Religious establishment was legally redefined as private individual speech

Evidence

The first, crucial move in the logic of Greece is to reinterpret public acts that would appear to establish religion—such as officially sponsored invocations at the start of public meetings—as the personal speech of private individuals. Here the five conservatives then on the Supreme Court obediently followed the line of thought that the ADF and its allies provided in their briefs. If a clergyman appointed by the municipal government of Greece bids “All rise” before delivering a prayer, the majority decided, this is not an establishment of religion because the words do not come from the mouth of a public official. If town leaders respond with an “amen,” that isn’t establishment either because, just then, public officials are acting as private individuals, whose “religious liberty” is not to be denied. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 839

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the legal recharacterization trick that makes Establishment Clause protections disappear.
• XREF: Connects to earlier chapter claims about religious liberty rhetoric as a tactical tool toward theocracy. — connects to: Religious liberty doctrine now licenses minority-led establishment of the dominant religion — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 842; Speech-based reasoning grants religion a unique super-category never excludable — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 868; The Constitution’s own structure refutes treating religion as mere speech — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 860 (+7 more)
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Religious-right lawyers shifted strategy from Free Exercise to Free Speech arguments #corroborates (0.85) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 859
• Secularism subsumes the religious under private reason by an act of categorization #expands (0.80)
• Religious-liberty jurisprudence asymmetrically weighs believers’ burden against outsiders’ harm #expands (0.75) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 950