Martyr du Jour

So, did you hear the one about the Catholic Warrior in Florida? The one who tore down a holiday display put up by Satanists?

On Tuesday, December 23rd of last year, Susan Hemeryck entered the Florida State Capitol building, walked past the Nativity Scene and to the Satanic Temple’s holiday display, then told two Florida Department of Law Enforcement Capitol Police officers that she was “sorry, but I have to take this down.”

Hemeryck, who was wearing a “Catholic Warrior” t-shirt at the time, then proceeded to tear down the Satanic Temple’s holiday display.

At the time, she told the Associated Press that “it’s just wrong, when you remove baby Jesus two days before Christmas and put Satan in his place? I was there at the right time and the right moment and I needed to take a stand against Satan.”

“I just yanked that little devil off the fishing line,” she said. “I should have just done a better job and finished it off for good.”

Well, it turns out she's being persecuted.

"We are not sure there was a crime," Hemeryck's attorney Mike Bauer said. "I think this case represents the state basically putting an attack on Christians. That would be her viewpoint."

This guy must work for Liberty Counsel: If a "Christian" vandalizes someone's property because she finds it offensive, it's not a crime. Because, of course, "Christians" don't have to obey laws they don't like.

Speaking of Liberty Counsel, they want to do away with the Lemon Test. The Lemon Test, as you'll recall, is the way the courts determine whether a law violates the Establishment Clause.

Since 1971, the Lemon test has allowed mere offended observers to overturn years of religious tradition,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. In the case currently before the court, two Wiccans were offended over a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Bloomfield, New Mexico, municipal building.

“The Lemon test has meant that the Establishment Clause, designed to prevent federal establishments of religion, has morphed into a weapon aimed at eliminating all vestiges of public religious expression,” added Staver. “It is past time to abandon that judge-made rule and return to the actual words and intent of the First Amendment,” concluded Staver.

Shall we take that as the next shot in the War on Religious Liberty™?

(The Establishment Clause, of course, is the reason the Satanists were able to put up their display. I suppose that's the next target.)