Church & State articles from September 2008

Church & State archives from September 2008

D.C. should drop mission subsidy, says AU.(IN THE CAPITAL)(District of Columbia )(Americans United for Separation of Church and State)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The District of Columbia Council should drop its plan to give over $13 million in property and cash to a ministry that evangelizes the homeless, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The council has voted to...

White House aides fly high with religious honey.(IN THE CAPITAL)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Churches and other religious entities paid for close to a quarter of the privately funded trips taken by White House aides since late 2006, according to a review of travel records by The Hill. The Washington, D.C., newspaper looked at...

Maine Court bars town funds for religious schooling.(AROUND THE STATES)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Maine towns may not use their public funds to pay for tuition at religious schools, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ruled. Jason and Priscilla Joyce of Swans Island brought the lawsuit after the town discontinued tuition for the Joyce...

Colorado must fund sectarian colleges, court rules.(AROUND THE STATES)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... A Colorado law prohibiting state-funded scholarships for "pervasively sectarian" colleges is discriminatory and unconstitutional, a federal appeals court has ruled. Prior to the July 23 decision, scholarships were available at public and...

'Faith-based' flare up: government aid to social service ministries becomes hot topic in presidential campaign.
September 1, 2008... Soaring energy prices, an uncertain economy and the ongoing war in Iraq have dominated the 2008 presidential campaign. But for a few days this summer, a controversial church-state issue--the "faith-based" initiative--managed to grab the...

Monumental battle: complex Utah case pits Ten Commandments against Seven Aphorisms at the U.S. Supreme Court.
September 1, 2008... It's rare for a religion to be better known for its legal activism than for its religious beliefs. But the Summum faith, though it has few followers, will land a place in American legal history when the U.S. Supreme Court decides Pleasant...

Summum spreads Corky Ra's vision from a pyramid in Utah.(Seven Aphorisms, Nectar And Mummification)
September 1, 2008... Claude Rex Nowell was a practicing Mormon in Salt Lake City when he said he was visited by advanced beings from another planet, who taught him the ancient tenets of the Summum religion. According to the faith's Web site, Nowell was told...

Armageddon in California? Religious Right groups see California marriage referendum as Ground Zero in the culture war.
September 1, 2008... Robin Tyler and Diane Olson spent every Valentine's Day since 2001 at a courthouse in Beverly Hills seeking a marriage license in recognition of their years of commitment to each other. Every year, they were turned down by the same clerk,...

The God Strategy: scholar's new book examines how religion has become a political weapon.(David Domke)(Interview)
September 1, 2008... David Domke, professor of communication at the University of Washington, is coauthor of the new book The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America (Oxford University Press). In the book, Domke and his coauthor, Kevin Coe,...

Partisan politics and pulpit ploys: sermon subterfuge may invite IRS scrutiny.(Internal Revenue Service)(Editorial)
September 1, 2008... It's an election year, and some foolhardy pastors--prodded by reckless Religious Right groups--are determined to get into a scrape with the Internal Revenue Service. Federal tax law is clear when it comes to politics: Tax-exempt houses of...

In memoriam: AU mourns passing of two devoted church-state activists.(Donald H. Erickson, Sidney Goetz)(Americans United)(Obituary)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... It is with great sadness that Americans United notes the passing of two of its committed activists. Former AU Trustee Donald H. Erickson died July 11 at age 86. Don was an attorney in Omaha, Neb., who joined the AU Board in 1989, serving...

Baptist agency can't evangelize on taxpayer's dime, AU and ACLU tell court.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)(Americans United for Separation of Church and State)(American Civil Liberties Union)
September 1, 2008... A Baptist childcare agency in Kentucky that proselytizes youngsters in its care and discriminates in hiring should not get public funding, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union have told a...

Army base can't coerce soldiers in Missouri to attend evangelistic services, AU says.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)
September 1, 2008... The U.S. Department of Defense should investigate an Army base's practice of coercing soldiers to attend church services during their training, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri offers...

FOF's James Dobson attacks secular laws as a 'fruitcake' interpretation of Constitution.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)(Focus on the Family)
September 1, 2008... Religious Right honcho James C. Dobson says the idea that U.S. law must be secular is a "fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution." Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, launched into a tirade against secular government June 24, in the...

Regent University graduate sought 'pro-cod' staff hires at Justice Department.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)(Monica Goodling)
September 1, 2008... An internal U.S. Justice Department report has concluded that a top aide to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez broke federal civil service laws by subjecting job applicants to religious and political qualifications. Monica Goodling,...

Florida court decision for ballot amendments will be appealed, says AU.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)(Americans United for Separation of Church and State )
September 1, 2008... Americans United for Separation of Church and State has announced it will appeal a Florida court's ruling allowing two amendments on Florida's November ballot that could erase religious freedom safeguards and harm public schools in the state....

Religious Right snubs Grassley over televangelist enrichment probe.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)
September 1, 2008... Religious Right activists in Iowa have used their power in the state Republican Party to punish U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) for launching a probe of several prominent mega-ministries. Grassley had requested a slot as a delegate from...

Filmmaker Ken Burns calls for bigger, wider church-state wall.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Popular documentary filmmaker Ken Burns says the wall of separation between church and state should be bigger and wider. Burns, whose documentaries include "The Civil War," "Baseball" and "Jazz," was interviewed by Christian Century...

Robertson complains about scrutiny by national watchdog organizations.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)(Pat Robertson )
September 1, 2008... TV preacher Pat Robertson lashed out at his critics recently, asserting that watchdog organizations such as Americans United distort his words. Speaking on his "700 Club" July 15, Robertson groused that employees of Americans United,...

Federal 'Faith-Based' grant awarded to group with ties to White House aide.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)
September 1, 2008... The U.S. Department of Justice awarded a $1.2 million grant to an evangelical Christian organization and a consulting firm run by a former White House aide, ABC News has reported. Part of the money went to Victory Outreach, a group that...

McCain and Obama appear at forum at Rick Warren's evangelical mega-church.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)(John McCain and Barack Obama )
September 1, 2008... Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama appeared at a forum on faith and values at a California mega-church Aug. 16. The event, held by Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, attracted a good deal of attention...

American Jews don't support 'Christian Zionism,' new survey indicates.(PEOPLE & EVENTS)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Religious Right-backed "Christian Zionist" groups have not won the support of most American Jews, a new poll indicates. A survey of 800 Jews taken by J Street, a group that supports diplomacy to achieve peace in the Middle East, found that...

Mo. official takes down poster dedicated to Jesus.(AROUND THE STATES)(Missouri)(Steve Helms )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... A Greene County, Mo., official has removed a religious poster from display in the lobby of his governmental office after a protest from a local citizen. Circuit Clerk Steve Helms in July took down a poster that featured images of the...

God made her 'cultural warrior,' legislator says.(AROUND THE STATES)(Sally Kern)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... God called her to be a "cultural warrior" and that's why she takes the controversial stands that she does, an Oklahoma legislator says. Rep. Sally Kern, a Religious Right favorite, told the Cleveland County Republican Luncheon Club Aug. 6...

Cross is not secular symbol, AU tells appeals court.(AROUND THE STATES)(Americans United for Separation of Church and State)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The cross is a Christian symbol and Utah state government should not try to use it as a secular memorial marker, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has told a federal appeals court. Americans United and allied religious...

Saudi-sponsored event draws faith reps to Madrid.(AROUND THE WORLD)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... In a gesture toward improved interfaith relations, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia sponsored a three-day conference in Madrid in July for representatives from some of the world's religions. Saudi Arabia made it clear that the meeting was...

Have laptop, will blog: taking the church-state discussion into cyberspace.(PERSPECTIVE)
September 1, 2008... I like reading blogs; I like meeting bloggers and having them on my radio show. But I never thought I'd be one. Sometimes I would search Google for what people were saying about Americans United on blogs and add a comment thanking them for...