Louisiana ACLU representative shows bigoted ideological slip

Bigotry against religion lives in Louisiana, so the statements of the state’s American Civil Liberties Union executive Director Joe Cook demonstrate. On camera, he blithely stated, in reference to the organization’s allegations that the Tangipahoa Parish School Board was countenancing support of religious belief that it found unacceptable after a court ruling on the matter,

“They don’t want to abide by the agreement,” said Cook. “They have always crossed the line of separation of church and government… They believe they answer to a higher power, in my opinion… which is the kind of thinking you had with the people who flew airplanes in the buildings in this country and people who did that kind of thing in London.”

(It should be noted that the judge who issued the order, Chief Judge of the Louisiana Eastern District Ginger Berrigan, once was a state ACLU official.)

Cook later attempted damage control by trying to rephrase his sentiments as saying that it’s dangerous to have people who believe they “answer to some higher religious power than the Constitution of the United States of America.” Naturally, these statements do not equate; Tangipahoa Parish School Board members take an oath to obey local law and defend the state and national Constitutions, are elected and execute the duties of their offices in the open and, most importantly, at least I am unaware that any of them affirm that they follow religious practices they interpret as condoning murder.

Cook’s attempt also shows a profound ignorance of the fact that many of the Framers of the Constitution were very religious men and who also declared religious ideas and belief as cornerstones behind the principles of the Constitution. Their words and actions (religious ceremonies were held in the U.S. House chamber for decades, for example) demonstrate that the ideas behind the Constitution had religious origins. In short, to follow the Constitution (as originally written for the most part, not including meanings from outside it imposed on it by court fiat inconsistent with its original intent) is an extension of belief in a higher power, and following the document a requirement of it.

This slip, the outright admission by the representative the leftist ACLU that to it those who believe in God are to be equated with terrorist murderers, is not surprising in that it appears to be an attitude prevalent within the organization, but is in that its leader was careless enough to broadcast it. This is why we must understand that the true ACLU agenda does not concern itself with “rights,” but with a political agenda marked by loathing for those who are different from its members on this issue. It’s now obvious to all that the emperor has no clothes.

If the state’s ACLU is to regain what little credibility it had, its board must fire Cook and then mandate sensitivity training in the area of tolerance for religious believers for itself, its officers, and local chapter board members and officers. If the ACLU does not cleanse itself of this bigotry now, it will merely confirm that it pursues an agenda at odds with the vast majority of Americans, one which mocks their beliefs, an agenda based on hatred which ultimately harms America.