Psychology Today: How religious-right lawyer Jay Sekulow enabled atheists to go mainstream.

[backscatter712]

Interesting...

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our-humanity-naturally/201105/how-jay-sekulow-lost-the-culture-wars

If atheists take over America in a generation or two, you can thank (or blame, depending on how you view it) Jay Sekulow.

Anyone immersed in the culture wars knows Sekulow, who currently runs the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the Religious Right's answer to the ACLU. Founded by fundamentalist televangelist Pat Robertson, the ACLJ asserts and defends the conservative religious agenda in the courts.

...

Sekulow, however, turned things around for the Religious Right. In the case of Westside Community Board of Education vs. Mergens (1990) Sekulow successfully argued, on Free Speech grounds, that public schools generally cannot prohibit formation of Christian clubs if other kinds of clubs are allowed. Since then, Bible clubs, prayer clubs, and other voluntary Christian-oriented extracurricular activities have become commonplace in public schools across the country.

...

What Sekulow and others on the Christian Right may not have considered, however, is that the Mergens decision opened the doors not just for Christian groups in public schools, but for other groups as well. In fact, it was a game-changer. If Free Speech standards dictate that Christian clubs cannot be banned, then neither can Jewish, Hindu, or Muslim clubs.

Or atheist clubs.

Before Westside Community Board of Education v. Mergens, there were nearly no atheist clubs on campus. But because the ruling stipulates that the school must open themselves to clubs of all religions, or no religions, a ruling that originally was a victory for the fundies opened the doors for atheists to get loud and proud in high schools and college campuses across the nation!

I love it when the righties shoot themselves in the foot!