Day: March 28, 2015

So Rand Paul is giving up entirely any notion that he is a libertarian or has libertarians everywhere, if they are to have any credibility, must publicly condemn and disown him. “The First Amendment says keep government out of religion, not religion out of government.” — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by David Brody, speaking at a private prayer breakfast in Washington, DC. Uh, no Rand, that is not what the First Amendment says. It says, with regards to religion, the following:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof[.]

So yes, the Amendment says keep government out of religion, in that it prohibits any law interfering with the free exercise of religion. But Rand skips over the first part of the Amendment, that saying prohibiting any law respecting an establishment of religion. That means religion must stay out of government. No national religion. No law compelling people to attend religious services (attention Arizona). No law allowing people to use religion as a reason to discriminate (attention Indiana and Arkansas). Perhaps radical Christian Conservative Rand Paul means there is no law against mixing religion and politics. That's true.