Free Republic

Cordova has said that Belen means Bethlehem in Spanish, but the Freedom From Religion Foundation is arguing that the nativity scene is religious in nature and should be moved to private property.

However, legal questions still linger in the much-debated case After more than 25 years of lawsuits and court rulings about the cross on San Diego’s Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial, the recent sale of a plot of land under the cross may be the final solution to the quarter-century church-and-state conflict. Documents confirm the title for the half-acre plot of land beneath the Mount Soledad cross was transferred from the federal Department of Defense to the Mount Soledad Memorial Association on July 17 for $1.4 million. Bruce Bailey, president of the Mount Soledad Memorial Association, also confirmed the deal is...

I am a very committed, very public advocate of marriage as a gender-based institution. Many of my fellow proponents of man/woman marriage cite religious liberty as an argument against redefining marriage. While I have great respect for those who promote this view, I must respectfully disagree with their assessment.The uproar over the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act demonstrates that religious liberty arguments don’t work anymore. I take no pleasure in saying this. But religious liberty arguments are not compelling enough to induce our fellow citizens to sacrifice something they value, namely, sexual liberty.I can think of three reasons for this.An...

Not just fleeing the Middle East: It’s not just the Mideast from which Christians are being driven. “Christians are being driven from the Middle East in suffering,” Pope Francis said in a video message yesterday as French Cardinal Phillipe Barbarin visited the Iraqi city of Irbil, where thousands of Christians have taken refuge. “And from America; and from the military, who need God’s protection, as we do in the USA,” adds Fred Abel of jfredabel@gmail.com. Abel is spot on. The main difference between Christians being driven out of the Middle East and those being driven out of America is that...

A Winston-Salem restaurant is giving customers a 15 percent discount if they pray in public. Mary’s Gourmet Diner in Winston-Salem gives the discount for anyone who takes the time to appreciate their food before digging in. Although the restaurant has been offering the special for four years, a recent Facebook post featuring a receipt with the discount has gone viral, highlighting the practice. …

The U.S. Supreme Court on May 5 upheld the practice of voluntary prayer before public meetings by a 5-4 ruling, drawing praise from those who said such prayers are a long American tradition that avoids censoring religion. “Opening public meetings with prayer is a cherished freedom that the authors of the Constitution themselves practiced,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel David Cortman said May 5. “Speech censors should have no power to silence volunteers who pray for their communities just as the Founders did.” Cortman said the Supreme Court “affirmed that Americans are free to pray.” “In America, we tolerate a...

The Devil’s Due: Satanic monument is inevitable by Daniel Clark In Oklahoma City, a group calling itself The Satanic Temple is proposing to erect a statue of Satan in front of the State Capitol. A design they’ve submitted depicts him as a goat-headed figure with wings, seated on a throne marked with a pentagram, and ministering to two small children. The Satanic Temple claims a right to do this, based on the presence of a monument of the Ten Commandments on Capitol grounds, which the ACLU is now suing to have removed. It’s not hard to see where this is...

Full Title: Setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience: A Consideration of the Church’s Role in the Public Square In the Office of Readings today we read from 2 Corinthians 4 where St. Paul well describes the work of the Church in the Public square: Setting forth the truth plainly, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God (2 Cor 4:2). Not a bad description of our posture and practice toward the secular world.Yet, that is not often the impression many take from our posture. In what I would called a...

A cross atop Mount Soledad in California is an unconstitutional religious display on government land and must come down, a federal judge in San Diego ruled late Thursday. U.S. District Judge Larry Burns ordered the cross, which honors veterans, must be removed within 90 days -- a decision that could result in the case being sent back to the U.S. Supreme Court. Burns immediately stayed his order pending an expected appeal.

SAN DIEGO -- After two decades of legal and political wrangling, a federal judge Thursday ordered the cross atop Mt. Soledad removed within 90 days as a violation of the separation of church and state. But U.S. District Judge Larry Burns stayed the removal order so that those defending the cross have time to appeal. Built in 1954, the 43-foot cross is one of the most visible landmarks in San Diego. Starting in the early 1990s, plaques honoring military veterans have been placed on walls surrounding the base of the cross.

The United States Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday on whether or not the sectarian prayers offered at a New York town's meetings are constitutional. The highest court in the land will hear an appeal from a lower court decision regarding Greece, N.Y.'s practice of having explicitly Christian prayers open town meetings. Known as Galloway v. Town of Greece, the lawsuit was filed by two residents of Greece who felt the sectarian prayers made them feel excluded from the public affairs of the town. Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens, the two plaintiffs, are being represented by the Washington, D.C.-based group...

DENVER (CBS4) – There’s more controversy over legalized marijuana after some members of the Denver City Council want to limit open consumption. Marijuana advocates say the city may be violating the spirit of Amendment 64. Under the proposal smoking marijuana at a park or other public places could lead a fine of almost $1,000 and a year in jail. But what’s causing alarm to marijuana smokers is how Denver might be defining how much is too much in the privacy of a person’s property. People were passing out free joints in Civic Center Park last month and Denver Mayor Michael...

A member of a Christian organization that posted a Decalogue outside a Florida courthouse said an atheist group posting a monument in the same location has the right to do so. American Atheists will soon be posting what is believed to be the United States' first atheist monument on public property outside of the Bradford County Courthouse later this month. Ken Weaver, member of the Starke, Fla.-based group Community Men's Fellowship, told The Christian Post about how he feels regarding the atheist monument bench. "Simply put, while we do not agree with the 'faith' of the American Atheists that disregards...

There are many people today who despise conservative religious beliefs, but they are quick to say, “We don’t want to restrict your religious freedoms in any way. Just keep your beliefs in the church.” What they fail to realize is that the church is not a closet, and it is our private beliefs that fuel our public acts. Shouldn’t it be this way? President Obama claims that it was conversations he had with his daughters, coupled with his interpretation of the teaching of Jesus, that caused him to take a public stand for same-sex marriage last May. Did his supporters...

Brethren, Peace and Good to all of you. As you know, every year during the holiday and Christmas seasons, religion-objectors redouble their efforts at proscribing religious displays on government buildings and other common areas in our cities, towns, and villages. The mainstream media’s (MSM’s) strategy has been to declare that there is no “war on Christmas” but Bill Donohue from the Catholic League already took the MSM to task. Of course, I often share many of Bill Donohue’s observations across many other social platforms including Twitter, and it was in Twitter where I got a couple of respondents who are...

<p>It’s football time in Tennessee where longtime gridiron traditions are cherished – from Rocky Top to the Pride of the Southland Marching Band. At the start of every game inside the colossal Neyland Stadium, thousands of the football faithful rise to their feet, remove their hats and pause for the pre-game prayer.</p>

Atheists want the Ground Zero Cross torn down from the 9/11 museum because they claim its mere existence gives them physical and mental anguish. The ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice) is fighting to defend the cross in court. The Ground Zero Cross - two intersecting steal beams - is what remains from the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Now atheists want that torn down too. Sign & Share this ACLJ petition to defend the Cross against this absurd lawsuit: http://bit.ly/TOdESI

A 26-foot tall cross emblazoned with the message "Jesus Saves" has become the center for more First Amendment debate in Indiana. The cross stands on a public plot of land in the small Hoosier State community of Dugger, and has Americans United for Separation of Church and State threatening to sue. "It's a pretty flagrant display of the government saying 'this is a Christian town,'" Gregory Lipper, the group's senior counsel, told FoxNews.com. "Everyone gets freedom of religion ...just because Christianity is this country's religious majority doesn't mean that they get to put their thumb on the scale and use...

For the majority of Americans, Memorial Day is first and foremost a three-day weekend. Time to watch the Indianapolis 500 or a baseball game; time to open the swimming pool or have a picnic. The American flag will be appropriated to embellish ads for supermarkets, department stores, car dealers, and home improvement centers. Sales on everything from garden fertilizer to bedroom furniture will be accompanied by perfunctory messages urging us to “remember those who died for our country” as we clip our coupons and make our way to the mall. The nearest most folks will get to any graveyard,...

A conservative group has set up a nativity scene at the Capitol building in Madison, and an atheists' group is seeking its own permit for an opposing display. A WISC-TV report says Wisconsin Family Action has been granted a permit to display its scene until the end of the month. The six statuettes that sit on a table depict the birth of Jesus Christ. Group spokeswoman Julaine Appling says the display is tasteful. She says there's room for a number of different voices. But the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation says a nativity scene isn't appropriate for a state building....