Scalia Defends Public Expression of Faith
Recent Rulings Have Gone Too Far, Justice Says During Tribute to Va. Gathering
By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 13, 2003; Page B03

A historic Virginia law and the constitutional amendment guaranteeing freedom of religion did not intend to "exclude God from the public forums and from political life," Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said yesterday.

In a short speech to about 150 people gathered in a small park in Fredericksburg to commemorate a landmark Virginia statute that ultimately served as the blueprint for the First Amendment to the Constitution, Scalia criticized court decisions in recent years that have outlawed expressions of religious faith in public events.

He cited as an example a California federal court ruling last summer that the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance were a violation of the separation of church and state.

Scalia spoke at a ceremony marking the day in 1777 when Thomas Jefferson, George Mason and other colonialists gathered in a Fredericksburg tavern to draft what became the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.

That legislation, ultimately enacted in 1786, became the blueprint for the constitutional guarantee of the right to religious freedom enshrined in the Bill of Rights, penned shortly after that.

In his 10-minute speech, Scalia launched a spirited defense of such public expressions of religious faith as coins stamped "In God We Trust," chaplains in the military services and in Congress and nondenominational prayers before high school graduations.

Such actions, Scalia said, "reflect the true tradition of religious freedom in America -- a tradition of neutrality among religious faiths."

"Government will not favor Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews," Scalia told the crowd. "But the tradition was never that the government had to be neutral between religiousness and nonreligiousness."

Court decisions forbidding mentions of God in public events, Scalia said, are the result of interpretations of the Constitution that are too elastic.

"It is part of the Constitution known as the 'living Constitution,' " said Scalia, whose son Paul is a priest in a Fredericksburg area Catholic church. "It is a Constitution that morphs. . . . Whatever we think it ought to mean it means, and that new meaning will be imposed on our citizens coast to coast."

Fredericksburg's celebration of the 1777 meeting has become a town tradition in recent years, sponsored by two fraternal organizations -- the Knights of Columbus and Knights Templar.

Before the event, about 60 knights -- in crisp black uniforms, white gloves and plumed hats -- marched in the winter chill behind a Marine Corps color guard through the streets of historic downtown Fredericksburg to the memorial commemorating the gathering 226 years ago.

Adding a musical note were a bagpipe player and three members of a fife and drum corps from a Civil War reenactment group.

"It's a little cold this year," said Jim Driscoll, 60, a knight from Culpeper, as he patted his thin uniform in the icy wind with his gloved hands to try to stay warm before the parade. "I'm getting a little old for this."

As the parade marched by the antique stores and cappuccino shops lining Caroline Street, mystified visitors, and even some residents, stopped to watch.

Bryan and Laura Carpenter pushed their two toddlers' strollers to the end of the sidewalk so they could get a better view.

"We had no idea this was going on," Laura Carpenter said. The couple had come from Great Mills in Southern Maryland to tour Fredericksburg.

"This is so wonderful."

Taken from Washington Post website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A47850-2003Jan12&notFound=true