National Alliance Against Christian Discrimination

National Alliance Against Christian Discrimination
"Protecting and Promoting the Christian Faith and Our Religious Heritage."

Updates 1:

Anti-Christian Coalitions
“As more than 3,000 Christian Coalition activists descended on the capital to lobby Congress and prepare for their national convention, a rival organization launched an effort to counter the group’s political influence among churchgoers.
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a nonprofit watchdog group, said it intends to warn congregations and pastors throughout the country about the alleged partisanship of the coalition’s upcoming voter guides. Barry Lynn, the group’s executive director, said the guides, which are usually distributed just before Election Day, traditionally make ‘Republicans appear nearly saint-like and Democrats look like they’re the biggest sinners in town.’
The Christian Coalition is expected to be the target of another broadside when People for the American Way, a nonprofit civil rights organization, attacks the group for allegedly ignoring or circumventing election laws.”(The Gazette. 9/17/98.)

Courtroom Christianity Criticized
“The constitutional crisis began 66 years ago in North Carolina, but no one noticed. However, recently Richard Suhre went ballistic and to court. In 1932 Haywood County, NC, built a courthouse that is now listed, in the National Register of Historic Places, among ‘the significant physical evidences of our national patrimony.’ Carved into the wall of one courtroom are two plaques listing the 10 Commandments.
Suhre, who advertises his atheism, lost a case in that courtroom and smolders with suspicion that the plaques disposed the jury against him. According to Dr. Walter Harrelson, Haywood’s expert and former dean of the divinity schools at the University of Chicago and Vanderbilt, said that the words on these courtroom plaques is a moot point in that ‘their prevalence over time has caused them to evolve into a nonreligious, moral framework for a secular society.’ (italics mine)
Defenders of religion have been reduced to such cringing arguments because the Supreme Court, which in 1952 said ‘we are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being,’ has made a fetish out of scrubbing religion from the public square. But victories won with such arguments actually represent surrender to secularism.” (George Will. Washington Post editorial. The Gazette. 8/12/98.)

Teacher Censors
A teacher attempted to censor the Pledge of Allegiance. An instructor at Faust Junior High School in Chambersburg, Pa., told students he was eliminating the words "under God" from the pledge, which is recited every day at the school. He explained
that the school was a public facility and that mentioning the name of God was unacceptable. A parent contacted the Rutherford Institute, which contacted the school's principal, who quickly made sure there would be no censorship of the pledge. "Students
and teachers have the right to recite the pledge in its entirety," the institute's Ron Rissler said. (Religion Today. Current News. 10-16-98)

Colorado High Court Bans Prayer
Prayers can be banned at city council meetings. The 10th Circuit federal court of appeals in Denver ruled Oct. 27 that authorities may prevent citizens from praying at the opening of meetings if the prayer denigrates religions or is otherwise offensive, Reuters said. Tom Snyder of Murray City, Utah, said the city council there violated his rights by barring him from praying at meetings, but the court ruled against him 11-2. "Murray City was well within its rights to deny permission" because the prayer offended other faiths, the judges said. Snyder's prayer referred to "Our Mother, who art in heaven" and lambasted "self-righteous politicians" who misuse God's name at government meetings. (Current News Summary by the Editors at ReligionToday.com. October 28, 1998.)

A Politically Incorrect Prayer?
When Senior Pastor Joe Wright of the Central Christian Church of Wichita, Kansas, was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual politically correct generalities. But on this day they heard instead was a stirring prayer, passionately calling our country to repentance and righteousness. The response was immediate - with a number of legislators walking out during the prayer.
In six short weeks Central Christian Church logged more than 5,000 phone calls, with
only 47 of those calls responding negatively. Commentator Paul Harvey aired Pastor Joe Wright's prayer on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other program Paul Harvey has ever aired. In addition, Central Christian Church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.
The prayer is reprinted below as an encouragement and challenge for each of us to stand for the truth of the Gospel wherever the Lord gives us opportunity.
“Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance.
We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we have done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that:
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism;
We have worshiped other gods and called it multi-culturalism;
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle;
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery;
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation;
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare;
We have killed our unborn and called it choice;
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable;
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self- esteem;
We have abused power and called it political savvy;
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition;
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression;
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state. Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may
their decisions direct us to the center of Your will. I ask it in the name of Your Son, the Living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Church Loses Tax-Free Status
“A church is trying to regain its tax-free status that was removed after it sponsored a newspaper ad judged to be illegally political. The Church at Pierce Creek, a Binghamton, N.Y., congregation, argued in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Oct. 29 that removing its tax-free status was a political attack designed to silence anti-Clinton conservatives. Liberal congregations are left alone by the IRS, which "overstepped its
authority in this case and reacted in a way that can only be seen as a flagrant display of bigotry and bias," attorney Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice said.
The IRS tried to stifle "biblically-based discussion" of issues by harassing and intimidating the church, Sekulow said. Pierce Creek stepped over the line separating legal
nonpartisan political involvement from illegal partisanship by putting the name of pastor Daniel J. Little on the ads and asking for tax-deductible donations to help defer costs, government attorney Alan J.J. Swirski said. The ad criticized then-presidential candidate Clinton for "promoting policies that are in rebellion to God's Laws" including "abortion on demand" and "the homosexual lifestyle." The IRS revoked Pierce Creek's tax-free status in 1995, marking the first time a bona fide religious group ever has lost that status because of allegedly prohibited political activity. Judge Paul Friedman did not indicate when he would rule on the appeal.” (Religion Today. Current News. October 30, 1998.)

Attack on Right Wing
“The Christian Right per se and some particular members on Capitol Hill have helped inflame the air so that the air that these bad people breathed that night was filled, filled with the idea that somehow gays are different…The Christian Coalition, the Family Research Council and the Concerned Women for America.” (Deborah Mathis of Gannett News Service on who inspired the murder of Matthew Shepard, Oct. 17 Inside Washington.)

Eliminating Christmas
Birmingham, England, has renamed Christmas 'Winterval.' It is intended to be a catchy phrase for December and New Year's festivities so "there is no slur on anyone or any religious faith," a city spokesman told Reuters news service. The City Council's decision enraged Christian leaders, who called it silly and an example of "political correctness to avoid sensitivities that people do not have." (Religion Today. Current News. 11/1//98.)

Kansas: State RTL Group Loses Court Challenge on Free Speech
“The state's largest pro-life group lost the first round Tuesday of what could be a lengthy fight over a new law that places stringent restrictions on political groups, including pro-life organizations. Kansans for Life is challenging an interpretation of the law by the state Governmental Ethics Commission.
The commission wants Kansans for Life to disclose how much it spent on radio advertisements during the gubernatorial primary campaign last summer. The group contends that requiring such disclosure violates free-speech rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. The group filed a federal lawsuit and asked U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers to issue an order to block the commission from levying a fine
against Kansans for Life.
Rogers said from the bench that he wants to give the state time to respond to the lawsuit in writing. He still could issue an order to prevent the ethics commission from proceeding against Kansans for Life. Even as the judge heard arguments, a legislative committee took testimony on the law. Some lawmakers think the law still is too weak, and the
committee will decide whether to recommend changes to the 1999 Legislature.
The law requires groups that "expressly advocate" the election or defeat of a candidate in advertising about issues to disclose their contributions and expenditures in reports filed with the secretary of state's office. It took effect July 1. (Crisis Pregnancy Center Online. 11/12/98.)

Anti-christian California
Phase One of the end of Christian rights: Immediately following the election of liberal Democrat Gray Davis as governor of California, the Pacific Justice Institute and other civil liberty organizations began preparing for the anticipated legislative fallout that could soon result. The anxiety is over two mind- boggling bills that could signify an all-out war against individuals and churches that voice biblical truths. The first bill, titled
AB257, passed in both houses of the state legislature last year before it was vetoed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson. This bill would allow individuals to file taxpayer-funded lawsuits against Christian radio stations, private Christian schools, and other ministries
whose religious convictions do not consent to an "alternative sexual orientation." Under the bill, groups and individuals opposing a homosexual lifestyle could be fined up to $50,000 and receive next year," warned Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice
Institute, "we intend to challenge it as a direct attack on the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In addition, the possibility of new laws undermining parents' rights through liberal public school curriculum mandates, or home schooling restrictions, also has many families on guard. Without question, the challenge to families and faith has never been greater." (Liberty Alliance. 11/13/98.)

Religious Freedom Vetoed
Religious rights groups are protesting Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar's partial veto of a religious freedom measure. The Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed unanimously by the state legislature, protects "sincere religious practice" from undue government interference, news reports said. Edgar approved the act, except in the case of prison inmates. Religious groups protested the move. "Prison and law enforcement officials agree that religion is one of the most significant rehabilitative factors for people in prison," Jonathan Levine of The American Jewish Committee said. “We will urge legislators to protect the religious freedom of everyone in Illinois -- including the
unpopular and the powerless -- by overriding Gov. Edgar's veto.” (Current News, Religion Today, Nov. 17, 1998.)

Bible Week Blocked
“A federal judge on 11/20/98 blocked an Arizona proclamation to observe Bible Week, calling it unconstitutional. Arizona Gov. Jane Hull, who declared that Bible Week will begin Sunday, said she will fight the ruling by U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver.
The American Civil Liberties Union’s Arizona chapter filed suit on 11/19/98 against Hull, contending the proclamation is an unconstitutional offense against non-Christians and nonbelievers. ACLU officials have voiced similar objections to Bible Week proclamations issued by Utah and four of its cities. The ACLU threatened legal action if the proclamations weren’t withdrawn.
Meanwhile, bowing to pressure from the ACLU, Tucson officials rescinded the city’s Bible Week proclamation just hours before the ACLU and Arizona squared off in federal court. The ACLU had also persuaded Judge Silver to issue a restraining order preventing A suburb of Phoenix (Gilbert) from proclaiming Bible Week for the fifth straight year.
Gov. Hull says her proclamation is not an attempt to mandate a state religion but rather to encourage Christians to study the teachings of their religion. The proclamation was done at the request of the National Bible Association, a New York-based group that has celebrated the week since 1941.
This year, 27 governors and more than 400 mayors reportedly issued Bible Week proclamations. Bowing to pressure, Gov. Hull said she will consider a ‘religious scriptures week’ next year instead of focusing only on the Bible.” (The Gazette. 11/21/98.)

Muslims Avenged
“Shoe manufacturer Nike is making good on its promise to build several playgrounds to apologize for a marketing blunder. When Nike put the word "air" on a new shoe model two years ago, the stylized lines made the word look like Arab script for "Allah."
Muslims considered that a sacrilege and threatened a worldwide boycott. Nike recalled 38,000 pairs of the shoes and agreed to build several playgrounds in Muslim communities.” (Religion Today. Current News. 11/24/98.)

Religious Atheism?
“Bill Phelps, moderator of the United Church of Canada, that nation’s largest Protestant denomination, said recently ‘that he did not believe Jesus Christ was God, was bodily resurrected, or was the only way to God.’ After his remarks caused an outcry within the denomination, the UCC’s 70-member lay and clergy council announced that his comments fell ‘well within the spectrum of the United Church.’” (World magazine. Dec. 20, 1997.)

Christian Bigotry in Schools
“Seven-year-old Sallie loved her school and her classmates. But she felt sad when a teacher at her elementary school told her not to talk about her Christian beliefs on school grounds. She was assigned to a ‘Child Study Team’ where she would be remediated. Her IEP (Individual Education Plan) would be managed and monitored by the Resource Specialist.
Her parents asked a lawyer what rights they had as parents to protect Sallie from religious intolerance. The lawyer warned them that the school might consider Sallie ‘overly religious’ and refer her to Child Protection Services (CPS).
At that point, Sallie’s parents quickly transferred her from the local public school to a Christian school. Perhaps you are wondering how this could be happening in America. What happened to free speech? To religious freedom? To kindness?” (Taken from the book Brave New Schools by Berit Kjos - Harvest House Publishers. The book is available through Christian bookstores, or call 1-800-929-5646 to order it.)

Separation of School from Church?
News services report that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting in New Orleans, has invoked the "separation of church and state" to thwart a federal law that lets public school systems lend library books and computers to church-run private schools. The 32-year-old law was challenged 13 years ago by two parents of Louisiana public school students who questioned the use of public funds.
The law sets up block grants to help buy instructional materials such as books, televisions and computers for public and private schools. The materials are administered by a public agency. The opinion cited Supreme Court church-state precedence. The Justice Department refused to comment on whether they would appeal the 3-0 ruling.
The opinion was written by Judge Duhe [appointed by Reagan in October 1988; confirmed Unanimous Consent by the Senate], Judge Benavides [appointed by Clinton on May 6, 1994; confirmed Unanimous Consent by the Senate], and Judge Carl Stewart [appointed by Clinton also on May 6, 1994;confirmed Unanimous Consent by the Senate.]
In an interesting twist, the same court in the same opinion upheld two other Louisiana laws that let taxes be used to pay special education teachers who work at church-run schools and also to pay bus drivers who transport students to those schools. The court held that those programs provide secular services that do not advance religion, thus
within the appropriate church-state separation guidelines. (Free Congress Foundation. August 25, ‘98.)

Conservatives Incite Murder? - Hate Crimes
“How much of a threat do gays live under? Have anti-gay comments by the religious right contributed to attacks? And what can be done to stop the violence?” (Chris Wallace opening ABC’s Nightline, October 16, 1998.)

Attack on Right Wing – Hate Crime
“The Christian Right per se and some particular members on Capitol Hill have helped inflame the air so that the air that these bad people breathed that night was filled, filled with the idea that somehow gays are different…The Christian Coalition, the Family Research Council and the Concerned Women for America.” (Deborah Mathis of Gannett News Service on who inspired the murder of Matthew Shepard, Oct. 17 Inside Washington.)

Anti-christian Bias & Hate Crimes
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) implicated conservative, Christian organizations in the death of Matthew Shepard in October.
According to Joan M. Garry, GLAAD Executive Director: “The rhetoric of ‘hope and healing’ being used by religious, political extremists, and their conviction that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people need to be ‘changed,’ fosters a climate of intolerance which puts people in harm’s way. In must end now!”
According to Kerry Lobel, NGLTF Executive Director: “We ask outraged Americans to help us stop the anti-gay legislative and public relations attacks that have been so prevalent these past few months. These campaigns to change gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are so clearly not about compassion – they foster fear, misunderstanding, and intolerance. They foster an atmosphere of hostility that can lead to hate attacks. We ask all Americans to support hate crimes legislation and to speak out against the right wing’s campaign to change us.” (Media Statement from GLAAD and NGLTF on Oct. 12, 1998.)

Whose Ox is Gored?
Mr. Clinton and his media kept the attack on Matthew Shepard, a homosexual college student killed in Wyoming, on the front pages for almost two weeks. Mr. Shepard became the ‘poster-boy’ for Mr. Clinton´s so-called ‘anti-hate’ legislation. ‘They don’t care about Matthew Shepard. They care only that he was gay. They have made his murder their cause only because his homosexuality put him in a class of preferred victims...,’says Pat Buchanan. But, there has been no such outrage about a Dubuque, Iowa, case in which an 11-year-old boy is now HIV positive after being sexually abused over a period of months by homosexual Robert Bradfield. Perhaps this calls for a ‘class of preferred perpetrators.’” (The Federalist Digest. 11/12/98)

One Nation, Not Under God?
“A teacher attempted to censor the Pledge of Allegiance. An instructor at Faust Junior High School in Chambersburg, Pa., told students he was eliminating the words "under God" from the pledge, which is recited every day at the school. He explained that the school was a public facility and that mentioning the name of God was unacceptable. A parent contacted the Rutherford Institute, which contacted the school’s principal, who quickly made sure there would be no censorship of the pledge. ‘Students and teachers have the right to recite the pledge in its entirety,’ the institute's Ron Rissler said.” (Religion Today. Current News. 10-16-98)

Religious Freedom Vetoed
Religious rights groups are protesting Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar's partial veto of a religious freedom measure. The Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed unanimously by the state legislature, protects "sincere religious practice" from undue government interference, news reports said. Edgar approved the act, except in the case of prison inmates. Religious groups protested the move. "Prison and law enforcement officials agree that religion is one of the most significant rehabilitative factors for people in prison," Jonathan Levine of The American Jewish Committee said. "We will urge legislators to protect the religious freedom of everyone in Illinois -- including the
unpopular and the powerless -- by overriding Gov. Edgar's veto." (Current News, Religion Today, Nov. 17, 1998.)

Hollywood Haranguing
Actor Alec Baldwin, one of Hollywood's most vocal leftist voices, launched into a startling tirade against House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien." In a shocking harangue, Baldwin declared, "If we were living in another country, what we, all of us together, would [do is] go down to Washington and stone Henry Hyde to death -- stone him to death! Then we would go to his house and we'd kill the family, kill the children."
hese deranged words come from a man who has open political aspirations. Mr. Hyde, who has received a series of death threats since the beginning of the impeachment debates, was shocked, responding, "I heard about it, and I'm sickened by it." Now we're told by NBC and Mr. Baldwin that he was only joking. Yeah, that was a real knee-slapper, Alec. Imagine if a conservative had even hinted at such a "joke." This would have been front-page news and "documentation" of the rabid fervor of the "radical right." Let us keep the names of Mr. Hyde and his courageous committee colleagues atop our prayer lists! (Liberty Alliance. Jerry Falwell. 12/18/98.)

Home-school Interference
“Home-school parents can refuse visits from school authorities, Massachusetts' highest court ruled. School officials in Lynn, Mass., have no right to visit homes to see how parents teach their children, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Dec. 16. No state law says school districts can require home visits, the court said, and re-emphasized parents' rights to educate their children in the best way they see fit, the Boston Globe said.
The ruling is expected to clarify home-school procedures for families trying to understand the state's vaguely written laws and court rulings. Some Massachusetts school districts have had the requirement for home visits on their books, but did not enforce it, and other districts that did not have the requirement would ask parents for home visits, the newspaper said. Some parents who were unsure of their rights agreed to allow the inspectors.
The case began in 1991, when Stephen and Lis Pustell sued the Lynn School Committee, which required home schoolers to be observed periodically by school officials. Michael and Virginia Brunelle faced criminal charges in Lynn in 1994 when they objected to home visits and refused to submit their educational plans. Criminal charges were dropped, and the couples challenged Lynn's policy in the federal and state courts. The numbers of home schoolers statewide have quadrupled in 10 years to about
4,500.” (Religion Today. Current News Summary. 12/18/98.)

City Seal Discrimination
A city seal that depicts Christian symbols is unconstitutional, a judge ruled. Federal Judge Dan Ploster said Dec. 16 that the official seal of Stow, Ohio, which depicts a cross and an open Bible representing the area's Christian heritage, is an unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity, United Press International said. The Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit. The Stow City Council has not
decided whether to appeal.
"The issue has become very divisive in the community," Stow Mayor Donald Coughlin told the Akron Beacon Journal. "Two years ago, probably less than 10% of the residents of Stow even knew the city had a seal, and most likely only a fraction of those could describe what was on the seal," Coughlin said. "Now everyone knows that one quadrant of the seal has a Christian cross." Fifty-six percent of Stow's voters said in a 1997 referendum that they wanted to keep the seal. (Religion Today. Current News. 12/18/98.)

Religious Sign Discrimination
"The World Needs God," proclaims a sign in Hillsboro, Ill. Redemptive Assembly of God purchased the sign after a lawsuit forced its removal from a government building. The 12-foot, 400-pound sign had been on the side of a government building until 1994, when the American Civil Liberties Union sued to have it taken down. The church placed the sign on the side of its building and everyone entering the central Illinois town from the west can read it, United Press International said. (Religion Today. Current News. 12/22/98.)

Religious Statue Discrimination
“A statue of Jesus can remain on public display. A Wisconsin federal judge ruled that the town of Marshfield does not have to remove a statue that has been in a city park since 1959. A suit filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation said the statue violates the separation of church and state. The city then sold the statue and a 6,500 square foot parcel of land surrounding it to the Henry Praschak Memorial Fund, a nonprofit organization named for the man who donated the statue. The court found that the city violated no laws when it sold the land to the nonprofit group, which promised to keep and maintain the statue, the American Center for Law and Justice said.” (Religion Today. Current News. 12/21/98.)

Anti-Christian Gays
“The Evangelical Theological Society said homosexuality is contrary to biblical teaching. The group passed a resolution at its 50th annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., last month proclaiming that the gay lifestyle is not consistent with Christianity. The Lynchburg, Va., association of scholars meets yearly. It called on the media to stop promoting "unsubstantiated, untruthful, and hateful accusations against evangelical Christians," and passed a motion opposing hate-crimes legislation.” (Religion Today. Current News. 12/21/98.)

Anti-Christian Hollywood
“An Orthodox rabbi has accused Hollywood of portraying Christians as fools. Yechiel Eckstein, founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, said Hollywood exhibits a "pervasive anti-Christian bias." Eckstein wrote in the North Jersey Jewish Standard that Christians should hold the film industry accountable in the same way that consumers have taken action against tobacco makers.
Hollywood has "belittled Christian beliefs and portrayed clergy as hypocrites -- or worse," he wrote. These depictions "are as damaging to our popular culture as drugs are to the body and pollutants are to the environment." Eckstein said he feared that stereotypes and caricatures in the media will "provide the seedbed for prejudice and intolerance" as happened at the time of the Holocaust.” (Thur., May 1, 1997. Religion Today. Current News.)

Student Free Speech
A student says he was humiliated by his school for wearing a heavy-metal rock band's T-shirt to class. Eric VanHoven filed a federal lawsuit against the Zeeland, Mich., school district after being suspended for two days last spring from Zeeland High School. VanHoven says his right to free speech was infringed upon.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a brief on his behalf, saying the district's ban on student clothes it considers obscene, vulgar, or sexually explicit is unconstitutionally
vague. "The word 'Jesus' on a T-shirt could imply the violence of the Bible and the sexual content of Song of Solomon" under the policy, an ACLU attorney told the Holland, Mich., Sentinel.
School officials defend the policy, saying lyrics of the group Korn, one of several whose T-shirts are banned, are obscene. School attorneys say the case should be thrown out because the 19-year-old plaintiff has left school. A hearing is scheduled before a federal magistrate in Kalamazoo next month.(Religion Today. Current News. 12/30/98.)

Religious Tax Breaks
An Arizona court upheld a tax break for people who donate money for scholarships to religious and other private schools. The state's Supreme Court ruled Jan. 26 that such donations do not represent an unconstitutional form of government involvement in religion, or an infringement on Arizona's ban on using public money for churches or private schools. There is no evidence that the authors of Arizona's Constitution intended to "divorce completely any hint of religion from all conceivably state-related functions, nor would such a goal be realistically attainable," Chief Justice Thomas Zlaket wrote. (Religion Today. Current News. 1/27/99.)

Judge Quotes Scripture
“The sentence of a child rapist was overturned because the judge quoted from the Bible when imposing punishment. The First District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, reversed the 51-year sentence of James Arnett, who had pleaded guilty to 10 counts of rape involving an 8-year-old girl. The appeals court, ruling Feb. 5, said Judge Melba Marsh used the Bible as a source in determining the severity of punishment for Arnett, 33, and therefore denied him the right to due process by violating the guarantee of separation of church and state, Reuters said.
Marsh had quoted from Matthew 18:5-6: "But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it would be better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." "I am absolutely appalled by this ruling," Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen said. He said he will appeal the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, and the case will go back to Marsh for
a new sentence.” (Religion Today. Current News. 2/8/99.)

Landmark-Preservation Law
A law exempting churches from landmark-preservation laws is constitutional. A Sacramento, Calif., appeals court upheld a 1994 state law that allows religious organizations to alter or demolish their historic buildings for religious or financial purposes, the Associated Press said. The city of San Francisco and landmark-preservation groups had challenged the law, saying it established an unconstitutional state preference for religious groups. A lower court ruled against the law, but the appeals court called it proper because it removes potential hindrances to the practice of religion. (Religion Today. Current News. 2/15/99.)

Pathological Hollywood
Hollywood keeps making films full of sex and violence even though they are less profitable. In the decade 1988-1997, Hollywood made 17 times more "R" rated films than "G" rated, even though the average "G"-rated film brought in eight times more revenue, a new report by the nonprofit Dove Foundation (see link #1 below) found. Copies of "Profitability Study of MPAA-Rated Movies" was sent to administrators of 200 mutual funds and pension funds, The Christian Science Monitor said. The study "proves that the real edge in Hollywood goes to competently crafted family entertainment," film critic Michael Medved said. (Religion Today. Current News. 2/16/99.)

No More Bible Week
Arizona's governor will no longer issue proclamations for Bible Week. "I want to bring people together. I don't want to divide them," Gov. Jane Hull said. Non-Christian groups protested against the proclamation issued last November, prompting the Arizona Civil Liberties Union to file a lawsuit, United Press International said. The proclamation, which says the country is founded on biblical principles, violates the separation of church and state, protesters said. The New York-based National Bible Association has asked every U.S. governor and mayor to proclaim a Bible Week since 1941. Last year, 26 states and 400 cities issued the proclamation. (Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 3/2/99.)

No God in Sports
“God can be mentioned in prayers at graduation ceremonies, but not football games. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, meeting in New Orleans, upheld a lower court's ruling. Football games are ‘hardly the sober type of annual event that can be appropriately solemnized with prayer,’ Judge Jacques Wiener said in the 2-1 decision. The ruling affects schools in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi.
‘Today, for the first time in our court's history, the majority expressly exerts control over the content of its citizens' prayers,’ Judge Grady Jolly wrote in the dissent. "The government has no right to control the content of our children's prayers," Liberty Legal Institute's Kelly Shackelford said. ‘The decision is wrong, flat wrong, and extremely dangerous’” (Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 3/3/99.)

Secular School Sings Sacred
A girl was allowed to sing her favorite song at a talent show after a rights group stepped in. Third-grade classes at Griffith Elementary School in Winston-Salem, N.C., were planning a talent show last month, and 8-year-old Jessica Williams reportedly wanted to sing Outside the Gate, a gospel song. She reportedly went home crying when the principal told her that no students could sing religious songs so that no one would be offended.
Williams' father contacted the Rutherford Institute a Charlottesville, Va., rights group. A Rutherford attorney contacted the principal, then faxed a letter assuring him that allowing students to sing religious songs would not violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. By the end of the day, the principal informed the students that they
could sing any song they wanted. (3/4/99. Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com)

Baseball Team Discriminates?
A baseball team can't give churchgoers a discount. The Maryland Commission on Human Relations charged the Hagerstown Suns with religious discrimination March 3 for offering discounts on admission prices to fans who bring church bulletins to Sunday games. The team, a Class A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, violated the rights of Carl Silverman of Waynesboro, Pa., by refusing to give him the discount when he did
not have a bulletin, the commission ruled. Silverman, an avowed agnostic, wants the Suns also to reduce prices for members of secular charitable organizations, the Associated Press said. A conference is scheduled next month to settle the issue; a public
hearing could be held if negotiations fail.

Bible Club Purgings Continue
In the March issue of my "National Liberty Journal," Religious Freedom Editor Mathew Staver wrote of the desperate need to rescue school Bible clubs in our nation. His organization, the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, has initiated a "zero tolerance" policy for schools that discriminate against Bible clubs. Staver says that many educators need to be educated on the rights of Christian students. Frequently, school Bible clubs are targeted for termination because educators are ignorant regarding "equal access" laws that guarantee that Bible clubs be given the same status as other school-based clubs. But Bible clubs continue to be targeted.
In January, Liberty Counsel, as a last option, filed a lawsuit against the Manatee High School in Florida after it had refused to honor the rights of a Fellowship of Christian
Athletes club. A host of other clubs could meet monthly during the school's "enrichment hour." But not the FCA club. However, after the school learned, through the suit, that it was violating federal and constitutional law by singling out the FCA club, school officials began allowing the FCA club to meet at the same time as the other clubs.
You see, school administrators nationwide have become brainwashed by the ACLU and believe that Christian students are to be set aside and ignored. In Newport News, Va., the "Cross- Bearers Club," which is an association of Christian students, is currently not allowed to have their club pictured in the school yearbook. They are also barred from distributing literature to students. Yet, all the other clubs at the school are permitted to
pass out literature and appear in the yearbook. "We're being treated like we're outcasts -- like we really don't belong here," said club member Ashley MacKeown.
The American Center for Law and Justice is now representing these students in a suit against the school. Even though the landmark 1990 Mergens decision guarantees
Christian student clubs be treated equally among all other clubs, Christian kids continue to be victimized. It's an absolute shame that our nation, founded to escape the bane of religious intolerance, is now witnessing the persecution of religious students nationwide. Mat Staver responded: "Out of all the problems that schools face with drugs, weapons, sex and violence, Bible clubs are a breath of fresh air to schools. Ironically, the very thing that can save the schools is often the first thing the schools try to boot out."
( March 5, 1999. Jerry Falwell. Liberty Council.)

Another Court Bans Prayer
Earlier this week, a federal appeals court upheld a limited prayer rule at public school graduation ceremonies, but ruled that prayers at high school football games are
unconstitutional. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that student-led prayers were permitted at "sober" events like graduations, but that sporting events did not share the "singularly serious nature" of graduations.
I guess the court is unaware of I Thessalonians 5:17, which instructs us to "Pray without ceasing." This is an appalling ruling. Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel for the Liberty Legal Institute, correctly responded to the ruling, saying, "The government has no right to control the content of our children's prayers. The decision is wrong, flat wrong and extremely dangerous." The case arose after the Santa Fe Independent School District attempted to allow prayers before football games and to lift restrictions against mentioning the name of Jesus at graduation ceremonies. But the majority of the court disagreed and this ban on prayer now affects students in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Judge Grady Jolly, a member of the 5th Circuit Court, dissented against the majority saying, "Today, for the first time in our court's history, the majority expressly exerts control over the content of its citizens' prayers. And it does so notwithstanding
that the Supreme Court has never required, suggested, hinted, or implied that the Constitution controls the content of citizens' prayers in any context." My friends, this is the most disturbing court decision since 1997 when U.S. District Judge Ira DeMent struck down an Alabama law that would allow student-initiated voluntary prayers at all school-related events. He said, wrongly, that such a law would lead to "excessive entanglement" between religion and government.
This suit arose after an assistant principal of an Alabama school became enraged when students began wearing bracelets with the letters "WWJD," meaning "What Would Jesus Do?" The Supreme Court later rejected an appeal of that case. The malicious assault
on our freedoms continues ... and public school students are the prime targets. (March 5, 1999. Jerry Falwell. Liberty Council.)
No Team Prayer
A team and its coach can't pray together. Grant High School in Sacramento, Calif., which will play for the state's Division II championship March 19, has been forced to abandon a tradition of players and the coach praying together at games, The Sacramento
Bee said.
A controversy began after Americans United for Separation of Church and State warned the Grant Joint Union High School District that it could face a lawsuit if coach Tony Lowden, an unordained youth minister, continued to pray with his team. Grant
Superintendent James Rutter told Lowden he could not coach if he prayed with his players. Team members told Lowden they wanted him to lead them in what could be the school's first title.
“It's sad that a coach can't pray with his players. It's really silly,” said Stephen Walton, a player who leads the prayer sessions. “We're going to keep praying, regardless. Just because he won't be praying with us doesn't mean he won't be praying at all.”
Americans United said it received complaints after The Bee published a photograph last month of Lowden and his players huddled in prayer. Players have been inviting their opponents to join them in prayer after each game and reportedly have never been turned down.
Lowden said the prayers were voluntary and were initiated and led by students, making it acceptable for him to join in. All team members reportedly are Christians and are not alienating anyone. (Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 3/18/99.)

Christian Attorneys Unite
Christian attorneys are sharpening their courtroom skills. Fifty-two lawyers from 26 states attended a training session last month run by the Alliance Defense Fund, a
nondenominational advocacy group. The session, Winning Legal Strategies for Reclaiming the Culture, was held in Pasadena, Calif. It is part of a National Litigation Academy sponsored by the ADF for lawyers who defend religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and family values in court.
Each of the lawyers made commitments to do volunteer service for the body of Christ. Two public-interest law firms were begun in Michigan by attorneys involved in the training. A representative of the Alliance Defense Fund asked that Christians pray for attorneys "as they get involved in the great battles of our day. (Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 3/18/99.)

Christian Purging in Education
“Board of Education members in Cleveland, Ohio, can't pray before their meetings. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled March 18 that the practice is unconstitutional, the Associated Press said. The ruling, which overturns a lower court's 1996 decision, says the prayers are similar to those said at high school graduation ceremonies, which it ruled are an illegal endorsement of religion. Attorneys for the school board have not decided if they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.” (Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 3/19/99.)

Judging Ten Commandments
“A federal judge again refused to remove the Ten Commandments from a North Carolina courtroom. Appeals courts have twice overturned District Judge Lacy Thornburg’s decisions to throw out a lawsuit brought by Richard Suhre in 1991. Suhre says the display caused jurors in the case to decide against him because he refused to
take an oath on the Bible. Display of the Commandments is meant to show their importance as the moral basis of the law, and "only a narrow and shrewish interpretation of the display could lead one to conclude that it is an endorsement of Christian or Jewish
faith," Thornburg said. The 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will again hear the case. Suhre, 88, said he suspects the judge is waiting for him to die so the case will be dismissed. (Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 4/7/99.)

College Liberal Fees?
“Should Christian college students have to pay fees to clubs they abhor? The U.S. Supreme Court said March 5 that it will decide the issue. The question of which groups
receive the activity fees that students must pay is a hot one on many campuses. The decision could affect a lot of college campuses. If students are allowed to opt out of the fees, it could prompt schools to get out of the student-activity business, observers say. The fees support political viewpoints, pay for publications, transportation, athletics, and other activities.
The case is from the University of Wisconsin. Christian students there sued the school because the $166-per-semester fee went partly to groups they opposed, such as the International Socialist Organization and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Campus Center. The students won a victory in October when a U.S. court of appeals in Chicago struck down the fees.
Groups have a right to espouse their views on campus, but forcing other students to subsidize their message is another matter, those who oppose the fees say. Supporters of the fees analogize them to a public park, which everyone supports and all
can use to set up a soap box.
“The lawsuit is a vehicle for changing people’s hearts and minds for the glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” Scott Southworth, the plaintiff in the case, said. The case, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin vs. Southworth, will be heard in the fall. (Current news Summary. Religion Today. 4/8/99.)

Cemetery Symbols Removed
“The city of Boca Raton, Fla., can tear down religious symbols in cemeteries. A court ruled that removing symbols such as crosses and the Star of David does not violate people’s religious expression, the Associated Press said. It is the first ruling under Florida’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which prevents governments from imposing a “substantial burden on religious expression.”
The decorations are not essential to practice religion and removing them does not pose such a burden, Judge Kenneth Ryskamp said. A Boca Raton cemetery allows only horizontal plaques at gravesites to make it easier for maintenance workers. About 400 families sued to stop the removal of the symbols; their attorney has pledged to appeal.
(Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 4/8/99.)

Bus Bigotry
“A woman was forced off a Seattle bus for having a private conversation about God. Michelle Shocks was traveling on a city bus April 2 when a man embarked and, thankful to be out of the rain, said, "Praise the Lord." Shocks and the man reportedly began to discuss their churches, their Christian faith, and other religions.
The driver called Shocks to the front of the bus and told her she could not talk about religion because other passengers might be offended, the Rutherford Institute said. The rights group is considering a lawsuit on Shocks’ behalf.
Shocks moved closer to the man so she could speak more quietly, but was again called to the front of the bus and ordered to get off. Shocks, who is five months pregnant, reportedly had to walk along a highway during rush hour in the rain for about a
mile.
Rosa Parks was told to sit at the back of a bus in 1955 because of her race, the Rutherford Institute’s John Whitehead noted. More than 40 years later, "it doesn’t look as if we have come very far in our efforts toward a society of tolerance and diversity." (Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 4/16/99.)

Sabbath Rest Suit
A Kentucky mining company fired a Christian for observing the Sabbath, a state commission said. The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights said that the Grand Eagle Mining Co. in Henderson discriminated against miner Ted Baker because of his religious
beliefs. The company said Baker was fired in June 1996 for sleeping on the job and demonstrating a bad attitude. The company did not issue Baker a reprimand for either offense, the commission said.
Baker said the problems began when he became a Christian and asked to have Sundays off. He was suspended for three days after taking a Sunday off when he was scheduled to work, even though company policy does not call for such a punishment for a first offense. He was fired when managers accused him of falling asleep on the job. The commission ordered the company to reinstate Baker with full back pay, benefits, and to pay $25,000 in damages, the Associated Press said. (Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 4/16/99)

No Religious Counsel
A Texas program allowing clergy to counsel public school students has been outlawed. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 April 16 that the "Clergy in the Schools" program violates the U.S. Constitution, the Associated Press said. Instituted in 1996 by the Beaumont Independent School District, the program invited local religious leaders to schools to lead discussions about morality and civic virtues, but forbade any discussion of
religion, sex, or abortion. Clergy were forbidden to pray with students.
The judges ruled that the program "makes a clear statement that it favors religion over nonreligion." The court also said that too many Protestant clergy were invited to participate. "I think it is a very sad day," school board member Woodrow Reece said. "Students need some type of mentors to come into schools." (Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 4/19/99.)

Ten Commandments Removed
On Thursday, Manhattan, Kansas administrators removed a granite tablet engraved with the Ten Commandments from a public locality. Even though the engraving had encouraged citizens for more than four decades, two groups -- the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State - threatened a legal battle against the city if the monument remained.
More than 4,000 residents had signed a petition asking that the display prevail, but city officials feared the threatened lawsuit from the two groups that continue to meticulously assault the religious freedoms of Americans.
At a time when our nation asks why our young people are resorting to loathsome acts of public violence, the ACLU and Americans United continue to tear at the only moral
fabric that can penetrate and change the savage hearts of malicious teens like the two gunmen in Littleton, Colorado. (Liberty Alliance. 4/30/99.)

No Clergy on Campus:
Earlier this month, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th District Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to overturn a lower court ruling that permitted Beaumont, Texas clergy to counsel students regarding personal morality and civic virtue, saying that such a policy was unconstitutional. Even though clergy were not to discuss religion, sex or abortion and were prohibited from praying with students, the court found their participation in school programs to be beyond reason. "(The school district's) creation of a special program that recruits only clergymen to render volunteer counseling makes a clear statement that it favors religion over nonreligion," the appeals panel ruled.
This ludicrous decision flies in the face of constitutional reasoning. Our founding fathers opposed the favoring of one religion over another but never hinted that religion should be banished from all public facilities. Distinguished conservative author and historian M. Stanton Evans noted in his excellent book, "The Theme Is Freedom," the following depiction of the leftist doctrine that is attempting to muzzle all religious influence in our nation: "... it is considered perfectly proper for children from religious homes to be taught the precepts of Darwinian-Huxleyan evolution, extreme environmentalism, the value-free 'alternative lifestyle' view of homosexuality and sexual conduct generally, and other neopaganism in their school work.
It is asserted that such teaching is nonreligious, but, as we have seen, this is an
impossibility. By such instruction, axioms about the origin of the world and the meaning of human existence are imparted, even as the competing axioms of traditional faith are banished. Children may be taught the precepts of neopagan nature worship; they may not be taught the precepts of the Bible." Our nation -- specifically our courts – have disregarded the importance of religion in our nation's founding. By doing so, they can maintain their rulings that fundamentally challenge our rights as citizens. May we
continue to rise up and challenge the anti-faith activists who are attempting to terminate our religious freedoms. (Liberty Alliance. 4/30/99.)

Graduation Prayers Rejected
“The Duval Countay (Florida) school system’s policy allowing prayers during graduation ceremonies if students vote to have them violates constitutional protections of freedom of religion, a panel of federal appeals judges ruled on May 11th in Atlanta, GA.
The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturns a lower court’s ruling. The appeals court said graduating students who object to prayers have no alternative but to attend.” (The Gazette. 5/13/99.)

Religious Memorials in Public?
Plans for a memorial for victims of the Columbine tragedy have raised church-state issues. The Freedom From Religion Foundation said that a proposed religious display at Robert Clement Park would violate the First Amendment’s prohibition of government-sponsored religion, the Washington Times said.
The 240-acre park near Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., became the site of an impromptu memorial for the 13 victims of students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who went on a murderous rampage April 20.There is strong support in Littleton for a permanent Christian or biblically-themed memorial. The display would be appropriate for the victims and survivors who expressed a strong religious faith, supporters said. "If God
helped them through this, why shouldn’t that be shown at the memorial," 1998 Columbine graduate Sarah Caron said.
Robert Tiernan, Freedom From Religion Foundation-Colorado director, said such a display would be more appropriate at a church on private property. Allowing a private citizen to buy a portion of the park won’t work. A citizen offered the city a half-acre parcel of land in exchange for an equal-sized plot at the park, but the city turned the offer down. Such a move would still draw a challenge because the land would be surrounded by city land and maintained by city workers. (Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 5/18/99.)

Spontaneous Graduation Prayer
A 30-second silence turned into a vocal recitation of The Lord’s Prayer at a graduation ceremony. Prayer had long been a tradition during commencements at Northern High School in Silver Spring, Md. Senior Julie Schenk planned to deliver an invocation at the
May 26 event, but fellow student Nick Becker objected, saying prayer is inappropriate at a public ceremony. The state attorney general’s office agreed with a request by the American Civil Liberties Union on Becker’s behalf. It informed Calvert County officials that graduation prayers violate the constitutional separation of church and state. As a compromise, Schenk agreed to ask for a 30-second "time for reflection" that did not mention God.
But God was mentioned nevertheless. A man in the crowd began to recite The Lord's Prayer aloud shortly after Schenk began the moment of silence. Virtually the entire 4,000-member audience, including many students, joined in, the Associated Press
reported.
Becker walked out of the ceremony, and was stopped when he tried to re-enter. Calvert County school policy bars students who leave school events from returning. A Maryland State Police officer told Becker he was not allowed back in. "I told the cop ‘I'm getting my diploma,’ " the senior told The Washington Post. When Becker tried to use another door, police detained him and threatened to cite him for failing to obey a lawful order. "We didn't want him to disrupt the ceremony," State Police Lt. George McKeon said. Becker was released, but school officials also barred him from attending a school-sponsored cruise around the Baltimore Harbor that night.
Detaining Becker was tantamount to arresting him, ACLU spokeswoman Suzanne Smith said. "The real loser here is the Constitution and the right of people to express dissent," Calvert County Superintendent James Hook said the crowd should have respected the moment of silence. "It shows disrespect for the young lady who asked for silence and for the young man who requested that the prayer not be done."
"This is a churchgoing community, and no one in Annapolis or Washington, D.C., is going to tell us when and where we can pray," said Linda Kelley, president of the Calvert County Commission, who joined in the prayer. "The school administrators did the legal thing and complied with the law. But the audience took this one over." (ReligionToday.com. Current News Summary. June 1, 1999.)

Graduation Address Rejected
A high school valedictorian in California will not be allowed to deliver his prepared address because it contains references to God. Jason Niemeyer was allowed to join 190 classmates on the football field at Oroville High School June 10, but the school
barred him from speaking, the Scripps McClatchy news service said. The speech wasn’t "at all up-front and in-your-face religious," he said. One version refers to "a friend who has personally helped me to achieve my goals, and I give Him the praise and glory for that." Niemeyer achieved a grade-point average above 4.0.
School officials barred Niemeyer’s older brother Chris from delivering a valedictory address last year on the grounds that it was sectarian, with lines such as, "We must yield our lives to God." The Niemeyers, who attend a Nazarene church, have sued, claiming the school violated Chris’ First Amendment rights. Jason has been added as a plaintiff. A third son, John, graduated from eighth grade this week and will attend Oroville High in the fall. He also has a straight-A average. "As a mother this has been crushing my heart, to think about going through it again," Janet Niemeyer, the boys’ mother, said. (6/11/99. Religion Today. Current News Summary.)

Christian Coalition
The Christian Coalition says it will become stronger as a result of restructuring. The group announced plans to split into two organizations June 10 after its board withdrew its application for tax-exempt status when reportedly informed that Internal Revenue Service had denied the request, according to news reports. The IRS did not comment on its ruling rejecting the application, which had been pending for about 10 years.
A new group, Christian Coalition International, will become a for-profit political organization. Unencumbered by federal restrictions on non-profit groups, Christian Coalition International will be able to engage in partisan activities, including forming a political action committee, donating funds, and endorsing candidates, the Associated Press said. A non-profit group will be formed out of the Christian Coalition of Texas,
which already has been granted tax exempt status. The new organization will be called Christian Coalition of America and will limit its activities to voter education about issues and candidates.
"Christian Coalition of America will continue to be a major force in American politics," founder and president Pat Robertson said. Critics have said that the Christian Coalition engaged in partisan politics and that its voter guides are slanted against some candidates. The organization raised $26 million and distributed millions of guides in 1996. Credited with helping Republicans secure House and Senate majorities in the 1994 elections, some observers say it has lost influence since executive director Ralph Reed left in 1996. (6/11/99. Religion Today)

Media Reporting Reluctance at Fort Worth
“The rampage in Fort Worth exemplified a rising hostility toward Christians in the United States and abroad, and a reluctance to recognize the shooting as a religious hate crime, Christian leaders including Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and D. James Kennedy said. They decried what they called a double standard in treating Christian victims of violence, news reports said. "We have, whether intentional or not, built up a reservoir of hostility toward people of faith, particularly evangelical people," Falwell said” (Current News Summary. 9/21/99.)

Religious Liberty Battle
“I predict that the time will come in this once free America when the battle for religious liberty will have to be fought over again, and will probably be lost, because the people are already ignorant of its true basis and conditions.” (Robert L. Dabney. The Practical Philosophy. 1897.)

Anti-Christian Hostility
“The rampage in Fort Worth exemplified a rising hostility toward Christians in the United States and abroad, and a reluctance to recognize the shooting as a religious hate crime, Christian leaders including Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and D. James Kennedy said.
They decried what they called a double standard in treating Christian victims of violence, news reports said. ‘We have, whether intentional or not, built up a reservoir of hostility toward people of faith, particularly evangelical people,’ Falwell said.” (ReligionToday.com. Current News Summary. 9/21/99.)

Media Double Standards
“The victims of the Fort Worth Baptist Church massacre are dead, buried and, apparently, forgotten by the United States press establishment. Unlike the Columbine High School tragedy, what accounts for the short memory with regard to this terrible crime in Texas? I’ll give you my theory – anti-Christian bigotry in the establishment media and government. I’m sorry to say there’s simply no other explanation that holds up.
Think about it. Remember a few months ago when the Jewish center in Los Angeles was shot up? It was a terrible crime. But for comparison’s sake, there was only one fatality. Seven people were murdered in Fort Worth – most of them children. The Jewish center shooting was BIG news. It was a story that had legs. It held the front pages in major markets and on network television broadcasts for days. Fort Worth was a one-day story.
You’ll notice also that you didn’t hear Reno or any of the usual suspects denounce the Fort Worth massacre as a ‘hate crime.’ Why? There’s only one explanation. The victims were not part of a politically protected class – homosexuals, abortionists, members of a racial minority, etc. They were, pardon the expression, just white kids – fresh-faced, clean-cut Christian kids, expendable by the government’s standards. They were not part of a politically protected ‘species’ – not the kind of constituency that consistently votes for bigger government, higher taxes and looks to politicians for salvation.
All I’m wondering is why the deaths in Fort Worth are forgotten so quickly and the motives of the gunmen hardly explored. The fact is that the elite no longer care – if they ever did – about the wanton slaughter of Christians in America. Christians should take note. Put your faith in God, not in Caesar.” (Joseph Farah. WorldNetDaily commentary. “Open Season on Christians.” 9/23/99.)

No Media Denunciations
“The bloodbath at Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, will no doubt prompt the usual media outpourings about the urgent need for gun control. But there’s on observation you probably won’t hear all that often: For the fourth time in less than two years, people of faith have been specifically targeted in murderous rampages.
Had the victims in these cases been ethnic minorities or gays or abortion doctors, the airwaves would now be burning with denunciations of hate crimes, as well as attacks on the ‘vicious rhetoric’ of political conservatives that must have inspired such extremists to murder.
Where are the denunciations today of the unending drone of heated rhetoric from those who disparage and show disrespect to genuine believers in traditional religions – or of those who denounce the faithful for allegedly trying to ‘impose their values’ on the American public?
The entire Religious Right was effectively put on trial by the media and gay activists for the vicious murder of Matthew Shepard, while all conservatives were held responsible for Timothy McVeigh’s 1995 attack on the federal building in Oklahoma City.
Somehow, it’s doubtful that these (liberal) sonorous voices will be heard questioning whether the hostility to religion evinced by the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way was responsible for the shooting in Fort Worth. But maybe, just maybe, they will pause to consider the garbage they spew the next time they wish to blame evil acts of death and destruction on people and ideas that make them uncomfortable.” (Editorial section. New York Post. 9/17/99.)

Christians – Victims or Victimizers?
“The Fort Worth church murders were not a senseless act. They had an express purpose: to kill Christians. This is called a hate crime. But we shouldn’t be surprised that Janet Reno and other elites have trouble mustering up much outrage over the mounting body count resulting from anti-Christian hatred.
The number of Christians killed this year alone by fanatic gunmen greatly exceeds the number of abortion providers or gays murdered by right-wing haters. To so many media figures, Christians – specifically evangelicals, orthodox Catholics and others who believe in traditional Judeo-Christian moral teaching – are not victims, but victimizers. They are so used to cas5ting Southern Baptists and fellow travelers as buffoons and bigots that they find it hard to imagine them as anything but.
It may never be said on TV, but I know what many people privately believe: ‘Well, it’s too bad for those Southern Baptists, but you know, they do bring this sort of thin on themselves, boycotting Disney, preaching against homosexuality, crusading against abortion and all that.’
‘There’s a sense that it’s payback time, you deserve this. I’m not surmising this; I see it over and over again,’ says William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
If the Fort Worth murderer, guns blazing, had walked into a synagogue, a gay bar, an abortion clinic or even a black church service, there is no doubt what the government, cultural and media elite’s reaction would be. Unfortunately, dead Southern Baptist kids don’t seem to matter as much to them as a murdered gay youth or a slain abortion doctor.” (Rod Dreher. New York Post commentary. “Media Mum When the Victims are Christians.” 9/17/99.)

Jailed College Student
On August 31, 1999, John Reyes began serving a six month jail sentence for praying and witnessing outside a public high school in Lynchburg, Virginia before school started.
John, a college student at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, had never been in trouble before. But on November 10, 1997, John and approximately 150 other Liberty University students and supporters stood outside E.C. Glass High School where they prayed, shared the Gospel and displayed signs about abortion to students entering the school.
Despite the presence of some 45 police officers, no one was arrested. At the request of a police officers, John assisted in moving the protesters off school property. Nevertheless, John was indicted, convicted of trespass and sentenced to the maximum sentence of one year in jail (six months of which were suspended).” (AFA Action Alert. 8/31/99.)

Workplace Religious Rights
Legislation introduced into the U.S. Senate Sept. 29 seeks to protect religious rights in the workplace. It would require employers to accommodate employees' religious practices as long as they do not pose an “undue hardship” to others, the Associated Press said. More than 200 cases of religious discrimination in the workplace are filed every year. Recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court have weakened a provision of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protecting religious freedom, causing some people to lose their jobs, news reports said. “No worker should have to choose between their job and their most fundamental religious beliefs,” Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said. (Current News Summary. ReligionToday.com. 10/1/99.)

Ventura Vents Venom
“In a wide-ranging interview with Playboy magazine, Jesse Ventura, the Reform party governor of Minnesota, blamed organized religion for the unpopularity of legalized prostitution which he said should be considered. ‘Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people’s business,’ he said.” (The Washington Post. 9/20/99.)

Occultic Curriculum?
“People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools, an unlikely coalition of liberals and evangelical Christians, has filed suite against both the Sacramento City Unified School District and Twin Ridges Elementary School District for allowing public funds to be used to set up schools which teach the Waldorf Curriculum.
The Waldorf curriculum is an educational philosophy related to the New Age religion of ‘Anthroposophy.’ Eugene Schwartz, head of the Waldorf teacher training program and author of the ‘Guide’ says: ‘Most of that which contributes to our work as teachers, preparation work, artistic work, even meditative work, is under the guardianship of Lucifer. We can become great teachers under his supervision, for he is responsible for much that has blossomed in the unfolding of civilization and culture in the past.’
(WorldNetDaily. 10/1/99.)

Wall of Separation?
“I think it would be wise for everyone to go down to their library and read the ltter Jefferson wrote to the Baptists of Danbury, Conn. Then it would be obvious that Jefferson was not seeking a ‘wall of separation between church and state’ as the ACLU and their followers interpret it.
Instead, Jefferson was concerned that one religion would become nationalized and all other religious denominations and beliefs would be left in the cold. He wanted to ensure freedom of religion, not from religion.
Two days after Jefferson wrote this comment he was in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., faithfully attending church among thousands. The Supreme Court didn’t have much to say about it either because there was a church service being held in their building, too.” (Steve Ledford. Letter to the Editor. The Gazette. 9/15/99.)

Anti-Christian Art
“A clash between New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the Brooklyn Museum of Art is headed to federal court in what could be a landmark First Amendment case.
The mayor has already cut off city funding to the museum for the show called ‘Sensation,’ which includes art works he considers ‘disgusting’ and ‘anti-Catholic.’
Giuliani has voiced particular outrage over a painting of the Virgin Mary surrounded by clumps of elephant dung. Another piece shows the Last Supper with a topless woman in place of Jesus.
The U.S. Senate has joined this battle, approving a non-binding measure saying federal funds should be withheld from the museum unless it cancels the exhibit. Hillary Rodham Clinton, like opponent in the New York Senate race, is defending the exhibit. The first lady said that it’s wrong to punish the museum, but added that she will not personally visit the exhibit. (The Gazette. 9/29/99; CBN News. 10/1/99.)

Religion in Public Schools
“The Founding Fathers intended the First Amendment not to insulate society and the state from the influence of religion but, rather, to preserve and protect religion and religious freedom from transgressions by the state; they understood that a society’s public morality depends upon a religious foundation, and that the wholesome influence of religion on private and public morality is essential to the survival of a free and civilized society. Consequently, they wanted to champion and defend religion and religious freedom.” (Haven Bradford Gow. Special to The Mississippi Link. May 13-10, 1999.)

Did She Say Yes?
“The parents of Cassie Bernall have recounted their efforts to achieve accuracy in a book about their teenage daughter who was internationally called martyr after being killed at Columbine High School.
The book by Cassie’s mother, Misty Bernall – ‘She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall’ – was challenged in several media accounts in late September suggesting that another Columbine student actually voiced the now-famous words ‘Yes – I believe in God” to a student-gunmen’s taunt.
What if Cassie was not the one who said ‘Yes?’ According to the Bernall’s, ‘April 20th was a small part of the book. Our intent was to share Cassie’s story in an effort to encourage parents and teenagers. If any of our actions have hurt or offended anyone, we sincerely apologize.’
Chris Zimmerman, an editor with Plough Publishing House, stated: ‘Questions about the particulars of what transpired in the library do not detract from the crux of this book, which is Cassie’s transformation from a troubled teen who at one time entertained murderous fantasies to a young woman ready to face both life and death with confidence.’” (Art Toalston. Current Baptist News Summary. 9/29/99.)

Public Education Robs
“Our liberal overseers have long since decided that religious teachings have no place in public education. While Darwinism is mandatory, religion is not even optional. Education has always meant more than instilling knowledge; it has also meant cultivating the moral habits necessary to continue a tradition.
Christian parents have correctly intuited the hidden agenda behind so much state education. Their children have been weaned from Christian culture and taught a godless cosmology in the guise of biology. Public schools need not attack Christianity frontally; they merely have to keep the young ignorant of their Christian heritage.
The battle over evolution and religion is really a battle between state and parental authority. Making education private would be a giant step in keeping with a great American tradition: decentralizing power.” (Joseph Sobran. Washington, D.C.-based columnist. The Gazette. 9/2/99.)

Florida’s Voucher Program
“While voucher supporters declared an historic day, opponents of what the governor calls ‘opportunity scholarships’ contend the program violates the constitutional principle of separation of church and state. Lawsuits challenging the program have been filed by the NAACP, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, teachers unions and others. (The Gazette. 8/17/99.)

Advancing Education or Religion?
“Why would His Honor Solomon Oliver Jr. of Cleveland, Ohio, rule that school vouchers are unconstitutional? Because parents were given public money to educate their children in schools of their choice, including parochial schools.
Therefore, concluded the judge, school vouchers have the ‘primary effect of advancing religion.’ And that’s the legal test for determining whether a program violates the First Amendment’s ban on government’s establishing a religion.
Some of us had thought that the primary effect of school vouchers was to advance a kid’s education and to let poor families do what wealthier ones can afford to do: send their kids to the best school they can find. The primary effect of school vouchers is to improve education, not support any particular church.” (Paul Greenberg. Editorial Editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette of Little Rock, AR. The Gazette. 9/9/99.)

Give Me Ten!
“Without community opposition, volunteers placed the Ten Commandments in every classroom in a rural eastern Kentucky school district. The Jackson County school board and superintendent made the decision as part of ‘an effort to start having good morals in school,’ said Betty Bond, principal of Jackson County High School.” (The Gazette. 8/12/99.)