Tag Archives: Group: Freedom from Religion Foundation

Wiscnews.com: “After more than four months of discussion, debate and protest regarding the Dodge County Board of Supervisor’s policy on prayer, it’s time to say amen — for now. Supervisors on Tuesday adopted an invocation policy drafted by the corporation counsel that will enlist area religious leaders who volunteer their time to deliver uncensored invocations prior to county board meetings.”

Warning: Language. Sean Kittridge writes at The Badger Herald: “But not everybody is laughing at what seems to be an innocuous day off, as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Madison’s grumpiest constitutional watchdog, is readying a lawsuit . . . Before we dive into how the FFRF isn’t really about ‘freedom,’ let’s lay out the facts of the matter. Kids at MATC got Friday off.”

Christian Post: ADF is asking Americans to support the National Day of Prayer by going to www.savethendop.org to send a note of encouragement ti Shirley Dobson, chair of the National Day of Prayer Task Force and wife of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, and to write a letter urging President Barack Obama to uphold the NDP by issuing a presidential proclamation.

CBNNews: “Several lawmakers have joined a religious rights group in fighting for the continuation of the National Day of Prayer, which is now facing a challenge in court . . . The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, has organized an online petition to stop the pending challenges against the National Day of Prayer.”

“It’s high time someone asked: where in the U.S. Constitution are so many angry people finding the legal right not to be offended?”

Watertown Daily Times: The Dodge County Board of Supervisors will . . . address a resolution to ensure future board sessions begin with prayer . . . The county’s attorney was directed to prepare a resolution based on Supreme Court rulings and the Alliance Defense Fund, which has a document outlining the parameters for prayer at meetings.

AP: “An atheists’ group and a church are taking their rivalry on the road, using ad space on Madison Transit buses to display their competing messages.”

Citizen Link:  The Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit, saying the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional and creates a “hostile environment for nonbelievers.” The Alliance Defense Fund will defend the National Day of Prayer Task Force …

Watertown Daily Times:  A moment of silence will once again be held prior to the start of this month’s Dodge County board meeting, as the county’s executive committee continues it discussion on continuing a prayer at the sessions. Supervisor Eugene …

WiscNews.com: Dodge County supervisors may be asked on March 17 to vote on a resolution that would establish that non-sectarian invocations be delivered at county board meetings by a rotating cast of clergy. The executive committee heard more than a …

NewsTalk 1410 AM: “There’s help out there, if the La Crosse city council wants it. The Alliance Defense Fund is offering legal assistance to the council if it needs it to fight the Freedom from Religion Foundation over prayers before …

OneNewsNow: The Freedom From Religion Foundation is again asking the Wisconsin legislature to stop opening their meetings with prayer. Julaine Appling, CEO of the Wisconsin Family Council, says the letter the atheist group sent to the assembly speaker claims that the …

Religion Clause Blog reports on the latest ad campaign by the Freedom from Religion Foundation to promote atheism in Wisconsin buses: “For example, the sign featuring a portrait of Darrow reads: ‘I don’t believe in God because I don’t believe …

Time Magazine:  For more than 80 years, Dayton, Tennessee has had a monkey on its back . . . Darwin’s treatise On The Origin of Species was instrumental to the town’s famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, which pitted noted trial lawyers Clarence Darrow and William Jennings …

The Atheism Examiner reports: The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison, Wis.-based national watchdog working to keep church and state separate, has renewed its request that the Wisconsin State Assembly stop opening sessions with prayer . . . . With …

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking its thought-provoking billboard message, “Imagine No Religion,” to 8280 Folsom Blvd., Sacramento.

The LaCrosse Tribune: “The co-president of Madison-based Freedom from Religion Foundation said Wednesday two Coulee Region governing bodies that open meetings with prayers need to cease the practice. Both the Vernon County Board and the La Crosse Common Council pray …

Chicago Tribune: The Dodge County Board of Supervisors will hold a moment of silence to begin board meetings starting Feb. 10 instead of a prayer after a complaint. Dodge County Board Chairman Russell Kottke received a letter in January from …

The Herald Times Reporter: “Attorneys representing Manitowoc County responded Tuesday to a federal lawsuit claiming the county violated the Establishment Clause to the First Amendment when they allowed a nativity scene to remain on the Manitowoc County Courthouse lawn during …

The Capital Times reports on a new ad campaign by the Freedom from Religion Foundation encouraging Obama to “rebuild that wall” and dismantle the “Faith Based Initiative.” The report indicates: Arguing that government “should run on facts, not faith,” the …

AP: “The president of a Wisconsin Rapids technical college says he plans to comply with a court order that bars state schools from observing Good Friday as a campus holiday . . . ” Freedom from Religion Foundation press release: …

Green Bay Press-Gazette: Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, confirmed Wednesday that her organization has withdrawn its appeal of a suit filed over the city’s display of a nativity scene at City Hall over Christmas …

CNSNews reports: Nearly 30 acts of vandalism against Nativity scenes or Christmas displays and at least one case of physical assault against a Christian pastor have occurred over the last few weeks, according to the Catholic League for Religious and …

The LA Times reports: “California jurists next year will rule on the constitutionality of crosses on public land, teachers’ speech rights and students’ Bible clubs . . . “

The Religion Clause Blog reports: “The Freedom from Religion Foundation plans to file a lawsuit today challenging a nativity scene displayed on the courthouse lawn in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. WBAY-TV News reported yesterday that the display has been up every year for the last 62 …

The Seattle Times has posted this editorial that discusses the uproar over the atheists’ sign next to a nativity display in the state capitol. The editorial states: “The pluralism of the holiday display might be a little unruly, but it …

The Religion Clause Blog reports: “The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed suit in a California federal district court yesterday against the city of Rancho Cucamonga (CA). The complaint (full text) alleges that the city violated the Establishment Clause and …

The Chicago Tribune reports that “this year, however, Malabar Farm State Park in north-central Ohio also is including a secular holiday display” after being threatened by the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

One News Now reports: “The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has filed a lawsuit against Colorado, claiming its official day of prayer violates the separation of church and state philosophy. But Mike Johnson, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, …

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has sued Gov. Bill Ritter and the state of Colorado to end its designation of a state- sanctioned official “Day of Prayer,” which took place in 2007 and again on May 1, 2008.

WBAY.com reports: “The Freedom From Religion Foundation is upset after Green Bay’s City Council voted down a strict ban on all religious displays on city property, and is going to move forward with its lawsuit against the city.”

The Religion Clause Blog reports: “The Green Bay (WI) Press-Gazette today reports that an appeal has been filed with the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc. v. City of Green Bay. FFRF appeals after …

MansfieldNewsJournal.com reports: . . . An activist group says an annual Nativity scene at Malabar Farm State Park violates separation of church and state and should be discontinued. The Freedom from Religion Foundation in Madison, Wisc., has asked Ohio Attorney …

Liberty Counsel reports: “Yesterday afternoon, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) against the City of Green Bay. Liberty Counsel successfully represented the City of Green Bay in a controversy over last year’s Christmas …

The Religion Clause Blog reports: “The Freedom from Religion Foundation filed suit on Friday in a Wisconsin federal district court challenging the federal law that creates a national Day of Prayer.”

WorldNetDaily reports:  The Freedom from Religion Foundation is bringing a lawsuit against the Cherry Creek schools in Denver because some of the principles taught in the district’s “40 Developmental Assets” program allegedly are drawn from biblical teachings. For example, Asset …

The AP reports: “The debate over a nativity display at Green Bay City Hall has moved to federal court.” According to the report, the city’s attorney and Liberty Counsel are seeking dismissal of the suit originally filed by the Freedom …

When he paid for the sign about a month ago in support of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, his goal never was to change people’s minds. It was to get people thinking and talking. And maybe, just maybe, get a few more members for the foundation, which fights for the separation of church and state.

The Arizona Republic reports: A national organization that promotes freedom from religion and separation of church and state is hoping to get Phoenix commuters talking with five controversial billboards that will go up this week. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, …

http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4656 ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND NEWS RELEASE August 22, 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS:  (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom ADF attorneys advise Mesa County officials regarding constitutionality of invocations Atheists demand end to prayer at public meetings in …

Freedom From Religion Foundation objected to four specific aspects of the chaplaincy including the clinical focus of the Chaplain Service, the provision of pastoral care to VA outpatients; and the integration of spirituality/religion into VA treatment programs.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the nation’s largest group of atheists and agnostics over referrals by North Dakota government agencies to a church-affiliated nonprofit that treats and educates troubled children.

The Pierce County Herald reports: “The Madison-based Freedom from Religion Foundation asked the DA to see whether elected officials violated the state’s open meetings laws, when it arranged the sale to the Holmen lions club.”

While the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc. marginally cabins the application of this remedy to legislatively appropriated funds, a very real potential for abuse remains.

The New Richmond News reports:” The state Justice Department says it will not make the Village of Holmen nullify a recent sale of public land with a religious display on it.”

This Note builds on prior scholarship that advocates for judicial minimalism by arguing that Hein’s plurality opinion demonstrates judicial minimalism succeeding in practice.

The Dunn County News carries this opinion piece criticizing recent attacks by the Freedom from Religion Foundation on prayer in the legislature.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation has issued this press release that begins: The Freedom From Religion Foundation has asked the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to drop mention of a deity from its “Oath of Allegiance for Naturalized Citizens.” The …

The AP reports that the group has sent a letter to the Speaker of the House complaining that most of the prayers are Christian in nature.

Liberty Counsel has issued this press release that begins: The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed a lawsuit against Elizabeth Burmaster, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Mark McGuire, District Administrator of the Rio Community School District, for providing a …

By unanimous consent and with no discussion, Holmen Village Board members agreed at their May 8 meeting to sell the structure to the Holmen Lions Club for $600. A village-ordered appraisal of the patch of land on which the cross/star sits valued the property at $100.

“The Freedom from Religion Foundation has filed suit against the Rio (WI) Community School District and the Wisconsin state Superintendent of Public Instruction challenging the Rio district’s policy of allowing all local non-profit groups to use school buildings after school hours free of charge.”

The Freedom from Religion Foundation says a prayer breakfast with Supreme Court Justice-elect Michael Gableman is unconstitutional . . .

The Hudson-Observer reports on recent activities by the Freedom from Religion Foundation to eliminate any Christian presence in VA hospitals.

watchdog group on Friday called on Wisconsin Supreme Court justice-elect Michael Gableman to skip a prayer breakfast hosted by a sheriff’s department.

Acting on a complaint from a patient at the Madison VA Hospital, the Freedom From Religion Foundation today protested the presence of Christian vendors setting up shop at the main entrance, through which every patient and employee must pass . . .

About three-fourths of local governments open meetings with prayer, a Press review found, and most of the prayers are overtly Christian, often concluding “in Jesus’ name.”

“ADF attorney David Cortman appears on the Bob Dutko show to discuss Michael Newdow’s latest challenge to the pledge of allegiance.”

Keith Essenburg reports in the Grand Rapids Press (2.18.2008): “A complaint from a Wisconsin organization that champions the separation of church and state has Mayor Don VanDoeselaar saying he will ask for legal advice on whether Hudsonville should remove a …

Typical of the times, the Freedom from Religion Foundation recently filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire to eliminate the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance.”

“The eight-year old program is similar to an Adopt-a-School Initiative that is sweeping the nation. . . ”

The Freedom from Religion Foundation, represented by well-known atheist Michael Newdow, and other unnamed individuals filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire to challenge the inclusion of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Here is the list of cases involving religious liberty, sanctity of life and defense of the family that the Supreme Court will examine at its conference on Friday, December 1 to determine whether to grant review or not. Again, I thank Walter Weber for his work detailing this information.