Tag Archives: Group: Freedom from Religion Foundation

Seguin Gazette: Marion is turning the other cheek after a group asked that they halt prayers before school board meetings. The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent an email to the board on March 12 stating they had “received a complaint from a local resident.”

Knox News: Craig L. Garrett, Blount County attorney, said in a letter to commissioners that he is researching the issue and “will update the commission regarding the legal ramifications of this issue in the near future.”

WSBTV.com: “We are guaranteed a freedom of religion, not a freedom from religion. And as far as I’m concerned, this is very intolerant,” Atlanta Tea Party chairman Julianne Thompson said.

The Daily Times: Under pressure from a Wisconsin-based advocacy group, the Blount County Commission tonight will consider approval of a formal written policy clarifying its practice of allowing prayer prior to its regular monthly meetings.

Freedom from Religion Foundation: The Freedom From Religion Foundation today contacted Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, protesting his decision to override the Department of Natural Resources and return bibles to all lodge rooms and cabins in Georgia state parks. The DNR, appropriately, had removed the bibles after a guest complained.

Christian News: According to the Times Free Press, one parent, Mitzi Yates, found a permission slip in her son’s backpack and contacted the school to ask that the Bibles not be distributed to children even if parents approved.

WATE.com: The Blount County Commission votes this week on a formal prayer policy for commission meetings.

San Francisco Chronicle: Plaques displaying the Ten Commandments have been removed from classrooms in the Muldrow School District after its board opted to “honor thy constitution” rather than risk a federal lawsuit.

Fox News Radio: A Georgia school district will no longer allow prayers or songs with religious references at graduation ceremonies after a Wisconsin group threatened to file a lawsuit and suggested that forcing non-Christian students to listen to religious music was a form of bullying.

The Daily Times: Under pressure from an Wisconsin-based advocacy group, the Blount County Commission on May 16 will consider approval of a formal written policy clarifying its practice of allowing prayer prior to its monthly meetings.

Religion Clause Blog: The Freedom From Religion Foundation announced yesterday that the Central Florida Freethought Community will be making materials on Atheism available to students in eleven Orange County, Florida high schools tomorrow.

Christian News Network: A Pennsylvania group is standing its ground against atheist demands to remove a Ten Commandments at a local junior high school.

WDAM: “Hattiesburg is a praying city,” said Dupree. “We all understand what prayer does, how powerful prayer is. Personally, prayer has done so much for my family, and people that I love. So we’ll continue to have the prayer breakfast.” The mayor also received a letter from the Alliance Defending Freedom in support of the prayer breakfast.

ChristianNews.net: A prominent atheist activist organization is protesting a proposal in the Pennsylvania legislature, which seeks to designate April 30th as National Fast Day and May 2nd as the National Day of Prayer.

Christian News Network: A city council in Pennsylvania plans to defy demands from an atheist activist organization to end invocations at their monthly meetings, reports state. Brian Shipley, the president of Greenville City Council, recently received a letter from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) . . .

Religion Clause Blog: By a unanimous vote, however, City Council last Monday chose instead to adopt no policy and remain in the position of defending its traditional informal invocation policy. It also agreed in an 8-2 vote that in June it will consider offers by outside organizations that have volunteered to help it with its legal defense if FFRF files suit.

Rapid City Journal: The vote means the city will continue to look at prayer as a tradition as it prepares for a potential lawsuit against the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a national nonprofit agency that has sent at least two letters to the city raising concerns about the practice . . . According to Landeen, the city has received offers from several organizations, including the Liberty Council, which has offered pro bono legal representation. Alliance Defending Freedom, the Liberty Institute and the American Center for Law and Justice have also contacted the city, he said.

The Herald: The latest salvo from group of self-described “free-thinkers” in their war against religious expression in the public sphere was fired last month at Greenville Council. Freedom From Religion Foundation’s staff attorney Rebecca Markert sent council President Brian W. Shipley a letter . . .

The Pennsylvania Record: A western Pennsylvania lawmaker recently introduced a bill in the General Assembly (Pa. State Rep. Tim Krieger) that would require parties bringing lawsuits attacking religious symbols in public to reveal their identities and not proceed through the litigation anonymously.

Fox News: WYMT-TV reports the move came after the schools received a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The group’s letter says the displays have been up for years. | FFRF press release and letter

Liberty Institute is stepping in to help the city of Coos Bay, Oregon, after city leaders received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, demanding they remove a Vietnam Veterans memorial because it includes a cross.

Beaumont Enterprise: Beaumont attorney David Starnes, who is representing 15 cheerleaders in their fight to keep the Bible banners, said he’s still reviewing the district’s new policy because it’s “convoluted” and unclear.

Dallas News: The council’s practice of starting meetings with an invocation has drawn dozens of public speakers, a vigil and enhanced police presence to the Rowlett Municipal Building since March.

The St. Augustine Record: St. Johns County won’t be the Florida school district testing allowing prayer back into high school graduation ceremonies.

IndependentMail.com: The Pickens County school board policy committee took no action Monday on a proposal to amend how public prayers are conducted before monthly meetings.

Columbus Dispatch: The painting long hung in the middle school, which was once the high school, until the Hi-Y club recently moved it to the new high school. Some Jackson residents hope the club sues the district to seek the painting’s return. The club’s attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom did not return calls yesterday.

KVIA.com: Four words are creating a major ripple in quiet Alamogordo, N.M. “In God We Trust.” A group representing atheists and agnostics is calling out the city of Alamogordo for a new sign bearing the slogan in city hall.

The World: Beginning at 7, the City Council will talk about a letter — received from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion group — asking the city to remove a memorial cross from Mingus Park because it allegedly violates the Constitution.

One News Now: In response, Alliance Defending Freedom‘s (ADF) Jeremy Tedesco tells American Family News his firm sent a letter to school districts in Illinois and Wisconsin last Friday, informing them that it is, in fact, constitutional to take advantage of the resources at the nearby church-run camp. “Freedom From Religion Foundation says Well, it’s a Christian-run camp; there’s Christian symbols up here and there reflecting this, and because of that, you can’t take them to this camp if you’re a public school,” the ADF attorney reports. “And that’s just blank hostility towards religion. The First Amendment doesn’t require that at all of public schools. It’s just a scare tactic from Freedom From Religion Foundation.”

KCBY.com (includes video): A separation of church and state watchdog group wants the City of Coos Bay to remove the memorial from Mingus Park because they say it’s unconstitutional. The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent Coos Bay City Manager Rodger Craddock a letter . . .

Greenville Online: A final vote on changes to prayer at Pickens County school board meetings could take place March 25.

Sacramento Bee: In a Feb. 26 letter addressed to Mayor Susan Rohan, the Freedom From Religion Foundation said a message sent from a city employee’s official email endorsing the cook-off and the fact that it will occur at a city-owned facility “gives the appearance that this event is co-sponsored by the City of Roseville.”
“Even if the City of Roseville is not a sponsor of this event, it is inappropriate for a government employee to use his or her official email to promote events benefiting a religious ministry,” the letter reads.

“The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), along with 19 other plaintiffs is suing the U.S. treasury for stamping “In God We Trust” on currency. Honorary FFRF board member, Mike Newdow, is acting as legal counsel in the suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 1, 2013.”

Daily Journal Online: A suburban St. Louis town is now part of a national movement to display “In God We Trust” at local government sites.

WRCBTV.com: Lakeview Middle School is the latest to be targeted by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which claims a sixth grade science teacher crossed a line, by witnessing to students through music.

Rapid City Journal: Father Nathan Sparks, a reverend at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, gave the invocation at Monday’s council meeting, opening with scripture and ending in Christ’s name. The prayer marked another week the city council continues its stand against the Freedom From Religion Foundation . . .

WSOCTV.com: A national nonprofit is threatening to sue Union County officials over invocations at county commissioners meetings.

WNCT.com: A national non-profit group sent a letter to the Mayor of Greenville demanding the council stop praying before city meetings.

Religion Clause Blog: Last year the Freedom From Religion Foundation objected, arguing that this amounts to preferential treatment in public accommodations on the basis of creed– a violation of Wis. Stat. 106.52(3)(a)(2).

Rapid City Journal: The legal case against prayer at government meetings isn’t nearly as clear-cut as the Freedom From Religion Foundation would have Rapid City officials believe.

How Appealing reports: Sixth Circuit rejects Freedom from Religion Foundation’s claim that the City of Warren, Michigan must add a “Winter Solstice” sign criticizing religious belief to the city’s pre-Christmas holiday display of secular and religious symbols . . . | Freedom from Religion Foundation v. City of Warren MI

Vinton Daily: In Tuesday evening’s Jackson Board of Education meeting several business matters were discussed, but the focus of the meeting seemed to be what the Liberty Institute would disclose about the investigation they conducted regarding the portrait of Jesus Christ hanging in the Jackson Middle School foyer . . . The following morning Howard did not have too much to add to the numerous comments made by Liberty Institute, but was able to say that the demands of the FFRF and ACLU was not the only battle the district was facing. He said he had received a letter that morning from a group of attorneys representing Hi-Y Club members.
In that letter the attorneys of the Alliance Defending Freedom, for Faith, for Justice, requested that the school district resist FFRF’s unreasonable demand to censor the private religious speech of the Hi-Y Club, a student led Christian Club, simply because it is included in the forum for honoring important historical figures at Jackson Middle School. [more]

Annie Laurie Gaylor at NY Times: If I had my druthers, Christmas would not be a federal holiday. It’s a no-brainer. The First Amendment categorically states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Clearly, designating the date upon which Christians observe the birth of their messiah as a federal holiday is making a law respecting an establishment of religion, and placing governmental weight behind Christianity.

Religion Clause Blog: The Conway, Arkansas Log Cabin Democrat reports that yesterday the Conway school board approved a policy that will allow youth ministers back on school campuses, after their lunch hour visits with students were temporarily suspended in reaction to a complaint by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

WRCBtv.com: Their complaint alleges a sixth grade teacher is “witnessing” to students by singing Christian songs to the class during instructional time.

McPherson Sentinel: The chaplaincy program is here to stay. The McPherson City Commission signed a resolution on Monday affirming the constitutional validity of the McPherson police chaplaincy program.

NorthEscambia.com: Those behind displaying a nativity scene that once belonged to the Town of Century until it came under attack by an atheist group’s attorney as being illegal, are the February recipients of the Century Chamber of Commerce’s Community Pride Award.

Keloland.com: City council meetings in Rapid City have started with a prayer for as long as anybody in the community can remember. But the practice is coming under attack from a group that says the prayers are unconstitutional.

Northwestern.com: That means it only took about 54 years for the Freedom From Religion Foundation to send a letter to the county complaining that the prayers before County Board meetings are “pervasively Christian.” The Madison gadfly group reviewed 11 prayers and found that nine were delivered “in Jesus name.”

Kansas City Star: The Kansas House is considering a bill that would allow the display of religious symbols on public lands, if the symbols are considered part of a community’s history or heritage.

Religion Clause Blog: Following up on a right-to-sue letter it obtained from the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights (see prior related posting), the Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a state court lawsuit against a florist who refused to deliver flowers ordered by FFRF for a successful plaintiff in an Establishment Clause case.

ChristianNews.net: Government officials in a Wisconsin county have voted unanimously to continue with prayers at their monthly county board meetings despite threats from a national atheist organization to file a lawsuit over the matter.

San Francisco Chronicle: The Pickens County school board is trying to decide how it can pray before meetings.

Peter Berger at the American Interest: But I do want to make a general observation: In all these cases the authorities accused of violating the plaintiffs’ rights operate with a definition of religion as a private matter to be kept out of public space. There is here a general issue of government overreach, as clearly illustrated by the (still unresolved) attempt by the Obama administration to force Catholic institutions to provide contraception coverage in their employees’ health plans. Beyond that, though, there is a very ideological view of the place of religion in society. In other words, religion is to be an activity engaged in by consenting adults in private. The attorney for the Judeo-Christian side in the aforementioned American case had it quite right when he compared the treatment of his client’s religion with measures of disease control. This is not an attitude one would expect to find in a Western democracy. It is curiously reminiscent of policies toward religion in Communist countries and toward non-Muslims under Islamic rule.

News-Press.com: Following a challenge from the Freedom From Religion Foundation to the city’s practice of holding invocations before City Council meetings, Cape Coral’s city attorney has issued an update on case law in which she indicates the city amended its routine years ago to fall within the law.

Rice Lake Online: Thirty-five people braved the bitter cold and a packed auditorium Monday night, Jan. 21 to urge the Barron County Board to continue its longstanding practice of praying at the start of its meetings.

Freedom from Religion Foundation: It is our understanding that Sanne, Pastor of the Calvary Chapel in Olympia, gave an invocation addressed to his “Heavenly Father,” asking the “Lord, [to] bring us back into line with the timeless truths and wisdom of Your Word [the Bible].” Sanne asked his god to “lead us to a blessing, being one nation, under You.” Sanne also took the opportunity to lobby the Senate to overturn the gay marriage bill and referendum, by inviting his deity to “strengthen marriage as You’ve ordained it for our good and Your Glory.” Sanne concluded: “We openly and humbly ask these things in the name of Your Son the Living Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement: This lawsuit is really about two things. First, it is about generating publicity for Freedom From Religion Foundation. A quick lawsuit, even if it gets dismissed at a later point, can earn some headlines. But secondly, this lawsuit is about fostering FFRF’s radical agenda. FFRF, a group of radical separationist atheists, envisions a future where the tax code is used against churches and pastors to punish them for speaking out on issues of candidates and elections.

Liberty Institute: Today, Liberty Institute, on behalf of Jackson City School District, responded to demand letters from the Freedom From Religion Foundation and ACLU regarding the school’s longstanding “Hall of Honor” display that contains a portrait of Jesus. The FFRF requested that the school remove the portrait of Jesus, which has been a fixture at the school for more than 65 years without complaint.  Read copies of the response letters to the FFRF and ACLU.

UpNorthLive: A conflict over religious public displays has forced the Cheboygan City Council to take action. At Tuesday night’s meeting they will add a committee to take a look at the current policies regarding the use of city property.

Public Opinion: Chambersburg Area School District community members are upset a Wisconsin organization is trying to end one of the district’s longest-standing traditions. By some reports, the CASHS’ Glee Club’s annual performance of “The Song of Christmas” has surpassed six decades.

WOUB.org: It has been a picture on the wall since the 1940s. Thousands of Jackson City Schools students have passed by the portait, perhaps some never realizing it was even there. Now a group based in Wisconsin, want the portait of Jesus Christ, that hangs above an entrance at Jackson Middle School, to be taken down, for what they say is a violation of the First Amendment.

WYFF4.com: An Upstate school district has gotten a complaint from a national organization that’s upset about the way the district opens their meetings. The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter of complaint to the School District of Pickens County after someone complained to the organization.

Religion Clause Blog (links to docs): This month, two separate lawsuits were filed claiming that the Internal Revenue Service unconstitutionally favors religious organizations and churches over other non-profit organizations.

Prescott News: The FFRF complained that the religious overtones of the Courthouse Lighting ceremony were a violation of the separation of Church and State, and even went so far as to dictate what songs they felt were more appropriate. But not so fast. According to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the ceremony is protected under the First Amendment as it was sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and was not a government-organized event. The ADF even offered free legal assistance in the event of a legal challenge by the FFRF.

Woodbridge.Patch.com: First it was a Nativity scene at the municipal building that was a problem…now it looks like a huge lighted menorah may be an issue as well.

One News Now: Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Jeremy Tedesco has sent a letter [PDF] to assure those officials that their actions were not illegal. “Of course it’s legal to celebrate national holidays like Christmas in the public square,” he insists. “Public officials should not fear attacks from atheist groups, because their freedom to participate in these events is protected under the First Amendment. “The attacks on Christmas are part of a larger campaign to snuff out all references to our Christian heritage and are best ignored by government officials.”

Yahoo (AP): Brett Harvey, a lawyer at the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian group that often helps towns defend their practices, sees it the other way. He says liberal groups have made a coordinated attempt to bully local governments into abandoning prayers, resulting in more cases. “It’s really kind of a campaign of fear and disinformation,” Harvey said. Harvey has talked with hundreds of towns about their policies and been involved in about 10 court cases in the past three years. Right now, his advice differs for different parts of the country because the law is in flux.

Liberty Institute: The San Angelo Police Department of San Angelo, Texas, is the newest target of the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s (FFRF) aggressive efforts to systematically remove faith from public view.

Examiner.com: Today, Dec. 19, 2012 it was announced by Alliance Defending Freedom that the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) officially complained to the Arizona Secretary of State that their participation in a privately sponsored Christmas lighting ceremony in front of the county courthouse violates the Constitution. A false claim to be sure, but they will try anything to stifle the traditions that they do not agree with.

Andy Norman at Bell Towers: Most scholars, jurists, and those who love God recognize that preserving our religious freedoms in the United States today is inseparably linked with promoting religious diversity. When the new, the small, the controversial, and the unpopular are able to express their beliefs freely, we all benefit. That freedom, however, comes under attack every Christmastime. . . . In support of an accurate reading of the Establishment Clause numerous groups have joined the battle in recent years. These include the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian Legal Society, TMLC, Liberty Council and many others. Thanks to these organizations and the private law firms and attorneys willing to take these cases, the tide may be turning.

Religion Clause Blog: On Nov. 30, the trial court judge ruled (full text of Order) that the students and the parent of one may proceed in the case identified only as Doe 1, Doe 2 and Doe 3.

McPhersonSentinel.com:  The city of McPherson announced Monday it would continue to pursue a police chaplaincy program. The city received a letter Dec. 3 from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, asking the city to cease its chaplaincy program. The foundation alleged the program was a violation of the separation of church and state.

KTRE.com: A group that previously attacked an East Texas county for its nativity scene is back again. This time hitting Houston County. But officials there say it’s not going anywhere.

McPhersonSentinel.com: The city of McPherson is consulting with its legal counsel after it received a letter Monday from the Freedom From Religion Foundation requesting it cease its police chaplaincy program.