Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on the impending House vote on the Public Expression of Religion Act. He contrasts this effort with the success that accused Muslim terrorists have had in obtaining religious rights at Guantanamo Bay:
“This evening, the House is scheduled to vote on the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA), a bill sponsored by John Hostettler in the House and Sam Brownback in the Senate. The bill would require that parties in establishment-clause cases take responsibility for their own legal fees, thus making it more difficult for the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and others to collect large sums of money in attorney’s fees when they win. If the bill were to become law, it would go a long way towards ending the intimidation tactics of these bullies.
“It is more than ironic—it is perverse—to note that while Christians and Jews are battling for their religious rights, accused Muslim thugs in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps are having no problem getting their religious rights honored during Ramadan. In an illuminating article in today’s Los Angeles Times, the detainees, which include 14 suspected Al Qaeda leaders among the more than 400 prisoners, are in the driver’s seat: staff is working ‘around the clock’ to provide ‘Ramadan-specific’ meals and steps are being taken to assure that no non-Muslim even touches the Koran. So while these Muslims are getting their nuts and honey, Christians and Jews are scratching for their religious crumbs. The situation at the Cuban base is so absurd that one Army official says, ‘The deference that was given to them [the detainees] under the guise of religion was unbelievable.’
“The old adage, ‘What’s Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander,’ needs emendation: ‘What’s Good for Accused Muslim Thugs is Good for Unsuspected Christians and Jews’ makes more sense these days.”
