Thread by @AIWashburn

THREAD:
1) The 1st clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution, a/k/a “the establishment clause,” provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion….” With it in place, Congress is forbidden from promoting one religion over others.

2) Although it doesn’t use the exact words, the establishment clause enshrines in our law the notion of a “separation of church and state,” as it was described by our third President, Thomas Jefferson, in his letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802, in

3) which Jefferson explained to the Baptists that the clause prevents the establishment of a national church, and, therefore, they did not have to fear government interference in their right to expressions of religious conscience.

4) The phrase “separation of church and state” was first quoted by SCOTUS in 1878. In Everson v. Bd. of Ed., 330 U.S. 1 (1947), the Court determined that the establishment clause binds the states, as well as the federal government.

5) Inclusion of all faiths, and of the absence of faith, isn’t political correctness run amok. Faith is a matter of choice guaranteed to all by our Constitution. No public official should ever advocate for discrimination based on a single faith.

6) So, why would a Member of Congress ever send an email like this? (click on the pictures to see the whole)

7) Every single day in the month of December is a holiday to someone, somewhere.

8) To assert, as Rep. Grothman does in the email (see above), that the “season [sic] for the season” is only about “the birth of Jesus Christ” ignores all other faiths, and violates the spirit, if not the actual letter, of the establishment clause.

9) Here’s the speech referenced by Rep. Grothman in the email pictured above:

10) I am running for Congress, in part because honoring both the spirit & the letter of the Constitution is important to me. Please help me flip Wisconsin’s Sixth District back to blue. Thank you!
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