Debate at the University of Houston

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER
Presents the Fourth Andrews Kurth Debate
"CONSIDERING GOD IN GOVERNMENT"

Featuring
KEVIN J. "SEAMUS" HASSON
President, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
and
BARRY W. LYNN
Executive Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State

KROST HALL AUDITORIUM
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON - LAW CENTER
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 - 1:00 P.M.-2:15 P.M.

1.25 hours of CLE Participatory Skills Credit
Parking available in Lots 19B and 21A

"CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE

EXERCISE THEREOF..." The Establishment Clause, and what it means, is at the center of a firestorm of litigation involving the phrase "one nation, under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance and in Ten Commandments displays on public lands.

On October 14, 2003, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow to determine whether the phrase "under God" in the Pledge violates the constitutional separation of church and state. Certiorari was granted after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that public schools may not sponsor daily recitation of the Pledge.

Contemporaneously, court challenges have been made against displays of the Ten Commandments in 14 states. Among them is the renowned Eleventh Circuit decision, which affirmed the lower court’s holding that "Roy’s Rock," the marble monument of the Decalogue located in Alabama’s state judicial building, "is nothing less than an obtrusive year round religious display." The Supreme Court declined to hear that case in November 2003.

Groups such as The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty argue that the issue of God in government goes beyond the confines of jurisprudence and strikes at a much larger question of American culture—the importance of religion in our own history. On the opposing side, organizations such as Americans United for the Separation of Church and State assert that, as America has grown increasingly heterogeneous, the neutrality principle—the admonition that laws must have a secular purpose and neither advance nor inhibit religion—has taken on greater significance.

With the courts reaching different conclusions on "religious displays," will the U.S. Supreme Court take up the cases and consolidate them for review? How will the Pledge of Allegiance read at the conclusion of the Court’s term? The stage is now set for a determination of one of the most contentious issues in America: how does the Court distinguish between acknowledging faith and advocating it?

KEVIN J. "SEAMUS" HASSON is President of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and is its founder. He has specialized in religious freedom cases for 15 years. He is a former Attorney-Advisor for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, where his responsibilities included advising the Reagan administration on church/state issues. He is a magna cum laude graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, and also holds a Master’s Degree in Theology from Notre Dame. The Becket Fund is named after Thomas A. Becket who served as Chancellor of England and oversaw the laws of the kingdom. But as Archbishop of Canterbury, he steadfastly refused to allow King Henry II to interfere in the Church, and was martyred by the King’s knights for defending the principle of religious liberty.

STRIKING THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE PROHIBITION OF ESTABLISHING RELIGION AND INTERFERING WITH ITS FREE EXERCISE

THE REV. BARRY W. LYNN is the Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. In addition to his work as an activist and lawyer in the civil liberties field, Lynn is also an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Lynn worked at the national office of the United Church of Christ as its legislative counsel before serving in the same capacity for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union. Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology. He is highly sought after for his analysis of First Amendment issues, and has frequently appeared on television and radio broadcasts, including the Today Show, Nightline, Crossfire, and 60 Minutes. In 1995, Lynn co-authored THE RIGHT TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: THE BASIC ACLU GUIDE TO RELIGIOUS RIGHTS.

Moderating the debate will be UH Law Center PROFESSOR JOHNNY REX BUCKLES. He is a tax scholar with a special interest in religion and the law. He obtained his B.S. from Oklahoma State University, his J.D. from the Harvard Law School, and his M.A. from Dallas Theological Seminary.

The University of Houston Law Center gratefully acknowledges the law firm of ANDREWS KURTH LLP for their underwriting support, without which this program would not be possible.