Because of the ongoing erousion of Americans’ freedom to express their faith in a public forum, I began keeping a file of news accounts as they happen, or come to memory.
Following is a list of internet URLs in reverse date order of their posting along with a brief excerpt.
1/31/2011—Gays Harrass Chick-Fil-A for Christian beliefs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/7747224_chickfila_conundrum_which_comes_first_the_chicken_or_the_christians;_ylt=As_IH0_ccCgDJg63guzONcus0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTVmZXU2Y25oBGFzc2V0A2FjLzIwMTEwMTMxLzc3NDcyMjRfY2hpY2tmaWxhX2NvbnVuZHJ1bV93aGljaF9jb21lc19maXJzdF90aGVfY2hpY2tlbl9vcl90aGVfY2hyaXN0aWFucwRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzkEcG9zAzYEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawNjaGljay1maWwtYXc-
William Browning
Chicken sandwich giant Chick-fil-A has come under fire over the past week for sponsoring anti-gay marriage seminars. The New York Times reports a local restaurant in Pennsylvania donated some lunch baskets to a program called “The Art of Marriage” in Harrisburg, Pa. The seminar is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, a conservative Christian group which sponsors programs and promotes policies regarding Christian values such as right to life and anti-gay marriage.
The Pennsylvania Family Institute hosted Sarah Palin in 2010 and wanted to have former Miss California Carrie Prejean speak at their 20th Anniversary banquet in 2009. Prejean was famous for making an anti-gay marriage statement at the Miss USA pageant may have cost her the crown.
The Pennsylvania Family Institute canceled Prejean’s appearance at the last minute due to her nude photos leaked by TMZ. There is still marketing for Prejean’s presence at the banquet on the Pennsylvania Family Institute’s website possibly linking her to the religious group.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution says gay rights supporters and bloggers have decided to take Chick-fil-A to task for its associations with conservative Christian groups. Their issue goes beyond just a small number of chicken sandwiches donated to a marriage seminar.
1/21/2011—Hawaii Senators Hold Prayer Despite Vote To End It
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/jan/21/us-hawaii-legislature-prayer/
A group of nine Hawaii senators held hands, bowed their heads and sought God’s blessing Wednesday, signaling that they’ll still pray despite a vote last week to abandon official invocations.
The informal prayer Wednesday took place in the Senate chamber before the daily lawmaking session, convened in such a way so as not to contradict the decision to remove invocations from Senate business.
1/20/2011—Hawaii Senate Becomes First Legislative Body To End Daily Prayer
Kerry Picket
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/jan/21/hawaii-senate-becomes-first-legislative-body
end-d/
Hawaii lawmakers halted the daily prayer in the state’s chambers out of fear of a court challenge from the ACLU. The Associated Press reports:
Fearing a possible court challenge, Hawaii’s state Senate has voted to silence the daily prayer offered before each session began — making it the first state legislative body in the nation to halt the practice.
A citizen’s complaint had prompted the American Civil Liberties Union last summer to send the Senate a letter noting that its invocations often referenced Jesus Christ, contravening the separation of church and state.
That prompted the state attorney general’s office to advise the Senate that their handling of prayers — by inviting speakers from various religions to preach before every session — wouldn’t survive a likely court challenge, said Democratic Majority Leader Brickwood Galuteria.
1/7/2011—Chai Feldblum: Gay Rights and Religion— Victoria Cobb, President The Fmily Foundation
Richmond’s liberal political class appears to have completely missed the message of the voters in Virginia concerned about over spending and joblessness. Instead, taking a page out of the Harry Reid-Lady Gaga playbook, they plan on making homosexual issues their top priority in the coming General Assembly session.
Building on what they view as “momentum” from the lame-duck Congress’ vote to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, Democrat leaders will focus their energies on passing legislation that would give special protections to homosexuals, not just in state government hiring as they tried in the past, but in all hiring – public and private – across Virginia!
This fulfills the dream of the ACLU’s Kent Willis who said last year, “We hope this is only the beginning, and that [it] will inspire legislators to finally pass a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in both private and public sector employment.” [emphasis added]
This blatant attack on religious freedom would pose a threat to every church, faith based ministry, adoption agency, school and charity in the Commonwealth.
No longer content with an incremental approach, it appears that liberals in Virginia want it all and they want it now. Of course, we are confident that their legislation will go no further than it did last year.
The fact is that there is no evidence of broad discrimination against homosexuals taking place in Virginia. Even The Washington Post admitted that there are “thousands of homosexuals” working in state government. Proponents of the measure can point to one, just one, case where someone filed suit that they were fired because of their “sexual orientation” but even that case has been disputed.
According to one of the nation’s leading homosexual activist leaders and recent Obama appointee to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (approval for her nomination took place in the late night final hours of the lame-duck Congress), Chai Feldblum, “There can be a conflict between religious liberty and sexual liberty, but in almost all cases sexual liberty should win. I’m having a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win.”
Those who advocate for the advancement of sexual behavior protections in our law have little or no room for those who have religious convictions on those issues.
In her paper, Moral Conflict and Liberty: Gay Rights and Religion
She admits in her assessment of the clash that, “we are in a zero-sum game: a gain for one side necessarily entails a corresponding loss for the other side,” but “in making the decision in this zero-sum game, I am convinced society should come down on the side of protecting the [sexual] liberty of LGBT people.”
So there you have it, the true motivation behind the so-called “non-discrimination laws.” It is to discriminate against people whose faith teaches that homosexuality is wrong. The Family Foundation will continue to work to protect the religious liberty of all Virginians.
1/6/2011—Apple Continues to Censor Manhattan Declaration APP
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
http://womenofgrace.com/breaking_news/?p=6530&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook
The authors of the Manhattan Declaration (MD) are putting out a call to all supporters to voice their opposition to Apple after it rejected a revised version of their app, calling it “objectionable and potentially harmful to others.”
MD authors Chuck Colson, Robert George and Timothy George, sent out an urgent e-mail today to thousands of signatories of the 4,700 word document informing them that Apple has rejected the streamlined version of the original app which was pulled in November after gay activists accused it of promoting homophobia.
In a letter dated December 22, Apple officials said the revised app contains “references or commentary about a religious, cultural or ethnic group that are defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited or likely to expose the targeted group to harm or violence will be rejected. We have evaluated the content of this application and consider its contents to be objectionable and potentially harmful to others.”
This ruling could have grave implications because the document is nothing more than a call for Christians to adhere to the teachings of their faith concerning the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and religious liberty.
“What this means is that the teachings of the Bible itself are offensive, even dangerous,” writes Colson, et al.
1/4/2011—Korena War Memorial Cross unconstitutional
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40915948/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
A war memorial cross in a San Diego public park is unconstitutional because it conveys a message of government endorsement of religion, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in a two decade old case.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the unanimous decision in the dispute over the 29-foot cross, which was dedicated in 1954 in honor of Korean War veterans.
The court said modifications could be made to make it constitutional, but it didn’t specify what those changes would be.
12/23/2010—School Sends Home Permission Slips for Pledge of Allegiance
http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/school-sends-home-permission-slips-for-pledge-of-allegiance-20101222
FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com—A Brookline school is now saying permission slips won’t be necessary for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Edward Devotion School, which has not recited the Pledge of Allegiance in seven years, will say the Pledge over the school’s intercom once a week beginning next month.
Gerardo Martinez, the school’s principal, initially said the permission slips were sent to encourage parents to have a discussion with their kids about the Pledge.
The principal also says he sent this note out to parents just to let them know it was okay if they do not want their kids to participate.
Unfortunately for the principal, the thought of a permission slip to recite the Pledge set off a fire storm. Eventually the principal sent out a second note to parents explaining that it was not mandatory to sign the permission slips
12/20/2010—NPR Reporter Apologizes For Saying ‘Christmas’ On Air
Jonathon M. Seidl
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/npr-reporter-apologizes-for-saying-christmas-on-air/
Speaking on the local D.C. program “Inside Washington,“ NPR reporter Nina Totenberg openly apologized for using the phrase ”Christmas party” while telling a story.
8/15/2009—Florida Principal, Athletic Director Could Go to Jail for Prayer Before Lunch at School
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,539741,00.html
A principal and an athletic director in Florida could be charged with crimes and spend six months in jail after they prayed before a meal at a school event, the Washington Times reported.
Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and athletic director Robert Freeman will go on trial in federal district court Sept. 17. They’re accused of violating the conditions of a lawsuit settlement reached last year with the American Civil Liberties Union, according to the Times.
Local pastors and some students and teachers are outraged that Lay and Freeman face criminal charges, and they have protested during graduation ceremonies, the newspaper said.
“I have been defending religious freedom issues for 22 years, and I’ve never had to defend somebody who has been charged criminally for praying,” said Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, the Christian-based legal group that is defending the two school officials.
But an ACLU official said the Santa Rosa County School District has been guilty of “flagrant” First Amendment violations for years, the Times reported.
7/22/2010—Ga. School Forces Christian Student to Alter Beliefs to Graduate
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100722/ga-school-forces-christian-student-to-alter-beliefs-to-graduate/
An Augusta State University student filed suit Wednesday after she was told to change her Christian beliefs or otherwise be expelled from the school’s graduate counseling program.
Jennifer Keeton, 24, has been enrolled in the College of Education’s School Counselor masters degree program since fall 2009. She has expressed her Christian beliefs in class discussions and written assignments, but it was her views regarding gender and sexuality that irked faculty.
According to the filed complaint, “She has stated that she believes sexual behavior is the result of accountable personal choice rather than an inevitability deriving from deterministic forces. She also has affirmed binary male-female gender, with one or the other being fixed in each person at their creation, and not a social construct or individual choice subject to alteration by the person so created. Further, she has expressed her view that homosexuality is a ‘lifestyle,’ not a ‘state of being.’”
In May, Keeton was notified that she would be asked to participate in a remediation plan. Mary Jane Anderson-Wiley, an associate professor who also oversees student education and discipline, explained that the faculty wanted to see Keeton’s writing skills improve and that they are concerned with some of her beliefs and views pertaining to GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender) issues.
7/9/2010—Illinois Professor Fired For Giving Catholic Teaching On Homosexuality
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/illinois-professor-fired-for-giving-catholic-teaching-on-homosexuality/
Champaign, Ill., (CNA/EWTN News).- The University of Illinois has fired an adjunct professor for teaching in a class on Catholicism that homosexual acts violate natural moral law.
Dr. Kenneth Howell was informed that he could no longer teach in the university’s department of religion. The decision came after a student complained that Howell’s statements were “hate speech.”
In response to his firing, Howell wrote a letter to friends explaining the events surrounding his dismissal.
Howell said in the letter, which was obtained by CNA, that he first came to teach at the St. John’s Catholic Newman Center in 1998. At the time, courses on the Catholic faith were taught through the Newman Center, he explained, but in 2000, an agreement was made with the University of Illinois’ department of religion, and he became an adjunct professor in the department and taught classes on Catholicism.
5/28/2010—Ammendment to Allow Chaplains to Pray Sectarian Prayers Ruled Out of Order
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2010/05/amendment_would_let_military_chaplains_pray_as_they_wish.html
U.S, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization bill that would allow all U.S. military chaplains, “if called upon to lead a prayer outside of a religious service, would be free to close that prayer according to the dictates of the chaplain’s conscience.”
UPDATE: Bachmann’s amendment apparently was ruled out or order.
4/15/2010—National Day of Prayer Ruled Unconstitutonal
http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2010/04/national_day_of_prayer_ruled_unconstitutional.html
A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled Thursday that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional.
National Day of Prayer “goes beyond mere ‘acknowledgment’ of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function in this context,” U.S. Dist. Judge Barbara B. Crabb wrote. “In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience . . . “
12/20/2005—Chaplains Forbidden To Pray in The Name of Jesus
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Apostasy/military-no_jesus.htm
A group of clergy is planning to gather outside the White House today to ask President Bush to nullify military policies that forbid chaplains from praying in Jesus’ name.
According to a statement from the National Clergy Council, Christian leaders from various denominations will hold a news conference outside Lafayette Park just north of the White House to protest what the group calls an “escalating crisis” over chaplain prayer policies.
As WorldNetDaily reported, the U.S. Air Force released interim guidelines on religious expression in August that allow only a “brief nonsectarian prayer” during official ceremonies and events. The guidelines were developed in the wake of complaints from non-Christians at the Air Force Academy who believed Christians, both cadets and staff, were being too heavy-handed about their faith on campus. Also included in the directive is the regulation of proselytizing.
“This new policy of the military is an outrage,” said the Rev. Rob Schenck, an evangelical minister and president of the National Clergy Council, in a statement. “We now have well-documented proof of this blatant violation of First Amendment guarantees. It is an egregious insult to the good men and women of every religious persuasion who serve in the chaplain corps.”
1779—Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: by Thomas Jefferson
Be it enacted by General Assembly that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of Religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities.
“The God Who gave us life gave us liberty -- can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?” Inscription on the Jefferson Memorial
