Tag Archives: State: Tennessee

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.

The Tennessean (includes photo of Erik): On Friday, the church, armed with lawyers from the conservative Arizona-based Christian legal group The Alliance Defense Fund, took its case to Davidson County Chancery Court and argued that its constitutional rights are being violated. Alliance Defense Fund lawyer Erik Stanley noted that state law exempts college bookstores, hospital gift shops and “family wellness centers” from paying property taxes. “In each of these instances, facilities similarly situated are granted a property tax exemption,” Stanley said. “Where the line is drawn here, it must be drawn consistently.”

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.

Knoxnews.com: Sen. Stacey Campfield said today that he plans to ask Gov. Bill Haslam to use a line item veto to remove a provision in the state budget bill that could allow continued funding to Planned Parenthood authority.

LifeSiteNews.com: Following is a list of recent pro-life legislative gains on the state level . . .

Fox News: Under the proposal approved 19-11 on Friday, any instruction or materials at a public elementary or middle school will be “limited exclusively to age-appropriate natural human reproduction science.” Republican Senate sponsor Stacey Campfield of Knoxville says “homosexuals don’t naturally reproduce.”

The state legislature has approved a state ballot proposal that will allow Tennessee voters to run back a pro-abortion ruling by the state Supreme Court that prevents lawmakers from putting in place any pro-life laws to limit abortion.

Religion Clause Blog: A Tennessee state Chancery Court judge has dismissed most of plaintiffs’ claims in a widely publicized lawsuit seeking to prevent construction of a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The Tennessee General Assembly has passes HR 0107. The text of the resolution is here.

Christian Concern for Our Nation: My dear American friends, you cannot imagine how we envy your First Amendment. The day when America follows the example of Europe and Canada and introduces so-called “hate speech crimes” which is only used to punish people who are critical of islam, that day America will have lost its freedom.

The Tennessean: Cchools in White County, Tenn., will ban the Gideons from distributing Bibles to students in classrooms, according to a deal announced Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.

Religion Clause Blog: In ACLU-TN v. Sumner County Board of Education, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47977 (MD TN, May 3, 2011), a Tennessee federal district court rejected the ACLU’s emergency motion for a temporary restraining order in a case alleging that the Sumner County schools violate the Establishment Clause by a series of practices that promote and endorse religion . . .

AP: Two Muslim religious leaders say they were removed from a commercial airliner in Memphis on Friday and were told it was because the pilot refused to fly with them aboard.

Tennessean.com: The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday claiming a widespread, unconstitutional pattern and practice of religious activities in the Sumner County school system. | ACLU press release and complaint

APB: The following year the same school district was sued by the Alliance Defense Fund after students at Lakeview Elementary were ordered to remove religious language like “In God We Trust” from posters promoting a “See You at the Pole” prayer rally. The school board lost that case, also, when a judge sided with students and ordered school officials to stop suppressing religious speech that is “reasonable” and “in accordance with federal law.”

Tennessean: A complaint made by American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee on behalf of three Sumner County families accuses the county school board of promoting Christianity in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

NY Times: Federal authorities last week arrested and charged a Tennessee pastor with aiding in the “international parental kidnapping” of a girl who has been missing since late 2009 and is at the center of a lengthy custody battle between her two mothers — a onetime lesbian couple who were in a civil union.

LifeNews: The Tennessee state Senate has approved again an amendment pro-life groups are fighting for to limit the reach of a pro-abortion state Supreme Court ruling preventing the passage of any legislation limiting abortions.

Baptist Press: The Tennessee House of Representatives is expected to vote soon on legislation to prevent local governments from enacting ordinances such as a controversial one approved by the Nashville City Council that protects employees based on their “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.”

TimesFreePress.com: On Friday, the Meigs County Courthouse became home to a display of the Ten Commandments, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. Commissioners approved a resolution to post the display last month.

AP on CanadianBuisiness.com: A proposal that would void a Nashville ordinance barring companies that discriminate against gays and lesbians from doing business with the city is headed for a full House vote.

One News Now: The Bible Belt city known for its country and Christian music has joined other communities in passing ordinances concerning sexual orientation . . . Had the ordinance been presented as a referendum before the general public, Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), says it would have been defeated. “Clearly the metro council members, a majority of them succumbed to the…intense lobbying of a minority

Tennessean: State Sen. Mae Beavers, Tennessee’s abortion protections amendment’s main sponsor, said she will delay the vote one week because two co-sponsors will not be present for Monday’s Senate session.

The Tennessean: The Senate is taking up a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that has served as the foundation for abortion law in the state for more than a decade

The council voted 21-15 — which was, despite appearances, the narrowest of margins — to require firms doing business with the city to promise not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Religion Clause Blog: In Crider v. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, (ED TN, March 28, 2011), a Tennessee federal district court dismissed a case brought by a Seventh Day Adventist who claimed that the University of Tennessee failed to accommodate her religious beliefs that precluded her from performing any work from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

Baptist Press: Three prominent Southern Baptist leaders are publicly opposing a proposed Nashville law that would require city contractors to add non-discrimination policies based on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.”