Christian right does not have the brains to govern, a founder of movement says
JewsOnFirst.org interview with Rutherford Institute President John Whitehead

( Excerpt. Click Headline for full story. )

Huckabee, Obama enjoy huge night in Iowa

( Excerpt. Click Headline for full story. )

dark_christian

( Excerpt. Click Headline for full story. )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

9th Circuit again rules that Mojave cross must come down

A cross that stands 8 feet tall in the vast Mojave National Preserve must come down, a federal appeals court ruled in invalidating a congressionally endorsed land exchange that sought to preserve it.

( Excerpt. Click Headline for full story. )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

‘Wall Of Separation’: A Carefully Constructed Edifice Of Misinformation

( Excerpt. Click Headline for full story. )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nebris)

From WaPo
Friday, June 1, 2007; A04

Florida evangelist Bill Keller says he was making a spiritual -- not political -- statement when he warned the 2.4 million subscribers to his Internet prayer ministry that "if you vote for Mitt Romney, you are voting for Satan!"

But the Washington-based advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State says the Internal Revenue Service should revoke the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status of Bill Keller Ministries, nonetheless.

Keller, 49, who has a call-in show on a Tampa television station and a Web site called Liveprayer.com, on May 11 sent out a "daily devotional" that called Romney "an unabashed and proud member of the Mormon cult founded by a murdering polygamist pedophile named Joseph Smith nearly 200 years ago." If the former Massachusetts governor wins the GOP nomination and the presidency, Keller's message added, it will "ultimately lead millions of souls to the eternal flames of hell."

In a letter to the IRS yesterday, Americans United called Keller's message a violation of the ban on partisan politicking by tax-exempt religious groups.

Keller, in a telephone interview, laughed off the controversy. "Let them come after me for making a spiritual statement about Mitt Romney. I would love that," he said. "Bring it on."

-- Alan Cooperman

It kinda scares me that I agree with Keller. lol

And there's The Pedo Meme again!

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY navytron89) From Americans United Blog:audotorg
http://blog.au.org/2007/05/31/backpack-blowback-religious-right-activists-want-preferential-treatment-from-public-school-forum-they-created/

We commented last December on a Pagan group in Albemarle County, Va., that took advantage of a Religious Right-sponsored move to open a public school’s “backpack mail” system to religious promotions.

The backlash was swift and harsh when parents received flyers announcing a Pagan holiday celebration at the local Unitarian Universalist congregation. One mother was livid that the school would send home in her child’s backpack anything it did not endorse. A “pagan ritual” is “an educational experience my children don’t need,” she fumed.

“Backpack mail” systems are common in public schools. Albemarle uses it to advertise extra-curricular activities such as children’s theater, summer camps and recreational sports events.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY bigby2k)

From American's United for the Seperation of Church and State:

Dead Center: Florida TV Preacher’s Right-Wing Political Unit Folds

( Here's the full text of the article )

You can syndicate the American's United blog here on LJ: audotorg. This is an organization that's definitely worth a financial contribution or two as the theocrats wage their never ending jihad against secular governance.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY exotic_princess)

House approves bill that would let students express faith on campus

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4763323.html

AUSTIN — Legislation designed to give public school students opportunities to express religious viewpoints tentatively cleared the House on Monday despite warnings that it will have unintended consequences.

The bill would require school districts to adopt a policy allowing student speakers to express a religious perspective during limited public forums, such as football games, graduation ceremonies and school assemblies.

"This bill provides protection for students and school officials. Right now we have confusion in the schools about religious expression, and students are being discriminated against," said Rep. Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land, author of House Bill 3678.
( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nebris)

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/28/tobias-prostitution/

Former U.S. AID director Randall Tobias, who resigned yesterday upon admitting that he frequented a Washington escort service, oversaw a controversial policy advocated by the religious right that required any US-based group receiving anti-AIDS funds to take an anti-prostitution “loyalty oath.”

Aid groups bitterly opposed the policy, charging that it “was so broad — and applied even to their private funds — that it would obstruct their outreach to sex workers who are at high risk of transmitting the AIDS virus.” But President Bush wouldn’t budge. He signed a 2003 National Security Presidential Directive saying prostitution “and related activities” were “inherently harmful and dehumanizing.”

Several groups and countries had their funding cut due to the policy. Brazil lost $40 million for “one of its most successful anti-AIDS strategies, persuading sex workers to use condoms or other measures to stop spreading the disease.”

During an “Ask the White House” online chat in 2004, Tobias defended the policy, saying the U.S. was “partnering with communities” to begin “fighting sex trafficking and prostitution, while still serving victims of these activities.” Tobias added that he was overseeing several “highly successful” relationship programs “aimed at men and boys to help them develop healthy relationships with women.”

A truly inspired idea, having someone who pays for “gals come over to the condo to give me a massage” run programs on developing “healthy relationships with women.”

For that Mr. Tobias earns a Goatse Love Ring. Good links in the original post btw.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

Washington Post: Political Appointees No Longer to Pick Justice Interns

( Excerpt. Click Headline for full story. )

Bill Condon, an honors hire in the civil rights division who graduated in 2004 from Regent University, a small Christian school in Virginia Beach, recounted his job interview recently in the school's alumni magazine. Condon wrote that, when an interviewer asked him which Supreme Court decision he disagreed with most, Condon cited a 2003 ruling that struck down a Texas law outlawing homosexual acts, a decision that has been a lightning rod for social conservatives.

One of his interviewers, Condon wrote, suggested that, coming from Regent, "I may be interested in some religious liberties cases" the civil rights division was bringing in a new area of emphasis for the division.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This Americans United article talks about the crumbling wall between church and state:

President George W. Bush strayed not far from the White House today to rehash one of his favorite themes: Why we should all have to pay for someone else’s religion.

Speaking before the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast at a Washington, D.C. hotel, Bush extolled the “faith-based” initiative, which entails directing millions of federal dollars to religious groups allegedly so they can provide social services.

“One of the reasons that I am such a strong believer in the power of our faith-based institutions is that they add something the government never can, and that is love,” the president told the religious gathering.

He then said that Catholic groups all over the land are “leading America’s armies of compassion. You are changing America one heart, one soul at a time, and I thank you.”

The president’s push for state-funded faith didn’t stop there. He then launched into a tired promotion of welfare for Catholic schools. He backed requiring all taxpayers to prop up these church-run institutions.

In the Virginia religious freedom act’s preamble, Jefferson condemned public financing of religion.

Jefferson wrote that compelling people “to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions” they don’t believe “is sinful and tyrannical” and that even forcing a citizen to “support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he make his pattern ….”

Jefferson’s words in favor of religious freedom and the right to support only the religions you choose (if any) remain powerfully passionate and eloquent. His words are cited today be individuals worldwide who yearn for freedom of conscience. Bush has offered no defense of religious liberty to be remembered. He instead has ignobly led a drive to trample the First Amendment and meld government and religion.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jehovahsfitness)

Imagine a secretive religious group with ties to dictators and weapons manufacturers whose ranks include many US senators. Sound like a bad conspiracy theory? I wish. The group is called the Fellowship. You probably know them from their fruits, most notably the National Prayer Breakfast. What I want to know is why I hadn't heard of these guys sooner. Seriously, they've been in the press since 2002 and they've just now come to my attention. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I wouldn't be surprised that their desire to remain an "invisible" groups has something to do with it.

http://www.toobeautiful.org/lat_020927.html
http://www.harpers.org/JesusPlusNothing.html?pg=1
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Fellowship
http://www.alternet.org/story/16167/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellowship_Foundation

Edit: Looks like Sunfell posted about it over a year ago, but I think a reminder is not uncalled for.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

Source article in Baptist Press

[The Public Expression of Religion Act] would change a federal law that allows attorneys’ fees to be paid by the government when a court finds a person’s civil rights have been violated. The bill would bar the awarding of attorneys’ fees when the deprivation of rights involves the First Amendment’s ban on government establishment of religion.

( Full Text of the very long article in the Baptist Press )

So, let's follow the logical progression. The ACLU is prevented from recovering legal fees when it challenges an unconstitutional religious expression. The lawyers who put in the tremendous amount of work fighting these battles can't get any compensation. The attorneys for the government entity in question are paid for their time defending said "unconstitutional religious expression". There are no more cases brought against the government challenging "unconstitutional religious expression" by government.

Why only freedom of/from religion cases? It would seem clear that Indiana’s John Hostettler is another Dominionist to keep an eye on.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty has a new blog that addresses church/state concerns. It looks good- check it out.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jehovahsfitness)

A new documentary claims that Catholic images have subliminal messages that have led to the abuse of children by priests. More here.

Berlin parishioners are trying to save Nazi church as a reminder of how the Christian establishment was so closely linked with the Nazi Party. I think it would serve as a great reminder to not only future generations, but the present ones of the dangers of mixing nationalism with religion, and how it is hurtful to religion.

Finally, Scientology is using it's starpower to convince the Arizona legislature to restrict psychiatric meds.
Which begs the question... Scientology is not a Christian group by any stretch of the imagination, but they are well-known to have a history of coercion and tactics similar to Dominionism. I wonder if we should not also cover the CoS's activities as well. Thoughts?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says Tennessee has 1st Amendment right, too

The state would be within its rights to issue specialty license plates reading "Choose Life" while denying a plate encouraging abortion rights, a U.S. appeals court ruled yesterday.

Messages on Tennessee license plates are government speech, not a public forum as the American Civil Liberties Union argued, the majority decision of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said. While one-sidedness may be "ill-advised" on politically charged issues like abortion, the court ruled there's nothing in the First Amendment that prohibits it.

What is happening to the judiciary in this country? Is it fear, as Sandra Day O'Connor suggests?

EDIT: I have become aware that my original intent was not made clear. Let me state it bluntly. Government has responsibilities. Government does not have civil rights. Civil rights are what we use to protect ourselves from the encroachment of government. That was the thought process behind my question above.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY exotic_princess)

Supposedly this is the first challenge of the Texas law mandating a moment of silence... not *strictly* dominionist but worth watching.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/3721919.html

David and Shannon Croft say in the complaint that one of their children was told by an elementary school teacher to keep quiet because the minute is a "time for prayer."

The complaint filed last week names Gov. Rick Perry and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, which the Croft's three children attend in the suburbs of Dallas.

David Croft, a 37-year-old computer programmer, said there is no secular reason for a moment of silence.

"This is just a ruse to get prayer in school without calling it prayer in school," he said. "Is there any study showing a moment of silence helps education?"

...

State lawmakers were aware of such debate when they wrote the Texas law, said Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, a co-sponsor of the law. The measure designated the moment of silence as neutral time, despite arguments from some lawmakers that a verbal prayer should be included, Branch said.

Branch said that letting children pray in school makes them feel the school is not hostile toward their religion.

"I just wanted to create an opportunity for families who want their children to be able to pray at the beginning of the school day toward a higher being to be able to do so," Branch said.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY herupaneb)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. A proposal to put the Christian fish symbol on Tennessee license plates could re-ignite a debate over the proliferation of specialty tags in the state.

The simple line drawing of a fish would appear on an official state license plate for a fee, with the extra money going to a cause or charity.

Donna Rowland -- a Republican lawmaker from Murfreesboro -- proposed the fish plate.

But state Senator Steve Cohen said putting a Christian symbol on state tags amounts to the state sanctioning religion.

In 2004, a federal judge rejected Tennessee's "Choose Life" license plate, saying it was unconstitutional because it promotes only one side of the abortion debate.

That decision is now on appeal, and the federal courts are divided over whether license plate programs in a dozen states are constitutional.

Tennessee already has more than 120 specialty plates, with the most popular saluting the Tennessee Titans football team.

http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=4618388&nav=menu93_2

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY lihan161051)

While browsing around for links on "bibliolatry", I found this one, which linked to another one that contains the following quote:

In the early decades of this century, conservative evangelicals took a strong stand favoring prohibition. This issue was so important to them that they violated their own doctrine of separation of church and state to lend their full weight to the ratification of the 18th amendment. This too was done based on clear scriptural authority (Rom 14:21, 1 Cor 6:9-10, Eph 5:18), while ignoring scripture to the contrary (1 Tim 5:23, John 2:1-11). In standing for prohibition, the church participated unwittingly in laying the foundations of organized crime in the United States. The structures and alliances which developed during prohibition for distribution of moonshine are now used to distribute drugs. As a result, prohibition may well have been the most socially destructive event in our nations history.

If there's a better argument for keeping in mind the law of unintended consequences, I can't think of it at the moment. And this is a very good example of what can go horribly wrong with moral legalism in general ..

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY dkmnow)

http://www.interfaithalliance.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=8dJIIWMCE&b=490355&content_id={7EDF676E-13F5-4261-B0F9-4FDF5CDAC824}¬oc=1

Missouri Resolution Endorsing Christianity Divisive And Un-American

(Washington, DC) – In response to the Missouri State Legislature’s Resolution (HCR 13) endorsing Christianity as the state’s official religion, the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of The Interfaith Alliance released the following statement:

“This Resolution is not about religion. It’s about politics. In grade school, we are taught that in matters of faith, government must not take sides. This seems to have been lost on the sponsors of this Resolution. Surely those who have read their history know that government’s endorsement of religion is a death knell to religious liberty. They are doing no service to Christianity or to the inter-religious community of this nation.

“When reading the Missouri State Legislature Resolution endorsing Christianity as the state’s official religion, it’s hard to suppress the images and feelings I once knew growing up in the segregated South. The Civil Rights movement began because this country had sent a message to those who were different, that they didn’t belong. Decades earlier, our country did the same thing in denying women the right to vote. Today, Missouri legislators are denying equal rights and opportunities to their own residents whose religious beliefs and practices are different from those of the majority. No citizen’s rights or opportunities should ever depend on their, or anyone else’s, religious beliefs or practices, period.

“When will we finally heed history’s lessons that denying Americans their basic rights, because they are considered different is un-American? Missouri is the ‘Show Me’ state and for the sake of present and future generations, I urge the residents of this great state to show the rest of the country they will not tolerate such blatant prejudice on the part of those they chose to represent them. Tell the Christian Right, ‘You’re not going to steal our government; you do not speak for me.’ At the end of the day, if there is not freedom from the imposition of religion, there is no religious freedom.”

LINK TO RESOLUTION
http://www.house.mo.gov/bills061/biltxt/intro/HCR0013I.htm
Date: 3/8/2006