Free Republic

NO INTRODUCTION NEEDED FOR THIS DU THREAD: (1000+ posts) Sat May-21-05 02:15 PM Original messageShould religious display be banned in public? I think most of us would agree that we're having a national problem with rampant religiosity, and that if we don't figure out how to solve it in a permanent way we're going to end up with a pseudo-theocracy as our form of government. There are scriptural exhortations to make one's prayer and religious affilation a private matter. So: how about making public religious display a misdemeanor? It would be similar to drinking alcoholic bevvies in public, or driving...

A Brooklyn College professor who called religious people "moral retards" was elected to head his department this month - sparking a campus uproar. E-mails expressing alarm that Timothy Shortell was now chairman of the sociology department circulated among students last week on the school's Midwood campus. Shortell has written in an online academic publication that the devout "are an ugly, violent lot. In the name of their faith, these moral retards are running around pointing fingers." "I'm horrified by the ideology of Prof. Shortell," said Eldad Yaron, a Brooklyn College senior. "This person has control right now on the content...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - To the uninformed, this weekend gathering here may have seemed like a church revival, full of zeal and fervor. But worshipping God was most decidedly not part of the agenda. The attendees of the "All Atheists Weekend" gathered to discuss what they call the rise of fundamentalism in the U.S. and the blurring of lines between church and state. Attendees also took time to view documentaries that question the historical accuracy of the Bible - and to hear lectures about the dangers of religious icons on public property and problems with President Bush's so-called "faith-based initiative,"...

Objectives: to advocate against the widespread acceptance of the story of Jesus Christ as written in the Holy Bible; to advocate prescinding the infiltration of Biblical conscience into law and the courts; to reveal and expose the absurdity of the supernatural claims of the scriptures of the Holy Bible; to prevent the loss of human energy being wasted through religious practice resulting from the interpretation of the text of the Holy Bible; to prevent further justification of actions causing death and destruction from those in power of whom abuse the widespread acceptance of the Holy Bible as truth; to rally...

What are the real goals of the American Civil Liberties Union? American Civil Liberties Union sounds like an organization that protects American values. Many people believe that the ACLU is the nation’s guardian of liberty and great protector of the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, the ACLU was never a promoter or protector of American values or the Constitution. In fact, ACLU might as well stand for the American Communist Lawyers Union. The ACLU has created the façade that it is a champion of the oppressed but it uses the powers of the government to coerce all members of our society into...

As religion has made resurgence into American society, and even Democrat politicians like John Kerry and Senator Byrd are quoting from the bible, apparently this country's atheist community feels left out. They are gathering in San Francesco for an "All atheist Weekend". "We're trying to do what church people call outreach," said Jim Heldberg, a Pacifica software salesman and onetime Methodist who coordinates the group San Francisco Atheists. I guess they will have group discussions on what they do not believe and sing songs about their disbelief. If ignorance is bliss they must be the happiest people in this country....

ACLU, atheist in 16-year battle to remove it The San Diego City Council voted this week to allow voters to decide the fate of the historic Mt. Soledad Cross overlooking the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla. The vote represented the newest chapter in a long line of legal battles to remove the cross, led by ACLU attorney James McElroy, who represents an atheist seeking to remove the Christian symbol from public lands.

As they watch religion increasingly dominate American political discourse, nonbelievers will gather in San Francisco today for their first "All Atheist Weekend" -- in an effort to put a friendlier face on godlessness. "We're trying to do what church people call outreach," said Jim Heldberg, a Pacifica software salesman and onetime Methodist who coordinates the group San Francisco Atheists. "We feel very threatened by what's going on in this country, but we realize that we can't just sit here in a corner by ourselves," Heldberg said. "If we do, the religious right is just going to run us over." So...

ACLU Wants Some Tangipahoa School Officials Jailed in Prayer Case May 19, 2005, 06:57 PM WAFB Baton Rouge,LA Frustrated leaders with the American Civil Liberties Union say they have seen enough. They want some Tangipahoa teachers and administrators in jail for apparently violating a court-imposed school prayer ban. This is the fourth time in less than two months that the ACLU has formally notified a federal judge that school officials are dismissing the prayer ban that was imposed to imposed to settle a lawsuit filed by the ACLU in 2003.

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The City Council has agreed to let voters decide whether to keep a 43-foot-tall wooden cross atop Mount Soledad by donating the land to the federal government. On Tuesday, the council voted 6-3 to place the issue on the July 26 ballot, which also includes a mayoral election. The council rescinded its previous rejection of a plan to donate the land to the National Parks Service for a veterans memorial. That plan had been a key part of a federal bill designed as a last-ditch effort to preserve the cross on public land. Supporters raised more...

ORLANDO -- With four public high schools planning to hold graduations in a church, a student, her Buddhist father and an atheist parent sued Wednesday to move the commencements or at least cover the church's large cross. Brevard County Public Schools maintain there is nothing wrong with using the 3,700-seat Calvary Chapel of Melbourne to host the graduations, as was done for three schools last year. A hearing in the case was set later Wednesday.

ELK TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A cross monument in a Vinton County cemetery has some local residents fighting to keep it there, NBC 4's Mike Bowersock reported. A representative from the American Civil Liberties Union told Elk Township the cross must leave the government-owned cemetery. The monument was added to Elk Cemetery in 2004, after being in storage for eight years. Some people said the large cross monument is promoting religion. In 1996, the ACLU forced the county to remove the cross from the McArthur courthouse, where it sat for almost 40 years, Bowersock reported. NBC 4 was unable to reach...

US chastity ring funding attacked The silver ring is a constant reminder of the abstinence promise The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the US government over its funding of a nationwide sexual abstinence programme.The ACLU says the Silver Ring Thing programme violates the principle that the state budget cannot be used to promote religion. The programme, which targets teenagers, is an offshoot of a Christian ministry. Since 2003, it has received more than $1m from the Department of Health and Human Services. Symbolic ringThe funding is part of a government initiative to expand abstinence-only sex...

Promise Keepers may bring many people and dollars to Fayetteville, but they also bring intolerance, according to a consortium of groups that say Razorback Stadium should not be used to promote a religious viewpoint. "I don’t think this singleminded group should have their meeting here. It’s not an all-encompassing group and we are promoting diversity at the university," said Marian Kunetka, an archeologist at the Arkansas Archeological Survey at the University of Arkansas. "I have to look at the rest of it as freedom of religion. I can’t get past that. We have to give them that; but, I don’t...

A Tacoma woman says she feels violated by a complaint about her vanity plate. It simply reads: "John 3-16" But someone found the Bible verse offensive and now the state is deciding whether she can keep the plate. "The verse in the Bible says 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,' " says Jane Milhans. To her, John 3:16 is a message of love, and a great vanity plate. But now, someone has told the state Jane's plate is offensive. "My first reaction was I was in shock," she said. Jane says she's had...

'I Will Defend To Keep It Based On Free Speech' TACOMA - A Tacoma woman says she feels violated by a complaint about her vanity plate. It simply reads: "John 3-16" But someone found the Bible verse offensive and now the state is deciding whether she can keep the plate. "The verse in the Bible says 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,' " says Jane Milhans. To her, John 3:16 is a message of love, and a great vanity plate. But now, someone has told the state Jane's plate is offensive. "My first...

Shuffling out of the movie theater last weekend, I emitted a silent scream, frustrated by yet another example of Christianity under assault, the tumescent epic, “Kingdom of Heaven,” a film so utterly contemptuous of Christians and adoring of Muslims that a leading authority on the Crusades branded it “Osama Bin Laden's version of history.” “What insane times we live in,” one film critic notes. “Here we are in the midst of the War on Terror, and all Hollywood can do is continually bash Christianity.” In an industry historically known for coddling communists (the blacklist, Jane Fonda, Stone, Spielberg and others...

During his nationally televised press conference April 28, President Bush was asked about the Family Research Council's allegation that some of his judicial nominees have been filibustered because of their faith. After considerable probing by MSNBC's David Gregory, the president said he believed that in fact his nominees were being subjected to these stalling tactics not because of their religious beliefs but because of their "judicial philosophy." Well, I agree with the president that some Democratic senators have targeted the judicial philosophy of the nominees. But that judicial philosophy has been scrutinized and scorned in several cases precisely because of...

| by Gene Edward Veith "That may be true for you, but it isn't true for me." "You don't have the right to impose your morality on anyone else." "You people who think you have the only truth and the only morality are intolerant and just as bad as the Taliban." When Christians try to evangelize someone, offer an opinion on public policy, or engage in an act of persuasion, the cultural left tries to silence them by invoking the doctrine of relativism. What we think of as true is really only a personal or a cultural construction, so the...

Far too few among the Christian community are willing to remain steadfast in their beliefs, in the face of the enormous pressures of liberal social change. Fortunately, Bruce N. Shortt exemplifies the meaning of such worthy resolve. Last year Shortt, along with T.C. Pinckney, made waves at the 2004 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) by stating the obvious. America’s educational system has, over the past several decades, completely degenerated from any pretense of promoting academics. Instead, it is primarily focused on a program of indoctrinating students towards countercultural social transformation. Relentlessly working to eradicate any references to God or traditional morality,...