New Jersey Archives - American Atheists https://www.atheists.org/tag/new-jersey/ Protecting the absolute separation of religion from government. Thu, 12 Dec 2019 22:01:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 125490277 Atheists Tell New Jersey to End Religious Exemptions from Vaccination Requirements https://www.atheists.org/2019/12/new-jersey-vaccinations-bill-senate/ Thu, 12 Dec 2019 21:55:53 +0000 https://www.atheists.org/?p=21636 Trenton, NJ—Today, American Atheists’ President Nick Fish delivered testimony urging the NJ Senate Committee on Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens to amend a bill (S2173) to remove religious exemptions from public school immunization requirements. “When parents refuse to vaccinate their children, they endanger their lives and the lives of their classmates, particularly those who are unable to receive vaccinations for medical reasons,” said Fish. “No young person should be subjected to preventable and potentially debilitating infectious diseases due to the personal religious beliefs of their caretakers or classmates.” The use of religious exemptions is on the rise in New Jersey. During the 2017/18 school year, the number of these exemptions increased to more than 12,000—up from just 1,600 a decade ago. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 86% of the more than 1,200 plus cases of measles reported this year were associated with “under-immunized, close-knit communities including two outbreaks in New York Orthodox Jewish communities,” which resulted from religious exemptions. “Before New Jersey experiences a measles outbreak and is forced to declare a state of emergency, legislators should enact common-sense legislation to eliminate these dangerous religious exemptions right now,” said Fish. “Not only is it pressing that we accomplish this, it is perfectly constitutional.” Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear in Prince v. Massachusetts (1944) that “the right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or children to communicable disease, or the latter to ill health or death.” In addition, neither New Jersey’s constitution nor laws require that public health and safety be subordinated by religious beliefs, no matter how sincerely held. “I urge the New Jersey Senate to follow the example of their colleagues in the General Assembly and remove these religious exemptions, joining Maine and New York in putting the lives of young people first,” added Fish. The companion bill to S2173 in the General Assembly, A3818, was amended in January 2019 to remove religious exemptions.

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]]> 21636 Atheists: Taxpayers Should Not Be Forced to Fund Religious Worship https://www.atheists.org/2019/03/supreme-court-new-jersey-churches/ Tue, 05 Mar 2019 01:25:37 +0000 https://www.atheists.org/?p=10543 Cranford, NJ—Today, Americans Atheists applauded the Supreme Court’s decision to decline review of Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders. In this case, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Morris County taxpayer dollars could not go toward repairing so-called “historic houses of worship.” With its refusal to hear the case, the Supreme Court allowed the NJ court’s ruling to stand. However, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, released a statement criticizing the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision. “Barring religious organizations because they are religious from a general historic preservation grants program is pure discrimination against religion,” he wrote. In response to Kavanaugh’s comments, President Nick Fish released the following statement: Justice Kavanaugh either misunderstands this case or purposefully misstates the facts. The original New Jersey law discriminated in favor of religion by limiting the recipients of government funding to only houses of worships and three more categories. Under this system, other historic buildings—be it hotels or hospitals—could not apply for grants. By declaring this fund unconstitutional, the New Jersey Supreme Court simply leveled the playing field by removing preferential treatment for religion. Kavanaugh also conveniently left out the massive redistribution of taxpayer dollars to houses of worship. From 2012 to 2015, twelve Morris County churches—but no synagogues, mosques, or temples—received over $4.6 million to repair structures holding regular worship services. By funneling money to active congregations, the government was financially supporting religious worship itself. This amounts to government endorsement of religion and specifically Christianity, which is precisely what the Establishment Clause prohibits. While the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today is a win for religious equality and for New Jersey taxpayers, Kavanaugh’s disturbing comments leave us with a sense of foreboding akin to the calm before the storm.”

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