Tag Archives: Group: Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: A Texas church that posted a marquee message urging people to “vote for the Mormon, not the Muslim” violated federal tax law and should suffer the consequences, Americans United for Separation of Church and State told the Internal Revenue Service today. Ray Miller, pastor of the Church in the Valley in Leakey, Texas, posted the message on the church’s marquee. The full message read, “VOTE FOR THE MORMON, NOT THE MUSLIM! THE CAPITALIST, NOT THE COMMUNIST!”

WATE.com: The group Americans United for Separation of Church and State posted a video to YouTube showing what it says is a local pastor praying before a recent Lenor City School board meeting.

JewishVoiceNY.com: Americans United for Separation of Church and State claims that the yeshiva violated this expected separation when it received undue economic gain from the city government and did not provide comparable value in return. In 2001, the Orthodox educational institution completed a lease agreement with the City of Waterbury that granted it the use of the University of Connecticut’s campus, which had been left unoccupied after the college relocated downtown. The yeshiva committed to pay a monthly rent of $5,000, with an additional three percent increase annually.

God Discussion: The case, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., et al. v. City of Warren, is being heard before the U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit. The City would not allow FFRF to display its sign at the Warren Civic Center and FFRF sued. The Court ruled in favor of the City in May. That decision is now on appeal. Joining the appeal is Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), which announced Friday that it is filing an amicus (friend of the court) brief.

Rob Boston at Americans United for Separation of Church and State: The ADF says it wants to see this matter in court. I’m confident that the organization will lose that case, just as TV preacher Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice lost a church politicking case in the 1990s. Why the hold-up? To the IRS I say: You know what happened this weekend. It’s time to get the ball rolling by stripping some of these politicking churches of their tax-exempt status.

Thomas More Law Center: The City of Frankenmuth, Michigan formally rejected a demand by Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) to remove a 55 foot steel American Bicentennial Cross on city-owned land. In a July letter, AU claimed the Cross on public land unlawfully endorses and promotes Christianity, and asked Frankenmuth to remove the cross or face “a significant risk of litigation.”

Reuters: “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” has been staged annually since 2008 by a group called the Alliance Defending Freedom. Its aim is to provoke a challenge from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in order to file a lawsuit and have its argument out in court. The event has grown steadily in size, but the IRS has yet to respond – even though the pastors tape their sermons and mail them to the agency . . . Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel of the Alliance Defending Freedom, said the group was not pushing any particular political agenda and participants came from both conservative and liberal churches . . . Stanley said that if the IRS continued to ignore the speeches, it could become clear it was not enforcing the ban and hand preachers the de facto right to do as they wish from the pulpit . . . But experts who spoke to Reuters said they do not expect the agency to move against Pulpit Freedom Sunday this year, chiefly because of the absence of a new audit procedure for churches.
“If the IRS wanted to get serious about this, there are already plenty of blatant violations they could pursue,” said Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based group that monitors and informs the IRS about tax-code violations

Statesman.com: Passionate calls to action were met with a chorus of “amens” at the Hays County Commissioners Court this morning as about 25 residents urged commissioners to continue starting their weekly meetings with a prayer.

Pastor Jim Garlow, Erik Stanley of the Alliance Defending Freedom, and Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State appeared on Air Talk KPCC 89.3 Southern Cal. Public Radio to discuss Pulpit Freedom Sunday. | MP3 audio 16:04 mins

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: Americans United for Separation of Church and State today asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate a ministry in Ridgway, Colo., that printed and mailed a magazine to state residents asking them to vote for Republican candidates. The publication was produced by Ridgway Christian Center, an affiliate of Praise Him Ministries . . . The article cites material produced by the Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly the Alliance Defense Fund), an Arizona-based organization that every year sponsors an event called “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” during which pastors are urged to openly violate the law by endorsing or opposing candidates from the pulpit. . . . In its complaint to the IRS, Americans United asserted that Ridgway Christian Center is knowingly violating the law.

Jordan Lorence at MinnPost: In his Sept. 11 Community Voices commentary, “Separating church from state on the marriage amendment,” Jonathan Eisenberg of Americans United for Separation of Church and State offers a slick but analytically deficient claim that passing the marriage amendment would unconstitutionally codify “conservative” religious doctrine into Minnesota’s Constitution . . . The problem is that religious groups come down on both sides of the marriage amendment, some supporting it and some opposing it, as Eisenberg acknowledges. So either passing or defeating the marriage amendment would “impose one specific religious view on all citizens” as Eisenberg fears. Therefore, the concept of “separation of church and state” doesn’t advance the debate one way or the other because the argument of “imposing religion” cancels out on both sides of the equation like a factor in an algebra problem.

Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement Blog: Americans United for Separation of Church and State recently announced that it sent over 60,000 letters to churches across the country, warning them from becoming involved in “partisan politicking” during this election season.

WPXI.com: Board members said it will stay put, and they are looking at all of their options to determine how to move forward . . .

Cape Gazette: Council approved an agreement with litigants that will allow an invocation before each council meeting. Council has recited The Lord’s Prayer for decades, but it became the subject of a lawsuit, Mullin v. Sussex County, filed in June 2011 in U.S. District Court by Americans United for Separation of Church and State on behalf of four Sussex residents.

eNews Park Forest: Americans United for Separation of Church and State today asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate an El Paso Catholic church that called for the defeat of President Barack Obama.

El Paso Times: St. Raphael Catholic Church on the city’s East Side might have violated an Internal Revenue Service rule that prohibits tax-exempt churches from taking sides when it comes to candidates seeking political office in its Aug. 5 bulletin. “I am asking all of you to go to the polls and be united in replacing our present president with a president that will respect the Catholic Church in this country,” the end of the entry in the bulletin says. “Please pass this on to all of your Catholic friends.”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: A New York middle school student does not have a constitutional right to recite a prayer from the Bible during a graduation ceremony, Americans United told a federal appeals court recently. The case, A.M. ex rel. McKay v. Taconic Hills Central School Distric

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: In a friend-of-the-court brief filed in a Washington state case, Americans United urged the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to allow state officials to enforce a rule that requires pharmacies to stock when locally demanded – and fill prescriptions for – the so-called “morning-after” pill, also known as Plan B.

AU: Americans United for Separation of Church and State today filed a complaint with the IRSabout the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) for intervening in the Missouri Republican primary on behalf of candidates for state and federal offices.

GodDiscussion.com (includes video): Preaching politics from the pulpit is becoming an important focus of religious right groups lately. Last month, Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly the Alliance Defense Fund) complained that pastors were forced to live in a climate of “fear and intimidation” because of complaints of IRS tax code violations by Americans United for Separation of Church and State and other organizations. Alliance Defending Freedom encourages pastors to preach politics on “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” each October.

Christian Post: Officials in Dugger, Ind., have decided against heading to court to challenge a claim from the Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State that a 26-foot cross reading “Jesus Saves” situated on public land is a violation of the Constitution, as it appears to endorse Christianity. Instead, the town will sell the property.

MLive.com: Frankenmuth could face litigation stemming from the 55-foot white cross in a city park.

How Appealing links to reports and the ruling in Doe v. Elmbrook School District.

Religion Clause Blog: The Enfield, Connecticut School Board voted 6-3 on Wednesday night to settle a lawsuit brought against it by the ACLU and Americans United challenging its holding graduation exercises in a Christian church.

IndyStar.com: But it’s just a little farther down Route 54 — right there behind the right field fence at the Union High School Bulldogs’ baseball field — where you find the most visible display of faith in town and the sudden source of more than a little angst. It’s a cross — 26 feet tall, white with red lettering, all caps in a serif font. Those letters spell out “Jesus saves.”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: Americans United for Separation of Church and State today asked the Claremont, Calif., City Council to stop promoting religion at government-sponsored events, the third time this request has been made of the council in the last six weeks.

IB Times: While Florida’s controversial school prayer law officially took effect on Sunday, both supporters and opponents of the “inspirational message” legislation have acknowledged that the law is primarily a political one aimed at boosting Republican candidates ahead of the November elections and is unlikely to be implemented by school districts.

AP: Roman Catholic groups on Thursday embarked on a two-week campaign of prayer vigils, rallies and other events to draw attention to what they consider government attacks on religious freedom. Called the “Fortnight for Freedom

Religion Clause Blog: Yesterday’s San Antonio Current has a long article about the Shekinah Learning Institute, an educational organization that has created 13 publicly-funded charter schools across Texas, and particularly in the San Antonio area.

Ocala.com: Perhaps risking a First Amendment lawsuit, the County Commission on Tuesday announced that it would continue to open its regular meetings with an invocation that explicitly invokes the name of Jesus Christ.

The Republic: The Sussex County Council has voted to have a rotation of prayers read at its meetings after a federal judge ruled that reciting only the Lord’s Prayer in the government meetings violates the First Amendment.

Kentucky.com: In short, Spriggs evidently preaches a gospel that has true-life application. The gospel that Spriggs preaches is applied when it comes to how we are to act as Christians in our community. The gospel he preaches is to be applied when homes are ripped off of their foundations and families lose everything. The gospel he preaches is to be applied when you are called upon to love your neighbors. Yet, when it comes to the issue of marriage and politics, some people apparently expect the gospel that Spriggs preaches to quit having application.

AP on HamptonRoads.com: A humanist group is claiming the state of North Carolina violated the First Amendment by allowing voting in churches that advocated anti-gay political stances.

DelMarVaNow: A U.S. magistrate judge ordered the Sussex County Council and a group of residents suing the county, claiming council’s ritual recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of its meetings is a constitutionally banned establishment of religion, to send representitives to mediation conferences.

Charlotte Observer: Americans United asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Providence Road Baptist Church, whose pastor, Charles Worley, on May 13 delivered a sermon urging the congregation to vote against President Barack Obama. | AU press release and letter to the IRS | Freedom of Religion Foundation press release and letter

One News Now: Attorney Erik Stanley of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) says the complaints are “the same tiresome claims from a group that is intent on bullying churches and intimidating them into silence.” “What this pastor did in Kentucky was nothing more than to exercise his constitutional right to speak freely from his pulpit,” Stanley asserts. “No pastor anywhere should ever have to fear the IRS, or Americans United or any other group for that matter when they stand and they speak biblical truth in the pulpit. That’s all this pastor was doing.”

Hutchinson News: The Reno County Commission attempted to put to rest a controversy over prayer at the start of its meetings on Tuesday by unanimously approving a policy calling for non-sectarian prayers or a moment of silence in the future.

AU: Kentucky church violated federal law when its pastor demanded the ouster of President Barack Obama during church services, Americans United for Separation of Church and State told the Internal Revenue Service today. During a May 13 service, Pastor Ronnie Spriggs of Hager Hill Freewill Baptist Church in Hager Hill, Ky., demanded that Obama be voted out of office for supporting marriage equality for same-sex couples.

SurfSantaMonica.com: A national group that champions the separation of church and state has threatened to sue the City of Santa Monica if it moves forward Tuesday with a proposal by Nativity scene organizers that would ban signs and banners that “denigrate” holiday traditions.

Delaware Online: A federal court has ruled Sussex County Council must stop reciting The Lord’s Prayer as each council meeting begins, a longstanding practice, because doing so bucks the Constitution’s rule against government establishment of religion. | Mullin v. Sussex County

Erik Stanley at the

Washington Post: A new White House report that offers guidance on public/private partnerships between the government and faith-based groups leaves critical questions unanswered and does not resolve the issue of religious groups’ ability to discriminate in hiring and firing, church-state watchdogs said.

CNSNews: “Bishop Jenky isn’t ‘intervening’ in a political campaign any more than Dad is when he talks politics over the dinner table,” Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told CNSNews.com. “Bishop Jenky has an absolute right to teach and preach to his flock, as the Supreme Court recently affirmed unanimously in the Hosanna-Tabor case,” he continued.

Religion Clause Blog: Americans United announced yesterday that it has filed a formal complaint (full text) with the Internal Revenue Service alleging that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria, Illinois . . . Bishop Daniel R. Jenky (later reprinted in The Catholic Post) in which Jenky compares President Obama’s attitude toward churches with those of Hitler and Stalin . . .

Dodge Globe: The tradition of ministers offering a Christian prayer before Reno County Commission meetings could come to an end after the commission received a letter from a national organization saying a resident had complained about the practice.

Bluegrass Politics Blog: A nonprofit group that advocates for the separation of church and state raised questions Wednesday about the legislature’s plan to spend $2 million on road improvements near the proposed Ark Encounter theme park in Grant County.

My SanAntonio: The mayor has authority to eliminate both the invocation and visitor comments, but he risks litigation if a venue for public input is provided but religious speech is barred. “That’s a violation of the law, both the federal constitution and the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” said Hiram Sasser, a lawyer for the Liberty Institute.

Jacksonville.com: Gov. Rick Scott signed a controversial bill on Friday that will allow student prayer at mandatory school events, prompting several groups opposed to the law to warn school districts against implementing it.

Huffington Post: “I think that the positions that the Becket Fund has taken in general are not at all dissimilar to the ones taken by the American Center for Law and Justice or the Alliance Defense Fund,” said Barry Lynn, …

Politico: His faith under attack, his contraception decision savaged on all sides, President Barack Obama could use backup in the religious community right now. But three years into his presidency, Obama’s marquee council of faith advisers has gone dark . . .

Baltimore Sun: Carroll County commissioners have asked county employees to attend a seminar on the Maryland Constitution led by a conservative Christian minister, sparking accusations that local officials are overstepping the boundary between church and state.

Christian Post: Lynn said he believes the “all-comers” policy is a great idea. “If you have a Christian club, the truth is you will be able to have and you will be required to permit [students] of any religious background or no religious background to come to your club, even run for the presidency of your club,” he told the NRB audience . . . Lynn argued that Christian groups must “get over” themselves and open up their leadership positions to all people regardless of their beliefs.

Houston Chronicle: Settling a controversial prayer lawsuit, the Medina Valley Independent School District has agreed that its teachers, administrators and other employees will not pray with students, elicit prayer, proselytize, or display religious artifacts.

Bill Berkowitz at The Huffington Post: Curious as to what this “Good News Club” was about, Stewart investigated and discovered that it was part of a nationwide effort sponsored by a conservative evangelical organization called the Child Evangelism Fellowship, a group aiming to “take back” America’s public schools. Backing this effort, she found, are three long-term Christian Right-founded and funded legal enterprises: the Alliance Defense Fund, the Liberty Counsel and the American Center for Law and Justice.

David French at National Review Online: I argued the case at the trial-court level (and cough lost cough) when I was at the Alliance Defense Fund and was on the appellate briefs, but the credit and congratulations go to Julea Ward, my former ADF colleagues, and my friend ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco, who argued the case at the Sixth Circuit. Well done, Jeremy.

Baltimore Sun: Protesters are pressuring Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan to shun a prayer breakfast that features a former high-ranking Army officer who has made anti-Muslim remarks.

Barry Lynn at Opposing Views: Nothing I heard in the news reports about this incident indicates that Jarrett told people how to vote. Yes, she praised Obama and criticized the GOP. But pastors laud or blast politicians all of the time. Unless they take the additional step of advising congregants how they ought to vote or engage in some other action (distributing candidate literature in church, endorsing a candidate on the church website, donating church funds to a candidate), they’re not likely to attract IRS scrutiny.

Rocky Mount Telegram: “This means that, for the time being, the standard for prayer policies in the 4th Circuit will be different from the standard held by the rest of the country,” said David Cortman, senior counsel for the group.

ParagouldDailyPress.com: Noble said he had not responded to the letters pending legal advice. He said the Rutherford Institute and Liberty Counsel had volunteered to help the school district in the matter and the Alliance Defense Fund had sent a list of court cases that might be applicable to the situation.

DelMarVa Now: A federal judge will hear oral arguments tomorrow in a lawsuit challenging the Sussex County Council’s recitation of a Protestant version of the Lord’s Prayer at the commencement of its meetings

NYTimes.com: “The free-speech rights of students and teachers are under an all-out assault,” said Kelly Shackelford, president of the Liberty Institute, a Christian legal group in Plano, Tex. He described one continuing legal case in which “children had pencils ripped out of their hands” because they carried a Christian message and students were “banned from writing Merry Christmas to the soldiers.”

WAFF.com: A Tennessee Valley school proceeds to keep the song, “Silent Night” in their Christmas pageant despite one group’s request to consider taking it out of the program.

One News Now (includes audio): “The school should not succumb to pressure from the faulty legal demands of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which spends its time threatening and intimidating school districts with disinformation to further its own constitutionally incorrect agenda,” Sharp contends. And ADF attorney David Cortman says . . . “An overwhelming majority of Americans agree that it’s okay to celebrate Christmas in schools and in the public square, and they are certainly correct,” he offers. “There is nothing unconstitutional about inclusion of this song in the school’s program, and that is supported by how the courts have consistently ruled.”

Todd Starnes of Fox News at Baptist Press: David Cortman, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, told Fox News & Commentary they plan on offering legal services to the school district free of charge in the event someone tries to file a lawsuit. “Groups on the left such as Americans United have been trying to bully schools across the country all during this Christmas season, Cortman said. “When they tell schools it is unconstitutional to include a song such as Silent Night in their Christmas program, they are simply wrong not only as a matter of law but also as a matter of fairness.”

WAAYTV.com: At issue: whether singing “Silent Night” during the show was appropriate. The advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State objected to the religious content being performed at a public school. Another advocacy group, The Alliance Defense Fund fired back, saying that

Examiner.com: David Cortman of the Alliance Defense Fund praised the school’s decision. “Groups on the left such as Americans United have been trying to bully schools across the country all during this Christmas season,” he said. “When they tell schools it is unconstitutional to include a song such as ‘Silent Night’ in their Christmas program, they are simply wrong not only as a matter of law but also as a matter of fairness.” “I think it’s about time that not only Americans but schools specifically stand up to these Grinches who go on this Christmas attack every year yet deny there is any war on Christmas,” Cortman added.

ADF sends letter to Tuscumbia school officials threatened by Americans United for Separation of Church and State

10News.com: A Marine widow has joined the fight to keep a cross at Camp Pendleton, saying it is the only place she can mourn the loss of her husband, who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Christianity Today: Until the IRS sorts out who can authorize church audits, churches are left in limbo, said Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) senior legal counsel Erik Stanley. “It has become an intolerable system of self-censorship,” he said. “Society labels biblical issues as political, and pastors just back away.”

WorldNetDaily: Atheists and their compatriots are putting a bull’s-eye on another cross memorial, this time attacking the idea of replacing a fixture at the U.S. Marine base in Camp Pendleton, Calif., that was erected to honor soldiers killed in Iraq.

Ventura County Star: Port Hueneme will be the first city in Ventura County to post the words “In God We Trust” in City Hall after a 4-1 vote by the City Council on Monday.

San Antonio Express-News: Controversial crosses on a tower at the new Texas A&M University-San Antonio campus have been removed.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: The full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to decide whether it is constitutional for a public school to hold graduation ceremonies in the sanctuary of a Wisconsin church. | Doe 3 ex rel. Doe 2 v. Elmbrook School District

Christian Post: The county was represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, an organization that frequently takes up the case of Decalogue displays on public property.
Nathan Kellum, the ADF legal counsel who took the Johnson County case, did not return phone calls by press time.

The Republic (AP): Harris, R-West Fork, has said he thought religious displays are permitted if paid for with private money. Harris said he met Tuesday with a lawyer from the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, which works to preserve religious freedom. The attorney is planning to meet with state officials, Harris said