Christ, Christians and Christmas Under Attack In The Courts

[nChrist]

Brothers and Sisters,

I would be firmly against letting the devil teach the Holy Bible in our public schools. This is probably enough said because the previous articles explain exactly what I'm feeling. I would not be able to sit back and watch someone twist, distort, discredit, or ridicule the Holy Bible in our schools. That would be worse than not having the Bible at all in our schools. Frankly, ridicule of the Holy Bible is all that some segments of our society would be capable of doing AND is probably what they are offering to do. NO THANKS! This might be like asking Charles Darwin to teach a class on Genesis.

If this is going to be done, it needs to be done with appropriate materials and with RESPECT to ALMIGHTY GOD.

[Soldier4Christ]

Lesbian demands control over Christian's daughter
Woman flees same-sex 'union,' now fights to raise 6-year-old

Arguments have been scheduled in the Virginia Supreme Court in a case in which a lesbian is demanding to exercise parental rights over the six-year-old daughter of a Christian woman.

The case could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court where a ruling could determine whether states can set up same-sex "marriage" provisions, and then demand that other states follow their precedents.

The case, scheduled for oral arguments Thursday morning, is being argued by Mathew Staver, chief of Liberty Counsel, on behalf of Lisa Miller, a woman who left a lesbian relationship to become a Christian, and her now-six-year-old daughter.

The other part of the now-terminated relationship, Janet Jenkins, has alleged that because of Miller's Christian parenting practices, she no longer is a fit mother.

That argument already has been adopted by the Vermont Supreme Court in a decision supportive of that state's same-sex "union" provisions, but Miller and her daughter live in Virginia, and Miller has gone to the state's highest court defending her right to adopt Christian parenting principles.

"This hearing will determine whether a lesbian woman who is Lisa Miller's former partner will share custody of Isabella, Lisa's daughter," wrote Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues at Concerned Women for America. "The woman is neither an adoptive parent nor is she biologically related to Isabella. In fact, she's a total stranger to the little girl.

"Isabella, who is now six years old, hadn't seen this woman since she was 17 months old. This case could have national ramifications and will help decide whether states like Vermont and Massachusetts get to export their radical new definitions of marriage and family around the country," Barber said.

WND reported earlier when a lower court in Virginia ceded authority to the Vermont Supreme Court, which opined that it alone has jurisdiction over the child custody battle because the pair lived together briefly in Vermont. That ruling came even though Miller gave birth in Virginia through artificial insemination, her daughter was born in Virginia and that's where the mother and daughter now live.

That ruling, "tramples on parental rights and state sovereignty," Staver commented earlier.

He noted Virginia law refuses to recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions, and the under federal Defense of Marriage Act, Vermont does not have the right to impose its same-sex union policy on Virginia.

The two women were living in Virginia in 2000 when they went to Vermont to get a "civil union." Miller later gave birth to a girl through artificial insemination, but the child was not adopted by Jenkins.

The relationship ended when Miller became a Christian and claimed Jenkins was abusive. Miller, who says she no longer is a lesbian, lives with her daughter in Virginia.

Lower courts in Virginia have ruled Miller is the sole parent and the Virginia Marriage Affirmation Act bars recognition of civil unions. The Vermont Supreme Court, however, reached across state lines to demand that Miller allow Jenkins visitation, and Virginia's lower courts agreed to that.

Liberty Counsel characterized the case as a "precedent-setting legal battle between Virginia and Vermont over same-sex unions and the rights of fit, biological parents against unrelated third parties."

"This case is important for the nation to ensure that states remain sovereign regarding the essence of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This case is important for children to guarantee that one state cannot undermine another state's support for the traditional family. The case is exceptionally important for Lisa Miller and the future of her six-year-old daughter," Staver said.

Barber noted Miller's own account reveals emotional problems triggered by abandonment by her father, abuse from her mentally ill mother and a decade-long war with alcohol led her into the lesbian lifestyle. In 1999, the relationship with Jenkins was begun and on a weekend trip, they traveled from Virginia where they lived to Vermont for their "civil union."

After Isabella was born, Miller and Jenkins moved to Vermont.

But things were unstable and Miller alleged Jenkins was abusive.

"It was a troubled relationship from the beginning," Miller told "World Magazine," "The relationship did not improve as Jenkins … grew increasingly bitter and controlling."

Months later, the relationship ended and Miller and her daughter returned to Virginia.

Then in 2003, Jenkins demanded that the courts in Vermont award her custody of Isabella, instead of leaving her with her mother.

Since the Vermont court's ruling, Miller and her daughter "now [are] required to make the several hundred mile roundtrip journey from Virginia to Vermont every other week to visit a total stranger [Jenkins] who, according to reports, outrageously forces the confused and traumatized little girl to call her 'momma,'" Barber said.

"After Lisa ended her relationship with Janet, when Isabella was only 17 months old, Lisa became a born-again Christian. … She has attempted to raise her child according to biblical principles," said Rena M. Lindevaldsen, a Liberty Counsel attorney representing the Millers.

"According to recent filings by Janet, however, Janet believes that Lisa's religious beliefs render Lisa incapable of properly parenting Isabella," she said.

But she said the court ruling will go far beyond the Miller mother and daughter.

"The [Vermont] court has additionally ruled, essentially, that its own judicial authority is superior to that of both Virginia – which defines marriage as existing only between one man and one woman – and the federal government," she noted.

"Lisa and Isabella's story tragically demonstrates that it's all too often children who are ultimately victimized by state-recognized immorality. It's the children who suffer when adults selfishly depart from God's intended design for human sexuality and marriage – as reaffirmed by Christ's teachings in the New Testament – and enter into counterfeit homosexual 'civil-unions' or 'same-sex marriages,'" Barber said.

"Although Lisa and Isabella's situation is both heartbreaking and unjust, it shouldn't be at all surprising. In the name of so-called 'gay rights,' the militant homosexual lobby has made its position crystal clear. The selfish individual interests of those who define themselves based upon a choice to engage in deviant homosexual behaviors supersede the best interests of everyone else … even children," Barber said.

If the rulings from the two state supreme courts are at odds, court procedure automatically would advance the dispute to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[Soldier4Christ]

Bow your head,
break the law!
Court ruling goes against coach
who 'respected' student prayers

A federal appeals court has ruled a New Jersey high-school football coach who bowed his head while students on his team led prayer was actually breaking the law.

The decision, though, will be appealed, said John Whitehead, president of the Virginia-based civil-liberties group the Rutherford Institute.

"If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will mean that high-school teachers across the United States will have no free speech or academic freedom rights at all," he said. "This undermines a time-honored tradition that has less to do with religion that it does athletic tradition. It's a sad statement on our rights as Americans that schools are no longer bastions of freedom."

The ruling came in the case involving Coach Marcus Borden.

His practice was to bow his head silently or "take a knee" while students on his football team led prayer prior to games.

But in 2005, officials at East Brunswick High School adopted a policy prohibiting representatives of the school district from participating in student-initiated prayer, even though that had been a regular part of the team's pre-game activities for 25 years.

The school concluded while it could not infringe on the students' constitutionally protected right to pray, they could limit the actions of coaches, who are public employees and whose participation allegedly would violate "the separation of church and state."

U.S. District Judge Dennis Cavanaugh ruled the following year the district's interpretation was wrong, and school officials were violating Borden's rights to free speech, freedom of association and academic freedom.

The district, however, challenged that, and aided by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, argued Borden lacked any constitutional rights to expression or academic freedom because of his duties as teacher and coach.

The appellate judges concluded Borden's acts "cross the line and constitute and unconstitutional endorsement of religion."

[Soldier4Christ]

Teacher keeps Bible, cites God-given rights
Principal ordered Good Book hidden from students

An Ohio school teacher has refused an order from his public school principal to hide his personal Bible, which he's kept on his desk for 18 years, from his students.

The teacher, John Freshwater, held a news conference today to respond to questions from local reporters about the issue as the deadline set by school officials for him to hide his Bible passed.

No formal action was taken immediately by officials in the Mount Vernon, Ohio, School District in response to Freshwater's move, according to Coach Dave Daubenmire of Pass The Salt Ministries and Minutemen United, who was acting as a spokesman for Freshwater.

Daubenmire has had his own experience with such perspectives, having been sued by the American Civil Liberties Union in 1999 for praying with his football teams while coaching in Ohio.

Freshwater has been a middle school science teacher for 20 years in the Mount Vernon School District. Recently the principal visited his classroom, and then notified him of several changes he would be required to make.

One was a demand to remove a copy of the Ten Commandments from a collage of historic information in one location in his classroom, a demand Freshwater agreed to fulfill.

But he said the district must prove to him how it can order him to remove his personal Bible from his desk without infringing on his God-given and First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion.

"John Freshwater has sounded the alarm and we have hope that his cause will not die for a lack of a second from the church leadership in Mount Vernon," said Jim Harrison, national director of Minutemen United.

He said the hope is the community churches will rally behind Freshwater's desire to keep his Bible handy.

"This is an incredible opportunity to right some historical misconceptions about the church and state relationship in our great nation," Harrison said.

Daubenmire, who said he "has a deep appreciation and understanding for what John is doing," told WND Freshwater is not yet represented by counsel, but hasn't been subjected to any sanction by the school yet either.

"Today at noon he informed them he would not comply with the order to remove his personal Bible from where it's sat for 18 years," Daubenmire told WND. "It's his personal Bible. He draws great strength from it."

He also said Freshwater has not, and does not, use the Bible in his interaction with students, but he also believes he does not forfeit his own rights just for being a teacher.

Such a school demand, he said, amounts to an ongoing viewpoint discrimination, since a Muslim woman would not be ordered to hide her head covering from students' views.

The school district's superintendent, Steve Short, could not be reached by WND. But school officials released a statement:

"The Mount Vernon Schools today directed one of its middle school science teachers to remove from his classroom the 10 Commandments he had displayed and to remove his Bible from his desktop while students were in his room. The Mount Vernon Schools has not taken this action because it opposes religion, but because it has an obligation under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to protect against the establishment of religion in the schools. As a public school system the district cannot teach, promote or favor any religion or religious beliefs."

Daubenmire said, however, the school's demands go far beyond making sure it doesn't "establish religion" and reaches the level of a "continuous purging of Christianity."

In an earlier commentary for WND, Daubenmire framed the issue as a rampant attack singling out Christianity.

"Please notice that the attack on religious freedom in America is on Christianity. No one is trying to silence the religious freedom of Muslims or atheists or humanists. Quite the contrary. We are told to 'understand' Muslims, to be sensitive to the atheists and to tolerate the humanists and their various denominations of 'isms' (environmentalism, feminism, secularism, socialism, communism), which we teach openly in our schools," he said.

"Our rights are God-given rights. They are not 'constitutional' rights," he continued. "Take some time and read the U.S. Constitution. You will see that it does not grant any rights to anyone. Instead, while setting up the federal government, the document (the first 10 amendments) also prohibits the government from interfering with various aspects of human freedom. The first 10 amendments limit what the government can do. They shouldn't be called the Bill of Rights; they should be called the Bill of Limitations."

Instead of claiming constitutional rights, citizens of the U.S. should proclaim their God-given rights, he said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Protesting 'gay' promo draws threats
Student warned of 'failing grade' if absent from 'Day of Silence'

A coalition of Christian organizations is working to encourage students to stay home when their schools recognize the "Day of Silence" homosexual lifestyle promotion this year – and the reaction has started coming in.

Liberty Counsel reports it has had complaints from parents and students about a wide range of misbehaviors or misrepresentations being presented by schools.

For example, in one school district a principal told a father if his son was not at school on the "Day of Silence" the student would be given a failing grade for the year, in Indiana parents were told by public school officials it was "against the law" for them to cancel the program or excuse absences that day, and in Iowa, a school board member said a student refusing to speak throughout a school day was no more disruptive than a "Christian wearing a cross."

"When it comes to the Day of Silence, silence is not an option," said Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University's School of Law.

"Students have the right not to remain silent. Students can refuse to attend school. They may mount a counter-protest in support of purity and the traditional family. While schools may be required to allow clubs to meet on campus, schools do not have to promote the Day of Silence. Students to not have the right to remain silent when called upon by teachers," he said.

Liberty Counsel has assembled a legal memorandum that explains how to protect schools from being "hijacked" by the agenda of the event, which is promoted by the homosexual advocacy organization Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network.

The memo advises that student conduct causing a substantial disruption or material interference with school activities is not protected under the First Amendment.

Liberty Counsel said in Oklahoma, a high school graduate was told by her former principal if he did not allow the Day of Silence he could not allow the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and in South Dakota, a student was told her absence on that day would impose a requirement that she write a paper explaining why she did not participate, according to Liberty Counsel.

The day encourages students to remain silent in recognition of "discrimination" against homosexuals. The event this year is scheduled April 25 although some schools are recognizing it on a different day.

"GLSEN claims the event counteracts bullying, but it is merely promoting an anti-heterosexual viewpoint," Liberty Counsel said. "Schools can teach students the value of respect without accepting GLSEN's propaganda event. Many states, like Florida, for example, have laws that require abstinence-based education when sexuality is discussed, so the school cannot recognize the Day of Silence without promoting abstinence."

The organization's advice continued: "Some school administrators do not understand that students cannot be penalized for refusing to observe the Day of Silence. … Liberty Counsel is encouraging students to mount a counter-celebration to promote a positive message of purity on the Day of Silence. Students are encouraged to wear white and to distribute flyers promoting sexual purity whenever other students are permitted to distribute literature promoting the Day of Silence."

WND reported previously on coalition plans for this year's Day of Silence.

"It's outrageous that our neighborhood schools would allow homosexual activism to intrude into the classroom," said Buddy Smith of the American Family Association, one of a long list of organizations asking parents to keep their students home from school on that day.

"'Day of Silence' is about coercing students to repudiate traditional morality. It's time for Christian parents to draw the line – if your children will be exposed to this DOS propaganda in their school, then keep them home for the day," he said.

Linda Harvey, a spokeswoman for Mission America, told WND, "It's incredibly important that parents be very aware because things are quickly getting to a bizarre level."

Her organization is publishing lists of schools where the event appears to be on the schedule, as well as a list of schools where officials have confirmed they will not be recognizing the promotional day.

"When a parent finds out about this kind of event, they need to take immediate action, join with other parents. They need to go to the school board. They need to be persistent. They will get a cold shoulder from those who say, 'We've never heard this [concern] before.' Those are standard responses. They need to be persistent, and very, very discerning about what's really going on and who's advocating this," she warned.

Besides being morally objectionable, such lifestyles present enormously higher risks for children for HIV and other related health damage, she noted.

"[Parents] need to decide this is real, this is extremely damaging. And it's only going to get worse. In the early 1990s there were a handful of homosexual clubs at schools. Now there are about 3,500-4,000 in high schools and they are increasing. The big trend now is in middle schools. GLSEN has made it a goal to have homosexual clubs in every school K-12. They're going to make it if we don't stand up and be counted," she said.

Matt Barber, a spokesman for Concerned Women for America, said the day "amounts to educational malpractice."

"Our schools are supposed to be places of learning, not places of political indoctrination. It is the height of impropriety and cynicism for 'gay' activists and school officials to use children as pawns in their attempt to further a highly controversial and polarizing political agenda," he said.

"Social activism does not belong in the classroom," added Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth.

The Alliance Defense Fund also works to promote the non-disruptive "Day of Truth" that is scheduled this year on April 28.

Among those in the coalition supporting opposition to the "Day of Silence" agenda are:

    * Abiding Truth Ministries

    * American Family Association

    * AFA of MI

    * AFA of PA

    * Americans for Truth

    * Christian Information Service

    * Christian Civic League of Maine

    * Concerned Women for America

    * Culture Campaign

    * Defend the Family International

    * Exodus Mandate

    * Illinois Family Institute

    * Indiana Voice for the Family

    * Informing Christians

    * Liberty Counsel

    * MassResistance

    * Mission America

    * New Generation Christian Center

    * Parents' Rights' Coalition

    * Right March

    * Stephen Bennett Ministries

    * Values USA

    * and Watchmen on the Walls

[Soldier4Christ]

District bans 'John 3:16,' promotes demonic leer
Court filing seeks elimination of penalties for Christian art

A court in Wisconsin has been asked to suspend immediately a policy in the Tomah Area School District that bans Christian symbols in students' artwork, but allows Hindu, Buddhist and satanic representations.

The motion was filed yesterday by the Alliance Defense Fund, which has taken on the case of a student identified by the initials A.P.

The ADF launched a lawsuit on the student's behalf after a teacher refused to give him a grade on a project because his work included "John 3:16" as well as "As sign of love."

The school district, however, openly acknowledged and publicized various pieces of art representing Buddhism, and Hinduism as well as several demon faces that appeared satanic.

The school defended its actions:

"Respect for the beliefs of a diverse student population … requires that the district treat all students equitable and fairly regardless of their faith," it said in a website statement.

"To meet our responsibilities, students are required to follow the rules of conduct for their classrooms and the instructions that their teachers give them for class assignments. While the district respects all students' religious freedoms, those freedoms are not a license for students to force the school to display religious messages of their choosing…"

The ADF said the teacher's grading policy banned depictions of "blood, violence, sexual connotations, [or] religious beliefs."

But in practice it was a discriminatory policy, the ADF said in a court motion seeking an immediate injunction against the school.

"Allowing demonic depictions by some students while prohibiting Christian religious expression in artwork by others is a blatant violation of the Constitution," said David Cortman, senior ADF legal counsel.

The lawsuit was filed late last month after the student's artwork was rejected, then he was told he had signed away his First Amendment rights at the beginning of the semester in order to participate in the class.

The ADF's motion noted: "While penalizing A.P.'s religious express, defendants prominently display[ed] in the school's hallway a large painting of a six-limbed Hindu woman riding a swan figure. … Elsewhere, on a hallway bulletin board, there hangs a drawing of a robed sorcerer."

The law firm said the district displays artwork reflecting Hindu, Buddhist and satanic themes all over.

"It is displayed in classrooms (including the very classroom where district officials met to reiterate to A.P. that his Christian religious expression warranted no constitutional protection)," the law firm said.

The lawsuit names as defendants the school district, administrator Robert Fasbender, assistant principal Cale Jackson, and faculty members Julie Millin and Margi Genrich.

"The fact that the student was not only refused a grade on the project, but given two detentions creates "a draconian atmosphere … [that] evinces a manifest hostility toward Christianity," ADF said.

No such "waiver" of the student's First Amendment rights is applicable, either, the firm said.

"A waiver for First Amendment rights will be found only on the basis of clear and compelling evidence that the party understood his rights and intentionally relinquished or abandoned them," the law firm argued.

"At the time he signed the policy, A.P. had no idea that it would be so restriction of religious expression in the class … And the facts show that at the time that A.P. signed the policy, he did not think that including something like a small cross, or a simple scripture verse reference, would be subject to censorship…"

Further, the student is a minor and was denied the opportunity "to seek advice from counsel" before being required to sign, ADF said.

"An incredible fact in this case is that in the very same room in which defendants Jackson, Millin, and Genrich conducted their parent-teacher conference with A.P. and his family – and reiterated their policies banning student religious express in class assignments – defendants displayed student drawings of the Greek goddess Medusa; a demonic figure with horns, scales, and protruding tongue; several demonic masks; and a drawing of the Grim Reaper, holding a scythe," ADF said.

The injunction is needed immediately because of the passing of time and loss of grades for the student, the law firm said.

"Here, the school permits some religious expression in its classrooms and hallways, so long as it is not Christian religious expression," the ADF said.

[Shammu]

Louisiana courthouse's lone Jesus painting deemed unconstitutional
Apr 17 '08
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Displaying a portrait of Jesus in the foyer of a Louisiana courthouse is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled this week, siding with civil libertarians who sued over the display.

But inserting Jesus within a group portrait of historic figures at the courthouse is permissible, the judge said.

In a ruling filed Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle awarded "nominal" damages plus attorneys' fees and costs to the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana in its case against Slidell City Court, Judge James Lamz and St. Tammany Parish, which partially finances the court.

Lemelle said during a hearing last September that he would have ordered court officials to remove the Jesus icon if they hadn't already expanded the display to include portraits of other historic "lawgivers," including Moses, Charlemagne and Napoleon Bonaparte.

His ruling this week echoes those remarks and explains that the expanded display is constitutional because a reasonable observer wouldn't see it as sending a religious message.

However, Lemelle concluded that the plaintiffs' constitutional rights were violated by the original display, which depicted Jesus presenting the New Testament above the words, "To Know Peace, Obey These Laws."

"Context" is the "crucial factor" in determining if a religious display is unconstitutional, Lemelle wrote.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Ten Commandments display on the grounds of the Texas state capitol was constitutional, in part, because it was accompanied by other monuments and historical markers, Lemelle noted.

However, the Supreme Court ruled that a Ten Commandments display in Kentucky was unconstitutional because county officials there had "specifically expressed their intent to erect and maintain a religious display," Lemelle wrote.

J. Michael Johnson, an attorney representing the defendants for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian civil rights group, said he is disappointed by Lemelle's ruling and may file an appeal.

"It's unfortunate that the ACLU seems to be on a search-and-destroy mission for all things religious," he said.

Marjorie Esman, the ACLU chapter's executive director, said Lemelle's decision appears to be consistent with the Supreme Court's rulings in similar cases.

"We've always felt that this was a very clear-cut case," she said. "There was no need to break new ground on this."

The ACLU sued the lawsuit last year on behalf of an unidentified person who complained about the original display. Esman said the ACLU's objections were satisfied by the expansion of the display.

Lemelle gave the plaintiffs 10 days to propose a "reasonable" award for attorney's fees and costs. The ACLU has asked for only $1 in damages.

Louisian courthouse's lone Jesus painting deemed unconstitutional

[Shammu]

Lemelle, Ivan L. R.

Born 1950 in Opelousas, LA

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana
Nominated by William J. Clinton on February 12, 1997, to a seat vacated by Veronica D. Wicker; Confirmed by the Senate on April 3, 1998, and received commission on April 7, 1998.

http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2763
~~~~~~~~~

I am not shocked. This ruling came from a Clinton appointee, as often the case in rulings like these. This is a good example why it is important to go out and vote against those who would appoint similar type judges to the bench.

[nChrist]

Brothers and Sisters,

I feel led to make a few comments. Some might disagree and that's fine.

1 - Most of the people reading this live in free countries where the people are IN CHARGE, and the people choose OR REMOVE their representatives. Further, the rights of the PEOPLE are SECURED BY LAWS AND THE CONSTITUTIONS!

2 - LAWS AND CONSTITUTIONS are plural because there are numerous LAWS and numerous CONSTITUTIONS that apply to our CIVIL AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS! There are numerous layers and levels of PROTECTIONS to PREVENT TYRANNY AND TRAMPLING OF THE RIGHTS OF CITIZENS! COLLECTIVELY, the citizens are CAESAR for Biblical Principles because the PEOPLE ARE IN CHARGE!

3 - The LAWS AND CONSTITUTIONS are made by the people, for the people, and they belong to the people. BLUNTLY - we don't HAVE RULERS OR DICTATORS! Our LAWS, CONSTITUTIONS, AND FOUNDING DOCUMENTS recognize ONLY ONE POWER HIGHER THAN THE COLLECTIVE POWER OF THE PEOPLE:  ALMIGHTY GOD!

4 - There are many people who don't like the idea of people being able to vote and collectively having the authority and power to MAKE LAW, CONTROL GOVERNMENT, and overall define our way of life. Some wish to USURP or otherwise REMOVE THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE, and THAT CAN'T BE DONE IN OUR FORM OF GOVERNMENT!

5 - I feel that Christians have a duty to participate in their own governance to the limit of the law, especially considering the facts that failure to participate can impact the overall well-being of our lives, the lives of our children, and the lives of future generations. By "Overall Well-Being", I would obviously be including morals, values, ethics, and the Biblical Principles which are our foundation.

6 - Those who wish to EXCLUDE GOD AND BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES from our society and way of life have ONLY TWO CHOICES:  a) Move to a different country;  b) Become the majority and LEGALLY CHANGE OR REMOVE OUR LAWS AND CONSTITUTIONS! As Christians, we should NOT ALLOW any more than these two choices. This is how our WAY OF LIFE was founded, and it's the ONLY WAY THAT OUR WAY OF LIFE CAN BE DISSOLVED!

7 - Christians need to stand up and exercise the COLLECTIVE POWER that we already have in OUR OWN GOVERNMENT! This will also mean standing up for GOD and Biblical principles. It will be to our SHAME AND DISGRACE if we are ASHAMED to stand up for GOD and Biblical principles. We currently have this RIGHT, and this RIGHT pertains to many other RIGHTS we currently have. These RIGHTS are actually our entire way of life, including our FREEDOMS TO WORSHIP GOD, raise our children in the WAYS OF GOD, and LIVE IN THE WAYS OF GOD! Christians need to stand up and remain standing to accomplish two things: a) Keep and maintain our RIGHTS;  b) Take back RIGHTS that are our's that were removed WITHOUT DUE PROCESS OF LAW!

8 - What happens if we allow our RIGHTS to be REMOVED OR ERODED? Aren't we smart enough to figure out the answers to this question? Please allow me to start a list that will be JUST THE BEGINNING:  a)  Raising our children in the LORD;  b)  Ministering to our families and others;  c)  Worshiping GOD;  d)  Sharing GOD'S WORD with others, including the entire world;  e)  Living in a society or environment of DECENCY that has always been defined BY OUR LAWS!

[Soldier4Christ]

Students proclaim 'take-your-Bible' day
Rally in support of teacher ordered to hide Good Book

Students at the Mount Vernon, Ohio, school district have called a 'take-your-Bible-to-school day" tomorrow in support of a popular teacher who has been ordered to keep his Bible hidden while students are in his classroom.

Coach Dave Daubenmire of Pass The Salt Ministries and Minutemen United, who is acting as a spokesman for teacher John Freshwater, told WND the campaign has been organized by students using cell phones, text messaging and e-mails.

"It's for both middle school and high school," Daubenmire told WND, with plans for students to not only carry their Bibles, but to wear Christian-themed T-shirts.

WND reported just one day earlier when the dispute arose, with orders from school officials for Freshwater to hide his Bible from students and Freshwater's decision to not comply.

School Board president Ian Watson told WND the Bible was just part of a "tapestry" of issues the district was dealing with, but he said he could not provide details on other factors. He did admit that the order for Freshwater to remove the Bible from his desk, where he's kept it for more than two decades while teaching in the district, was prompted because of contacts from some district parents. But again, he declined to elaborate.

Daubenmire, however, said the Bible is an important part of Freshwater's life, to the point he carries it with him when he parachutes into forest fire zones during his summer work as a smokejumper in the American West.

He also has worked to smuggle Bibles into China, Daubenmire said.

In an interview with WND, Watson accused Freshwater of "going public" with issues the school "is in discussions with attorneys at this stage."

"We just asked him that the Bible not be on top of his desk during his teaching hours," Watson told WND. However, he also admitted that the school had no formal prohibitions on personal items on teachers' desks.

When asked how the school arrived at a ban on Freshwater's personal Bible being on his own desk, Watson said, "I do not know how to answer."

The verdict on a forums page in the local Mount Vernon News was siding pretty much with Freshwater.

"It is his Bible and [he] has every right to keep it with him. End of story," said the first commenter among a long list submitted anonymously.

"He should be allowed to have his Bible on his desk. It's sad that this country is trying to remove God from everything and we are suppose (sic) to be a Christian country," said the second person in line.

"Are you kidding. Let's put more effort into removing guns from schools, before we chase after Bibles," said the third.

"Stand firm, Mr. Freshwater! I was in a class of Mr. Freshwater's approx 20 years ago. I remember the Bible being on the desk. He never taught from it nor preached for it. So why … ask him to remove it now?" said another.

Freshwater held a news conference yesterday to confirm he was not planning to follow the school dictate, and Daubenmire said local counsel was being arranged should the teacher need legal representation.

Daubenmire has had his own experience with such perspectives, having been sued by the American Civil Liberties Union in 1999 for praying with his football teams while coaching in Ohio.

The school also told Freshwater to remove a copy of the Ten Commandments from a collage in one location in his classroom, a demand Freshwater agreed to fulfill.

But he said the district must prove to him how it can order him to remove his personal Bible from his desk without infringing on his God-given and First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion.

"John Freshwater has sounded the alarm and we have hope that his cause will not die for a lack of a second from the church leadership in Mount Vernon," said Jim Harrison, national director of Minutemen United.

"This is an incredible opportunity to right some historical misconceptions about the church and state relationship in our great nation," Harrison said.

Daubenmire said the school's demand amounts to an ongoing viewpoint discrimination, since a Muslim woman would not be ordered to hide her head covering from students' view.

The district's formal statement on the dispute said: "The Mount Vernon Schools today directed one of its middle school science teachers to remove from his classroom the 10 Commandments he had displayed and to remove his Bible from his desktop while students were in his room. The Mount Vernon Schools has not taken this action because it opposes religion, but because it has an obligation under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to protect against the establishment of religion in the schools. As a public school system the district cannot teach, promote or favor any religion or religious beliefs."

Daubenmire said, however, the school's demands go far beyond making sure it doesn't "establish religion" and reaches the level of a "continuous purging of Christianity."

In an earlier commentary for WND, Daubenmire framed the issue as a rampant attack singling out Christianity.

"Please notice that the attack on religious freedom in America is on Christianity. No one is trying to silence the religious freedom of Muslims or atheists or humanists. Quite the contrary. We are told to 'understand' Muslims, to be sensitive to the atheists and to tolerate the humanists and their various denominations of 'isms' (environmentalism, feminism, secularism, socialism, communism), which we teach openly in our schools."

"Our rights are God-given rights. They are not 'constitutional' rights," he continued. "Take some time and read the U.S. Constitution. You will see that it does not grant any rights to anyone. Instead, while setting up the federal government, the document (the first ten amendments) also prohibits the government from interfering with various aspects of human freedom. The first ten amendments limit what the government can do. They shouldn't be called the Bill of Rights; they should be called the Bill of Limitations."

Instead of claiming constitutional rights, citizens of the U.S. should proclaim their God-given rights, he said.

[nChrist]

An examination of history will indicate that the current so-called "Separation of Church and State" doesn't exist and never did exist. It's an invented lie based on an ill-informed reading of a private letter of Thomas Jefferson.

If they wanted to base our current society from the personal letters and personal actions of our founders, folks like the ACLU would be out of business and Congress would still be directing the printing of Bibles for use in Public Schools. The same would be true if they wanted to base our current society from the Official Acts of our founders while serving in Public Office.

The bottom line is that Religious Freedom was one of the primary reasons why we fought the Revolutionary War, and the Founders had every intention of protecting what they fought for. It's only been during the last 50 years that the words of our Founding Documents have been twisted, distorted, and turned upside-down and inside-out. The Founders thought that their carefully crafted few words would protect an already lengthy record of religious practice prior to 1776. Official government practices for over 200 years should make it blatantly clear that Christian practices were the norm and what they sought to protect. However, that protected practice WAS NOT Baptist, Methodist, Quaker, ABC, XYZ, or any other Christian denomination. This was and  is the KEY,

[Soldier4Christ]

Street preacher claims police harassment
'I got the distinct impression they wanted me to move'

A man who wants to spread the word about Jesus in his town of Alma, Ark., says he was intimidated by officials from the local school district as well as police officers when they approached him on a public sidewalk and told him to find another place to preach.

Daniel Guyeski, who told WND he feels called to preach to his community, said a vice principal from Alma High School first warned him against speaking on the sidewalk, then two police officers approached him and made a suggestion.

"I got the distinct impression they wanted me to move," he told WND. He said he felt intimidated and left, instead of continuing his gospel message.

Police officials confirmed to WND they contacted Guyeski, but that he was on a public sidewalk and was doing nothing wrong.

Police Chief Russell White did, however, tell WND that there were "issues" with Guyeski and his office had been contacted by a nearby police department in Fort Smith about the preacher.

Guyeski said when police confronted him they also accused him of having issues with a girlfriend in Fort Smith, but he explained that that issue must concern someone else because he is married and lives in Alma.

Guyeski told WND he was preaching on the public sidewalk across the street of Alma High School when an assistant principal approached him and told him to move down the road, to a location near a fire station, and he complied.

Then, however, he told WND that officers from Alma's police department approached him, demanded his identification and then after the vice principal approached the group, told him, "You need to find a better time and place to preach."

"I was just doing some open-air evangelism," he said.

He said the vice principal warned him, "If I let you come and do that, I have to let everybody come and do that."

"They didn't want me out there. They were trying to make a claim I was standing on school ground while I was on the sidewalk in front of the fire station parking lot," he said.

Principal Jerry Valentine told WND that the school assumes it owns the property up to the street, including the sidewalk.

"He was on school property," Valentine told WND. "My assumption was that it was school property. I'll check with my superiors. I may be wrong."

He said Guyeski was told to get off of the sidewalk which the school believes it owns, and move onto city property.

Chief White said Guyeski was on a public sidewalk, but officers approached him because he was "waving his arms."

"We asked him to not impede with traffic," he said, and school officials said they, "did not want him on campus."

But White also suggested there were other issues, noting that "those same officers had contact with him that night." Guyeski explained the officers approached him at a library and asked him for his home address.

And White said his office "had had a call from another agency," and identified that as Forth Smith police. Guyeski said after officers questioned him about the Fort Smith issues, he called that police department and was told there was nothing going on.

Guyeski said he was in consultations about legal representation over the situation.

WND reported earlier when two members of The Gideons International were arrested while handing out Bibles on a public sidewalk near a Florida school over complaints from the school. The charges eventually were dropped.

[Soldier4Christ]

Indiana Judge Dismisses ACLU Challenge, Upholds 'God' License Plate

A judge has upheld the issuance of Indiana license plates bearing the message "In God We Trust," dismissing a constitutional challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.

Marion Superior Court Judge Gary L. Miller wrote in a 13-page opinion that the plates were comparable to standard plates issued by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and were created specifically as such by the Legislature.

"Courts are not to second-guess the Indiana General Assembly when it comes to calculations of this sort," Miller wrote, contrasting the `In God We Trust' plates with other specialty plates that require the payment of administrative fees.

Miller said the issuance of the plates did not violate the section of the Indiana Constitution that forbids the Legislature from granting special privileges or immunities not available to all citizens.

The ruling, issued April 10, denies a motion for summary judgment in the suit by the ACLU on behalf of Mark E. Studler, an Allen County resident who has an Environmental Trust plate for which he had to pay extra fees.

Ken Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana, said Thursday the ruling would be appealed to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

"We're obviously disappointed," Falk said. "It's our position still that the differential treatment afforded between the environmental plate and the `In God We Trust' plate ... is unconstitutional, that the Legislature doesn't have the power to say the `In God We Trust' plate is free whereas the environmental plate carries an administrative fee.

"We're disappointed but we will continue to maintain our legal argument," Falk said.

The ACLU must file a notice of appeal within 30 days of the court's ruling.

The lawsuit claimed the BMV gave preferential treatment to motorists wanting the plates, which also feature the U.S. flag, because they don't have to pay the $15 administrative fee that the agency collects on sales of most other Indiana specialty plates.

The 2006 legislation creating the plates specified the state could charge no more for the "In God We Trust" plates than for the standard plates.

BMV Commissioner Ron Stiver said Thursday more than 1.6 million people have selected the "In God We Trust" plate since it became available in January 2007 as one of more than 75 options for motorists.

"The BMV will continue its policy to offer all plate designs without promoting any one license plate design over another and will continue to offer the IGWT plate design at no additional charge, as outlined by the Indiana General Assembly," Stiver said.

Republican state Rep. Woody Burton of Greenwood, who sponsored the bill to create the plate, said he was pleased with the court ruling and confident it would withstand an appeal.

"When we wrote this law we wrote it as a standard license plate costing no extra money — we deliberately wrote it that way," Burton said, adding that it has been very popular among Hoosiers.

[Soldier4Christ]

Church battles for property lost to bake sale tax dispute
'To put lien on worship facility over resale activity is ludicrous'

The city of Chicago has been handed another defeat in its effort to take over a church's property in order to use in it a redevelopment project, according to officials with the Alliance Defense Fund.

Government officials took title to the property after they first claimed the organization had failed to pay sales taxes on fundraising bake sales, even though such activities are exempt from sales tax requirements, and then sending notifications of the taxes due as well as the tax lien sale to the wrong address.

Officials with Beth-El All Nations Church now have gone to court to regain title to their facility, and yesterday a judge rejected an effort by city officials to have the action thrown out.

"The government should not demonstrate hostility toward religion by penalizing churches when there's clearly no reason to do so," said ADF Senior Counsel Joe Infranco.

"To put a lien on a church's property for the invented reason that the church somehow engaged in some undefined 'resale activity' and didn't collect and pay sales tax is simply ludicrous," said ADF-allied attorney and lead counsel Andy Norman of the Chicago law firm Mauck & Baker. "The court was right to allow the church's case against the city to proceed."

The long-running dispute dates back to shortly after the church acquired its property in the Chicago neighborhood of Englewood in 1976 and rehabilitated the location to begin worship services.

While there were no complications at first, about 1986 Cook County officials decided that the church no longer was exempt, and started assessing property taxes, totaling more than $100,000 between the period 1986 to 1995.

The law firm said the issue was that county officials had decided the church was engaging in an unspecified "resale activity," but church officials said the only such event that could be described that way – even remotely – would be its fundraising bake sales, which in Illinois are not subject to sales taxes.

Then because of "numerous procedural errors" by government officials, the church never was informed of the taxes, or the government's later decision to put a lien on the property, or the eventual tax sale through which the county obtained a title to the church. The county later re-assigned that to the city of Chicago.

According to documents in the case, among other mistakes that happened, was a notice to the church about its right to redeem its property.

"An employee of the city of Chicago mistakenly addressed a notice to Beth-El All Nations Church at 1534 East 63rd Street, instead of Beth-El's true address, 1534 West 63rd Street," court records note. "The notice was pretty important: it advised the church of its right to redeem title to the 63rd Street property after the parcel was sold for delinquent taxes."

Similar mistakes had happened with earlier tax notifications, the court documents confirmed.

"Despite the misaddressed notice, the city acquired a tax deed to the 63rd Street property in 1998. … The city sought to oust Beth-El from the property in 2006," but a federal complaint was filed to correct the government employees' mistakes.

According to the ADF, the site long has been desired by government officials to be used in a redevelopment project there.

The documents in the case reveal that the not only did the city use the wrong address, it then represented to the court "that all required notices had been served."

The church said the 1998 proceedings should be set aside because "the tax deed had been procured by fraud or deception."

Bishop Edgar Jackson, the pastor since 1995, testified the church never was located at 1534 East 63rd Street, and that he hadn't been told of any disputes over what he assumed was the church's tax-exempt status.

A state court ruling sided with the city, concluding the city's mistake should be overlooked and it could take over the property, but in federal court, the church alleged violations of the Fourth Amendment for "unreasonable search and seizure" and other violations.

A judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan, at one point scolded the city for its actions. Ordering the church to shut down, he said, could cause "severe harm" and result in "losses to the community that could not be quantified in dollars and cents … In fact, it is entirely unclear why the city would desire such an asset to the community to cease its operations…"

[Soldier4Christ]

Federal judge says no to in-school Bible giveaways

NEW ORLEANS -  A federal judge says Tangipahoa Parish public schools must stop in-school Bible giveaways to students.

"Distribution of Bibles is a religious activity without a secular purpose" and amounts to school board promotion of Christianity, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier ruled.

As requested by both sides, Barbier made a summary judgment based only on the written briefs - something judges may do only if the law is absolutely clear.

But attorney Christopher M. Moody said he thinks the Tangipahoa Parish School Board is likely to ask the 5th U.S. Court of Appeal to overturn Barbier's decision, though he hadn't yet consulted with the board. "We think there's a very good chance" of a reversal, he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana filed the suit for an anonymous family whose daughter said she felt pressured into taking a Bible even though she doesn't believe in God. The girl was called Jane Roe and her father John Roe out of fear of retaliation by schoolmates and neighbors, the ACLU has said.

"Jane Roe states that she accepted the Bible because if she did not, her classmates would have 'picked on' her," Barbier wrote. "She feared they would call her 'devil worshipper.'"

Marjorie R. Esman, executive director of the ACLU chapter, said, "A child shouldn't have to choose between her family's beliefs and the wishes of school administrators."