Free Republic

As his impeachment trial was getting underway in the Senate, President Trump gave a hat tip Thursday to his evangelical base by updating the federal guidance on prayer in public schools — an action that came on National Religious Freedom Day. The order is similar to a 2003 guidance on school prayer, but it establishes a state-mandated filing process for complaints against local schools and school districts. States must then send the federal government a list each year of local schools and districts that have "a policy that prevents, or otherwise denies participation in, constitutionally protected prayer," in public schools....

Contact: John Eidsmoe, Foundation for Moral Law, 334-262-1245, info@morallaw.org     MONTGOMERY, Ala., Sept. 5, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- Prayer at public school football games, including over the school loudspeaker, does not violate the Constitution if it is a student message and not the school's, according to the Foundation for Moral Law which last Friday sent a memorandum on the subject to all Alabama school superintendents. The Memorandum on Student Religious Speech at Athletic Events countered letters sent by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation ("FFRF") to several Alabama public schools claiming that prayer at school athletic events is unconstitutional...

. Cardinal Timothy Dolan blasted the Trump administration’s policy of separating kids from their parents on Friday night, calling it “un-American and unbiblical.” The White House got into holy hot water this week when Attorney General Jeff Sessions and press secretary Sander Huckabee Sanders both referenced scripture to claim the administration has the moral authority to forcibly take kids away from parents if they cross the southern border illegally. “I mean, that’s just unjust. That’s un-American and unbiblical,” Dolan, leader of New York City’s 2.8 million Catholics, told CNN on Friday night. Sessions specifically cited the Apostle Paul who in...

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri and Center for American Progress fellow John Halpin mocked conservative Catholicism as an "amazing bastardization of the faith" in new emails released by WikiLeaks.

Let's ROLL with this.

A litigious atheist organization known for its lawsuits challenging Christian prayer and symbols in public spaces and Bibles in public schools is now voicing objection to the designation of a Muslim prayer space at the University of Iowa (UI). The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) says it is “questioning the appropriateness” of the two prayer rooms created primarily for male and female Muslim faculty and students at UI. FFRF states in a press release: The public university, located in Iowa City, has recently established two prayer rooms for its Muslim students. This is in addition to a longstanding university...

Minnesota public schools encourage students to pray, but only if they’re Muslim Well this is just plain hypocritical: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/how-one-minnesota-school-district-handles-a-rising-immigrant-population/How one Minnesota school district handles a rising immigrant populationMarch 23, 2016In the district’s middle and high schools, Muslim students have access to private rooms with prayer rugs for the five daily prayers.

Allowing a school assembly honoring high-achievers to open with a prayer made one Mississippi school district $7,500 poorer - and a student who sued $2,500 richer. The Rankin, Miss., public school district was hit with the fine after U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves said it defied his prior order barring prayers school events. According to the judge, the prayer violated a 2013 court settlement that ordered the district to stop "proselytizing Christianity." The alleged violation, which came at an assembly last year for students who scored above 22 on their ACT college admissions test, prompted the judge to apply fines...

GREENVILLE, S.C. — A federal judge in South Carolina has partially upheld the practice of Christian prayers during high school graduation ceremonies. As previously reported, an anonymous couple contacted the American Humanist Association (AHA) in 2013 to complain that Mountain View Elementary School had held its graduation ceremony at the chapel on the campus of North Greenville University, a Christian institution in Traveler’s Rest. They also cited that prayers had been presented at the event. The prayers, according to reports, had been written by the children and were reviewed by school officials before being presented. In response to the complaint,...

WASHINGTON -- This may shock you. During the eight years of the Reagan Presidency I was not his biggest fan. I looked not so much at what he accomplished but what he didn't accomplish. My expectations were that government would get smaller under President Reagan. It didn't. I was disappointed. I looked at the agencies left in place -- the National Endowment for the Arts, the Legal Services Corporation (which has done so much damage) and A.I.D. -- and I felt that the Reagan Administration did not make a real effort to curtail them. I was disappointed. Also there was...

Inspiring a new generation: Sadie Robertson (above)- One of the teen stars of 'Duck Dynasty' says that their show is leading students across the country to pray before meals at school.Sixteen-year-old Sadie Robertson, daughter of Willie and Korie Robertson, told an audience at a fundraiser for Prattville Christian Academy in Montgomery, Alabama, that the focus on their religious beliefs on the show is a light that others are emulating. Sadie noted that she and her family have become aware that there are “Duck Dynasty clubs” springing up at many schools across the nation and one goal of these clubs is to...

The year 1963 was very significant for America in many ways. It was the year that the Negro American, the term used back then, revolted openly but in non-violent fashion against a discriminatory system found especially in the south; it was the year that John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, was assassinated; and it was the year that the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, confirmed America’s continued economic and military support of South Viet Nam. It was also the year, however, that a less remembered court decision took place that had far reaching effects on American cultural...

WAYNE — Rola Awwad wants a private space for her 10-year-old son at Albert Payson Terhune Elementary School to exercise his right to Muslim prayer. The school district had offered to let him pray at recess — either outside or in a classroom while classmates are there. And that, says Awwad, is "unacceptable." mAll students are constitutionally guaranteed the right to pray during the school day as long as it doesn't interfere with learning. But Wayne is struggling with what accommodations to make if a Muslim student requests privacy for prayer. The answer in other North Jersey districts ranges from...

DeSoto County Schools will abide by an existing policy that prohibits broadcasting prayers over the public address system at football games, but school board attorney Keith Treadway did not elaborate further Monday on the demands of a Wisconsin group that prayer be halted at athletic events and graduation ceremonies. Treadway's statement, after a private executive session of school board members at a regularly scheduled board meeting, was in response to a recent letter to school officials from the Freedom From Religion Foundation demanding that the school follow a U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring it unconstitutional for public schools to organize,...

But as I always say–and have been saying for more than a decade, there is only a separation of Church and State in America, NOT Mosque and State. In the case of Islam, anything goes. In fact, if parents had not taken and posted video of this, the half-assed apology letter would never have happened. And that’s the point. The teachers, the principal, and the school district knew better and would NEVER have allowed–let alone forced–students to pray as Christians, reciting their allegiance to Jesus in a church, or as Jews in a synagogue. It would never have gotten this...

But what was this alleged crime that the ACLU and Judge Rodgers believed was so heinous, so evil, and so insidious that criminal contempt charges, charges that could result in a $5000 fine and/or six months in prison, needed to be leveled at high school principal, Frank Lay, and athletic director, Robert Freeman? Were they plotting a terrorist attack on the school? No. Were they engaged in inappropriate sexual activities with the students? No. Were they embezzling school funds? No. Had they given their athletes performance enhancing drugs? No. Had they altered test scores to ensure Pace High School received...

Some 2 million students are expected to gather around their school flagpoles Wednesday morning for the 20th annual See You at the Pole event. Youth from elementary age through college will pray for their schools, communities and nation at student-led events that leaders hope will serve as a springboard for a national spiritual awakening. "Historically, youth have been at the forefront of moral and spiritual awakening in our country," said Doug Clark, director for field ministries for the National Network of Youth Ministries and a spokesman for See You at the Pole (SYATP).

When my kids were younger, one of their favorite stories was Dr. Seuss' "If I Ran the Circus," a book that describes young Morris McGurk's dream for putting together the most amazing circus ever, a show that will be, in McGurk's words, Colossal! Stupendous! Astounding! Fantastic! Terrific! Tremendous! I have similar dreams - only, rather than dreaming about a fantastic circus, I dream of putting together the ideal school. I'd start by ungluing students from their seats. There would be plenty of movement in my dream school. Every K-12 student would have P.E. every day, with classes teaching swimming, dancing...

Hard to believe... but apparently this is true. A principal and an athletic director are facing criminal charges for a saying a prayer over lunch. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Pace High School in Santa Rosa County, Florida. The ACLU claimed some teachers were...

[You may have already seen this piece, but just to make certain that those who haven't read it would have the opportunity to do so, I decided to reprint it. It certainly gives us all a lot to think about. The challenge is how to get the out-of-touch, corrupt politicos in Washington to understand that they are getting paid to do our bidding, not the other way around. Thanks to Voice of Sanity subscriber David Altschul for passing this along to me.] Guess our national leaders didn’t expect this, hmm? On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a...