Fail Quote: Bryan Fischer attacks Jessica Ahlquist

Bryan Fischer

From the American Family Association’s arch-bigot, Bryan Fischer, summarizing his entire screed about Jessica Ahlquist and her successful bid to rid her Rhode Island high school of a prayer banner with this tidbit:

This small-minded and vengeful brat has managed to override the Constitution’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion and free speech just by being noisy and mean. She is the newest religious bigot in America.

This sort of impotent bombast would be irritating if it weren’t so amusing, especially given that Fischer’s projecting hard enough to screen a movie on the Moon. Not once in his rant does he mention the Establishment Clause, instead holding onto the delusion that “freedom of religion” somehow means “freedom to have your religion endorsed by governmental institutions”, a dubious interpretation that’s all too pervasive amongst the Christian-Right. And the idea that trying to get the government to obey its own laws makes one a “religious bigot” – well, I’ve already addressed that nonsense with Myth A13, so that’s that.

Really, as Greta Christina explains at AlterNet, the only thing remotely surprising about this case was that the school and its legal representation thought they had even the slightest chance at anything other than a complete and unambiguous defeat in court. There was simply no other way it could possibly have ended for them, not with decades upon decades of clear-cut legal precedent stacked firmly against them. That so many Christianists reacted with the level of fury and hatred that we’ve seen makes it only too clear who the true bigots really are … and it ain’t the teenage girl who’s been threatened with rape, death and more simply for trying to get her school to obey the law.

(via Right Wing Watch)

Edit (07/14/12 1:01 PM ET) – Added the missing link to Fischer’s post.

Tags: Bryan Fischer • Ahlquist v. Cranston • Jessica Ahlquist • Cranston High School West