God's Not Dead 2 Page #4

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service to the community.

Better chance of

being struck by lightning.

It amazes me how we,

as human beings, think.

When I was battling for my life,

I was willing to hold onto

anything, including God,

even though I really didn't believe

in him until that moment.

I was convinced that I felt him,

but now that I'm officially in remission,

I find myself questioning everything.

So, effective immediately,

this blog is the personal diary

of one woman's exploration of faith

on her own terms, cancer-free.

Hey, Martin. How's it going?

Very good, Pastor Dave.

Oh, please.

You sure?

Well, it seems that for

every question you answered,

three or four more questions spring up.

Yeah, but that's a good thing, right?

It's like what Einstein

said about science.

Picture what you know

like the light of a candle.

As the circle of knowledge expands,

so does the circumference

of darkness around it.

So, I'm actually learning,

even though I might not feel like it.

Yes, exactly.

Well, I've been studying the Beatitudes.

They're very hard, one might say

impossible, to follow completely.

Here in Luke's account, Jesus says,

"Do unto others as you

have them do unto you."

But how is that possible?

How can I react to

the needs of everyone else

the same as my own, even for one day,

let alone my whole life?

And how can I reconcile my inability

to do so with Scripture?

Yeah, those are good questions.

Okay, scoot over.

What is that, Luke?

Yes, 6:
20.

"And Jesus said to his disciples,

'You who are poor are blessed

"'because the kingdom of God is yours.

"'You who are now hungry are blessed

'because you will be filled.

"'You who now weep are blessed

because you will laugh.

"'You are blessed when people

hate you, when they exclude you,

"'insult you,

and slander your name as evil

because of the Son of Man."'

You can't win.

Thanks.

I'll take that under advisement.

Oh, come on, you know I'm right.

I mean, why do it?

Why go through this whole exercise, huh?

Here, thanks.

You know, I looked up your history.

You're better than this.

You were third in your

class at Stanford Law.

You clerked for a judge

on the Ninth Circuit.

Why you slumming like this?

Maybe I believe that people

that don't do anything wrong

shouldn't suffer at the hands of the law.

You know what hate is, Tom?

I'm not talking about the fairy tale

stuff, I mean real hate.

I hate what people

like your client stand for

and what they're doing to our society,

and Stennis does, too,

even if he doesn't admit it.

Well, the jury doesn't hate her.

Ah, but that's the secret, Tommy.

They don't need to hate her.

They just need to see a tiny

flaw in her, a half truth,

a small inconsistency,

just a little bit of doubt,

and they'll find against her.

Nice shoes.

You ready?

Come on.

Congress shall make

no law respecting an establishment

of religion or prohibiting

the free exercise thereof.

The first half of this passage

is known as the establishment clause.

The second half is known as

the free exercise clause.

Now, there has been an ongoing debate

about what the role

of government should be,

because in practice, these two provisions

are often in conflict,

which is what brings us here today.

In the matter of Thawley vs. Wesley,

is the plaintiff prepared to

make its opening statement?

We are, Your Honor.

Then proceed.

Ladies and gentlemen,

in a jury of this size,

I'm imagining that there are,

probably among your ranks,

a few Christians.

Hopefully practicing ones,

and that's a good thing, that's fine,

because Christianity is not on trial here,

even though my opponent will

try to convince you that it is.

Nor is faith on trial.

Only Ms. Wesley is on trial here today.

Now, ask any 4th grader

and they're probably

familiar with the phrase,

"Separation of church and state,"

and that is guaranteed

to us under our laws.

The plaintiffs

are the parents of a student

in Ms. Wesley's class

who was subjected to hearing

the teachings of Jesus Christ

being favorably compared

to the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.

We all know that Jesus is part

of a particular religious tradition.

These parents, who are trying to raise

their daughter to be a free thinker,

free of any religious dogma,

are wholly offended by what

went on in that classroom.

And she, reciting the words

that were allegedly attributed to Jesus,

who allegedly lived 2,000 years ago,

gave a clear and compelling indication

of what she believes, what she supports,

what she endorses.

Now, let me put it this way.

I don't mean to offend anyone

who may be a Muslim here,

and I do not want to slight

the prophet of Islam,

but if you were to ask me a

question concerning the Quran,

the sacred text of Islam,

and I could come up with the answer

with great speed and accuracy,

and I could quote

the proper surah, or chapter,

then it would be reasonable

for you to infer

that I was not only a follower of Islam,

but that I considered it to be superior

to all other forms of religion.

If I did this in a house of

worship, that would be fine.

But if I did it in an 11th grade

classroom in a public school,

that would be preaching, not teaching.

So, why? Why in the world

are we here today?

Why? Because Ms. Wesley

refused to apologize,

and that means that her true motivation

in that moment in her classroom

was to take an innocent question

and turn it into an opportunity

to preach, not teach.

If we grant Ms. Wesley

the right to do that,

and by extension, everyone else,

to violate the law based solely

on our own private beliefs,

then our society will crumble.

I believe that.

So, I implore you, please

do not set this precedent.

Do not.

The future of our republic depends on it.

What's going on?

Brooke is exercising her right to protest.

Brooke, I need you

to stop this immediately.

Brooke, this is the last time

I'm gonna tell you.

If you don't stop right now,

there are gonna be consequences.

Hey, Aunt Amy.

Hey, Marlene.

Yeah, I just saw the video,

what's going on?

So, you remember my friend, Brooke?

Yeah.

Well, she got a teacher in trouble

for asking her about Jesus.

What?

Now she's not even

supposed to talk about it

and we can't even cover it

in our school paper.

Is there any way that

I could meet with her?

- The teacher?

- No, Brooke.

Mr. Endler, your opening statement.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

I have here a copy of the Constitution

of the United States of America

and its Bill of Rights,

arguably the two most important documents

in the history of our great nation.

But despite Mr. Kane's

impassioned rhetoric,

you know what you won't find in there

no matter how hard you look?

The phrase "Separation

of church and state."

That's right.

It's not in there, never has been,

because that phrase comes from a letter

written by Thomas Jefferson.

Now, ironically, Jefferson was writing

to a Baptist congregation, ensuring them

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