Free Republic

In its relentless drive to secularize our society, The New York Times continues to distort the First Amendment. An editorial in today’s paper notes that the Supreme Court is hearing arguments involving Pleasant Grove City, Utah, which has a Ten Commandments monument in a public park but refuses to allow a cult called Summum to erect its own memorial. Because the City “elevated one religion, traditional Christianity, over another, Summum,” it violated the First Amendment’s prohibition against an Establishment of Religion, The Times maintains. “The founders regarded this sort of religious preference as so odious that they included a specific...

Flying under the radar and literally under the ground of congressional bailout meetings were closet Capitol Hill discussions about God and Washington. It seems another revision of America's religious history has been under way -- this time at the $621 million, 580,000-square-foot Capitol Visitor Center, which will open in a couple of months. Most news media recently were covering Tina Fey and Congress' foolish financial bailouts; reporter Bob Unruh and WorldNetDaily were virtually alone in exposing this latest divine omission at the U.S. Capitol. This massive and largely underground museum of sorts (about three-quarters the size of the Capitol itself)...

Another area of American society where a double standard is being applied by liberal journalists and activists is in the matter of religion and the requirement that there be no government support of it. If a public school student dares to utter a Christian prayer or put up a poster mentioning Christianity, the ACLU will sue the school principal and the city involved. If public school property were mistakenly to be used to host a Christian-oriented event, there would be outrage and more lawsuits. As we also know, if the ACLU were to carry such a case to a successful...

By Burt Prelutsky Over the last several years, a time of year that was traditionally a period of goodwill and universal brotherhood, when even actual brothers somehow managed to set aside sibling rivalries for a month or so, Christmas has become an annual battleground between decent people and a relatively small number of secular leftists who insist on carrying on as if auditioning for the role of Scrooge. As many of you are no doubt aware, this year, Fort Collins got a jump start on the foolishness. The town fathers, by making every effort not to offend anyone, have, like...

Pat Buchanan was very moved. Chris Matthews "heard greatness this morning." Joe Scarborough said Romney "hit it out the park." But with his speech on faith this morning, Mitt clearly didn't make a believer out of Sally Quinn, doyenne of the DC establishment and wife of former WaPo editor Ben Bradlee. SALLY QUINN: I have to say that I'm really stunned because I think it was an obliteration of the idea of the separation of church and state. He eliminated anybody who was a doubter, an atheist, an agnostic, a seeker. It's like, if you believe in God or Christ,...

In 2004, within four months of each other, two three-judge panels of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided cases involving the Constitution's Establishment Clause and its requirement of government neutrality regarding religion. In May, a panel held that a Latin cross on federal lands in honor of American servicemen killed in World War I violated the Establishment Clause and must be removed. That the memorial commemorated American "history and culture" was irrelevant to the panel; after all, the cross symbolizes Christianity. In September, another panel held that Arizona's designation of private property as sacred to American...

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has vacated a lower court decision against the Tangipahoa Parish School Board over board meeting prayers, saying the plaintiffs did not show they had standing to file suit.

PBS Explores Separation of Church and State in New Documentary Posted by Noel Sheppard on June 18, 2007 - 10:56. This may come as a surprise to many religious Americans in the country: PBS this month is broadcasting a documentary presenting both sides of the controversial issue of the “separation of church and state.”As many of you know, this has been an ongoing debate for decades as to when this term first appeared, and what the Founding Fathers’ intent truly was concerning government involvement in organized religion.The documentary’s goals are described thusly at the PBS website (emphasis added throughout): America...

The Ohio attorney general's office has sided with Eastminster Presbytery in a lawsuit brought against it by a church seeking to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) with its property. The response filed by Attorney General Marc Dann seeks a summary judgment declaring that Hudson Presbyterian Church in Hudson, Ohio, holds all of its property and assets in a charitable trust that must "provide the public with a PCUSA-style church with the attendant community benefits of such a church." The summary judgment, Dann argues, also should declare that Hudson Presbyterian Church "may not apply the corpus of that trust for a...

When James Madison agitated to make religious freedom fundamental to the United States Constitution, it was not from hostility to religion. It was from hostility to established religion, with its presumption of an authority in worldly affairs that only an elected government should exercise. James Madison (1751-1836) The first freedom listed in the Bill of Rights tells us that Congress shall "make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" — a rule that is just as important in its second half as in its first.  However, the free exercise of religion involves living by...

Statement of Boy Scouts of America: Court Rules Boy Scout Jamboree to Go Forward http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-04-2007/0004559911&EDATE= http://tinyurl.com/396mft IRVING, Texas, April 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Boy Scouts of America is pleased that the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit dismissed the ACLU's lawsuit against the Department of Defense for supporting the National Scout Jamboree. For more than 25 years, Boy Scouts have held the National Scout Jamboree every four years at Fort A.P. Hill near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Scouts from all over the country camp together for ten days and participate in activities emphasizing physical fitness, appreciation of the outdoors, and...

Is there any canard against President Bush more tired than the notion that he ignores the Establishment Clause, or as his liberal critics tend to put it, the "separation of church and state"? Maureen Dowd offered a classic exemplar of the criticism on this morning's Meet the Press, telling Tim Russert that: "W has sort of merged church and state while trying to keep them apart in Iraq." Russert didn't ask Dowd to substantiate her assertion. But when Bush antagonists are pressed for proof, they typically point to the president's Faith-Based Initiative and the manner in which the W...

The American Civil Liberties union is backing a Kearny High School student who objected when a teacher made religious statements in the classroom, including allegedly telling students that those who do not believe Jesus died for their sins belong in hell. The student's lawyers filed a notice of claim on Feb. 13 against the school district, claiming that instead of addressing the teacher's conduct, it penalized the student for secretly taping the teacher. After months of trying to solve the issue out of court, Matthew LaClair and his parents announced on Monday that they had filed legal paperwork allowing them...

Members of the clergy who oppose civil unions for gay couples will not be forced to perform the ceremonies, state Attorney General Stuart Rabner ruled yesterday. In a formal opinion, Rabner concluded that religious leaders legally may refuse to bless civil unions if doing so would fly in the face of "sincerely held religious beliefs." Under a new law authorizing such unions, same-sex couples can start applying for licenses on Feb. 19. The ruling comes less than a month after Rabner determined that, under the state's antidiscrimination law, public officials who choose to officiate at weddings must also perform civil...

List of Preambles to US State Constitutions In celebration of the coming 1st anniversary of Judge Jones’ enforcement of an impenetrable wall of separation between church and state I present to you 45 holes in the wall. Alaska WE THE PEOPLE OF ALASKA, grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land, in order to secure and transmit to succeeding generations our heritage of political, civil and religious liberty within the Union of States, do ordain and establish this constitution for the State of Alaska. Arizona We, the people of the State of Arizona,...

Florida first-grader Brandon Rodriguez is convinced God wants us to be kind. A dinner table conversation prompted him to travel great lengths to accomplish the task. Brandon's dad, Izzy Rodriguez, a native New Yorker, scans the New York Daily News online for information from his hometown. Back in August, when he read about a priest in Brooklyn who was given a parking ticket while administering sacraments to an elderly woman who was dying of the flu at a hospital, Rodriguez was annoyed."Can you believe it?" he told his wife over dinner at their St. Cloud home. "They fined the priest...

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. The same kind of folks who professed to find a non-existent "right of privacy" in the Constitution providing for abortion on demand have "discovered" another imaginary constitutional provision. According to its editorial this morning: "The First Amendment , with its injunction that Congress shall make no law restricting religion, carries an implied corollary that churches should not meddle in politics." The context was the Globe's complaint that Mitt Romney is reaching out for support to his fellow BYU alums who - oh, the horror! - also happen to be his Mormon co-religionists. The Globe...

<p>Every year, the Frenchtown Elementary School in New Jersey presents an after-school talent show, open to kids from kindergarten through eighth grade. The performers can choose to play an instrument, dance, create a skit or select a song.</p> <p>This past school year, a second-grader decided to sing Awesome God. But during rehearsal, the teacher in charge, on hearing the title and lyrics, told the child that principal Joyce Brennan would have to approve that song. Brennan contacted the attorney for the school district.</p>

Church-state issues are among the most contentious and emotional issues in American life. Dozens are currently testing the bounds of the First Amendment's Establishment and Free Exercise clauses: school vouchers; government funding of faith-based social services; the role of faith in the public lives of judges, elected officials, legislators, pharmacists, doctors and lawyers; and the role of religion in public life, from Ten Commandments postings and the Pledge of Allegiance to religious groups' role in politics and prayers at public meetings. ReligionLink offers a diverse and extensive guide to individuals and organizations expert in these issues

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the East Brunswick High School football coach can bend a knee and bow his head while his players recite pre-game prayers this season, ending a dispute that had mushroomed into a nationally recognized test of the separation of church and state. After nearly two hours of arguments, U.S. District Judge Dennis Cavanaugh sided with the coach, Marcus Borden, declaring "taking a knee" isn't praying and that the Middlesex County school district can't order him to stand still while his players perform a locker room ritual that spans decades. "Tradition plays a part, and the...

In 2005, a federal district court in Chicago sided with the ACLU and ruled that the military’s support for the National Scout Jamboree - held once every four years at Fort A.P. Hill in Fredericksburg, Virginia - unconstitutional. The case is Winkler v. Rumsfeld, No. 05-3451 (7th Cir.). The ACLU’s claim is that the Scout Oath’s “duty to God” makes the Boy Scouts a religious organization, like a church, and that military support for the Jamboree violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. If the ruling stands, the military may not lend equipment or provide logistical support to the...

PASADENA - Oral arguments were punctuated Tuesday by questions about belief in God, discriminating membership standards, and how they relate to the Boy Scouts of America's leasing public land. Lawyers representing the Boy Scouts and the American Civil Liberties Union squared off before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of a lesbian and an agnostic couple and their Boy Scout-aged sons. The plaintiffs said the Scouts should not lease prime park space owned by the city of San Diego because of the organization's pro-God, anti-gay stance. It is one of three current cases pitting the ACLU against...

(AgapePress) - A Texas high school has agreed to allow its Muslim students to pray during school hours. L.V. Berkner High School in Richardson had told its 30 Muslim students that praying on campus violated the U.S. Constitution's establishment clause, or the so-called separation of church and state.In an e-mail memo to all teachers and staff, the school's principal had stated previously that "No students are to be allowed to leave [the] classroom at any time to go pray." However, after the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty intervened on behalf of the students, the Richardson Independent School District (RISD)...

Law Center Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Take Up Hostility to Religion Case Ann Arbor, MI—The Thomas More Law Center, a national, public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court, asking the court to review an Establishment Clause case involving a religious display that was hostile to Catholics. In addition to asking the high court to revisit its confusing and inconsistent Establishment Clause jurisprudence, the petition notes that this would be a case of first impression. The Supreme Court has yet to decide a “hostility to religion” case under the...

Not since Berlin, 1989, has a big wall taken such a big fall. This time, it was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit that blew the trumpet, effectively collapsing the false construct of the so-called “wall of separation between church and state” that for more than 50 years has been the cornerstone of the American Civil Liberties Union’s anti-religion agenda. This wasn’t one the ACLU saw coming. Their case—a suit to prevent Mercer County, Kentucky, officials from including a copy of the Ten Commandments in their display of historically significant documents—seemed tight enough, especially since the U.S....

Values group hails unanimous decision Tuesday CINCINNATI -- In an astounding return to judicial interpretation of the actual text of the United States Constitution, a unanimous panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Tuesday issued an historic decision declaring that "the First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state." In upholding a Kentucky county's right to display the Ten Commandments, the panel called the American Civil Liberties Union's repeated claims to the contrary "extra-constitutional" and "tiresome." See Cincinnat Enquirer at: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051221/NEWS01/512210356/1056 See U.S. Court of Appeals decision, page 13: http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/05a0477p-06.pdf "Patriotic Americans should...

The Separation of Church and State by David Barton In 1947, in the case Everson v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declared, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.” The “separation of church and state” phrase which they invoked, and which has today become so familiar, was taken from an exchange of letters between President Thomas Jefferson and the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, shortly after Jefferson became President. The election of Jefferson-America’s first Anti-Federalist President-elated many Baptists since that...

Robert Robinson believes deeply that all things happen for a reason. He believes his two trips to prison—in 2000 for assault and 2002 for drug dealing—were gifts from God. And he believes his encounter with the InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) prison ministry program saved his life. "I'd been shot twice and stabbed," the 25-year-old Iowa welder told WORLD. "If I hadn't gone to IFI, I'd be dead right now." Despite numerous success stories similar to that of Mr. Robinson, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has filed suit against IFI and the Iowa Department of Corrections for...

<p>The U.S. Supreme Court's yes-and-no decision on the public display of the Ten Commandments and the loss of Sandra Day O'Connor swing vote has refocused the debate over the line separating of church and state. In that debate, we may wish to consider redrawing that line.</p>

The strict purpose of the establishment clause of the First Amendment was never to require a strict neutrality between religion and nonreligion. It was designed to prohibit Congress from establishing a national church, from designating a particular faith or sect above the rest. It was never intended to require a strict neutrality between religion and nonreligion. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution "affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance of all religions, and forbids hostility towards any." Anything less than accommodation would require "callous indifference," which was never intended by the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Looking at...

Missing the whole picture June 28, 2005 The Supreme Court’s recent ruling that prohibits a display of the Ten Commandments in a Tennessee courtroom again focuses attention on the misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the Constitution by the Court. The decision shows how activist judges (to use Mark Levin’s label) actually ignore the words in the Constitution they want to ignore while basing decisions on specific words, phrases, or clauses. By narrowing the scope of their justification, activist judges can pick and choose words from the document, turning the Constitution into a smorgasbord on which they base their half-baked decisions. In...

So we in Texas get to keep our Ten Commandments monument -- all six feet of it, reposing quietly on the State Capitol grounds -- whereas two Kentucky counties have to remove the Big Ten from their courthouses. And blamed if I can see why, but, then, blamed if anyone this side of the barred windows in the state institution for the mentally incapacitated can ever see what the U.S. Supreme Court means when it defines religious "entanglement" under the First Amendment. Oh, we can read the decisions all right -- two of them this week. We just can't tell...

<p>WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday rendered two more hairsplitting, migraine-inducing decisions about when religious displays on public property do and do not violate the First Amendment protection against ``establishment'' of religion. In a case from Texas, where a Ten Commandments monument stands outside the state Capitol, the court, splintered six ways from Sunday, said: We find no constitutional violation. The second case came from Kentucky, where the Commandments displayed in several courthouses are surrounded by historical symbols and documents -- e.g., copies of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Star Spangled Banner -- to comply with the ``reindeer rule,'' more about which anon. On Monday the court recoiled from Kentucky's displays, saying, they are unconstitutionally motivated by a ``predominately religious purpose.'' Not enough reindeer?</p>

RULINGS ON MONDAY? A look at the remaining cases of the Supreme Court's term: TEN COMMANDMENTS: The constitutionality of Ten Commandments in public buildings and on government property, under the First Amendment's ban on an ''establishment'' of religion. FILE SHARING: Whether the entertainment industry may sue technology manufacturers over consumers who use their products to steal music and movies online. INTERNET ACCESS: A test of the tight control cable companies hold over high-speed Internet service in a case that will determine whether the industry must open up its lines to competitors. DEATH PENALTY: A look at courts' flexibility to reopen...

To reach the state of Kentucky's placement of the 10 Commandment in a state courthouse, the Court has to first hold that the 14th Amendment made the First Amendment applicable to the states (remember that it says "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion") Did the 14th Amendment make the 1st Amendment applicable against the states? Well, that's what the Supreme Court has said since 1947...but its a lie We know its a lie because, in 1875 (only 7 years after it passed the 14th Amendment), the Congress debated adding another amendment (known as the Blaine...

RULINGS IN THE U.S. SUPREME COURT'S TEN COMMANDMENTS CASES June 27, 2005 In different rulings, the justices ban displays of the Ten Commandments at courthouses, but allow them to be placed on government land. The Courthouse Ruling: Opinion (McCreary County v. ACLU)http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/03-1693.html The ACLU's Attorneyhttp://pview.findlaw.com/view/3433759_1 Attorney for Liberty Counselhttp://pview.findlaw.com/view/1438042_1 Case Dockethttp://rd.findlaw.com/scripts/nl.pl?url=11198556000_nl The Government Land Ruling: Opinion (Van Orden v. Perry)http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/03-1500.html Attorney for Texashttp://pview.findlaw.com/vie

WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court on Monday struck down Ten Commandments displays in two Kentucky courthouses, but said a 6-foot granite replica on government land in Texas was acceptable. In the first ruling, McCreary County v. ACLU (search), the court said that the Kentucky displays violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits government from endorsing or supporting one religion above others. The justices ruled split 5-4 that the Ten Commandments (search) could not be displayed in court buildings or on government property. However, the Biblical laws could be displayed in an historical context, as they are...

will post more info as it comes in...

Two Orange County schools that planned to hold commencement ceremonies at Saddleback Church have changed their plans after several students, parents and a civil rights group raised concerns about hosting a secular event at a place of worship. The ceremonies had been planned by Northwood High in Irvine and Serrano Intermediate in the Saddleback Valley at the Baptist megachurch. Both schools have used the church in previous years with no problems. But Marc Lipoff, a senior at Northwood, told his school counselor and a vice principal that he would not attend a graduation ceremony at the church. He then took...

When he ordered the removal of the Ten Commandments monument from the Supreme Court building in Alabama, federal judge Myron Thompson stated that the issue at stake involved the question of whether or not the state has the right to acknowledge God. Actually, this formulation is a distraction from the real issue, which is whether or not Myron Thompson or any other federal judge has the right to interfere with state actions that may or may not constitute an establishment of religion. Someone who simply reads the text of the Constitution of the United States would be thoroughly surprised to...

An atheist (reminds me of Newdow) who was not allowed to be a Cub Scout den leader after he refused to take the Boy Scout Oath, which has a religious element. He then sued the Mt. Pleasant Schools to bar the BSA from meeting in its facilities. The Michigan Court of Appeals has affirmed the trial court's judgment for Mt. Pleasant Schools and the Boy Scouts, holding that: Mere use of public facilities by Cub Scout groups is not a violation of the establishment and equal protection clauses of the Michigan Constitution. The rules as such in large part because...

An Exegetical Look at the Establishment Clause Monty Rainey www.juntosociety.com January, 11, 2005 Sometimes in the course of human events and an egregious society, it becomes necessary to muddle through the confusion and reveal the basic premise of an object. Such is the case with the First Amendment of the U. S. Bill of Rights, and more specifically, the establishment clause. The First Amendment has fallen under a barrage of hyperbole surrounding what it means and what it doesn’t mean. So-called experts in the field of interpretation have managed, over the years, to drape a veil of confusion and distortion...

Millions of Americans believe that the U.S. Supreme Court has an unfriendly attitude toward religion and the role of religion in American life. They believe the Court has discriminated against the rights of religious Americans and treated them like second class citizens. The school prayer cases of the 1960's are just one of many examples that suggest the Supreme Court has been intolerant and unfair. Recently, the High Court has announced that it will decide two cases involving the display of the Ten Commandments on public property. The cases originate from Kentucky and Texas. How will the Supreme Court decide...

Suing the jingle bells off everyone this side of the North Pole has tradition ally been the ACLU's favorite form of seasonal joy.... The civil-liberties group hasn't lost its passion for secularism, but this year's litigation news is being made by a different group of plaintiffs.... An ACLU legal bulletin claims that Supreme Court doctrine on the Establishment Clause forbids not only state practices that "aid one religion . . . or prefer one religion over another," but also those practices that "aid all religions" and thus endorse or prefer religion over nonreligion." That dubious reading has found some support...

The Wisconsin-based atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation is suing to cut off federal funding to a Christian child-mentoring program that helps troubled kids. Last year, the federal government awarded a $225,000 contract, part of $9 million awarded to 52 Arizona groups, to Phoenix-based MentorKids USA, according to the Madison, Wisc.-based Capital Times. The lawsuit, presided over by U.S. Judge John Shabaz, is demanding a summary judgment that federal funding of the program cease until the government "has a demonstrated plan in place to comply with its constitutional obligations," reports the Wisconsin paper. Citing the First Amendment, the atheist foundation...

The Federal Establishment of Religion   Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;Amendment I, U. S. Constitution  The question that has arisen in the minds of many is this: how did the U. S. Supreme Court arrive at the conclusion that this Amendment mandated the exclusion of the Bible and prayer from public schools? More obviously, why did it take from 1791 until 1963 for nine (actually, there were only eight, Potter Stewart dissented) politically-appointed third-rate ambulance chasers to figure this one out? The answer might surprise you. Let's backtrack...

CINCINNATI -- Richland County Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese's fight to return the Ten Commandments to his courtroom wall suffered a setback Wednesday. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth District's three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that displaying the plaque violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. "We're obviously pleased with the ruling," Gary Daniels, litigation coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said. A federal judge forced DeWeese to remove the Ten Commandments in 2002 after a lawsuit by the ACLU. "We've contended such a display is offensive to the Establishment Clause and violates the...

ELK GROVE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT and DAVID W. GORDON, SUPERINTENDENT, PETITIONERS v. MICHAEL A. NEWDOW et al. on writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit [June 14, 2004]      Justice Thomas, concurring in the judgment.      We granted certiorari in this case to decide whether the Elk Grove Unified School District's Pledge policy violates the Constitution. The answer to that question is: "no." But in a testament to the condition of our Establishment Clause jurisprudence, the Court of Appeals reached the opposite conclusion based on a persuasive reading of our precedent. In my view, Lee adopted...

... Putting ourselves in knots to deny Newdow standing or to claim the words "under God" are wholly non-religious are ridiculous, but they're "a testament to the condition of our Establishment Clause jurisprudence," says Thomas. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals made their anti-Pledge decision because of our 1992 ruling in Lee v. Weisman, which forbade student-led prayers at graduation. If anything, reciting the Pledge is more of a church-state violation than graduation prayer since "a prayer at graduation is a one-time event, the graduating students are almost (if not already) adults, and their parents are usually present." Purely as...

<p>A common refrain heard among the calls for ratification of the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, was that if people were old enough to fight and die for their country, they were old enough to vote. The same rationale that worked in 1971 could be dusted off today in the debate over prayer at colleges and universities, including many throughout Texas.</p>