The Wall Street Journal: Pastors May Defy IRS Gag Rule - WSJ.com- 5.9.08
A conservative legal-advocacy group is enlisting ministers to use their pulpits to preach about election candidates this September, defying a tax law that bars churches from engaging in politics.
Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz., nonprofit, is hoping at least one sermon will prompt the Internal Revenue Service to investigate, sparking a court battle that could get the tax provision declared unconstitutional. Alliance lawyers represent churches in disputes with the IRS over alleged partisan activity.
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Denver archbishop warns legislation endangers Catholic Charities
Catholic News Agency, January 23, 2008
A proposed Colorado law restricting religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws could threaten the Catholic character of charitable organizations that receive government funds. The Colorado Catholic Conference has heard from numerous sources pointing to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as being connected to the legislation.
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The Holocaust, Hollywood and the Ten Commandments
by David W. New, Esq., October 31, 2007
If you listed the parts of the Bible that most Americans are familiar with, it would be difficult to know which part of the Bible has influenced America more. The Sermon on the Mount is very popular. The Story of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are popular as well. Secularists who have no interest in religion like the Golden Rule a lot. They think the Golden Rule is a good standard for everyone to live by. Bible stories have inspired American art, literature and music for generations. Clearly, the Bible is very popular in America.
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Hope for Christian Law Students
by Jeffery Ventrella, posted on Townhall.com, November 14, 2007
Imagine you are a young conservative and are enrolled in or admitted to an American law school. Now imagine that you are also a Christian and dare to support traditional values. What will law school be like? And what kind of legal education will you get? Your suspicions are probably right.
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Tenured bigots
World Magazine, August 18, 2007
David French has known for years that college campuses are bastions of anti-evangelical bias. He knew it when he served on the admissions committee at Cornell Law School and watched his colleagues ridicule evangelical applicants as "Bible thumpers" or members of the "God squad."
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Some say schools giving Muslims special treatment
USA Today, July 25, 2007
Some public schools and universities are granting Muslim requests for prayer times, prayer rooms and ritual foot baths, prompting a debate on whether Islam is being given preferential treatment over other religions.
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‘Fairness Doctrine’ Is A Code Name For “Censorship”
by Alan Sears, posted on Townhall, June 26, 2007
Leftist censors aren’t just dropping hints about their determination to legislate conservative talk radio out of existence. They are screaming their intentions, loud and clear.
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The ACLU Never Forgets Its Pro-Communist Roots
by Alan Sears, posted on Townhall, June 16, 2007
Just as a leopard cannot change its spots, nor a zebra its stripes, an organization whose founder admired the “ideals” of the hammer and sickle can never really abandon those destructive beginnings.
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Faith group petitions the Supreme Court
Associated Press, June 9, 2007
A Sacramento Christian group said Friday that it had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow it to worship in meeting rooms in public libraries, an action a federal appeals court prohibited in a ruling last year.
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University Missions and Ideological Arguments
David French, National Review, June 8, 2007
IHE has an interesting story about the impact of the planned expanded border fence on the University of Texas at Brownsville. Apparently, the fence may actually run through the campus, leaving part of the university on the Mexican side of the fence — despite the fact that all of the university is on American soil.
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Bible Curriculum Dispute Heats Up in Texas Town
by Suzanne Sataline, Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2007
Lori White thinks high school students should study a variety of religions, including Christianity. But the Bible curriculum used in Odessa, Texas, and a growing number of other schools, she says, is aimed at instilling faith, not knowledge.
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No Way, Poway: In Harper Case, High Court opts not to shirt the issue
by Tim Chandler, posted on Townhall, March 29, 2007
In a complex but welcome decision on one of the major student First Amendment cases of recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court this month effectively took a page from the old Saturday Night Live scripts featuring Gilda Radner’s addled news commentator, Emily Litella.
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Taking God Out Of School Leaves A Vacuum Something Will Replace
by Michael Johnson, Townhall.com, February 28, 2007
Here’s a little test of your sensitivity to the current culture:
Suppose your child’s school announces a Christmas celebration – and your child, while subscribing to your atheistic beliefs, decides to participate. So he goes, dressed as Santa Claus.
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Utah case exemplifies judicial contempt for biological parents
by Alan Sears, Ogden Standard-Examiner, February 27, 2007
Until the Utah Supreme Court stepped forward on Feb. 16 with its merciful breath of sanity, the best Cheryl Barlow had to hope for was a kind of "Sophie's Choice." According to incredible rulings of the state's lower courts, she could either let her 5-year-old daughter stay overnight alone with a woman who causes the child severe emotional distress and exposes her to attitudes and behavior that violate Barlow's core faith beliefs -- or go to jail.
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Preview of Coming Attractions: The Most Crucial Court Cases of 2006
by Michael Johnson, Townhall, February 2, 2007
It’s Groundhog Day, the day when Punxsutawney Phil takes a gander at his shade and decides how much more winter we’ll all have to endure.
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An event even the ACLU should love
by Mike Johnson , BPNews, January 16, 2007
Safe to say, Religious Freedom Day probably isn’t the American Civil Liberties Union’s favorite government-approved event, despite their attempts to argue that they care deeply about the subject.
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Attorney defending the faith assaults
by Bob Ellis, Rapid City Journal, January 9, 2007
Attacks on religious liberty are becoming more common in our increasingly secularized culture. Many no longer understand that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was intended to safeguard religious expression, instead of functioning as a broom to sanitize the public arena of all traces of Christian influence.
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The Question Of Christmas
by Alan Sears, BreakPoint, December 21, 2006
The conflict shows up in quiet ways, all over the place, this time of year.
You see it in restaurants and stores, as waitresses pour your last cup of coffee, or shop clerks hand you your receipt. Suddenly, it’s there, in their eyes—that quick re-routing of the seasonal synapse, reminding them to say, “Happy Holidays,” and not . . . well, you know.
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Has the ACLU looked in a mirror lately?
by Charles LiMandri, North County Times, December 18, 2006
Rebecca A. Rauber, in "ACLU not Grinch stealing Christmas" (Dec. 11), doth protest too much her organization's fearsome reputation as the aggressive legal scourge and Scrooge of the Christmas season.
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Christmas With The ACLU: Eliminating Freedom, To Protect Liberty
by Alan Sears, Townhall.com, December 13, 2006
This Christmas, while most Americans are looking for presents under the tree, the American Civil Liberties Union will be following their own hallowed holiday tradition: looking for scapegoats, under the guise of preserving liberty.
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Faith Under Fire: The Battle Continues Over Public Religion
by Alan E. Sears, Legal Times, October 30, 2006
The House of Representatives has voted to end a perverse subsidy that encourages attacks on religious freedom. Now the Senate should do the same, despite self-serving opposition from groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, that profit from the status quo.
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Preaching in Election Season
by Gary McCaleb, Sermon Central, October 23, 2006
Undoubtedly there is interplay between the realms of faith and politics. And, of course, confusion often arises when the two are mixed.
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Empty threats to pastors' free speech
by William L. Saunders and Gary Macaleb, WorldNetDaily, October 7, 2006
True or false: It's illegal for a pastor to talk about politics from the pulpit.
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ADF: Homeschooling outlawed in Germany, Americans should be on guard
ADF News Release, September 27, 2006
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Germany has not violated the human rights of parents in forbidding them from educating their children at home for religious reasons. The Alliance Defense Fund funded the legal plight of parents who challenged the German prohibitions.
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Constitution Day prompts the question: Who really built the Wall?
by Alan Sears, Townhall.com, September 18, 2006
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” – The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
These words have been used by left-leaning courts and organizations to fabricate a so-called “wall of separation between church and state,” a metaphor that has been used to censor any public acknowledgement of religious faith.
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Five years after 9/11, the ACLU considers Christians the terrorists
by Alan Sears, Townhall.com, September 11, 2006
Joe Cook has long since apologized for what he said last summer.
Although he is director of the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, and strenuously opposed to anything resembling prayer in public schools or God in public life, he says he wasn’t speaking for the ACLU – or, curiously, even for himself – when he said what he said.
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Protestant ministries booted by university
WorldNetDaily, August 26, 2006
Protestant ministries with long histories of serving students at Georgetown University were told last week they are no longer welcome and have been banned from holding on-campus events and using the school's name.
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The curious case of NEA priorities
by Alan Sears, Townhall.com, August 25, 2006
It is, arguably, the most powerful union and lobbying group in the country. And you cannot envy what its members are up against.
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Indiana Inmates Sue for Porn Magazines
Citizen Link, July 13, 2006
An Indiana ban applying to prisons concerning adult magazines and printed material depicting nudity has drawn a lawsuit from two inmates who claim it violates their First Amendment rights.
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Penn State settles free-speech lawsuit with student
Centre Daily Times, July 11, 2006
A lawsuit that accused Penn State of limiting free speech has been settled, according to a court filing.
Student Alfred Fluehr, through his legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, brought the litigation against the university in February.
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A prayer changed the U.S. Capitol
by David New, The Washington Times, June 25, 2006
The Constitution says the president "shall from time to time give Congress information of the State of the Union." The Constitution does not require a particular format, but modern presidents have fulfilled this obligation by delivering a speech from the well of the House of Representatives.
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Silent Mourning
by Alan Sears, Breakpoint, May 29, 2006
You would think, for Memorial Day, that even the American Civil Liberties Union and its fellow travelers could bury the hatchet.
But they’ve been honing their anti-Christian blades for so long that, even on this sacred occasion—indeed, even in a time of war—they can’t resist laying the axe at the foot of the tree.
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Tech students file freedom of speech suit
by Andrea Jones, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 12, 2006
Just because your speech isn't considered tolerant doesn't mean it shouldn't be free, says a Georgia Tech student who has filed suit against administrators at the school.
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Is the Separation of Church and State Good for America
by David New, Faith and Action, March 2006
Should only Christians be allowed to vote? Do you think Congress should decide which sermons will be given in your church? Is it ok for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if the Bible teaches the Holy Trinity? If you answered 'No' to these questions, then you believe in the separation of church and state.
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Should the Public Schools Only Teach the Theory of Evolution?
by David New, Faith and Action, January 2006
According to the evolutionists, public education in America is in crisis. Apparently, there is a growing consensus in the United States that concepts other than the theory of evolution should be allowed in the public schools. Public opinion polls suggest that Americans think that other explanations for the origins of life should be considered in the science classroom. This is not welcome news to evolutionists.
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Judge Bars Intelligent Design
Associated Press, December 20, 2005
"Intelligent design" cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, a federal judge said Tuesday, ruling in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial.
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It's Okay to Say "Merry Christmas," Charlie Brown
by Alan Sears, Crosswalk, December 2005
Recently, I sat down with my family to watch the classic Christmas special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
...when you hear Linus read Luke 2 at the end of the program, it is one of the very few times you will hear the real story of Christmas proclaimed on network television.
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Roberts Adheres to Precedent on High Court Revelry
by Tony Mauro, Legal Times, 12.16.2005
There appears to be no war on Christmas at the Supreme Court.
President George W. Bush and other federal officials have been criticized in recent weeks for not using the word "Christmas" in greeting cards or in describing parties or other traditional December events.
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Merry Christmas -- it’s okay to say it
by Alan Sears, BP News, 12.14.2005
It’s that joyous season once again. And nothing so warms a wintry heart like singing “O Mid-Year Break Tree,” “We Wish You a Merry Solstice,” or that more recent favorite, “A Whiskered White Male Is Coming to Town.”
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Defending Christmas
by Jennifer Biddison, Townhall.com, 12.1.2005
Several years ago, a boss of mine wished me a Happy Hanukkah, wrongly assuming that I was Jewish. Did I get offended? Of course not. I laughed hard, reminded him that I went to a Christian college, and still tease him about it all these years later.
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A Theory of Education
by Alan Sears, Breakpoint, 11.18.2005
Science, it turns out, is like so many other academic disciplines in that it is neither infallible nor final.
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