Santa Monica Judge Advocates Hate Speech As War On Christians Continue
A coalition of church groups that has erected Nativity scenes in Santa Monica for more than 50 years is pondering its next steps after a federal judge ruled the city has the right to bar seasonal public displays.
William J. Becker, an attorney for the Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee, said he would consult with his “brain trust” to determine what steps the coalition would take if Judge Audrey B. Collins grants the city’s motion to dismiss the church group’s case at a hearing next month.
Since 1953, the coalition each December has erected a tableau of scenes depicting the birth of Jesus in Palisades Park.
A few years ago, the tradition offended Damon Vix, an atheist, who applied to put up a booth next to the Nativity story. Last year, he encouraged other atheists to flood the city with applications, including a satirical homage to the “Pastafarian religion” featuring a representation of the “Flying Spaghetti Monster.”
To keep things fair and legal, the city held a lottery to parcel out slots. Atheists won 18 of 21 spaces. A Jewish group won another. The Nativity story that traditionally took up 14 displays was jammed into two.
A flap ensued. Vandals ripped down a banner the Freedom From Religion Foundation had hung at the park. The banner began: “At this season of the winter solstice, may reason prevail.”
Last June, concerned that the lottery would become increasingly costly because of the rising tensions, the City Council voted to ban all private, unattended displays in city parks. The city cited other reasons for the prohibition, including damage to the park’s turf and some residents’ statements that they would prefer unobstructed ocean views to seasonal displays.
Council members and the city attorney’s office said groups wishing to celebrate the Nativity, the winter solstice or Hanukkah had alternatives. They could, for example, erect displays on private property or station a representative at any display on public ground.
In October, the coalition filed suit, seeking to restore the tradition. At the time, Becker said it was “not the government’s function to avoid controversy at the cost of fundamental rights.”
Collins’ tentative ruling in the city’s favor Monday left both sides suspecting she might also be inclined to dismiss the coalition’s case.
Speaking outside the federal courthouse, Becker said he and his clients might consider an appeal, perhaps next year or at some future time when the city government pendulum “would swing back and we’d be back in a sane society where people are tolerant and respect each other for their religious views.”
A Massachusettes Family Asks a Judge to Remove “Under God” From Pledge of Allegiance
ACTON, Mass. – A family with much apparent hate running through their blood has asked a Massachusetts judge to order a school district to remove the phrase “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance because they not only hate God, they don’t want others to openly acknowledge Him either.
Interestingly enough, the plaintiffs, who are atheists and call themselves the “Does” to protect their identity, are not citing the establishment clause of the First Amendment in making their case. Instead, they are challenging the Pledge on the basis of the Massachusetts Constitution’s guarantee of “equal protection.” Although they can not prove that the utterance of the words “under God” has damaged their lives or others lives in any way.
The Does insanely argue that schools discriminate against atheist children by taking part in a pledge that makes them feel “marginalized,” the Boston Herald reports. Many are wondering why the “Does” family doesn’t file complaints against countless other things in life they dont agree with that are present in their daily lives. Is this simply a war on God? and attack on Religion? A fight with believers? Many are calling on the Does family to immediately stop using US Currency as it says, “In God We Trust”.
What’s also interesting about these Atheist “Does” family is that they listen to radio and speak on cell phones but have yet to demand proof that radio waves and digital wireless signals actually exist despite the fact that they have never seen them with their eyes, heard them with their ears, smelled them with their noses or felt them on their skin. Divided States would like the “Does” family to immediately stop using such technologies until they are presented with solid proof that such things exist. We acknowledge that we all experience the RESULTS of such technologies in the same way that believers acknowledge that all the things on earth we enjoy are the RESULTS of God’s creation.
Liberal Superior Court Judge Jane Haggerty heard arguments in Doe vs. Acton-Boxborough Regional School District.
In another challenge against saying the Pledge of Allegiance in Brookline Mass., a group called “Brookline Pax” had asked the town to vote in favor of a resolution calling for the school committee to rescind its Pledge of Allegiance policy and stop the Pledge from being recited in the schools.
We all pray that the “Does” family sees God soon so that they will finally believe.
Lenoir City School Board Secularists Win Again and Replace Prayer with “moment of silence” in
LENOIR CITY — The Lenoir City school board will observe a moment of silence before meetings in a compromise with secular organizations that have complained about prayer before the meetings.
Lenoir City Superintendent Wayne Miller outlined the district’s policy at a school board meeting Thursday.
Miller said that although he and the school board members are people of faith, they are also sworn to follow the law.
“For that reason, we will provide an opportunity for people of faith to have an individual prayer during a moment of silence before each board meeting,” he said. “After many hours of consultation, this seems to be our only legal recourse.”
Miller said that the decision to limit prayer during school activities was made by the Supreme Court many years ago, yet for the most part the public remained silent. He urged board members to become politically active on the subject.
“If you have an opinion regarding this matter, the productive place to direct your energies is at the federal level,” he said.
Board Chairwoman Rosemary Quillen said she knows how she will use her moment of silence.
“During this time, I will continue to pray for guidance, wisdom and vision for our decisions as a school board,” she said.
Rebecca Market, staff attorney for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a secular organization that first challenged Lenoir City about prayer in the schools, said the “moment of silence” is acceptable to the organization.
“We’re very pleased,” she said.
The new policy comes only days after the district received a letter from Americans United, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that supports separation of church and state. The letter outlines what the group considers constitutional violations.
In addition to prayer during board meetings and before high school football games, the letter included new allegations of prayer before basketball games and during a graduation, and it cited posters from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
The letter specifically mentioned Lenoir City High School Principal Steve Millsaps and an alleged prayer during a 2010 graduation ceremony.
Millsaps said he had think carefully before he realized the letter was referring to a speech he made at the 2010 ceremony in which he quoted from the Bob Dylan song “Forever Young.”
“Is that a prayer? I know I was thinking about one of our students who died that year and about how we were sending these kids out into the world to become adults,” he said. “The words from that song expressed how I felt.”
Meanwhile, the Loudon County school board continues to pray out loud before meetings. The agenda for Thursday’s meeting listed prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
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Do Liberals Hate God? Faith Leaders are Fighting Back!
By JASON HANCOCK
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Jefferson City, Mo. » A Republican congressman from Missouri is catching flak from some liberal religious leaders for saying last week that “at the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God.”
U.S. Rep. Todd Akin made the comments during a radio interview Friday with Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council.
Perkins asked Akin why he thought NBC cut the words “under God” from a pre-taped clip of the Pledge of Allegiance that aired during NBC’s coverage of the U.S. Open.
“Well, I think NBC has a long record of being very liberal,” Akin said, “and at the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God and a belief that government should replace God.”
Akin went on to say that the move was part of “a systematic effort to try to separate our faith and God, which is a source in our belief in individual liberties, from our country. And when you do that, you tear the heart out of our country.”
The comments made their way around the Internet, and the Rev. Krista Taves, of Emerson Unitarian Universalist Chapel, in Ellisville, Mo., said Akin’s comment “shows how very little he knows about liberals, and how very little he knows about God.”
“I’m a liberal because I love God and all God’s creation,” said Taves, whose church is in Akin’s district. “I value equality, fairness and compassionate justice because my faith informs my politics.”
Rabbi Jim Bennett, of Congregation Shaare Emeth, in St. Louis, which is just outside Akin’s district, said he was “deeply disturbed” by the congressman’s statement, which he characterized as a “grotesque politicized attack.”
Akin spokesman Steve Taylor said the point his boss was trying to make was that conservatives believe rights are granted by God, and it is the responsibility of government to aid in protecting them.
“Liberals believe rights are granted by government,” he said. “Congressman Akin believes those two concepts define the basic debate between the two ideologies.”
Akin’s comments were off the cuff, Taylor said, and with more time to articulate his point he could have “provided a more artful answer.”
Original Story: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/52100139-90/god-akin-congressman-faith.html.csp