religious War

From: "Mark W. Thomas" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 09:55:48 -0700

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                  Americans United Criticizes Judicial Nominee's Claim That
America Is Engaged In A Religious War
                  Tuesday, April 26, 2005
                  Watchdog Group Calls On Senate To Oppose Confirmation Of
Janice Rogers Brown
                 CONTACT

                  Press:
                  Joseph Conn, Rob Boston, or Jeremy Leaming
                  202-466-3234 telephone
                  202-466-2587 fax
                  http://www.au.org/

--------------------------------------------------------------

                  AMERICANS UNITED CRITICIZES JUDICIAL NOMINEE'S CLAIM THAT
AMERICA IS ENGAGED IN A RELIGIOUS WAR

                  Watchdog Group Calls On Senate To Oppose Confirmation Of
Janice Rogers Brown

                  Federal court nominee Janice Rogers Brown's recent
intemperate comments about religion and government are additional proof that
she is unfit for the federal bench, says Americans United for Separation of
Church and State.

                  Addressing a church-sponsored service for judges and
lawyers April 24 in Connecticut, Brown asserted that the nation is in midst
of a "war" over religious values.

                  "There seems to have been no time since the Civil War that
this country was so bitterly divided," Brown observed. "It's not a shooting
war, but it is a war.... These are perilous times for people of faith, not
in the sense that we are going to lose our lives, but in the sense that it
will cost you something if you are a person of faith who stands up for what
you believe in and say those things out loud."

                  Brown, speaking in Darien, Conn., at the invitation of the
Diocese of Bridgeport, asserted that atheistic humanism "handed human
destiny over to the great god, autonomy, and this is quite a different idea
of freedom. Freedom then becomes willfulness."

                  Observed Brown, "You can be spiritual. You can meditate as
long as you don't have a book that says something about right and wrong.

                  Brown's comments were first reported in the Stamford
Advocate and then circulated by Gary Bauer, a Religious Right leader who
supports Brown's nomination. In today's Los Angeles Times, Brown's office
did not dispute the Advocate account.

                  The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans
United, said he was amazed that Brown would make such inflammatory comments
in the middle of a hard-fought confirmation battle.

                  "Most Americans are people of goodwill who want to get
along with their neighbors despite religious differences," Lynn said.
"Declarations that we are in the midst of some sort of religious war do a
disservice to the nation."

                  Continued Lynn, "Judges must be fair-minded and impartial.
Brown's comments show she does not have a judicial temperament and is unfit
for the federal bench. We urge senators to oppose her confirmation."

                  Observers say Brown, currently a justice on the California
Supreme Court, has extreme views in a number of areas. President George W.
Bush has nominated Brown to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia, but Senate Democrats are using filibuster rules to
block her nomination, asserting that her views are too far outside the legal
mainstream.

                  Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group
based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates
Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding
religious freedom.

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                  Beth Corbin
                  National Field Director

                        Americans United
                        for Separation of Church and State
                        518 C Street, NE
                        Washington, DC 20002 202-466-3234 telephone
                        202-466-2587 fax
                        [email-masked]
                        [email-masked]

                 for more information please visit http://www.au.org/