Free Republic

Coalition complains of religious discrimination in the services By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Wednesday, November 12, 2008 WASHINGTON — A coalition of atheists and agnostics wants the new White House to protect young military members from what they see as rampant religious discrimination in the services. The Secular Coalition for America held a news conference Monday urging new rules against proselytizing and more training for chaplains on how to handle nonreligious troops. "When they say ‘there are no atheists in foxholes’ it’s slanderous," said Wayne Adkins, a former Army first lieutenant who served in Iraq in...

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of two high school students who say they are offended by the school's policy of allowing prayer at voluntary events and holding Christmas concerts at churches. The students, from Pace High School in Pace, Fla., are identified only as Minor I Doe and Minor II Doe in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court because they are both under 18. The complaint alleges disclosure of their names would put the students at risk of "social ostracism, economic injury, governmental retaliation … and potential physical harm." Benjamin Stevenson, staff...

The ACLU is threatening to sue the U.S. Naval Academy because they say prayers before lunch.

ACLU tries to halt mealtime prayer at Naval Academy By Josh Mitchell | Sun reporter 8:09 PM EDT, June 25, 2008 A national civil liberties group is renewing a push to end mealtime prayer at the U.S. Naval Academy, where a group of midshipmen recently complained to officials that they felt pressured to participate in the longtime practice. The tradition, believed to date back to the college's founding in 1845, now involves a chaplain's leading grace before a noon meal that all 4,200 midshipmen must attend at King Hall. Midshipmen are not required to pray, though they must stand during...

The East Brunswick school board was within its rights to tell a football coach he cannot kneel and bow his head as members of his team have a student-led pre-game prayer, a federal appeals court ruled today.  The ruling from the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia reversed a lower-court ruling made almost two years ago.  All three members of the three-judge panel wrote their own opinions on the issue, which pits the right to free speech against the freedom from official establishment of a religion.The judges agreed the East Brunswick Board of Education's policy barring school...

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CROWN POINT, Ind. -- Prayer has been banned at 4-H meetings in Lake County, Ind. A memorandum issued last month by the Lake County Cooperative Extension Service said prayer is forbidden at all times, including to "begin or close meetings, fundraisers, camp sessions, including meals, and/or award ceremonies." Stan Sims, the county extension director, said he issued the directive because: "We want to respect peoples' beliefs and be inclusive." No single incident prompted his note. The formal prayers had been a tradition at various events, including 4-H, which has more than 800 youth members in Lake County. The new policy...

I wrote my Rep John Culberson here in Texas. I asked that we protect the free expression of religion on public property. I feel it is important because our Forefathers gave us God given rights (Inalienable rights). If God is removed from public view, who will remember that we have God given rights and no man or government can take these rights away? It is important to show that we are not pleased with a Judge or anyone who rules over our God given rights. My Congressman wrote back and said he is a cosponsor of H J Res 57....

I wish I could have been there to witness it myself. After Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. issued a restraining order barring Russell County (Ky.) High School and senior Megan Chapman from including prayer at the school's graduation ceremony, students decided to take matters in their own hands. (Miss Chapman was elected by students last fall as the senior class chaplain.) In an act of protest to the court order issued just hours before the graduation, about 200 seniors spontaneously stood and began reciting the Lord's Prayer, prompting a standing ovation from a standing-room only crowd at the ceremony. The...

American Muslim News Briefs Thursday, May 25, 2006 KY: High School Prayer Axed After Muslim Complaint Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS SHELBYVILLE - The principal of Shelby County High School said the school will not have formal prayer at graduation exercises next month after receiving a complaint from a student and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky. Principal Gary Kidwell met Monday with the Board of Education and a lawyer as residents held a prayer vigil outside. Tuesday, Kidwell said the school will break from the tradition of student-led invocations and benedictions at graduation June 2. The school "will be compliant...

If you look closely at the picture above, you will note that all the Marines pictured are bowing their heads. That’s because they’re praying. This incident took place at a recent ceremony honoring the Birthday of the Corps, and it has the ACLU up in arms. “These are federal employees,” says a rumored spokesman for the ACLU, “on federal property and on federal time. For them to pray is clearly an establishment of religion, and we must nip this in the bud immediately.” When asked about the ACLU’s charges, former Marine Sergeant David Springer, speaking for all his brothers...

Munford, TN- Graduation is a time to celebrate accomplishments and successes to come. At Munford High School, in the middle of all the pomp and circumstance, there is normally time set aside on the program for prayer. This year God is being deleted from the program. "I just don't think it's right," Parent Dena Harden says. It's hard for students and parents to accept. Since they can remember prayer has been part of the program. "They've done it at every other graduation. Why should it be taken away at ours," Graduating Senior Nick Jones says. But they also feel like...

The ACLU once again finds an very accommodating federal judge who found no problem in destroying the only absolute sovereignty for which this nation rests upon: the people. U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley granted a temporary restraining order sought by a student who didn't want prayer to be part of the graduation exercises from a south-central Kentucky school some 110 miles southeast of Louisville. This didn't stop the principal at the beginning of the graduation ceremony from reciting the Lord's Prayer, prompting a standing ovation from a standing-room only crowd at the Russell County High School gymnasium. We can...

One thing is for sure, the liberals can’t say this was government endorsed. I applaud these young men and women for standing up for their rights, and setting the example for others. The ACLU filed suit on behalf of one student who felt offended that a prayer would be included in their graduation ceremony. U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley granted a temporary restraining order sought by a student. Here is how the students responded to the attempts to censor them. The senior class at a southern Kentucky high school gave their response Friday night to a federal judge’s order banning...

A federal judge on Friday blocked a southern Kentucky high school from including prayers in its graduation ceremony Friday evening. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit this week seeking a restraining order on behalf of an unidentified student at Russell County High School in Russell Springs, 90 miles south of Louisville. The student had appealed to principal Darren Gossage to drop the prayer from the Friday evening ceremony, but the principal refused, ACLU attorney Lili Lutgens said. Lutgens argued that any prayer would be unconstitutional because it would endorse a specific religion and religious views. U.S. District...

By Jim Brown (AgapePress) -- A civil liberties attorney is objecting to a federal appeals court's decision to side with a former teacher who complained about prayers at a graduation ceremony in an Arkansas school district. The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of Steve Warnock in his dispute with the De Valls Bluff School District, but denied his request to stiffen penalties against the district. The ex-teacher had argued that a 2004 baccalaureate ceremony violated lower-court injunctions by including prayers by ministers, and the appeals court agreed with him, rejecting counter arguments that the baccalaureate...

(AgapePress) -- A civil liberties attorney is objecting to a federal appeals court's decision to side with a former teacher who complained about prayers at a graduation ceremony in an Arkansas school district. The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of Steve Warnock in his dispute with the De Valls Bluff School District, but denied his request to stiffen penalties against the district. The ex-teacher had argued that a 2004 baccalaureate ceremony violated lower-court injunctions by including prayers by ministers, and the appeals court agreed with him, rejecting counter arguments that the baccalaureate ceremony was a...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The battle over prayer between Indiana state lawmakers and a federal judge is headed to Congress. Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Sodrel has introduced a bill to take away a judge's authority to regulate statehouse prayer. Calling judge David Hamilton's ruling an attack on freedom of speech and freedom of religion, Sodrel is seeking to remove federal court jurisdiction of all speech in state legislatures, including opening prayers, 6News' Norman Cox reported. Hamilton issued a ruling last year that precluded the words "Jesus Christ" from being used in legislative prayers. Since the ruling, Indiana lawmakers have prayed informally in...

Indiana House of Representatives can't have clergy mention savior -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: December 29, 2005 2:50 p.m. Eastern -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com An Indian federal judge yesterday reaffirmed his decision to forbid prayers to be offered that use Jesus' name in the state House of Representatives. U.S. District Judge David Hamilton rejected a request by Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma to review the original Nov. 30 ruling. Bosma claimed the directive was too vague to enforce. Ruling on a suit brought by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, Hamilton said that "using Christ's name or title" or referring to a "savior" amounted...

Hopes by Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana to become the centrist candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination were not helped by the Nov. 30 ruling of Federal District Judge David Hamilton of Indianapolis, a former Bayh aide, against the Indiana state legislature opening its sessions with a prayer referring to Jesus Christ. When Bayh was governor of Indiana, Hamilton was his chief counsel and master political strategist. Hamilton ruled, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, that any prayers referring to Jesus Christ by name, "Savior" or "Son of God" are unconstitutional. He said that...