  Gene Policinski: 'Official religion' is not how you protect
religious liberty  11:05 PM, Apr. 16, 2013  |  Comments   •
Filed Under   ? First, the North Carolina Speaker of the House
effectively killed the proposal one day after it was filed,
saying it "will not advance" to a committee hearing   ? And
third, if it did overcome both legislative and legal barriers,
it would have challenged the very underpinnings of the kind of
religious liberty we have professed to the world since 1791,
when the First Amendment was ratified, as part of the Bill of
Rights.  The argument by those who favor the proposed North
Carolina designation combines "state nullification" with a
constitutional concept expressed in recent years by some in Tea
Party gatherings and by other conservative groups: That the
First Amendment's prohibition of "establishment" of an official
faith and providing protection for "free exercise" in religious
choice only applies at the federal level.  The outcome of the
Civil War would seem to have settled