JOHN ASHCROFT'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY HARMS NO ONE

Can you tell me why Attorney General John Ashcroft's morning Bible study at the Justice Department is news?

The Washington Post ran this story: "Ashcroft's Faith Plays Visible Role at Justice." The Bible and prayer meetings are behind closed doors.

These meetings do not involve the Justice Department, as the headline implied. All employees are welcome but not required to attend.

The attorney general is continuing a practice he has engaged in for years.

Ashcroft considers the meetings to be personal and to have no bearing on his job or those of his employees. Such assurances, however, are not satisfactory to critics.

Some of the 135,000 Justice Department employees who do not share what the Post describes as "Ashcroft's Pentecostal Christian beliefs" are "discomfited by the daily prayer sessions." Why? "Because they are conducted by the nation's chief law enforcement officer, entrusted with enforcing a Constitution that calls for the separation of church and state."

Let's also not forget about that other religion provision in the First Amendment. To deny Ashcroft the right to hold such meetings on public property is repugnant to the Constitution.

Secularists now contend Ashcroft has a responsibility not to offend employees of different faiths.

Let me get this straight: Ashcroft isn't allowed to express his faith in private on public property for fear of offending people who are not there? If you haven't already figured this out, this isn't about Ashcroft. It's about other people muzzling Christian conservatives because they are vehemently opposed to their views.

Christians and Christianity are under systematic assault by our culture. Those who advocate passivity in the face of such attacks are doing nothing to defend the cause they purport to serve.

~David Limbaugh is a Cape Girardeau lawyer, author and syndicated columnist.