Alan Dershowitz Quotes
You know, it's ironic to me that Christians want to keep the Ten Commandments in our schools, because Christianity has abrogated four of the Ten Commandments. For example, the Sabbath day according to the Ten Commandments is Saturday, not Sunday. And the reason is because God rested, not because Jesus was resurrected.
The motion to go on record against the Blue Law the closing of the World’s Fair on Sunday was supported by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a few other leaders but it was too controversial to carry.
In effect this was one of the earliest civil Blue Laws.
Lopez and Elizer were Jews who had escaped the persecution in Portugal to come to America. They and other non-Christians could live and work in Rhode Island but could not vote or hold public office by a previous decision of the Rhode Island Assembly. See {619707}.The Jews had petitioned for their civil rights.
This establishment and enforcement of the Christian Sabbath was really made unconstitutional when the Constitution including the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1789. None the less, many communities in the United States maintained laws and law enforcement regarding the Christian Sabbath (called “Blue Laws”) for years. It was only into the 20th century before the practice died out after a number of cases were declared unconstitutional. Even into the 20th century, there are occasional cases where communities try and use the civil law to enforce their religious beliefs about the Sabbath. There was even a Jewish community in upstate New York which passed laws enforcing the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday. That also was a violation of the First Amendment and thus was unconstitutional.
In the city of Narragansett, RI, there Lester York had each Christmas season dressed up as St Nicholas, 4TH century Catholic Bishop, the precursor to Santa Clause. He played the part of the Bishop and discussed Christmas in that context. The presentation was very educational as students could learn of the culture of that time but they also received an authentic religious sermon of the time. By inviting York into the public elementary schools, the students were learning some history and culture but they were also involved in a religious service and doctrine—the divinity of Christ. The former was good; the latter illegal as the public schools were in addition to educating historically communicating religious messages. York’s presentations had many supporters who had argued that York’s presentation conveyed Christian messages very well and children should not be denied that opportunity. After much community discussion, the public schools withdrew their invitation to York, and he gave his excellent presentation in many community churches.
Constantine the Great
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law, and for controversial political views.
