Tag Archives: State: Tennessee

Baptist Press: To show support for a Tennessee town facing legal action against a cross atop its water tower, area residents carried a 12-foot cross nine miles to Whiteville, where it was presented to city representatives during a rally that drew about 350 people.

NewsChannel5.com (includes video): A controversial new policy in the City of Mount Pleasant has people fired up about their religious rights.

WKSR.com: In a news story posted on the WDXE website, Williams believes that a more appropriate time for such prayers would be before 8am or after 5pm. Williams said employees can pray on their own time. She cited separation of church and state for her directive.

The Tennessean | tennessean.com: Former state lawmaker turned Christian conservative activist David Fowler is squaring off in a new fight with gay-rights activists, this time over his effort to change Tennessee’s anti-bullying law for students.

The Cheraw Chronicle: News the American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Chesterfield County School District for unconstitutionally promoting Christianity hit the headlines, airways and Internet on Monday — before it hit the superintendent’s desk.

The Associated Press: : A volunteer firefighter in Tennessee says his department is getting ugly threats after a different department in the area allowed a home to burn down because the owner had not paid a fire protection fee.

The Tennessean | tennessean.com: The Sumner County Board of Education settled a lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union over teacher-led prayer and other religious activity in public schools.

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 Tennessean: The Cheatham County school district has filed a response to the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, after the group maintained that a Sycamore High School teacher had the constitutional right to participate at the recent Fields of Faith event.

The Tennessean: The Alliance Defense Fund was contacted by the FCA Club and community members regarding the restrictions on the participation of faculty at the event, which was held after school hours. “We are concerned that your legal counsel may have provided you with inaccurate legal advice that impermissibly restricted the constitutional rights of teachers and staff to engage in private religious expression,” the letter stated.

WZTV FOX 17 (ADF attorneys Byron Babione and Jim Campbell in the video) Sky Arnold: Attorneys who are fighting a controversial new state law want to see e-mails and documents of those who supported it . . .

LifeSiteNews.com: Pro-life advocates in Tennessee can breathe a sigh of relief, now that their years-long battle to defund Planned Parenthood in the state has reached its conclusion.

The Tennessean: But Byron Babione, an attorney with the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the Family Action Council, said the group’s communications are protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees the right to political speech. “Our clients make no apologies for being involved in the political process,’’ Babione said. | Also posted here.

WREG: Town’s residents have placed hundreds of crosses in their yards around the city

ADF letter to Cheatham County School District says no settlement can ban private religious activities of teachers

WREG: The mayor of the town complied in his own way, having one arm of the cross removed as a form of protest.

The Tennessean | tennessean.com: The Monroe County Board of Education has agreed to allow students to wear T-shirts that support of the formation of a gay-straight alliance.

The Tennessean | tennessean.com: Two dozen members of the United States Congress fired off a letter to Vanderbilt Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos this month, decrying a university policy that requires student religious groups to adhere to Vanderbilt’s policies on diversity and tolerance.

The Tennessean | tennessean.com: David Cortman, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, said that teachers from Cheatham County have contacted his organization, which is considering a lawsuit. Cortman said Fields of Faith was a community event, and teachers were free to take part in it. He compared the situation to a teacher attending a church that meets in a school. In that case, a teacher would be free to talk about religion to students who attended that church, even though it met in a school. “Otherwise, they would have fewer constitutional rights than an ordinary person,” he said.

LifeNews.com: Shelby County Health Department director Yvonne Madlock had announced in September that , after significant lobbying from pro-life advocates, Christ Community Health Services would receive the $397,000 contract with the county for family planning rather than Planned Parenthood.

The Tennessean | tennessean.com: David Cortman, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, said that teachers from Cheatham County Schools have contacted his organization, which is considering a lawsuit. Cortman said Fields of Faith was a community event, and teachers were free to take part it. He compared the situation to a teacher attending a church that meets in a school. In that case, a teacher would be free to talk about religion to students who attended that church, even though it met in a school. “Otherwise, they would have fewer constitutional rights than an ordinary person,” he said.

NewsChannel5.com : Cheatham County teachers were told they couldn’t speak at an after-school prayer event on Wednesday night. Students organizing the service said that violates the Constitution.

The Jackson Sun | jacksonsun.com: The Board of Aldermen voted last week to let the Alliance Defense Fund look into the town’s options for responding to the complaint about the cross. The board meets the first Monday of each month.

Beliefnet News: The town council has voted to consult with the Alliance Defense Fund about their legal options, “This is their cause in life – to ride up and down the highway and find small towns that maybe have a religious symbol somewhere on public property,” he said.

Fox News: However, the town council voted to consult with the Alliance Defense Fund about their legal options.
“This is their cause in life – to ride up and down the highway and find small towns that maybe have a religious symbol somewhere on public property,” he said. “I have to admit it – checking their website, they’re batting 100 percent on this stuff.”

The Jackson Sun | jacksonsun.com: Whiteville Mayor James Bellar said the board of aldermen voted to let the Alliance Defense Fund look into the town’s options for responding to complaints about a religious cross atop its water tower. . . . The [FFRF] foundation sent another letter to town officials on Wednesday cautioning them against accepting legal representation from the Alliance Defense Fund. [more . . . ]

JacksonSun.com: Our View: Line should be drawn in favor of Constitution

The Tennessean | tennessean.com: With the Cheatham County school district still feeling the aftermath of the ACLU suing the district in November 2009 for promoting and endorsing religious activity, many questions still remain on what is or isn’t acceptable in the schools.

WREG (includes video): Whiteville removing cross from top of water tower due to threatened lawsuit.

The Tennessean: The school system held the forum at Vol State Community College in response to community backlash after a Westmoreland principal disciplined four coaches for bowing their heads at a football game and the district’s subsequent decision to bar district employees from praying at school events.

Freedom From Religion Foundation: A national state/church watchdog has put town officials in Whiteville, Tenn., on notice that if they don’t remove the illegal cross atop the town’s water tower, it will file suit.

Vanderbilt University: One of the requirements to be a registered student organization at Vanderbilt is that student organizations’ constitutions be in compliance with the university’s nondiscrimination policy and that they sign a statement that they will comply with the policy.

The Tennessean: While hundreds of students across Sumner County will gather at their school’s flagpole for prayer Wednesday morning for See You At The Pole Day, school officials have taken extra measures to ensure teachers, administrators and coaches do not publicly endorse religion.

ADF Attorney Matt Sharp appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss this: ADF assures Tenn. schools: ACLU wrong on rights in public schools. | MP3 audio 17:12 mins

One of the biggest churches in the Mid-South is in the middle of a heated political controversy. The Tennessee Equality Project claims Bellevue Baptist is in violation of its (501) (c) (3) tax exempt status by having up a very clear link up to Family Action of Tennessee, a website that appears to endorse certain city council members.

LifeNews.com: The county government in Memphis has given the Planned Parenthood abortion business a second chance to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funding that pro-life advocates thought would be revoked.

Library Journal: Registered sex offenders are now barred from stepping foot inside any of the 19 libraries in Knox County, TN, following an executive order issued Sept. 12 by county mayor Tim Burchett. It’s believed to be the first such ban enacted in the Volunteer State, and within days the policy yielded its first arrest as well as a rebuke from the ACLU of Tennessee.

OneNewsNow.com: “The ACLU cannot set its own opinion up over the Supreme Court or the United States Constitution and decades of legal precedent,” Cortman contends. “‘Lip service is students’ First Amendment protective rights to express their religious beliefs at school’ is a flimsy cover for the ACLU’s real agenda, which is imposing restrictions that trample these rights.”

The Expositor – Sparta Tennessee News: Sparta officials have taken the first step in regulating adult oriented businesses by passing a lengthy ordinance that covers all aspects of the operations of these establishments.

LifeNews.com: The last county in Tennessee to provide taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood has chosen to send its state family planning grant money elsewhere — making it so the abortion business has been almost totally de-funded.

Bluegrass Policy Blog: : Folks in Tennessee are not happy with the restrictive way they set up approval authority for their charter schools. Right now, the only approval authority is the local school board in each district. This new Commercial Appeal (Memphis) article says that is stifling the creation of more of these dynamic, and successful, public schools. Basically, local school boards often act to preserve their business as usual turf instead of doing what is best for students.

TimesFreePress.com: BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee’s inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender business owners in a push for supplier diversity is generating fire and brimstone from a conservative Christian advocacy group headed by former state Sen. David Fowler.

The Daily News Journal: With a new school year beginning, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) sent out their “Know Your Rights: Religion in Public Schools – A Guide for Administrators and Teachers” to public schoolsuperintendents across the state.

The Commercial Appeal: The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Memphis federal judge Bernice Bouie Donald to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Fox Nation: As final preparations were underway for Friday’s football game at Marianna High School, one thing will be missing- pre-game prayer.

LifeNews.com:Haslam announced today his selection of Dr. John Dreyzehner for the state’s top medical post, but it drew quick response from, which says Dreyzehner’s close association with a leading pro-abortion advocacy organization calls into question his suitability for the head of the state health department.

South Memphis News: The Tennessee Department of Health has awarded Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region (PPGMR) a grant to fund a major syphilis elimination project in Shelby County, Tennessee.

Religion Clause Blog: The Tennessean and the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal report that a Tennessee state chancery court judge this week denied a motion to reconsider his decision handed down in May dismissing challenges (other than an open-meeting law challenge) to the …

USATODAY.com: Vanderbilt’s Office of Religious Life recently sent professors a calendar of 2011-12 “religious holy days and observances” and a related policy on student absences. The faith listed next to four of the days on the calendar is “Wicca/Pagan.”

Jack Telfer Midland Daily News: Blogs: Alliance Defense Fund attorneys have filed the suit against the U.S. Postal Service, saying it unconstitutionally prohibited the man from handing out the tracts

OneNewsNow.com: ADF attorney Nate Kellum tells OneNewsNow the charges were later dropped, but that did not end the matter. “The postal office isn’t above the law and cannot take away citizens’ constitutionally protected rights just because it or its customers might not agree with the content of someone’s speech or literature,” he contends. “Our client isn’t harassing anyone; he’s simply desiring to quietly share his faith in a completely public forum.”

Religion Clause: The Tennessean, however, reports that one person at the meeting objected on First Amendment grounds to one of the eight “Whereas” clauses with which the resolution begins. That clause reads: “WHEREAS, the Lord of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob promises in Genesis 12:3 to bless those that bless Israel . . .

The Commercial Appeal: U.S. Dist. Judge Bernice B. Donald will get a confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate on Sept. 6, the first day Congress reconvenes after its five week summer recess, a Senate staffer confirmed this morning.

Christian Post: Christians shouldn’t be arrested and silenced for peacefully sharing their beliefs on public property,” said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Nate Kellum in a statement released on Monday.

Charisma: “Christians shouldn’t be arrested and silenced for peacefully sharing their beliefs on public property,” says Nate Kellum, ADF senior counsel. “The post office isn’t above the law and cannot take away citizens’ constitutionally protected rights just because it or its customers might not agree with the content of someone’s speech or literature. Our client isn’t harassing anyone; he’s simply desiring to quietly share his faith in a completely public forum.”

ADF files suit against USPS on behalf of man arrested by police because some may object to Christian literature

OneNewsNow.com: he head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Dr. Richard Land, is taking issue with GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain’s criticism of a proposed mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

OneNewsNow.com: An expert on terrorism says Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain was right on the mark in his concerns about the construction of a mega-mosque in Tennessee.

ADF attorney Casey Mattox appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss this. | MP3 audio 12:50 mins

The Tennessean: The Sumner County Board of Education will change some of its policies in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee accusing the district of promoting Christianity.

TriValley Central : In a letter to the 137 public school superintendents, the group reminded administrators that holiday celebrations focusing primarily on one religious holiday amount to a school’s unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

LifeNews.com: The de-funding of the Planned Parenthood abortion business in Nashville, Tennessee became official on Friday as the state shifted the funds to the city’s health department.

WSJ.com: School may be out for the summer, but school choice is in, as states across the nation have moved to expand education opportunities for disadvantaged kids. This year is shaping up as the best for reformers in a very long time.

KnoxNews.com via Fox News: The lawsuit was filed Friday by the Alliance Defense Fund, which is described on its website as a “legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations.”

LifeNews.com: All but one county in Tennessee has revoked taxpayer funding Planned Parenthood receives now that the Metro Public Health Department will receive the $335,000 federal grant for family planning services that went to the abortion business.

wbir.com: Member of the Alliance Defense Fund and an Allied Attorney filed a suit against Pellissippi State Community College after they allegedly told a student he could not speak about his faith and hand out materials on campus.

Casey Mattox at theSpeak Up Movement University Blog: As Amy Poehler (or at least her character) once said, “Freedom of Speech! Look it Up! It’s in the Thing!” Perhaps officials at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee should move Baby Mama up in their Netflix queue so that they can hear that message. The school – and the Board of Regents that oversee all Tennessee colleges and universities – are in flagrant denial of the basic applicability of the First Amendment to the campus.

Tenn. Board of Regents sued after college silences Christian student, then enforces three-week waiting period, levies $30 solicitation fee

Ars Technica: A new Tennessee law makes it a crime to “transmit or display an image” online that is likely to “frighten, intimidate or cause emotional distress” to someone who sees it. Violations can get you almost a year in jail time or up to $2500 in fines.

Liberty Counsel: The Tennessee State House of Representatives passed a resolution urging each county to permit the Ten Commandments to be posted in their respective courthouses. The resolution passed unanimously 98-0, with two abstaining from the vote.

Feminist Wire Daily Newsbriefs: Republicans in the Tennessee state Legislature have abandoned attempts to defund Planned Parenthood by attaching an amendment to the state budget after they were advised by the Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey (R) and House Speaker Beth Harwell (R) that it is unconstitutional to do so.

Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture War: . . . The Alliance Defense Fund mentions this in one of their alerts but makes no comment about it. It seems to me that even with the ADF’s focus on religious liberty — and they’re often right in religious liberty cases — this should be something they oppose. There are gray areas in the law where one could reasonably argue either side, but this is not one of them. If a school inviting a minister to give a prayer at an official school event for kindergarten students is not a violation of the First Amendment, what on earth could possibly be? Even the ADF should not be defending this kind of thing.

LifeNews.com: Tennessee lawmakers approved a bill that they thought would de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business, but an unnamed legislator has thrown a wrench in the plans and now the governor is getting calls to help.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation: sent a letter of complaint May 26 to Giles County Director of Schools Tee Jackson in Pulaski, Tenn., objecting on behalf of district residents to sectarian prayer at kindergarten graduation May 20 at Pulaski Elementary School.

Pink News: A lawsuit will be filed against a new Tennessee law which bans employment protections for LGBT employees.

WSMV: The ACLU filed suit against the system over religious displays.