Church & State articles from September 2004

Church & State archives from September 2004

Church politicking bill would help Bush, says sponsor.(In The Capital)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... A North Carolina congressman says his bill allowing church-based electioneering would help the re-election prospects of President George W. Bush and other Republicans. Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.) has spent years trying to advance the...

Americans oppose 'Christian nation' amendment, poll finds.(Around The States)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... A nationwide poll released in late July showed strong opposition to a constitutional amendment declaring that America is a Christian nation. That same survey, however, also revealed widespread support for teaching creationism in public...

AmeriCorps can't subsidize indoctrination, court rules.(Around The States)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Teachers and instructional aides may not be placed in religious schools to teach religion and engage in sectarian activities with students as part of a federally funded community service program, a federal court has held. U.S. District...

Maryland legislator attacks Senior Center dissenter.(Around The States)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... A Maryland woman has come under attack by a state delegate after raising concerns about Christian prayers before meals at a senior center. Margaret Sayre, a 70-year-old attendee at the Brooklyn Park Senior Center, objected to the use of...

Busted! Americans United files complaint with IRS against Jerry Falwell ministries for partisan politicking.
September 1, 2004... Jerry Falwell's message could not have been more blunt. "For conservative people of faith, voting for principle this year means voting for the re-election of George W. Bush," the TV preacher wrote in a July 1 "Falwell Confidential" e-mail...

Church service or campaign commercial? Partisan production at Southern Baptist congregation in Arkansas raises federal tax law questions.
September 1, 2004... To Pastor Ronnie Floyd, the differences between President George W. Bush and U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry couldn't be any starker. "I believe this will be one of the most critical elections in U.S. history," Floyd told the congregation at his...

Targeting public schools: Religious Right groups are trying a back-door plan to evangelize public school students.
September 1, 2004... Evangelist Franklin Graham has a plan to convert America's children to his brand of Christianity--and it all starts at your local public school. "I want to see at least one child in every public school in America who is trained as a...

Charter for fraud?: when 'school choice' programs go awry.(Editorials)(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... Proponents of "educational choice" argue that more options are needed to help children trapped in "failing" public schools. Furthermore, they insist that these options must be loosely regulated, so free-market forces can come into play and...

The IRS and churches: clergy shouldn't buy Falwell's falsehoods.(Editorials)(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... Jerry Falwell has been telling pastors that they can dive into partisan politics. The Internal Revenue Service, he insists, won't care. The Lynchburg televangelist even distributed a statement by one of his lawyers that says "the IRS has almost...

Partisan use of church directories is a problem, IRS officials say.(People & Events)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Efforts by President George W. Bush's re-election team to obtain church directories could cause the houses of worship to run afoul of federal tax law, officials with the Internal Revenue Service say. IRS officials were responding to an...

Dobson plays hardball after defeat of marriage amendment in Senate.(People & Events)
September 1, 2004... Furious over the Senate's derailment of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, Religious Right radio guru James C. Dobson is going after senators who voted against it--attacking them on their home turf through full-page...

Court-stripping' bill "passes House with White House support.(People & Events)
September 1, 2004... A Religious Right-spawned measure that would strip the federal courts of their ability to hear challenges to a federal law barring same-sex marriages passed the House of Representatives July 22. The Marriage Protection Act passed 233-194...

Far-right vets group takes 'Roy's rock' on national tour.(People & Events)
September 1, 2004... The long-running saga of former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore's two-and-a-half-ton Ten Commandments monument took a new twist in July: The rock went on the road. Members of American Veterans Standing for God and Country...

Appeals court rules against sectarian prayers before council meetings.(People & Events)
September 1, 2004... A federal appeals court ruled unanimously July 22 that the Great Falls, S.C., Town Council must stop opening its meetings exclusively with Christian prayers. Town officials argued that the prayer practice was permissible, citing a 1983...

Faith Czar Towey defends job discrimination by religious charities.(People & Events)
September 1, 2004... White House "Faith Czar" James Towey has been traveling the nation assuring religious groups that the Bush administration will protect their right to receive tax funding while engaging in employment discrimination. In August, Towey met...

Ralp Reed attracts Indian casino cash, hypocrisy charges.(People & Events)
September 1, 2004... As executive director of the Christian Coalition in the 1990s, Ralph Reed toed a hard line against the spread of legalized gambling. Reed took the common Religious Right view that gambling is anti-family. He once called it, "a cancer on the...

Virginia Senator says he got congressional room for Rev. Moon.(People & Events)
September 1, 2004... U.S. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) has admitted that he arranged for followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon to get space in the Dirksen Senate Office Building March 23 for the self-proclaimed messiah's coronation. But, Warner says, he did so...

Bill Bennett hits funding jackpot from Ed. Department.(People & Events)
September 1, 2004... Money from a federal program intended to expand public school choice has instead been used to prop up a project by William J. Bennett to boost home schoolers in Arkansas, Education Week has reported. The education paper reported July 28 in...

Fringe group hopes to create an officially 'Christian' South Carolina.(People & Events)
September 1, 2004... Nearly 140 years after the South lost the Civil War, a new secessionist movement has arisen that hopes to pull South Carolina out of the union and create an officially "Christian" homeland within the borders of the United States. Although...

South Dakota library censorship criticized.(AU Bulletin)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... After complaints by a Catholic bishop, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds has ordered the removal from a state website of a link to a website providing information on abortion for teenagers. In late July, the Argus Leader, a Sioux Falls daily,...

Appeals court rejects parochial school disability case.(AU Bulletin)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... A disabled religious school student does not have a constitutional right to demand publicly funded educational services in a religious environment, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Manchester, N.H., parents of a boy identified as...

UN General Assembly approves Vatican's status.(Around The World)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The United Nations General Assembly has approved a resolution making it easier for the Vatican to participate in the world body's sessions, albeit without a vote. The resolution adopted on July 1 by the UN essentially upgraded the...

Spanish government may subsidize mosques.(Around The World)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The Spanish government is pushing a proposal to provide public financing to the nation's mosques in part to make them less reliant on militant groups. The proposal announced by the Spanish Justice Ministry and reported in The New York...

The courts and the Bill of Rights.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... I am an Americans United member of several years' standing and often read Church & State cover to cover. I want to correct a minor error in one of your editorials in the July/August issue. In "Doubting Thomas: Don't Trust This Justice's...

Unresponsive public officials.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... I am concerned about the increasing influence of personal religious belief on matters of public policy. It appears the line between church and state is being deliberately blurred, in violation of the First Amendment, at all levels of...

Review world history.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... I'm a female World War II veteran and much in favor of complete separation of church and state. If only people would review world history and realize how for generations the church led the governments by their noses and the people had no say...

A gnostic's prayer.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... As a confirmed (and comfortable) gnostic, I can think of one prayer I could relate to: "God, protect our nation from religious zealots." Hans L. Guterman Wellington, Fla.

At the Falwell follies: Jerry finally 'fesses up on Fox News Channel.(Perspective)
September 1, 2004... One of my favorite stories about politicians and religion deals with President Calvin Coolidge, who, as the story goes, was once approached by a reporter after attending a church service and asked what the sermon had been about. "Silent...