Infrastructures and Religion

I am largely in agreement with Rick concerning Prof. Jack Balkin’s thoughts about religious exercise and developing infrastructures. Generally, I do not see a Constitutional issue, i.e., the establishment of religion, if the State grants certain protections or privileges to religious groups and organizations that are denied to certain other organizations or groups. However, I am apprehensive about the State instructing, directly or indirectly, churches through the mechanisms of “infrastructures.” But worrying about the role of the State is not the only concern that I have. The citizenry is much in need of sound and objective education about the proper role of religion in public life, for they, too, can and do have a voice in defining what these infrastructures might be. Yesterday’s Boston Globe had several letters to the editor that could relate to such matters. One letter writer, Ms. Jennifer Kelley [HERE] was highly critical of a previous letter written by a Catholic priest in response to an Ellen Goodman op-ed essay (“Trumping Women’s Rights”) discussing Gonzales v. Carhart. In Ms. Kelley’s view, “[r]eligious fables have no place in political debates” regarding her decisions about personal health and welfare. I pray that Ms. Kelley’s harsh rhetoric will not deter the Church in its important role in public discourse on any pressing issue of the day—with or without the presence of infrastructures.   RJA sj