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Category: Church and State
Investigation led ex-KGB agent to Christianity | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com
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Giles County, VA. To Rehang 10C Plaques in Public Schools
WSLS 10 News, Roanoke, Virginia, 1-20-2011 Giles County School Board votes unanimously to reinstall 10 Commandments plaques in all public schools.
Citing persecutions abroad, Obama declares ‘Religious Freedom Day’ (Examiner)
EXCERPT: President Obama yesterday carried out what has become an annual tradition of declaring January 16 “Religious Freedom Day.” Citing Virginia’s 1786 “Statute for Religious Freedom,” in which Tomas Jefferson wrote that “all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion,” the president said that although the…
In Defense of Separation
In the past few months there has been a renewed debate about the principles surrounding the first amendment, and especially about what scholars call the religion clauses – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Prior to the midterm elections in November, Christine O’Donnell asserted that…
Religious Liberty 2010 – A Year in Review
By Jason Hines – 2010 has been an interesting year in the area of church-state relations, both at home and abroad. While we cannot cover every event of magnitude that took place this year in this forum, we will touch on some of the more important events have taken place over the last 365 days….
Colorado School’s Rosary Rule Disputed (KKTV)
EXCERPT: COLORADO SPRINGS — An announcement made by a Colorado Springs middle school, stipulating how students can wear rosaries, has the ACLU speaking out against the decision. The group says religious liberty does not stop at the entrance to a public school. [District spokesperson Elaine] Naleski says some students were offended at how others were…
9th Circuit: World Vision Can Continue Faith-Based Hiring
On August 23, 2010, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that World Vision is a religious organization and is therefore exempt from Title VII prohibitions on religious discrimination. Three former employees Silvia Spencer, Ted Youngberg, and Vicki Hulse had had filed suit against the well-known humanitarian organization in 2007, claiming they had been victims…
An Analysis of the Results of the Federal Prop 8 Same-Sex Marriage Trial
In short, Judge Walker ruled based on the evidence presented, as any trial judge should, and regardless of his own personal sexual orientation or biases, Prop 8 supporters simply did not make a viable case for themselves. Sloganeering may have won the election but did not win a trial where real evidence was required. Prop 8 supporters may later look at the ruling and claim it was wrongly decided but as this essay points out, the reality is that they did a poor job presenting their evidence and only put two witnesses on the stand, both of whom had previously written statements that contradicted their testimony in favor of Prop 8. When both of these witnesses were neutralized, Prop 8 advocates had nothing left with which to prove their case and any effort by any judge to add in facts to uphold Prop 8 would have been the very definition of judicial activism.
‘Under God’ Spray-Painted On Secularist Billboard (WSOC)
EXCERPT: Charlotte, NC (WSOC) – A secularist billboard on the Billy Graham Parkway was vandalized over the weekend.The billboard, which was paid for by the The North Carolina Secular Association, shows an American flag and the words “One Nation, Indivisible.” Over the weekend, someone spray-painted the words “under God” on the billboard.Police were notified and…