ACLU In The News

[Soldier4Christ]

udges ask tough questions in evolution sticker case

The Associated Press - ATLANTA

Federal appeals judges lobbed tough questions Thursday about a lower court's decision to order the removal of disclaimer stickers calling evolution "a theory, not a fact" from textbooks in a suburban Atlanta school district.

Judge Ed Carnes, a member of the three-judge 11th Circuit Court of Appels panel, several times questioned the basis of a federal judge's ruling that the three-sentence sticker was unconstitutional because he had determined it represented an endorsement of religion.

"I don't think y'all can contest any of the sentences," Carnes said to an attorney for parents who sued challenging the stickers during a hearing on the case. "It is a theory, not a fact; the book supports that."

Cobb County school officials were ordered in January by the lower court to immediately remove the stickers.

The judges also questioned the lower court's finding that the sticker was influenced by a petition that mentioned religion _ saying research showed the petition was filed after the stickers were approved by the Cobb County school board.

The court did not indicate when it will rule in the case.

[Soldier4Christ]

ACLU to appeal Quran ruling

 By Eric Collins
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO -- Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina said Thursday that they will appeal last week's ruling regarding courtroom oaths.

The ACLU had filed a lawsuit on behalf of its roughly 8,000 members asking the court to clarify that state law allows people to use non-Christian religious scriptures for oath-taking.

Greensboro Muslim Syidah Mateen, who joined the suit, claimed she was harmed in 2003 when a judge did not allow her to take an oath on the Quran when testifying in a Guilford County courtroom.

However, Superior Court Judge Donald L. Smith tossed out the lawsuit on Dec. 8, deciding that the plaintiffs lacked a legal controversy.

The judge determined that because Mateen testified that day, no legal controversy remained.

She used the part of the state law that allows someone to affirm to tell the truth while holding their hand upraised, rather than swearing on the King James Bible available in the courtrooms.

ACLU lawyer Seth Cohen said Thursday that the organization disagrees with the judge's finding and he is confidant they will win in the N.C. Court of Appeals.

"It's a shame that this matter cannot be resolved sooner," he said. "All we have ever asked is that people of all faiths be able to put their hands on the holy text of their choice. It's that simple. We don't understand why this is such a big deal."

The issue surfaced this summer after Guilford County's top two judges turned down a gift of Qurans from a Greensboro Islamic center after they decided that an oath on the Quran is not a legal oath.

State law refers to someone laying his hand on the "Holy Scriptures," which they interpret to mean the Christian Bible. When the state Administrative Office of the Courts declined to intervene, the ACLU took the issue to court, arguing that the term "Holy Scriptures" is broad enough to include many religious texts. If the courts determine otherwise, the ACLU argues that the law is unconstitutional because it favors one religion over another.

The debate has garnered national attention, and not all Muslims agree that it's a worthwhile cause.

Cohen said Thursday that the issue goes far beyond the Quran. For example, he said, Jews want to be allowed to swear an oath on the Old Testament.

"That's the one thing that's gotten lost in this case," Cohen said.

[Soldier4Christ]

ndiana to appeal prayer ban

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Indiana plans to appeal a federal judge's ruling that bans any mention of Jesus Christ from legislative invocations.

House Speaker Brian Bosma said he would fight U.S. District Judge David Hamilton's order "by all legal means," the Indianapolis Star reported.

"We will find a way to have prayer within the order in one fashion or another," Bosma said.

Hamilton ruled Nov. 30 in a suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of four Indiana residents. Hamilton agreed with the plaintiffs that the Legislature was advocating a specific religion by allowing Christian prayers.

The judge said anyone invited to pray before the opening of a legislative session should be advised to limit the content.

[Soldier4Christ]

 BELLINGHAM -- Careful driving aroundthe church parking lots here the next time itsnows -- it could be treacherous.

The town has already taken a spill on it, courtesy of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Following a complaint to the agency, the town has ended a longstanding practice of plowing church parking areas, an unsmiling Town Administrator Denis C. Fraine informed the Board of Selectmen on Monday.

"Unfortunately, we will be curtailing that practice as a result of a complaint we received," Fraine said.

The ACLU has a long history of intervening in practices it deems to be an unconstitutional commingling of religion and government, and the town’s wintertime tradition of clearing the snow from the parking lots of local churches appears to be another one of them, Fraine said.

Though he did not provide much elaboration, the town administrator made it clear that the town was reluctant to end the service to the churches, saying he had tried to contact the pastors of at least two of them to inform them of the situation. Fraine mentioned only two -- St. Brendan and St. Blaise parishes.

Members of the Board of Selectmen accepted the briefing from Fraine with stony silence.

After the meeting, Fraine said the town had ceased the plowing on the advice of Legal Counsel Lee Ambler, after the ACLU had

complained to Ambler.

Last month, said Fraine, the town had received a written complaint about the practice from Lake Street resident Ernest Godbout. "Apparently," said Fraine, Godbout "was also in contact with the ACLU."

Fraine briefly showed reporters the two-page letter written by Godbout about the matter, dated Nov. 5, addressed to town officials. The letter indicates that Godbout sent copies of the same letter to four local churches, but the ACLU is not mentioned. Efforts to reach Godbout for comment last night were not successful.

According to Fraine, the town has been plowing the parking lots of the town’s houses of worship for many years. Fraine said he does not know how much the practice costs the town, or how long, exactly, it has been going on.

"I think as long as there have been churches in town, the town has been plowing them," Fraine said.

The administrator said he doesn’t think Bellingham is the only community in the Bay State where churches have benefited from such municipal largesse. For example, he said the practice was also an issue recently in Framingham.

The ACLU’s intervention comes at a time of heightened awareness of the increasing secularization of society, particularly in matters of seasonal etiquette. One of the issues heating up the airwaves of radio talk shows since Thanksgiving, for example, is the debate over the use of the term "holiday tree," a practice religious groups have lambasted as another illustration of how the meaning of Christmas is being purged from public life.

Ironically, there is a seasonal fir on display in the spacious lobby of the new Municipal Center, and the ACLU hasn’t complained about that yet, said Fraine. Asked what kind of a tree it was, Fraine said, "It’s a Christmas tree as far as I’m concerned."

[Soldier4Christ]

Muslims claim detention was due to faith
ACLU lawsuit backs men held at border after Islamic conference
Posted: December 17, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

The New York Civil Liberties Union is in court to stop the Department of Homeland Security from detaining interrogating, fingerprinting and photographing American citizens at the border because they attended an Islamic conference.

The NYCLU and the American Civil Liberties Union brought the case to Judge William W. Skretny in Buffalo, N.Y., on behalf of five Muslim American citizens who attended the Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference in Toronto in December 2004.

Federal officials argue such conferences have been used to provide cover for pro-terrorist operatives.

The men were stopped at the U.S-Canada border, where agents detained, frisked, photographed and fingerprinted them.

The NYCLU, noting the border agents were acting under orders from the Department of Homeland Security, wants to ensure it doesn't happen after this year's conference, which opens Dec. 23.

"The government continues to insist that it's essential to national security to detain, frisk, photograph and fingerprint law-abiding American citizens simply because they are Muslim exercising their right to participate in a religious conference," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU. "Our Constitution does not permit religious or ethnic profiling – but that's precisely what the government has done in this case."

The NYCLU said some of the Muslims detained last year were held overnight for as long as six and a half hours and were prevented from contacting attorneys or family members.

"I was treated like a criminal for no other reason than because I was Muslim," said Dr. Sawsan Tabbaa, a Buffalo orthodontist.

Catherine Kim, ACLU staff attorney, argued the government "cannot criminalize American citizens for their religious beliefs."

"Americans need to know that they can practice their religion and attend religious conferences without fear of government reprisals," she said.

Held annually in Toronto since 2003, the conference is billed as promoting a strong message of building friendships with and alliances between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. This year, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin is expected to give a speech.

But as WorldNetDaily reported, while media stories have depicted the conference as a harmless "religious" event for "mainstream" Islamic groups, it has featured controversial Muslim speakers and attendees, and U.S. officials say such events have been used in the past to provide cover for pro-terrorist operatives.

The two-day conference in January 2003 advertised Sheik Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais as the main speaker. The previous year, al-Sudais, the chief cleric of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, reportedly prayed to Allah to "terminate" the Jews whom he called "the scum of humanity, the rats of the world, prophet killers ... pigs and monkeys." The sheik also has characterized Jews as "evil," "evil forefathers," a "continuum of deceit," and full of "tyranny" and "treachery." Due to logistical problems, the sheik, the headliner of the event, missed the conference. Jeewan Chanicka, media relations director for the Toronto conference, called the sheik's absence "unfortunate."

The same conference featured Zulfiqar Ali Shah, the former president of the Islamic Circle of North America, an organization linked to Jama'at-I-Islami, a fundamentalist Pakistani group that calls bin Laden the "hero" of the Islamic world and raises millions of dollars for global jihad.

Mokhtar Maghroui, who spoke at an event featuring suicide-bombing supporters, also was a speaker at the last two RIS conferences.

The 2003 RIS conference featured William W. Baker, who was outed as a neo-Nazi by the Orange County Weekly.

Some writers and commentators, such as Daniel Pipes, a specialist on Islam, have supported the U.S. government policy, arguing it's a matter of national security. Controlling the border flow, he said, is absolutely necessary and of "paramount importance."

Pipes argues, "Were the plaintiffs to prevail in this case, attending religious conferences would instantly become the favored method for terrorists and other Islamists to cross the American border without hindrance."

[Soldier4Christ]

1st Amendment 'doesn't create church-state wall of separation'
Court whacks civil-liberties group, OKs Ten Commandments display
Posted: December 20, 2005
4:32 p.m. Eastern

A U.S. appeals court today upheld the decision of a lower court in allowing the inclusion of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse display, hammering the American Civil Liberties Union and declaring, "The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state."

Attorneys from the American Center for Law and Justice successfully argued the case on behalf of Mercer County, Ky., and a display of historical documents placed in the county courthouse. The panel voted 3-0 to reject the ACLU's contention the display violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

The county display the ACLU sued over included the Ten Commandments, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Star Spangled Banner, the national motto, the preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Bill of Rights to the U. S. Constitution and a picture of Lady Justice.

Writing for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Richard Suhrheinrich said the ACLU's "repeated reference 'to the separation of church and state' ... has grown tiresome. The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state."

Suhrheinrich wrote: "The ACLU, an organization whose mission is 'to ensure that ... the government [is kept] out of the religion business,' does not embody the reasonable person."

The court said a reasonable observer of Mercer County's display appreciates "the role religion has played in our governmental institutions, and finds it historically appropriate and traditionally acceptable for a state to include religious influences, even in the form of sacred texts, in honoring American traditions."

Francis J. Manion, counsel for the ACLJ, argued the case before both the 6th Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

"This is a big victory for the people of Mercer County and Kentucky generally," Manion said. "For too long they have been lectured like children by those in the ACLU and elsewhere who claim to know what the people's Constitution really means. What the 6th Circuit has said is that the people have a better grasp on the real meaning of the Constitution; the court recognizes that the Constitution does not require that we strip the public square of all vestiges of our religious heritage and traditions."

[LittlePilgrim]

OUCH! Sounds like someone's finally woken up! Good read there, Pastor Roger.

[nChrist]

Pastor Roger Said:

The county display the ACLU sued over included the Ten Commandments, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Star Spangled Banner, the national motto, the preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Bill of Rights to the U. S. Constitution and a picture of Lady Justice.

Writing for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Richard Suhrheinrich said the ACLU's "repeated reference 'to the separation of church and state' ... has grown tiresome. The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state."

YEAH!!!! It's about time. The only thing that is missing is a 10 Million dollar fine to the ACLU for bringing a frivolous law suit. The so-called "Separation of Church and State" is nothing but a manufactured lie of the ACLU. It never existed and it still doesn't exist. The Constitution and everything about the Founding represents the exact opposite of everything the ACLU stands for. It's time to shut the ACLU up and send them packing. I would suggest Iran, North Korea, or some other place like that where they wouldn't throw up each time the ACLU was mentioned.

[LittlePilgrim]

Actually, BEP, it does exist... But not in the form which ACLU claims it does. In fact, it exists not to protect the government from religion, but to protect religion from the government. Like everything else, ACLU has it backwards. XD

[Soldier4Christ]

Actually, BEP, it does exist... But not in the form which ACLU claims it does. In fact, it exists not to protect the government from religion, but to protect religion from the government. Like everything else, ACLU has it backwards. XD

I must agree with that to a very small extent. The separation prevents government from controlling how people worship but it does not and was not meant to prevent people, even those in politics, from openly expressing their views and their manner of worship even in government buildings and on any government property.

This nation was founded on Christian principles and those principles state that people have the right to freedom to worship even in public.

[LittlePilgrim]

Precisely, Pastor Roger. It's a bit of double-speak from ACLU. They claim they want to keep the government from interfering with religion while at the same time speaking to eliminate religion using governmental power... At least Christian religion.

But I'll be silent for now. I know I'm preachin' to the choir.

[nChrist]

Actually, BEP, it does exist... But not in the form which ACLU claims it does. In fact, it exists not to protect the government from religion, but to protect religion from the government. Like everything else, ACLU has it backwards. XD

Hello LittlePilgrim,

You are quite right, and I stand corrected. I should have prefaced my statement with something like "in the modern concept being tried over the last 50 years." The ACLU does have things backwards and inside-out twisted, so there's nothing new about the ACLU.

I was just laughing about what the founding fathers might do if they witnessed one of the stunts of the ACLU.    Does the name of a place called "Salem" ring a bell? Yes, I think that the founders would need lots of wood.  

If I was a member of the ACLU, I would fear a lightning bolt coming out of the sky at any moment. All kidding aside, folks like the ACLU have dishonored GOD. Slowly but surely over a 50 year period of time, folks like the ACLU turned our nation away from GOD, and we let them do it without NEARLY enough of a fight. The founders would be ready to fight another revolutionary war and form another new country. I'm asking myself a question right now: As a nation, do we really deserve the blessings of GOD with what we have allowed?

Love In Christ,
Tom

Ephesians 2:8-10 NASB  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

[LittlePilgrim]

As a nation, do we really deserve the blessings of GOD with what we have allowed?

As a nation? No. As individuals? No. But we have it anyway. Isn't that what Christ's gospel is really all about? It is not through our own merit we are blessed, but through God's grace and His mercy.

[nChrist]

Hello LittlePilgrim,

I understand your line of thinking. As individuals or as a nation, it would be horrible if we got what we actually deserved. By comparison, I would have to say that the Christians of this part of the world have it very easy, take the things of God for granted, and might not admit they were Christians in parts of the world where Christians are hunted, beaten, put in prison, and killed.

I must also make an observation that I know is made by many outside and looking in on our part of the world. Many of them would not be able to get beyond the thoughts of drugs, alcohol, pornography, violence, and crime to even consider values and morals related to religious beliefs. If they did, they would probably be thinking:  if that's how a Christian nation acts, I wouldn't want anything to do with Christianity. That why many countries of the world call America the great satan.

Now, consider the masses who are starving to death or otherwise dying or being killed around the world. If you don't wonder why we deserve any blessings from God, don't you think that they do? I know they do because there are many missionaries in my family who have served around the world. It's an interesting thought, and I do give thanks that God hasn't given us His wrath that we seem to so richly deserve.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 1:16-17 NASB  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

[Shammu]

It's time to shut the ACLU up and send them packing.

AMEN, as it's time to send CAIR packing as well!

I would suggest Iran, North Korea, or some other place like that where they wouldn't throw up each time the ACLU was mentioned.

I know of a better place, China.