[M]ake no mistake, I am here to ask the Southern Baptist Convention, and all of you in this room, for your help. The Department of Justice has many tools to protect religious freedoms in this country, and we are using them. But even with all of our passion and our dedication to this cause, we cannot do it alone.

I guess I'm not surprised that the Attorney General chose to speak to a group so full of free exercise fervor, and with such a dubious relationship to the Establishment Clause in recent years. After all, in his 3400-word speech Gonzales didn't once mention a commitment to protecting those of no faith from religious discrimination, and despite having sworn to defend all of the Constitution, did not use the occasion to make any substantive mention of one half of our precious first freedom: the one assuring that the Government will not enact an establishment of religion.

His general support of the free exercise rights of "people of all faiths," and his support of RLUIPA, which he mentioned explicitly, is a good thing. That having been said, I do wonder which other groups will get such a personal appeal for assistance. The concern is voiced well in the Tennessean's report:

If the First Freedom Project was meant to protect the religious freedoms of all Americans, why was it was announced only to a room full of Southern Baptists, asked Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the Tennessee branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Why was just one particular religious community there?" she said. "Religious freedom is a right all of us hold dear...You'd think you'd want the rainbow of religious beliefs represented."

[UPDATE: I assume this new commitment means the Justice Department would listen to the public school experience of Matthew LaClair in Kearny, NJ. Maybe someone should file a complaint. Just a thought.]

[cross-posted in part from the Baptist Joint Committee's blog]

[ editor : for a somewhat related (not directly though) and little noticed story, see New National Program to "temporarily transform churches into courthouses" ]