Margaret receives "First Amendment Hero" award

From FFRF

Alton Lemon Lauded for "Lemon Test"

Alton Lemon

This presentation was made on Oct. 12, 2003, at the 26th annual convention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Washington, D.C. All photos by Brent Nicastro.

By Annie Laurie Gaylor

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has a category of membership reserved for a select, elect group of people, known as our "honorary officers."

The position is reserved for freethinkers who have won Supreme Court cases in favor of the separation of church and state.

Before saying more about tonight's honorary officer, Alton Lemon, I want to introduce from the audience another honorary officer, Roy Torcaso, who won the 1961 case, Torcaso v. Watkins, overturning a Maryland statute barring nontheists from being notary publics.

Alton Lemon won the case Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971, which successfully challenged a Pennsylvania law, the first such law in the nation providing public tax funds to religious schools for teaching four secular subjects.

Mr. Lemon, a member of the ACLU, volunteered to be part of the challenge of this law, which became a watershed for the Establishment Clause, and resulted in a historic decision bearing his name.

The United States Supreme Court unanimously invalidated the parochial aid. In one of the enduring legacies of the Burger Court, it also codified existing precedent on the Establishment Clause into a test--called the "Lemon Test."

You can probably recite the "Lemon Test" with me. It has three prongs. If any of the three prongs are violated by an act of government, it is unconstitutional:

One) It must have a secular legislative purpose;

Two) Its principal or primary effect must neither advance nor inhibit religion;

Three) It must not foster excessive entanglement between government and religion.

This was not new law, per se, but kind of a noble attempt to clarify and make the Establishment Clause idiot-proof.

The "Lemon Test" has been invoked in virtually every lawsuit the Foundation has ever taken. It is our best friend.

Margaret Downey accepting Alton Lemon's "First Amendment Hero" plaque on his behalf from Annie Laurie Gaylor.

It has been hated and reviled by the religious right. Three presidents (you can guess which ones) have openly sought to overturn it. Justice Scalia, who's a pretty scary fellow himself, has made an odious comparison of the Lemon Test to "some ghoul in a late-night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad, after being repeatedly killed and buried."

Despite attacks against it and attempts to modify and chip away at it, the Lemon Test endures.

When we invited Alton Lemon and his wife Augusta to attend our convention as special guests, I warned him: an awful lot of people here are going to want to shake your hand!

Annie Laurie Gaylor, a co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, is editor of its newspaper Freethought Today and the anthology of women freethinkers, Women Without Superstition, "No Gods - No Masters."

By Margaret Downey

As Annie Laurie Gaylor told you, Alton could not attend the conference. Alton is ill from the radiation treatment he is getting to control a cancer situation. Alton sends his warm regards, and regrets not being able to attend.

I thank the Freedom From Religion Foundation for the opportunity to accept this "First Amendment Hero" award for my dear friend, Alton Lemon.

When people visit Philadelphia, they visit well-known historical sites, such as the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Valley Forge, and the Constitution Center.

Margaret Downey

When I moved to Pennsylvania I visited those places too, but their historic significance paled in comparison to meeting and making friends with Alton.

His namesake U.S. Supreme Court case is a landmark decision--making all the difference when church/state separation issues are legally reviewed and argued.

Annie Laurie just told you about the legal importance of the case. Now I want to tell you about Alton and why he is so important to all of us. You see, Alton's community service, social activism, kindness, and passion should be emulated by everyone.

There are many people in Philadelphia who share my love for Alton. I discovered just how many when in 1996, I submitted an Alton Lemon Day proclamation to the City of Philadelphia. Mayor Edward G. Rendell immediately approved the text and declared June 28 "Alton Lemon Day."

One telephone call to Councilwoman Happy Fernandez was all that was needed to inspire her to submit a City Council Citation honoring Alton's lifelong commitment to community service. The Citation was unanimously approved by the City Council to coincide with the June 28 Alton Lemon Day celebration.

You might wonder how these very important people knew about Alton--well, his reputation of outstanding citizenship is legendary in Philadelphia.

Alton at one time held the position of both president and vice-president of the Philadelphia Ethical Society.

He served on the board of the Parents Union for Public Schools and was an active participant in the American Civil Liberties Union.

It was through his affiliation with the American Civil Liberties Union that Alton became the plaintiff in the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court case of Lemon v. Kurtzman.

Alton grew up in Atlanta, Ga. In that Southern state, Alton observed and experienced first-hand the harmful effects of discrimination and prejudice.

Personal experiences and many people helped to shape the character and personality of Alton. As a youth, Alton played on the same basketball team as Martin Luther King, Jr.

We all know the impact Martin Luther King, Jr. had on society, and Alton will always cherish the special experience of being on the same basketball team as Dr. King.

Some of Dr. King's courage must have transferred to Alton during their games together, because, much like Martin Luther King, Jr., Alton went on to fight for social change.

Alton has been employed as an Equal Opportunity Officer for the U.S. Department of Energy.

He was a Citizen Participation Advisor for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and he was at one time the program director for the North City Congress Police-Community Relations Program in Philadelphia.

But Alton is not just a socially concerned individual. He is also a very intelligent man. Alton obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics from Morehouse College in 1950. He was an aerospace engineer for the Naval Air Development Center in Pennsylvania, and he was an automotive design engineer at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Md.

Alton also served in the U.S. Army and saw duty in the Korean War.

Alton is a patriotic, humble, honest, and devoted family man. He and his wife Augusta have been married for 52 years. They are a beautiful couple and I was thrilled to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with their friends and family two years ago. And now I will be pleased to deliver this plaque to Alton and help him hang it in his home.

Cards and notes may be sent to Alton Lemon, c/o FFRF, P.O. Box 750, Madison WI 53701 for direct forwarding to him.

Scouting for All Honors Margaret Downey With Its Fran Crawford Rainbow Award

Scouting for All Honors Margaret Downey With Its Fran Crawford Rainbow Award

Scouting for All announces that Margaret Downey of Chester County PA,
Founder and President of Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia
(FSGP) and the Anti-Discrimination Support Network (ASDN) is the
recipient of the 2004 Fran Crawford Volunteer of the Year Rainbow Award.

Barry C. Lawrence of the Scouting for All Board of Directors, and Lori
Martin, Scouting for All State Director of Pennsylvania/Northeastern
Region Spokesperson, will present Ms. Downey with the award on Friday
evening, June 11, 2004, at a celebration at the White Dog Cafe in
Philadelphia.

Those previously honored with the Scouting for All Fran Crawford
Volunteer of the Year Rainbow Award include humanist and peace activist
Fran Crawford of Sonoma County CA; Eagle Scout Scott Pusillo; Eagle
Scout Mike Montalvo; New York City police officer Edgar Rodriguez; the
Chartering Organization, Officers, and Parents Committee of Pack 30, Boy
Scouts of America, Berkeley CA; and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

Ms. Downey has been active in opposing religious and sexual-orientation
discrimination by Boy Scouts of America (BSA) since December 1991, when
she filed a discrimination case against BSA through the Human Relations
Commission of Pennsylvania. After nearly eight years she lost her case
against BSA. In the U.S. Supreme Court case James Dale v. Boy Scouts of
America(June 2000), BSA declared itself "private" to avoid the question
of open membership, thus ending her appeal. Undeterred, she has
continued her tireless quest to expose the harmful effects BSA
discrimination has on vulnerable boys and their families, representing
the issue before the United Nations and other government entities,
writing nationally published articles on the matter, welcoming into her
home various groups and individuals seeking to change BSA's membership
policy, and acting to raise consciousness of the harmful effects of this
policy on children in the Philadelphia area. In addition, her efforts
through ADSN are responsible for convincing movie producer Steven
Speilberg to disassociate himself from BSA.

Ms. Downey credits the multicultural family she grew up in with sparking
her lifelong concern with prejudice and her desire to end any and all
discrimination against any and all peoples of the world. She is an
active feminist, an advocate for children's health, and an ardent
proponent of the Jeffersonian wall of church/state separation. A
free-lance journalist, she has authored city proclamations honoring the
memory of Thomas Paine in Philadelphia, Lancaster, and York, PA; as well
as Cherry Hill NJ and Garden Grove CA.

As ADSN's founder and president, since 1995 Ms. Downey has represented
the interest of the nontheist community at several United Nations
conferences and spoke at the United Nations Freedom of Religion and
Belief meeting in New York City. She attended the 2001 United Nations
Freedom of Religion and Belief Conference in Madrid, Spain. She is a
past board member of the American Humanist Association, and a current
board member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, The Humanist
Institute, the Thomas Paine National Historical Association, Advisory
Board Member of the Robert Green Ingersoll Museum, and the Atheist
Alliance. In 2002,she became the first "Secular Humanist Celebrant" in
Pennsylvania, performing godless weddings and naming and funeral
ceremonies. She also has been a guest speaker on National Public
Radio's Talk of the Nation and Radio Times, and has been featured on
radio programs in China, Texas, South Carolina, California, Minnesota,
Pennsylvania, Florida, and Georgia.

Scouting for All is a non-profit advocacy and educational organization
working to end discrimination in the Boy Scouts of America and promote
positive alternatives for kids.

Source: Scouting for all Press Release 2004