Church & State articles from June 2005

Church & State archives from June 2005

Southern Baptists drop support of church electioneering bill.(IN THE CAPITAL)
June 1, 2005... U.S. Rep. Walter Jones's effort to allow churches to endorse candidates while keeping their tax exemption has suffered a setback with the withdrawal of support from an influential backer. Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist...

U.S. Rep. seeks to make 'faith-based' outreach permanent.(IN THE CAPITAL)
June 1, 2005... A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would make the White House's "faith-based" office permanent. H.R. 1054, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Wisc.), would also make faith-based centers in 10 federal agencies...

Judge Moore's mobile monument lands in Alabama.(AROUND THE STATES)(Roy Moore)
June 1, 2005... Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's Ten Commandments monument, for years at the center of a contentious legal battle, has found a permanent home outside the church he attends in Gadsden. Moore had the 2.5-ton granite religious symbol...

Maryland sex ed. program violates constitution, says court.(United States Constitution. 1st Amendment)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... A federal judged has blocked a Maryland public school district from implementing a sex education curriculum, finding that it violates the free speech and religious liberty rights of students. The Montgomery County Public Schools Board of...

Armageddon in Ohio: 'forces of righteousness' battle 'hordes of hell,' as Ohio Restoration Project seeks to bring theocracy to the heartland.
June 1, 2005... Ohio pastor Russell Johnson is girding for a battle of biblical proportions. "There is a warfare for the heart and soul of America," says Johnson, pastor of a burgeoning fundamentalist Christian congregation in Lancaster. "This is a battle...

Kingdom of heaven? Fundamentalist Christian Crusade at Air Force Academy Sparks Official Military Investigation.
June 1, 2005... When Albuquerque attorney and businessman Mikey Weinstein stopped in to see his son Curtis at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs in late July of 2004, he could tell something was wrong. Normally upbeat and exuberant, the 20-year-old...

Religious bias at the Air Force Academy: the press weighs in.(STRAIGHTEN UP AND FLY RIGHT!)
June 1, 2005... Americans United's report detailing instances of religious bias at the Air Force Academy garnered an enormous amount of national media attention. Several newspapers also editorialized about the matter. Here are some excerpts. End...

Tea with God: Supreme Court ponders legality of church's ritual use of hallucinogenic sacrament.(Jeffrey Bronfman)
June 1, 2005... Jeffrey Bronfman was drawn to Brazil's rain forests because of his commitment to ecological preservation. But on a 1990 trip to help form an environmental association, Bronfman discovered a religion that sparked a spiritual side of his life...

Bias at the Academy: the Air Force and religious liberty.(EDITORIALS)
June 1, 2005... Whether Air Force officials care to acknowledge it or not, they have a real problem on their hands. Recent complaints from cadets, staff and faculty have exposed a pattern of favoritism toward evangelical Christianity and bias toward other...

North Carolina Church split teaches lesson on religion, politics.(EDITORIALS)(Chan Chandler's partisan politics)(Editorial)
June 1, 2005... The Rev. Chan Chandler has learned the hard way that many people don't cotton to the mixing of religion and partisan politics. Chandler, pastor of East Waynesville Baptist Church in Waynesville, N.C., was fond of giving politically charged...

Religious Right ramps up judges crusade with 'Justice Sunday'.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)
June 1, 2005... Working in close alliance with Religious Right groups, Republican Party leaders in the Senate continue to move closer to a high-profile confrontation with Democrats over the issue of federal judges. The Religious Right, led primarily by...

Court nominee Brown declares nation in 'war' over religious values.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)
June 1, 2005... Federal court nominee Janice Rogers Brown's recent intemperate comments about religion and government are additional proof that she is unfit for the federal bench, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Employing...

Federal judges worse than al-Qaeda Terrorists, Robertson tells ABC.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)(Pat Robertson)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The federal judiciary is more of a threat to the United States than al-Qaeda terrorists, TV preacher Pat Robertson said recently. Appearing on ABC's "This Week" program May 1, Robertson opined that the "runaway" federal judiciary is the...

Partisan N.C. church should get IRS review, urges Americans United.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)
June 1, 2005... Americans United has called on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate a North Carolina church whose pastor garnered national headlines after he expelled several Democrats from the congregation. The expulsion of nine Democrats by Pastor...

Falwell seeks to make quick buck from recent illness.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)(Jerry Falwell)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... TV preacher Jerry Falwell is certainly resourceful. Who else would think of using a recent brush with death as a fundraising opportunity? In late March, Falwell was hospitalized for nine days with a mysterious respiratory problem. He was in...

Darwin on trial?: Kansas holds hearings bashing evolution.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)
June 1, 2005... Naturalist Charles Darwin has been dead for 123 years, but that didn't stop the state of Kansas from putting him, or at least the famous scientific theory he pioneered, on trial recently. In what can only be described as a bizarre...

Federal court clears AU challenge to religious prison program.(Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Iowa. Department of Corrections' InnerChange Freedom Initiative)
June 1, 2005... A federal court has ruled that Americans United's lawsuit against a faith-based prison ministry program in Iowa may proceed to trial. In 2003, Americans United brought suit in federal court, arguing that the Iowa Department of Corrections...

Texas school district seeks Bible course.(AROUND THE STATES)
June 1, 2005... A Texas public school district voted in early May to offer its students an elective Bible course. The board of education for the Ector County Independent School District in Odessa unanimously approved the Bible class, but did not choose...

Christian college funding challenged in Alaska.(Alaska Christian College)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... A Wisconsin-based advocacy group is challenging a federal government grant to a Christian college as a violation of church-state separation. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, headquartered in Madison, argues that Alaska Christian...

Afghan woman executed for adultery.(AROUND THE WORLD)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Afghan authorities arrested a group of men who are accused of stoning a woman to death for committing adultery. In late April, six people including the victim's father were arrested according to Afghan Interior Minister Lutfullah Mashal,...

'Faith-Based' Pharmacies: prescription for problems.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... I am alarmed at how insidiously the anti-birth control/anti-abortion hierarchy is maneuvering throughout our country to take away a woman's right to plan when or if she wants to become a mother. Your article "Faith-Based Pharmacies?: Religious...

Violating God's will?(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... In your article "Faith-Based Pharmacies?: Religious Right Backs Prescription Exemptions" (May Church & State), you point out that some pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions for contraceptives or the "morning after" pill. They obviously...

Mississippi hypocrites.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... The May issue of Church & State mentions that Mississippi lawmakers now want to post excerpts from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in public schools and other government buildings ("Miss. Lawmakers Plan To Post Sermon On The Mount In Public...

The real battle.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2005... We are not in a war over religious values. We are in a war over protecting our religious freedoms as stated in the Constitution. I am a person of faith and I see our freedom of religion being torn apart very quickly by politicians whose only...

Let Freedom Ring!: celebrating diversity in Oklahoma City.(religious diversity)
June 1, 2005... You can always depend on a Unitarian minister and former country music disc jockey to bail you out of a tough spot. Well, I'm not sure about "always," but it sure worked for me in Oklahoma City recently. Here's what happened. At the...