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The Guy Who Sued God to Prove a Point
Ernie Chambers isn’t crazy. He just had something to say about religion and the court system.
Ernie Chambers has spent most of his life fighting for disenfranchised groups. In 1980, he played a role in ending South African apartheid by pushing American organizations to divest from South Africa, namely by selling their Kruggerrands; in 1986, he promoted the idea of making university athletes state employees to protect them against exploitation; in 1993, he helped introduce a bill to stop LBGT discrimination. These are just a few among many other examples from a life filled with both activism and controversy.
He is also the longest-serving senator in the state of Nebraska and was for most of his tenure the only open atheist in a state legislature in the country. As an atheist, he has fought hard to reduce the influence religion has on government. For example, in 1980, he took umbrage with the fact that a prayer was said at the opening of each meeting of the legislature. So he sued in federal court, the case going all the way to the Supreme Court in 1983. Chambers claimed that the prayer itself and using tax payer money to pay for a chaplain violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, which prohibits the government from “respecting an establishment of religion.” This stops the creation…
