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Religious News & Views 2011-12 |
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Religious News & Views 2011-12 |
Religious Persecution in America
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Religious News & Views Archives 2010-11 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution Click headline for full story
April 2012
The Rutherford Institute has secured a First Amendment victory for a Christian street preacher who was charged with disorderly conduct and accused of engaging in “tumultuous” behavior for preaching in public near Princeton University’s historic eating clubs. Appearing before the Princeton Borough Municipal Court in defense of street preacher Michael Stockwell, Institute attorneys pointed out that Stockwell’s purely religious message, his preaching on a public right-of-way in Princeton, N.J., near the historic University eating clubs, and his use of a small amplifier to make himself heard over the street noise did not constitute tumultuous behavior and were protected by the First Amendment. Stockwell was found not guilty. . . . “The First Amendment does not permit free speech to be conditioned upon how others feel about the message,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “As former Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black recognized, ‘The very reason for the First Amendment is to make the people of this country free to think, speak, write and worship as they wish, not as the Government commands.’”
Plaintiff Peter Weiss says he was unfairly graded and called 'pork-eating Jew' by former School for Community Research and Learning principal William Mulqueen
04-16-12 -- A Manhattan federal judge has greenlighted a religious discrimination lawsuit against the city Department of Education by an assistant principal who claims he was smeared because he is Jewish. . . . Peter Weiss, who was assistant principal of the School for Community Research and Learning, said principal William Mulqueen repeatedly called him a “pork-eating Jew” and complained about Jewish teachers and their “mannerisms.” . . . Mulqueen also asked Weiss during Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, why he needed to “get right with God” when he had “all of the money in the basement,” according to the civil complaint filed in the Southern District of New York.
March 2012
Group sues over Pennsylvania's 'Year of the Bible' resolution
03-27-12 -- A state House resolution declaring 2012 the "Year of the Bible" in Pennsylvania violates the U.S. Constitution and should be immediately withdrawn, a national association representing atheists and agnostics is contending in court. . . . The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation filed suit Monday in federal court in Harrisburg, saying the resolution amounts to an official government endorsement of religion - and Christianity, in particular. That, the group contends, violates the Constitution's establishment clause, which bars government from preferring one religion over another.
Supreme Court Declines Appeals on Religion in Public Education
03-26-12 -- While the opening of arguments over the federal health care law was the main focus for the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, it was also a regular day for opinions and orders. . . . And on its orders list, the high court declined to take up two interesting appeals involving religion in public education. . . . One involved an Idaho charter school challenging a state decision that it could not use "sectarian or denominational" religious materials in its curriculum, which upended its plans to use a "great books" curriculum that would include the Bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, works of Confucius, and others. . . . The other was an appeal from a California teacher who was ordered by administrators to remove banners from his classroom with such expressions as "In God We Trust" and "One Nation Under God."
Minneapolis lawyer who faces arrest for trashing judge wants jurist off her case
03-23-12 -- A bankruptcy judge was too "personally embroiled" in a case when she levied a hefty fine and ordered the arrest of an attorney who filled her legal pleadings with anti-Catholic slurs, the woman's new lawyer is arguing. . . . In an appeal filed in U.S. District Court, Washington, D.C., lawyer Lee Boothby said the judge's actions involving attorney and business executive Naomi Isaacson were wrong and should be overturned - and the case assigned to a new bankruptcy judge. . . . Boothby, whose legal practice focuses on discrimination and religious law, wrote that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Nancy Dreher was personally insulted by slurs Isaacson and another attorney, Rebekah Nett, had included in their filings.
Federal Judge Biery Continues to Vent in School Prayer Case with ‘Non-Kumbaya Order’
03-21-12 -- U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of San Antonio continues to express his irritation with the firestorm over a school prayer case. . . . When Biery approved a settlement in February, he included a personal statement criticizing the politicians who “demagogued this case.” In the latest development, Biery refused to sanction school district officials for violating a nondisparagement clause, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports. But he offered some advice nonetheless in a document entitled “Non-Kumbaya Order: The Homo Sapien Saga Continues.” . . . “Silence is golden,” he wrote. “Or as grandmothers and moms have taught for generations: ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.' ” . . . The settlement agreement approved by Biery in February allows students to pray at graduation, but bars school employees from initiating or joining prayers in the presence of students. It included a provision that says, “School district personnel will not disparage the plaintiffs.”
Supreme Court denies campus groups' appeal
03-20-12 -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal from a Christian sorority and fraternity challenging California State University's refusal to provide funding and other campus benefits to student groups that exclude members of other religions. . . . CSU denies official recognition and funding to student organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, national origin and sexual orientation. . . . The Christian groups at San Diego State argued that the policy itself was discriminatory for two reasons: The ban on gender-based admissions doesn't apply to sororities and fraternities, and secular organizations are allowed to make viewpoint-based distinctions - an immigrants'-rights group, for example, can exclude opponents of immigrants' rights and still receive funding.
St. Stanislaus Kostka: Judge Rules For A Breakaway Catholic Church In St. Louis
03-20-12 -- Wading into sensitive church-state territory, a Missouri judge has ruled in favor of an independent-minded Catholic church that claims ownership of its property and autonomy from the Archdiocese of St. Louis. . . . Judge Bryan Hettenbach's 50-page ruling in favor of St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church is unusual for the strong interjection of a civil court into internal church matters. . . . In a statement, St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson promised to appeal the judge's opinion "all the way to the Supreme Court." . . . Hettenbach was careful to point out in his ruling that civil courts have no business wading into theological or ecclesiastical issues, or interpreting church law. . . . But he also acknowledged that the case brought by the archdiocese had given him no choice but to grapple with the Catholic Church's internal canon laws.
Kentucky high court hears Amish buggy case Public safety versus religion is debated
03-15-12 -- Kentucky’s Supreme Court justices didn’t dispute Thursday that a law requiring bright orange-red triangles on horse-drawn buggies imposes a burden on the consciences of those Amish who believe that using them would violate their religion. . . . But court members grilled lawyers for the Amish and the commonwealth about whether that burden is unconstitutional — or whether the state’s need to regulate highway safety trumps religious objections. . . . “Isn’t the question here not whether the religious exercise of the particular Amish family involved here has been infringed upon but whether that infringement is permissible?” asked Deputy Chief Justice Mary C. Noble.
South Dakota Governor Signs Law Banning Courts from Enforcing Religious Codes
03-13-12 -- South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard has signed a bill designed to prevent courts from applying Islamic law. . . . The revised measure bars courts and governmental agencies from enforcing any provisions of any religious code, according to Gavel to Gavel, a newsletter of the National Center for State Courts. Justice Scalia tells Catholics to brave the scorn of worldly people
03-04-12 -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia today told a standing-room-only crowd of more than 500 Catholics to have "the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity" by society's sophisticates. . . . Scalia, the longest-serving justice on the high court and one of its most conservative, received a rousing welcome from a throng sprawled across several adjoining rooms of the Denver Convention Center. . . . Scanning the crowd of participants in the two-day Living the Catholic Faith Conference, Scalia quipped that that this was his first time in front of a group where he had to look so far to the left and to the right. . . . The 75-year-old Scalia said that today one can believe in a creator and the teachings of Jesus without being the brunt of too much ridicule, but that to hold traditional Christian beliefs that Jesus is God and He physically rose from the grave is to be derided as simple-minded by those considered leading intellectuals.
Manhattan Federal Judge Loretta Preska stands up for the First Amendment Her ruling will let churches continue to rent school buildings for weekend services
03-02-12 -- Congratulations to Manhattan Federal Judge Loretta Preska for an exquisitely reasoned decision permitting several dozen churches to rent space in public schools while the courts sort out their right to be there. . . . The Bloomberg administration has wrongheadedly sought to evict the churches on the specious stand that the public might get the idea that government endorses one religion over another. . . . City Hall’s drive produced a federal lawsuit stretching over years and culminated in an appeals court ruling upholding the school system’s power to bounce the churches. . . . But the churches went back to Preska, arguing that evictions would violate First Amendment rights. She saw that distinct possibility and let the churches stay, pending further deliberations. . . . The next day, the appeals judges issued an angry response — “We call to the district court’s attention an appearance of overbreadth of its order” — and said that only the single church that had sued could continue to rent school space. . . . Rather boldly, Preska stood her ground with an opinion that deftly exposed the absurdity at the heart of her judicial superiors’ thinking.
February 2012
Pa. Judge's Ruling Proof of Sharia Law in U.S. Courts?
02-28-12 -- A Pennsylvania state judge recently dismissed an assault case involving a Muslim man who attacked an atheist for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. . . . The judge's decision has outraged freedom of speech proponents and some legal experts, who say it is in clear violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. . . . Some legal experts are also wondering if this case demonstrates how Islamic sharia law is slowly creeping into the U.S. legal system. . . . The incident occurred last year in Mechanicsburg, Pa., when an atheist came dressed as "Zombie Muhammad" for a Halloween parade. Judge: Insulting Islam grounds for beating
02-28-12 -- A legal expert, a former Navy chaplain, and a pro-family leader agree that a Pennsylvania judge should be removed from the bench for throwing out an assault case lodged against a Muslim who attacked an atheist dressed as a zombie Muhammad at a Halloween parade last year. . . . Judge Mark Martin is an Iraq war veteran and a convert to Islam, according to George Washington University law professor Jonathon Turley. The incident, recorded on video, occurred on October 11, 2011 at the Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Halloween parade. Ernie Perce, an atheist, was attacked by Talaag Elbayomy, a Muslim, because of the former's costume. . . . Judge Martin threw out video evidence of the assault, dismissed the testimony of an eyewitness officer, and then lectured the atheist victim about the sensitivities of the Muslim culture. He stated in court that Elbayomy was obligated to attack the victim because of his culture and religion. . . . "They are so immersed in it," he said. "And what you've done is you've completely trashed their essence, their being. They find it very, very, very offensive. I'm a Muslim. I find it offensive." The 'Zombie Muhammad' case: Another judge who needs to be judged
02-27-12 -- As you might have deduced from reading my writings, I am not a big fan of activist judges. . . . Many judges are quite good at their jobs and perform the role they are intended to perform, which is exactly analagous to an umpire in baseball. Good judges call pitches and strikes, fair and foul balls, but give not the slightest opinion on how the game is being played. . . . But then there are characters like the judge in the "Zombie Muhammad" case. . . . It would be a better world if such judges were reguarly disciplined when they abuse their powers as District Justice Mark Martin did in the case in Mechanicsburg, Pa. . . . As it now stands, judges have the power to impose their personal philosophies on members of the public without any regard for the right of free speech. . . . Note at the approximate 30-minute mark of the above video when the judge starts imposing his political views on the victim of an attack by a Muslim who objected to his Halloween costume. . . . Imagine the victim had informed the judge that he had no intention of listening to the judge's assault on his First Amendment right to express his opinions freely in public. . . . The victim could be hauled off in handcuffs.
Atheists Group Gets $1, Lawyer $388K as Utah Mulls Roadside Cross Alternatives for Slain Officers
02-17-12 -- Following news that Utah has settled for nearly $400,000 a suit over roadside crosses placed to commemorate troopers slain in the line of duty, lawmakers and others are considering alternatives. . . . Only $1 of the settlement will go to American Atheists Inc. and the three members who filed the federal civil rights suit in Salt Lake City in reports the Associated Press. . . . Attorney Brian Barnard, who represented the plaintiffs, will get $388,000 to pay his fees for handling the case. It was initially dismissed in U.S. District Court but the 10th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2010 opinion (PDF) agreed with the plaintiffs that the crosses represented a state endorsement of Christianity, the news agency explains.
January 2012
ACLU wants $173K for prayer banner fees Money sought from city & school committee
01-31-12 -- Attorneys for the Rhode Island ACLU have asked a court to award them $173,000 for their successful work on the Cranston prayer banner controversy. . . . A federal judge ruled earlier this month, that the prayer banner which has been on display at Cranston West School for over 50 years, was unconstitutional and must come down. . . . The money the civil union is asking for is related to attorney fees and costs involving the prayer banner fight .
Student Faces Town’s Wrath in Protest Against a Prayer
01-26-11 -- She is 16, the daughter of a firefighter and a nurse, a self-proclaimed nerd who loves Harry Potter and Facebook. But Jessica Ahlquist is also an outspoken atheist who has incensed this heavily Roman Catholic city with a successful lawsuit to get a prayer removed from the wall of her high school auditorium, where it has hung for 49 years. . . . A federal judge ruled this month that the prayer’s presence at Cranston High School West was unconstitutional, concluding that it violated the principle of government neutrality in religion. In the weeks since, residents have crowded school board meetings to demand an appeal, Jessica has received online threats and the police have escorted her at school, and Cranston, a dense city of 80,000 just south of Providence, has throbbed with raw emotion. . . . State Representative Peter G. Palumbo, a Democrat from Cranston, called Jessica “an evil little thing” on a popular talk radio show. Three separate florists refused to deliver her roses sent from a national atheist group. The group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, has filed a complaint with the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights.
Supreme Court ruling confuses religious workers
01-20-12 -- Aleeza Adelman teaches Jewish studies at a Jewish school, yet she considers herself a teacher whose subject is religion, not a religious teacher. She's rethinking how to define her job after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling left her wondering what could happen if she ever needed to defend her right to keep it. . . . The high court ruled last week that religious workers can't sue for job discrimination, but didn't describe what constitutes a religious employee - putting many people employed by churches, synagogues or other religious organizations in limbo over their rights.
Prayer Cases Turned Away by U.S. Supreme Court Justices
01-17-12 -- The U.S. Supreme Court refused to give government bodies more freedom to open sessions with prayers, rejecting a pair of appeals that sought to loosen the restrictions some lower courts have imposed. . . . The justices today left intact a federal appeals ruling that said a North Carolina county board was violating the constitutional separation of church and state by opening most of its sessions with a Christian prayer. The high court also refused to review a separate decision that barred prayers at meetings of a Delaware school board. . . . The Supreme Court hasn’t ruled on the constitutionality of prayer at government meetings since 1983, when the justices said lawmakers could begin sessions with nonsectarian prayers offered by a state-employed chaplain. In other contexts, the court under Chief Justice John Roberts has given governmental bodies more freedom to support religion.
Judge: NJ Church Illegally Banned Gay Ceremony
01-13-12 -- A New Jersey judge says the Methodist Church violated a state law in refusing to allow a same-sex ceremony on its property in 2007. . . . On Thursday, Administrative Law Judge Solomon Metzger said the decision made by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association violated New Jersey's discrimination laws. . . . Metzger ruled the pavilion area where the couple wanted to hold the ceremony is a public space and is advertised as a wedding venue without any religious pre-conditions. . . . The church argued that the pavilion was an extension of its wedding ministry, an argument that the judge rejected.
Lawyer: Decision to Appeal or Not Could Take One or Two Months
01-12-12 -- Joesph V. Cavanugh Jr. is one of the lawyers who represented the Cranston School District in the suit filed against the district by the ACLU over the prayer mural at Cranston High School West. . . . In an interview, he said that "there's no rush for anyone to appeal" the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Lagueux and because of post-decision time frames, a decision could be filed as late as two months from now. . . . In the meantime, Cavanaugh said the banner has been covered by school officials to comply with the ruling. The district is reportedly going to make the covered banner available to members of the media tomorrow afternoon.
Fed court orders RI school to remove prayer mural
01-11-12 -- A federal judge has ordered the immediate removal of a prayer mural displayed in the auditorium of a Rhode Island public high school. . . . Teenage atheist student Jessica Ahlquist had sued Cranston city and Cranston High School West officials, demanding they remove the banner because it promotes a religion. She calls it offensive to non-Christians. . . . City officials claimed the mural is a historical artifact from the school's early days and serves no religious purpose. The prayer encourages students to strive academically. It begins with the words "Our Heavenly Father" and ends with "Amen."
Va. judge rules against conservative churches in property case
01-11-12 -- A Virginia judge has ruled against seven conservative congregations that broke away from the Episcopal Church in 2006, rejecting their argument that they should be able to keep some $40 million in church real estate that the national denomination also claims. . . . The case has drawn worldwide attention because it involves a cluster of large, prominent churches with well-known conservative pastors and because the issues at hand — particularly the Episcopal Church’s acceptance of same-sex relationships as equal to heterosexual ones — are roiling much of organized religion. Various Protestant congregations in particular have wound up in litigation across the country. . . . The 113-page ruling was handed down Tuesday by Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows.
10th Circuit upholds ruling blocking Shariah law ban
01-10-12 -- The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld a ruling that blocked the implementation of an Oklahoma initiative barring judges there from considering Islamic law in court decisions. . . . The Denver-based appellate court, one rung below the U.S. Supreme Court, said it is likely the initiative will be found unconstitutional because it singles out Islam for discrimination. The court said Oklahoma hasn't shown any reason for the need to specifically ban Islamic law. . . . "Given the lack of evidence of any concrete problem, any harm seek to remedy with the proposed amendment is speculative at best," 10th Circuit Judge Scott Matheson, writing for a three-judge panel of the court, concluded.
Lawyers fined $5,000 for religious slurs against judge; one is a no-show and judge orders her arrest
01-04-12 -- A Minneapolis lawyer who is the chief executive officer of a group ex-members describe as a religious cult ignored a judge's order to show up to court today, prompting the judge to order federal marshals to find her. . . . It was the second time in as many scheduled hearings that Naomi Isaacson refused U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Nancy Dreher's orders to appear at a hearing involving the bankruptcy of a subsidiary of the religious group. . . . Her voice at times revealing flashes of irritation, Dreher told Isaacson's lawyer, Rebekah Nett, that anti-Catholic slurs the two women included in legal pleadings were "beyond the pale." . . . She fined the women $5,000 each, half of what she had earlier threatened. . . . "There's no respect when someone calls this court a dirty, bigoted Catholic," Dreher told Nett.
December 2011
Atheist display: Skeleton Santa nailed to a cross
12-06-11 -- The skeleton in a Santa suit didn't survive for long outside the Loudoun County courthouse lawn, but it generated plenty of controversy in Leesburg, Va. . . . The skeleton was nailed to a cross on Monday by a mother and son associated with an atheist group, one of the nine approved displays for the Christmas season. But the macabre Kris Kringle was not standing for long. Someone tore the skeleton down, sparking a debate about free speech. . . . It's not a new argument. In 2009, Christmas displays on the courthouse lawn were banned after the constitutionality of a Nativity scene was questioned. Last year that decision was overturned, and 10 displays were allowed on the lawn based on a first-come, first-served basis. September 2011
Court backs district on teacher's religious banners
09-14-11 -- Saying a high school teacher has no right to "use his public position as a pulpit," a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that a San Diego County school district was on solid legal ground when it ordered a math instructor to remove large banners declaring "IN GOD WE TRUST" and "GOD SHED HIS GRACE ON THEE." . . . Those inscriptions and others that longtime teacher Bradley Johnson displayed on his classroom wall amounted to a statement of religious views that the Poway Unified School District was entitled to disavow, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. . . . Under U.S. Supreme Court rulings, the appellate panel said, government employees, including public schoolteachers, have no constitutional right to express views in the workplace that contradict their employer's rules or policies.
Judges asks why Oklahoma's law on Sharia applies to only one religion U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals takes up Oklahoma's voter-approved Sharia law case
09-13-11 -- Judges who will decide whether Oklahoma can ban Islamic law from the state's courts raised questions Monday about the effect of the ban and why it applies to only one religion. . . . “There's no mention of any other specific law,” Judge Scott Matheson of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said during oral arguments about the ban voters approved in November by a wide margin. . . . “We just have Sharia law singled out,” Matheson said as he questioned Oklahoma Solicitor General Patrick Wyrick, who argued in defense of the ban becoming part of the state constitution. . . . “The intent here was to exclude Sharia law and international law,” Wyrick responded. . . . Oklahoma City Muslim Muneer Awad, with support from Islamic believers in other parts of the United States, claims in a court challenge that the ban violates the U.S. Constitution's protection for freedom of religion.
August 2011
Bogus Church Isn't a Lawyer, Texas Says
08-24-11 -- Texas says a woman is practicing immigration law without a license, telling suckers she can legalize them as religious workers if they join her "church" - and that at least 300 people have fallen for it. . . . The Texas attorney general sued Yolanda Salazar Perez and her "church," Nueva Uncion, or the New Anointing Biblical Institute, and three of her alleged cohorts, who are members of her family, in Harris County Court. . . . Texas claims Salazar and her church advertise, and claim to provide, legal services, including work visas, temporary residency, religious worker benefits, and legal counseling and preparation of forms, though she is not an attorney.
Teacher Can't Be Sued Over Alleged Hostility to Religion, Court Says
08-22-11 -- A California teacher is immune from a student's lawsuit claiming that the teacher's classroom comments were hostile to religion, a federal appeals court has ruled. . . . A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, in San Francisco, declined to decide whether any of the teacher's comments were actually hostile to religion to the point of violating the student's First Amendment right to be free from government establishment of religion. . . . Instead, the panel held unanimously that it was not clearly established that a teacher could violate the establishment clause by appearing hostile to religion during class lectures. Thus, the teacher in this case was entitled to qualified immunity from the student's lawsuit. . . . The Aug. 19 decision in C.F. v. Capistrano Unified School District involves a suit brought on behalf of a student who was a sophomore at Capistrano Valley High School in 2007 when he began the Advanced Placement European History course taught by James Corbett.
Catholic Charities loses ruling on foster care Judge rules state is not obligated to renew agencies' contracts
08-19-11 -- A Sangamon County judge ruled Thursday that the state can decline to renew its contracts with Catholic Charities in Illinois to provide publicly funded foster care and adoption services, meaning the process of transferring children to other social service agencies can proceed. . . . In a packed courtroom just one day earlier, lawyers for Catholic Charities urged Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Schmidt to prevent the state from suddenly severing a partnership that has funded foster care and adoption services in Illinois for four decades. . . . But Schmidt wrote in his ruling released Thursday that the longevity of the relationship between the state and Catholic Charities in Joliet, Peoria, Springfield and Belleville did not entitle them to automatic renewal of their contracts. . . . "No citizen has a recognized legal right to a contract with the government," Schmidt wrote. . . . Since March, state officials have been investigating whether religious agencies that receive public funds to license foster care parents are breaking anti-discrimination laws if they turn away openly gay parents.
Judge Crushes Inmate's Dreams Of Daily Matzoh, Weekly Juice
08-12-11 -- Prisoners do not have a constitutional right to daily matzoh and weekly grape juice, a federal judge has ruled. Even if they ask really nicely! The decision from U.S. Southern District Judge Shira Scheindlin came in response to a suit brought forth by a man named Christopher Henry, who is serving time on Rikers for first-degree sodomy. . . . Henry claims that he has suffered "permanent trauma" and malnourishment due to what he called a violation of his First Amendment rights. And he was really hoping the government would pony up $9,999,000,000 in damages. Henry felt that he was entitled to matzoh daily (not just during Passover) and that he should get grape juice on Friday nights in addition to the Kosher meals he already receives.
Judge rules Little Rock bus line wrong to deny atheist ads
08-11-11 -- A federal judge ruled on Thursday that the free speech of a coalition of atheists had been violated when Little Rock's public bus line denied them the right to place $5,000 worth of ads on city buses. . . . Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled that the Central Arkansas Transit Authority and its advertising agency should not have denied the group the right to place the ads on 18 publicly-funded city buses during Memorial Day weekend. . . . Washington-based United Coalition of Reason filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Arkansas group in June after the transit authority and its advertising agency rejected an ad that would have read, "Are you good without God? Millions are." . . . "This was a victory for all of us whether you believe in God or not, because it's a victory of free speech," United Coalition of Reason's attorney J.G. Schultz told Reuters.
Religious clubs not entitled to funds, court says
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a state university's refusal to provide funding and other campus benefits to student groups that exclude members of other religions, rejecting arguments that the policy stifles freedom of speech. . . . The ruling, involving a Christian sorority and fraternity at San Diego State, addressed an issue that the U.S. Supreme Court had left unsettled in a San Francisco case last year: whether campus religious groups are entitled to be treated the same as secular groups whose members share a common viewpoint. July 2011
Atheist group fights steel cross at 9/11 museum
07-27-11 -- A national atheist organization has filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the removal of the cross that is on display at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York. . . . The cross is made of steel girders that were pulled, in that shape, from the ruins of the World Trade Center days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. American Atheists Inc. insists that the cross, a religious symbol that has been blessed by a priest, violates their rights under the state and federal constitutions, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in Supreme Court in Manhattan. . . . Spokespersons for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, both defendants in the case, declined to comment. A spokesperson for the city's Law Department declined comment until they have an opportunity to review the complaint. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the museum are also named as defendants.
Town Clerk Quits, Says Bible Prohibits Gay Marriage
07-13-11 -- New York town clerk Laura Fotusky has resigned from her position, saying that she cannot sign a document supporting same-sex marriage due to personal religious convictions. . . . Fotusky has stated that she will step down on July 21, which is three days prior to when the first gay marriage licenses will be distributed in New York State. . . . In her resignation letter, which was distributed to the media by a conservative Christian non-profit group called the New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, Fotusky expresses her discomfort in indulging in a practice that she feels the Bible vehemently objects. . . . Fotusky writes, “The Bible clearly teaches that God created marriage between male and female as a divine gift that preserves families and cultures. Since I love and follow Him, I cannot put my signature on something that is against God.”
Judge upholds Lancaster's policy on prayer before meetings
07-12-11 -- Lancaster officials have the right to pray to Jesus before council meetings, a U.S. district judge ruled this week. . . . According to information released by the city Tuesday, the judgment allows Lancaster to continue its invocation policy, which has been in place since August 2009. . . . Plaintiffs Shelley Rubin and Maureen I. Feller had specifically challenged the prayer that opened an April 2010 council meeting in which reference was made to Jesus Christ. But U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer sided with the city. . . . “Lancaster takes immense pride in winning this case and defending the fundamental right to pray, not only for our citizens, but indeed for all people across this nation,” Mayor R. Rex Parris said in a statement. . . . Lancaster’s invocation policy calls for randomly selecting clergy from different faiths to deliver the invocation at council meetings, without restricting the content based on their beliefs.
Judge bashes 'Bash Back' with promise of $10,000 fines Orders anarchists, homosexuals never to disrupt church 'anywhere in the U.S.'
07-12-11 -- A violent squad of anarchists and homosexuals who, under the name of Bash Back! Lansing, disrupted a church worship service by flinging condoms and propaganda around the sanctuary and draping a profane banner from a balcony are being warned they, too, will be "bashed" if they disrupt another church service in the U.S. . . . "It is … ordered that, by consent of the parties, Defendants Anton Bollen; Wendie Renae Debnar; Spencer Dilday; Amy 'Andy' Michelle Field; Melissa Kim; Samuel D. Kreuger; Ryan Levitt; Cailin Elizabeth Major; Devin Scott Merget; Kelsey Myking; Allison 'Ryan' Margaret Pennings; and Michele 'Tyler' Nicole Troutman shall pay Mount Hope total damages of $2,500 within 90 days of the court's entry of this consent order," wrote U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell in his decision yesterday. . . . "If any defendant named in this order is found to have violated this consent order, he or she shall be subject to a fine of $10,000 and reasonable attorneys fees and costs associated with enforcement of this order." . . . The court order – and another one citing " Bash Back!" and "Bash Back! Lansing," which failed to respond to court orders requiring contact information – came in a lawsuit brought by the Alliance Defense Fund against the radicals over an attack on Mount Hope Church in Michigan's Delta Township in 2009.
June 2011
Medina Valley graduates hear prayers aplenty Repeated 'amens' draw applause.
06-04-11 -- After a contentious week that involved two conflicting federal court rulings and heated rhetoric from Texas' governor and attorney general, Medina Valley High School's seniors graduated Saturday. And did so with plenty of prayer. . . . Despite a disclaimer at the beginning of the ceremony by the school district's superintendent that the students' and speakers' views were their own, the gathering at times resembled a revival as much as a small town graduation. . . . “The judge of all judges commands us to pray,” state Rep. John V. Garza, R-San Antonio, said during his remarks to the crowd, adding that his own daughter invoked God while graduating last year. “I still cringe thinking some left group would complain or file a lawsuit ... I thank God that all is well this evening and none of us will be thrown in jail.” . . . Applause erupted from the school's packed football stadium with each “amen” — more so than during speakers' frequent references to school spirit and claims of Medina Valley's superiority over other schools.
6th Circuit Reinstates Tennessee Inmate’s Religious Freedom Claim
06-03-11 -- A federal appeals court has resurrected a Tennessee inmate's claim that he should be allowed to receive hate-filled white supremacist material in prison because it is part of his religion. . . . The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) Wednesday that the inmate's claim had been improperly dismissed by a lower court judge because neither the judge nor the state of Tennessee had addressed whether barring the prisoner from receiving such material violated a federal law strengthening inmates' religious freedoms, according to the Associated Press. . . . The appeals court also said the state had not properly explained why it has a compelling interest in prohibiting this particular inmate from receiving such material while apparently allowing other inmates to have it.
New York public schools may bar after hours religion: court
06-02-11 -- A U.S. appeals court on Thursday ruled that New York public schools could legally bar religious groups from using their facilities after hours for worship services. . . . The split ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York vacated a lower court's injunction which had prevented New York City's Board of Education from enforcing its rule against religious worship in its schools. . . . A city official in 2009 estimated that approximately 60 congregations had been permitted -- under the injunction -- to use school facilities after hours. It was not immediately clear how fast the appeals court decision would take effect. . . . "The conduct of a 'religious worship service' has the effect of placing centrally, and perhaps even of establishing, the religion in the school," circuit judges Guido Calabresi and Pierre Leval said, with Judge John Walker dissenting. . . . The school board's "prohibition of 'religious worship services' does not constitute viewpoint discrimination, it is a content-based exclusion, which passes constitutional muster so long as the exclusion is reasonable in light of the purposes of the forum," the two judges said.
Appeals panel overturns Medina Valley graduation prayer ban
06-04-11 -- A federal appeals panel ruled Friday that a judge here was wrong to bar public prayers from today's graduation ceremony at Medina Valley High School. . . . All week, the furor over the issue had attracted activists and political players who criticized the decision and supported valedictorian Angela Hildenbrand, who wants to pray during her commencement speech. . . . The AGAPE Movement, a Christian group based in Wichita Falls, announced Friday it would make buses available to transport people to the school in Castroville for a “peaceful disagreement” with this week's ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of San Antonio. . . . Hildenbrand said she was pleased and “so blessed that God has provided me with the opportunity to be a part of this case, and to be able to share with all my heart tomorrow night. ... Everything can go on as planned Saturday, and I'm free to pray as I feel appropriate.” Federal Judge Prohibits Prayer at Texas Graduation Ceremony
06-02-11 -- A federal judge has ordered a Texas school district to prohibit public prayer at a high school graduation ceremony. . . . Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery’s order against the Medina Valley Independent School District also forbids students from using specific religious words including “prayer” and “amen.” . . . The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by Christa and Danny Schultz. Their son is among those scheduled to participate in Saturday’s graduation ceremony. The judge declared that the Schultz family and their son would “suffer irreparable harm” if anyone prayed at the ceremony. . . . Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the school district is in the process of appealing the ruling, and his office has agreed to file a brief in their support. May 2011
Prayers removed from Texas public school graduation
05-31-11 -- A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that a high school graduation in a San Antonio suburb may not include an opening and closing prayer or the words "invocation" or "benediction." . . . District Judge Fred Biery ruled that using those words would make it sound like Castroville's Medina Valley High School is "sponsoring a religion." . . . "We think that the district has been flouting the law for decades," said Ayesha Kahn, an attorney for Americans United for Church and State, which filed the lawsuit. "We're glad that the court is going to put an end to it."
Judge blocks VA from barring 'Jesus Christ' from Memorial Day prayer
05-27-11 -- A federal judge in Texas has told the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs that it cannot censor a pastor's invocation at a Memorial Day ceremony. . . . The VA had ordered the Rev. Scott Rainey to remove a phrase using Jesus Christ from the prayer, arguing the line excluded other beliefs held by veterans, KHOU-TV in Houston reported. . . . On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes disagreed, writing the government cannot "gag citizens when it says it is in the interest of national security, and it cannot do it in some bureaucrat's notion of cultural homogeneity," according to a report in the Houston Chronicle. . . . The debate centered over the close of the prayer, which read: "While respecting people of every faith today, it is in the name of Jesus Christ, the risen Lord, that I pray. Amen."
Ethics Complaint Accuses Florida Judge of Too Many Smoking Breaks, Religious Bias
05-12-11 -- A Florida judge has been accused in an ethics complaint of being late to court, taking too many smoking breaks, and showing religious bias. . . . Judge William "Jack" Singbush of Marion County faces formal charges filed Wednesday by the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission, according to the Orlando Sentinel and Ocala.com. . . . Singbush is accused of making litigants and lawyers wait because he is “habitually late” to court and takes long and numerous smoking breaks, according to the notice of charges posted by Ocala.com. When hearings can’t be completed in the allotted time, Singbush offers to resume the proceedings at inconvenient times such as Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. or Saturday morning, the complaint alleges.
Lawyer: Judge refuses to allow man to wear religious headcovering
05-06-11 -- A DeKalb County man says not being allowed to wear his religious headcovering in a courtroom violates his Constitutional rights. . . . Troy "Tariq" Montgomery, 46, is Muslim and wore a kufi, a tight-fitting cap, on his head when he went to court Thursday morning to defend a speeding charge, his attorney Mawuli "Mel" Davis, told the AJC. . . . But for the third time, Henry County State Court Judge James Chafin refused to allow Montgomery to enter the courtroom, Davis said. He was not allowed to enter the courtroom on two previous court dates. Davis said he tried to explain to Chafin on Thursday why Montgomery wears the kufi. . . . "It is a symbol of humility," Davis said. "He also wears his pants above his ankles. This is what he wears all the time."
April 2011
Legal challenge to National Day of Prayer thrown out A federal judge last year had struck down as unconstitutional the National Day of Prayer. But on Thursday, a US appeals court ruled that the people who had brought the case lacked legal standing.
04-14-11 -- A US appeals court on Thursday overturned a decision by a federal judge in Wisconsin last year that struck down as unconstitutional the National Day of Prayer. . . . Although that ruling had been stayed pending the appeal, the appeals-court decision clears the way for President Obama to issue a new proclamation, declaring May 5 as this year’s National Day of Prayer. . . . The three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago did not examine the district judge’s legal conclusion that Mr. Obama’s proclamation of a National Day of Prayer and the statute authorizing that action violated the First Amendment’s prohibition on the establishment of a state-sponsored religion.
School Committee Lawyers Call ACLU Suit an Attempt to 'Erase History' The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty issued a press release that blasted the ALCU suit against a prayer banner at Cranston West as a "misguided attempt to erase history." shortly after an ACLU press conference on Monday.
04-05-11 -- Lawyers for the Cranston School Committee said the lawsuit filed by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday against a prayer banner at Cranston West is a “misguided attempt to erase history.” . . . In a release issued by the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, which is giving the Cranston School Committee free legal representation, the committee said the student-designed mural “has existed in Cranston High School West's auditorium for almost 50 years” and the lawsuit is a misguided attempt to “rid public buildings of historic references to religion.” . . . School Committee member Frank Lombardi said “we don't want to erase our schools' history because one person in the history of the school objects.” . . . The banner is one of 21 different student works of art in the auditorium, the release stated. Graduating classes are given the chance to contribute art and the banner that has become tangled in a civil rights issue was contributed by Cranston High School West’s first graduating class.
March 2011
On Law and the Hajj: A Battle in Illinois Stirs Controversy
03-25-11 -- A question: How far must employers go to accommodate workers’ religious practices? . . . A recent lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice is casting the question into sharp relief. . . . The facts, according to this recent story in the Washington Post, are interesting. A Muslim middle school teacher in a small Chicago suburb had been on the job for only nine months when she requested three weeks off so she could travel to Mecca for a pilgrimage. . . . The school district, “faced with losing its only math lab instructor during the end-of-semester marking period,” denied the request. The woman, Safoorah Khan, resigned and went anyway. . . . The next chapter in the story is intriguing. After Khan filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Justice Department filed suit on her behalf, claiming that the school district’s decision amounted to discrimination. The suit alleged the district violated her civil rights. Click here for the complaint, filed back in December in Chicago federal court.
Judge Orders Use of Sharia Law in Fla. Lawsuit
03-23-11 -- A judge in Florida has announced he will use Islamic law to decide a case. . . . The case is between a Tampa Bay mosque and several men who say they were wrongfully fired as trustees of the mosque. . . . The St. Petersburg Times reported the men got an Islamic scholar to rule in their favor, and they want Florida's courts to uphold that ruling. The case could decide who controls $2.2 million the mosque received from the state after some of its land was used in a road project. . . . Hillsborough Circuit Judge Richard Nielsen has agreed to see if leaders of the Islamic Education Center of Tampa correctly followed the teachings of the Koran in their decision. Gaffney Lambastes Florida Judge as 'Unfit' for Decision to Follow Shariah
03-22-11 -- Frank J. Gaffney Jr., president of the Center for Security Policy, castigated a Florida judge as unfit to serve for his decision to follow Islamic law instead of state or federal statutes in a case against a Tampa mosque that ultimately could decide who controls $2.2 million in state money. . . . Hillsborough Circuit Judge Richard Nielsen said he will decide in a lawsuit against the Islamic Education Center of Tampa, “whether the parties in the litigation properly followed the teachings of the Koran in obtaining an arbitration decision from an Islamic scholar," according to tampabay.com. . . . "This case will proceed under Ecclesiastical Islamic Law," the judge wrote in his March 3 ruling. . . . Gaffney bristled at the ruling in a comment to Newsmax Tuesday, saying, “Any judge who would apply shariah in an American courtroom — especially against the express wishes of Muslims seeking due process under laws promulgated pursuant to the U.S. Constitution — is certainly ignorant of the true, unconstitutional character of ‘Islamic ecclesiastical law.’
Justice Department sues on behalf of Muslim teacher, triggering debate
03-22-11 -- Safoorah Khan had taught middle school math for only nine months in this tiny Chicago suburb when she made an unusual request. She wanted three weeks off for a pilgrimage to Mecca. . . . The school district, faced with losing its only math lab instructor during the critical end-of-semester marking period, said no. Khan, a devout Muslim, resigned and made the trip anyway. . . . Justice Department lawyers examined the same set of facts and reached a different conclusion: that the school district’s decision amounted to outright discrimination against Khan. They filed an unusual lawsuit, accusing the district of violating her civil rights by forcing her to choose between her job and her faith. . . . As the case moves forward in federal court in Chicago, it has triggered debate over whether the Justice Department was following a purely legal path or whether suing on Khan’s behalf was part of a broader Obama administration campaign to reach out to Muslims.
Justices claim religion no part of ruling on Christian teaching Affirm decision ordering child into public school because of 'vigorous' defense of faith
03-17-11 -- The New Hampshire Supreme Court today affirmed a decision ordering a young girl into a public school system because her "vigorous defense of her religious beliefs to [her] counselor suggests strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously consider any other point of view," but the justices denied their ruling had anything to do with religion. . . . "While the case has religious overtones, it is not about religion," claimed the opinion authored by Associate Justice Robert Lynn and joined by Chief Justice Linda Dalianis and Associate Justices James Duggan, Gary Hicks and Carol Conboy. . . . "We affirm the [lower court's] decision on the narrow basis that it represents a sustainable exercise of the trial court's discretion to determine the educational placement that is in daughter's best interests," the justices wrote. . . . Lawyers with the Alliance Defense Fund, who had argued in the case that the clear religious bias against Christianity expressed by a guardian ad litem and adopted by the court was reason to reverse the decision, said the justices ignored the evidence.
California sued over requiring Sikh inmate to cut beard
03-16-11 -- The U.S. Justice Department is suing the state of California and Gov. Jerry Brown because prison authorities required a Sikh prison inmate to cut his beard. . . . The lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of Sukhjinder Basra, an inmate at prison in San Luis Obispo in central California. . . . It said that the requirement violated the man's right "to practice his religion" under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLIUPA). . . . In the Sikh religion, which originated in northwestern India, unshorn hair is an article of faith. Kozinski’s ‘Ornery’ Panel Dissent Carries the Day in En Banc Headscarf Ruling
03-16-11 -- A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit by a Muslim woman forced to remove her scarf in a courthouse holding cell in California. . . . The en banc 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco said the federal law protecting prisoners’ religious rights also applies to courthouse detentions, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Orange County Register and the Recorder. The ruling (PDF) allows Souhair Khatib to continue her suit, but she still could lose if the government persuades the courts it was acting in the least restrictive way to carry out a compelling security need.
Court Won't Hear Challenge to 'In God We Trust' Associated Press, Newsmax 03-07-11 -- The Supreme Court won't hesr an atheist's latest challenge to the U.S. government's references to God. . . . The court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Michael Newdow, who says government references to God are unconstitutional and infringe on his religious beliefs. . . . This appeal dealt with the inscription of the national motto "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins and currency. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco says the phrase is ceremonial and patriotic and "has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion." . . . The case is Newdow v. Lefevre, 10-893. February 2011
Kansas Ethics Committee Targets Pro-Life Lawyer
02-25-11 -- Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline — the only prosecutor in the U.S. who has ever brought charges against Planned Parenthood—is in the midst of a two-week hearing before the state ethics panel in Topeka. . . . Disciplinary Administrator Stanton Hazlett is looking to remove Kline’s law license, claiming he mishandled evidence against the nation’s largest abortion seller. . . . “This week’s hearing amounts to the tormenting of a man for doing his job,” columnist Kathryn Jean Lopez wrote at NationalReview.com. “And, God help him, for doing it while daring to believe that … the whole culture of death is a corrosive evil.” American Bar Association Executive Council Vows to Fight Anti-Sharia Law Measures
02-24-11 -- The executive council of the American Bar Association (ABA) is organizing an effort to actively oppose states that ban Sharia law. . . . Included in the text of the ABA’s “International Policies 2010” is a section which organizes a “task force” to review anti-Sharia legislation that has been introduced in 14 states – Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. . . . The report reads: “The goal of the task force is to have a Report and Recommendation against such legislation as well as an informal set of "talking points" that local opponents of these initiatives could use to make their case in each of these states.” . . . However, in a statement released on Wednesday, the ABA attempted to distance itself from the executive council’s statement.
Woman Who Got Weekly Calls from Work During Her FMLA Leave Can Make Her Case in Court
02-23-11 -- Employers who pressure sick employees into returning to work early may face legal trouble. . . . In Arkansas, a legal dispute between a hospital and a former staff member is clarifying the line between asking about ill employees and pestering them to return to work, the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog says. . . . A U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas opinion dismissed Howard Memorial Hospital's motion for summary judgment and concluded that a jury should be presented with the Family and Medical Leave Act interference claim made by a hospital employee who said she felt pressured to return to work during her medical leave.
Ten Commandments in school stirs fight in Va. district
02-18-11 -- Nearly 12 years ago, in the aftermath of the shootings at Columbine High School, officials quietly posted the Ten Commandments on the walls of Giles County public schools. It was a natural reaction, said residents of this rural county peppered with churches, to such an alarming moral breakdown. . . . There the commandments stayed, within nondescript frames that also featured the first page of the U.S. Constitution, stirring little controversy until December. That's when an anonymous complaint prompted the superintendent to order the removal of the displays. The decision sparked such passionate community backlash that the county school board voted to post them again in January.
City's hate of religion taken to Supreme Court Official condemnation challenged as 'hostile' to Catholic teachings
02-16-11 -- A city's official condemnation of Roman Catholic Church teachings as "discriminatory," "insulting," "callous" and "defamatory" is being taken to the U.S. Supreme Court because of the Constitution's requirement that government not be "hostile" to faith. . . . The case stems from a 2006 non-binding resolution from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that called the Catholic Church's teachings "an insult to all San Franciscans" and accused the Vatican of being a "foreign country" that "meddles with and attempts to negatively influence this great city's existing and established customs and traditions." / 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling Catholic League v. San Francisco / At the 9th Circuit, Judge Andrew Kleinfeld wrote, "The 'message' in the resolution, unlike, say, the message that might be inferred from some symbolic display, is explicit: a Catholic doctrine duly communicated by the part of the Catholic church in charge of clarifying doctrine is 'hateful,' 'defamatory,' 'insulting,' 'callous,' and 'discriminatory,' showing 'insensitivity and ignorance,' the Catholic church is a hateful foreign meddler in San Francisco's affairs, the Catholic church ought to 'withdraw' its religious directive, and the local archbishop should defy his superior's directive. This is indeed a 'message of ... disapproval.' And that is all it takes for it to be unconstitutional." / "The Gay Agenda: It's Dividing the Family, the Church, and a Nation" / The case is being fought by the Thomas More Law Center, which is arguing that the Supreme Court should take this opportunity "to secure and maintain uniformity of decisions on an important issue of federal law." . . . "The crux of the problem is that this court's Establishment Clause jurisprudence ... tends to be hostile toward religion," the petition to the court said. Thomas More Law Centers Petition of the U.S. Supreme Court pdf
Adding cold insult to injustice
02-14-11 -- I have never met Linda Gibbons. I’m not sure I’d want to. After all, this 63-year-old grandmother must be a very dangerous person: She has spent almost all of the last 20 years locked up in jail. . . . Linda Gibbons’ story began in 1994, when the NDP formed the Ontario government and then-attorney-general Marion Boyd obtained a Court injunction to prevent anyone from offering up a public protest within a 60-foot “bubble zone” around abortion clinics. The merchants of death must not be impeded as they make their appointed rounds. . . . Linda Gibbons considers that abortion is tantamount to murder. You do not have to share her view to recognize the moral imperative it creates. So Linda Gibbons stands on the sidewalk outside abortion clinics and prays silently. Sometimes she goes further; sometimes she goes so far as to hold up a sign that says: “Why, Mom, when I have so much love to give?” Free speech in Canada is not so robust as to withstand her conduct, so Gibbons is immediately arrested. As a result, she has become Canada’s most obdurate prisoner of conscience, spending more time behind bars than most convicted robbers or rapists. . . . Gibbons is an exceptional criminal in several ways. Often she goes to court without a lawyer. She says nothing in her own defence. She refuses to acknowledge the jurisdiction of a court to prevent her from praying. She accepts without recrimination what, by any standard of natural law, are unjust verdicts. She makes few criticisms of her treatment in jail. She seeks no early release. . . . Now I do not go so far as to suggest that she is a model prisoner. Admittedly, Gibbons was a pain when she asked to have a Bible in her cell. And she sometimes leads her cellmates in prayer. In the past, prison guards have noted how jailhouse language markedly improves in Linda’s presence. Such, I suppose, is the nefarious control that one criminal mind is capable of exerting over other inmates.
Fight Continues Over State Grant for Cross
02-09-11 -- A federal judge refused to reverse his recommendation that an atheist's lawsuit challenging a $20,000 state grant to fix up an 11-story Christian cross be thrown out. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Bernthal says the Illinois Economic Development Agency has discretion in how it awards grants. . . . Outspoken atheist Rob Sherman, who is also fighting the state's moment of silence in schools law, claimed the $20,000 grant violates the First Amendment's separation of church and state. . . . "This court agrees with defendants that the grant bestowed to Friends of the Cross was made by the executive branch, and not the legislative branch," Bernthal wrote in his original recommendation on Dec. 10. . . . "On the face of plaintiff's complaint, the Illinois General Assembly made a large appropriation for grants to the department, and the department had discretion in distributing those funds. A general appropriation that leaves discretion to the department is not an express congressional mandate or a specific congressional appropriation."
January 2011
VFW sues Obama administration over Mojave cross 'The way our government has treated veterans in this case is a disgrace'
U.S. court says Christian cross is unconstitutional Ninth Circuit ignores Supreme precedent in Mojave case
01-04-11 --- A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided a memorial cross on federal land on Mt. Soledad, Calif., violates the U.S. Constitution. . . . In a 3-0 ruling in the Jewish War Veterans v. City of San Diego case, the panel decided that the 29-foot concrete cross, which has stood for 57 years, constitutes a government endorsement of religion and therefore violates the First Amendment's establishment clause. . . . "The question, then, is whether the entirety of the Mount Soledad Memorial, when understood against the background of its particular history and setting, projects a government endorsement of Christianity. We conclude it does," wrote Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown, a Clinton appointee. . . . "The decision represents a judicial slap in the face to the countless military veterans honored by this memorial," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, which filed an amicus brief in the case on behalf of 25 members of Congress. "This flawed decision not only strikes at the heart of honoring our military veterans, it reaches a faulty conclusion that this iconic memorial – part of the historic landscape of San Diego – is unconstitutional. We believe the appeals court got this decision wrong and we look forward to the case going to the Supreme Court where we're confident this decision will be overturned."
An Historic Example Of Judicial Activism: The Cantwell Case |
"It
is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it [the
Constitution] a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so
frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of
the revolution."
"[T]he importance of piety and religion; of industry and frugality; of prudence, economy, regularity and an even government; all ... are essential to the well-being of a family." --Samuel Adams, letter to Thomas Wells, 1780 |
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“In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making
proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by
persecution.”
"In such a performance
you may lay the foundation of national happiness only in religion, not
by leaving it doubtful " whether morals can exist without it, " but by
asserting that without religion morals are the effects of causes as
purely physical as pleasant breezes and fruitful seasons." |
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Inaugurated on January 17, 2009
Updated: 04/26/2012
