Free Republic

Library agrees to allow display of full nativity scene after ADF letter to library officials prompts mayor to make request BARTLETT, Tenn. - Officials with the Memphis Public Library System have agreed to allow figures representing the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the wise men back into a nativity scene on the Bartlett Public Library's community shelves. News of a letter to the library by an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund apparently prompted the mayor of the city of Bartlett to ask the library to reverse their decision to exclude the figures. "I'm sure just about everyone would rather...

LEDYARD, NY, September 29, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Another town clerk in New York may lose her job for refusing to sign marriage licenses for same sex couples, the New York Times reports. Fifty-seven-year-old Rose Marie Belforti has been the town clerk in the small rural town of Ledyard, New York for ten years. When the state of New York legalized homosexual “marriage” this past summer, Belforti decided that she could not reconcile signing same-sex marriage licenses with her Christian faith. Instead, she decided to delegate the task to a deputy, who would issue such licenses by appointment. Now, a lesbian...

I reported on Friday that Rachael Nyirahaabiyambere was back on a feeding tube by court order. I can now report that the ADF has–once again–leaped into the breach to help a family whose loved one was threatened with dehydration–just as it did in the Jesse Ramirez case.  In doing so, it has attempted to bring a modicum of equal justice to Nyirahabiyambrere and her family in the outrageous dehydration of the African immigrant.  From the story: A judge ordered Friday that a Rwandan immigrant whose feeding tube was removed three weeks ago against her family’s wishes be given nutrition...

A court says San Diego firefighters cannot be forced to participate in homosexual "pride" parades -- and that the city's forcing four of them to do so three years ago subjected them to "sexual harassment." Four San Diego firefighters filed suit against the city in 2009 and won in the case surrounding their forced participation in a 2007 "gay pride" parade. The city, however, appealed that decision -- and Alliance Defense Fund attorney Joe Infranco tells OneNewsNow that the appellate court agreed Thursday with the lower court. "[The court found] that they had been sexually harassed by the city's compelling...

When 52 percent of California voters passed Proposition 8 in November 2008, Attorney General Jerry Brown said he would defend the measure during the inevitable appeals. Then, as is his fashion, Brown changed his mind. Ditto Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who twice vetoed same-sex marriage bills passed by the Legislature in deference to California voters who passed an earlier same-sex marriage statute in 2000. But after Prop. 8 passed, both refused to defend the measure. This month, after U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional, both Brown and Schwarzenegger urged Walker to lift a stay on his...

SAN FRANCISCO, August 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals intervened in the battle over Proposition 8 Monday afternoon, and gave an order preventing California officials from issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples until they can hear the case. The stay from the three judge panel of the appeals court blocked Chief U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker's decision overturning Proposition 8, the voter-approved state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.  Walker, one of three known openly homosexual judges in the federal judiciary, ruled in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case that...

I hate to gossip – especially about a gossip columnist – but rumor has it that Perez Hilton just landed a new job. He’ll be leaving the world’s second most embarrassing profession to join the world’s most embarrassing profession. Yep, you guessed it; he’s going to become a college professor. Eastern Michigan University (EMU) has decided to hire Perez Hilton to teach in its counseling program. The decision follows a recent controversy that has landed the school in federal court. School officials dismissed a student, Julea Ward, from the school’s counseling program for not affirming homosexual behavior as morally acceptable....

A federal court ruled against Planned Parenthood and rejected an injunction against a state law requiring doctors to tell women seeking abortions that they may face serious medical conditions and will "terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit issued a 7-4 ruling Friday to lift an injunction against the South Dakota informed consent abortion law. Attorneys representing the Alliance Defense Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the Family Research Council in defense of the law. "A woman's life is worth more than Planned Parenthood's bottom...

Court challenge prompts CSU to drop civility code for students To the relief of a campus Republican group, the 417,000 students at California State University's 23 institutions no longer face the possibility of discipline for failing to be civil to one another. The change was part of a settlement approved by a federal magistrate in Oakland this week in a lawsuit by the San Francisco State College Republicans, whose members were subjected to a disciplinary hearing after some of them stomped on two flags bearing the name of Allah during an anti-terrorism rally in October 2006. The flags represented the...

The Alliance Defense Fund was able to prevent a liberal group from spoiling the Christmas cheer of two South Carolina school districts by offering to serve as their legal counsel. The Edgefield and Aiken County districts had received threats of legal action from Americans United for Separation of Church and State last month for facilitating distribution of shoes to students by volunteers in a church-sponsored program. During winter each year, a Baptist church in the Aiken, South Carolina, area offers the "Laces 4 Love" program, which provides shoes to consenting parents of children who are wearing worn-out or inappropriately cold...

A man barred from placing a nativity scene in the Washington State Capitol rotunda last year will no longer face opposition from state officials.  ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit last year after state officials denied the request but allowed a menorah and a “holiday tree” to be displayed.  The parties settled the suit, allowing Ron Wesselius to display a nativity scene on behalf of citizens who celebrate Christmas.   “It’s incredible to think that Americans have to think twice about whether it is OK to celebrate Christmas in public,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Byron Babione.  “Just as it is constitutional...

Former "blogging pedophile" Jack McClellan has been released from jail, following his arrest last week for violating a restraining order in California. His release follows the prediction of observers in law enforcement, child advocacy, and the judicial system who think it will be difficult to take effective or even constitutional steps against McClellan to protect children. The 45-year-old self-professed pedophile was arrested August 13 for violating a three-year restraining order that required him to stay 30 feet away from all children. He was being held in jail with a $150,000 bail bond. But according to Associated Press, he was released...

The president of a public high school's Christian Club is suing for the right to hold an event at the school to air his anti-homosexuality views. Jason Aufiero, a senior at Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale, wants to hold a "Day of Truth" next week to present what he considers the biblical teaching against homosexuality. His lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Newark, is backed by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal group. Evangelical Christians have begun staging Day of Truth events in response to the national "Day of Silence" that some districts hold...

Employer had rejected a flier as "religious." Once a government employer gives its employees a venue to express opinions, it must accept whatever beliefs show up, even if they’re religious. That’s according to a federal judge, who ruled last month that a Department of Defense worker has the right to use a bulletin board to express his views concerning homosexuality and abortion. Garry Lister was convinced that the charity pool at the Defense Logistics Agency in Columbus, Ohio, was contributing to questionable causes. He wanted to post a flier advising fellow employees that when they contribute to charity fundraisers, their...

"The effect of this court decision is that it permanently prohibits this school from discriminating against religious speech within the context of its school talent shows. Today's ruling is a tremendous victory for religious liberty and free speech, especially for students." ... a second-grader in the Frenchtown Elementary school in NJ had been banned from performing the song Awesome God (made famous by the late Rich Mullins), not only for its religious genre, but also because of its "proselytizing nature." This week however, a federal court issued a ruling preventing the school from censoring any future religious songs performed by...

MADISON, WI (AP) -- Madison police did not violate the civil rights of a Monroe pastor when they told him to take his anti-homosexual banners off highway overpasses in 2003, a federal appeals court ruled. The ruling Monday by a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Chicago, upheld a December ruling by U.S. District Judge John Shabaz. That court said it was the spectacle and the traffic hazard the protest caused, rather than the message, that prompted Madison police to remove Ralph Ovadal, pastor of Pilgrims Covenant Church, and his group. The banners stating...

University of Wisconsin ignores the law, refuses to recognize Christian student organizationshttp://alliancedefensefund.org/news/pressrelease.aspx?cid=3820 ADF attorney calls university officials to account for discriminatory actions Monday, August 07, 2006, 5:15 PM (MST) ADF Media Relations | 480-444-0020 MADISON, Wis. — The director of the Alliance Defense Fund’s Center for Academic Freedom sent a letter to University of Wisconsin officials today warning them about the illegality of their continued de-recognition of Christian student groups. "Christian student groups shouldn’t be treated differently from other student organizations,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David French, who wrote the letter. “The University of Wisconsin has decided to force...

SPIVEY’S CORNER, NC — The Sampson County school system stands behind a decision to suspend a student for passing out Christian leaflets at Midway High School, Superintendent Stewart Hobbs said Friday. Hobbs said the student was given in-school suspension for insubordination after disobeying the principal about distributing the fliers. The handouts, which presented a Christian viewpoint on homosexuality, caused a disturbance in the school and prompted some students, teachers and a parent to complain, Hobbs said. But the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, said the student, Benjamin Arthurs, was wrongfully punished for expressing his religious beliefs. The group...

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 How homosexual school clubs offer sex to students Posted: April 25, 20061:00 a.m. Eastern By Linda Harvey © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com The mainstream media is sure to spend time this next week on the subject of homosexuality and youth, precipitated by the observance in hundreds of high schools of the so-called "Day of Silence" on Wednesday, April 26. This is the day that students who are "GLBT" – that's "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered" – pledge to remain silent all day to draw attention to what they believe is discrimination. On Thursday, April 27, some schools will be...

ADF attorneys hail ruling by New York judge protecting high school family who wanted to purchase brick with the inscription “Jesus Loves You” ALBANY, N.Y. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund applauded a decision by a federal district judge who ruled that high school officials implementing a fundraising campaign could not censor parents who wanted to purchase a brick for their children inscribed with the words, “Jesus Loves You.” “School officials shouldn’t be treating Christian students and their families as second-class citizens,” said ADF Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb. “These school officials clearly violated the First Amendment of the Constitution...