Free Republic

WASHINGTON (BP)--Indiana’s John Hostettler is trying for the fifth consecutive Congress to prevent the American Civil Liberties Union from receiving government funds when it succeeds at legal challenges to public expressions of religion. This year, the Republican representative has more hope than before thanks to the American Legion. The country’s largest veterans organization, with about three million members, has aggressively thrown its influence behind Hostettler’s bill, and the persistent congressman is encouraged at his proposal’s prospects. Hostettler’s measure, the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA), H.R. 2679, is designed to close what he considers a loophole in federal law that...

NASHVILLE - A judge Thursday upheld the way lawmakers took up a resolution banning gay marriage in Tennessee, rebutting plaintiffs' claims that the Legislature did not follow the rules in preparing the amendment. The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee had filed a lawsuit charging that the state failed to meet notification requirements as outlined in the Tennessee Constitution, which states an amendment must be published six months before the next General Assembly election. The amendment was approved by a majority of the 103rd General Assembly in May of 2004. But instead of six months, plaintiffs claimed the text of...