Church & State articles from September 2003

Church & State archives from September 2003

House approves religious discrimination in head start.(In The Capital)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... By a one-vote margin, the U.S. House of Representatives in late July approved a Head Start reauthorization bill that gives publicly funded religious groups the right to discriminate when hiring staff for the program. The bill, called the...

School voucher proposals for district of Columbia stall.(In The Capital)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Proposals to establish religious school voucher subsidies in Washington, D,C., languished in Congress as members left the city for the late summer recess. Both voucher measures are within the District's annual appropriations bills. Rep....

Federal religious liberty law struck down.(In The Capital)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A federal law aimed at making it more difficult for state officials to enforce certain laws that could negatively affect religious groups suffered a setback in June. U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson of California ruled that Congress...

Bible clubs may meet during activity periods, says court.(Around The States)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A federal appeals court ruled in July that a Pennsylvania high school improperly barred a student Bible club from meeting during an activity period before the start of classes. Early last year, a senior at Punxsutawney Area High School sued...

Commandment from the court: Alabama chief justice Roy Moore's Decalogue display violates constitution, says federal appellate panel, as dispute moves toward showdown.
September 1, 2003... The past few months haven't been easy ones for Melinda Maddox. In the fall of 2001, Maddox, an Alabama attorney, joined an Americans United-sponsored lawsuit challenging Chief Justice Roy Moore's display of the Ten Commandments in the...

U.S. house sides with Alabama judge in Ten Commandments case.(Moore Grandstanding)
September 1, 2003... Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and his Ten Commandments display in the state Judicial Building got a boost from an unexpected source recently--the U.S. House of Representatives. Representatives on July 23 voted 260-161 to block the federal...

Preaching the GOP Gospel? Using his 'faith-based' initiative to try to win converts in the African-American community, Bush seeks to make his calling and election sure.
September 1, 2003... Some 120 African-American clergy and other community leaders gathered in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building July 16 to hear from President George W. Bush. The message was simple: Bush wants to divert federal funds to "faith-based" social...

Pryor's problems: federal appeals court nominee with record of hostility to church-state separation becomes mired in senate debate.
September 1, 2003... Bill Pryor was hardly apologetic. Before a narrowly divided Senate Judiciary Committee, Pryor, with little wavering, defended his career as Alabama's attorney general and argued that if his nomination to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...

Missing book mystery: solved: Pennsylvania sleuth helps Americans United throw the book at Jerry Falwell.
September 1, 2003... In 1979, the Rev. Jerry Falwell wrote a book he would rather you not know about today. The tome, America Can Be Saved!, is a 162-page paperback published by Sword of the Lord Publishers in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Its cover price at the time...

Faith-based bias: how the White House is tilting the playing field.(Editorial)(Editorial)
September 1, 2003... President George W. Bush and other boosters of the "faith-based initiative" insist that the effort is intended to create a "level playing field" between religious and non-religious groups. But new evidence indicates that the faith-based...

TV preacher Robertson wages 'prayer offensive' to alter Supreme Court.(People & Events)
September 1, 2003... Incensed over the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings on church and state and other social issues, TV preacher Pat Robertson in early July launched a "prayer offensive" to seek changes on the high court. Robertson appealed to viewers of his...

AU urges high court to uphold separation in state constitutions.(People & Events)
September 1, 2003... The U.S. Constitution does not require the state of Washington to give tuition aid to a ministerial student, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has told the Supreme Court. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed July 17,...

Ralph Reed named Southeast Coordinator for Bush campaign.(People & Events)
September 1, 2003... Former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed has been named Southeast Regional Coordinator for President George W. Bush's reelection team. Reed, an Atlanta-based political consultant, most recently served as chairman of the...

Evangelism event at Ft. Bragg scaled back after AU complaint.(People & Events)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Officials at North Carolina's Fort Bragg dramatically scaled back a special promotional event for Southern Baptist ministers taking part in an evangelism program after Americans United expressed constitutional concerns. Major General...

AU challenges display of Ten Commandments in Washington State.(People & Events)
September 1, 2003... A Washington city's display of a large granite Ten Commandments monument violates the constitutional separation of church and state, a lawsuit filed by Americans United July 23 asserts. Americans United sued the city of Everett, Wash., in...

Battle over science textbooks roils Texas education board.(People & Events)
September 1, 2003... Proponents of "intelligent design"--the Religious Right's latest variant on creationism--are pressuring the Texas Board of Education to include the controversial idea in new biology textbooks. The board is currently considering adopting 12...

Mass. senator blasts Vatican for decree on gay marriage.(People & Events)
September 1, 2003... U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) last month blasted the Vatican for its decree ordering Catholic politicians in America to oppose gay marriage. Kerry, who is Catholic, said Pope John Paul II went too far with the antigay marriage decree....

Colson prison success inflated by study, says UCLA professor.(People & Events)
September 1, 2003... Supporters of President George W. Bush's faith-based initiative cheered in June when a study came out indicating that graduates of Charles W. Colson's Prison Fellowship program returned to prison at a lower rate than members of a control group....

Military chaplains get in more trouble, report says.(AU Bulletin)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Associated Press reported in July that previously undisclosed military documents reveal that Navy chaplains draw far more misconduct charges than other military officers. According to the documents, more than 42 chaplains over the past...

Arkansas student wins fight with school officials.(AU Bulletin)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... An Arkansas student who was forced to read Bible passages and listen to religious preaching from school officials after they learned that he is gay has won a legal battle with his school district. A lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of...

'Religious' Boy Scouts lose battle for favored treatment.(AU Bulletin)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A federal judge in California has invalidated a lease of public land to the Boy Scouts of America on church-state grounds. In 2000, the American Civil Liberties Union of California sued the city on behalf of several residents, arguing that...

Conflict over religion in schools rocks Spain.(Around The World)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Spain's conservative prime minister, spurred on by the Roman Catholic hierarchy, has decided that religion will be a compulsory subject in schools. Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's decree prompted protests from an array of public interest...

Lay off Waldorf schools.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... I have been a member of your organization for many years, and agree with the organization on the subject of charter schools and school vouchers. However, I have never read an article in your publication so poorly researched, so full of...

Charter schools: a legitimate choice.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... I cannot even begin to tell you how disappointed I was to read your article "Charter For Controversy" (June Church & State). I live in Rocklin, home to Breen Elementary School, famed for the "God Bless America" public school fiasco. As a whole,...

The voice of separation: Americans United is on the airwaves!(Perspective)
September 1, 2003... As many of you know, over the years I've done "point-counterpoint" talk radio shows, off and on, with Pat Buchanan and Oliver North as a way to promote Americans United in the media. In recent times, I did a weekly broadcast with North...