PUBLIC MARKS from jasontromm with tag religious

Parents argue state-mandated screenings violate religious tenants Ray and Louise Spiering wanted to observe a period of silence after their daughter Melynda’s birth, but what they got was an uproar. To the Spierings, Nebraska’s requirement that newborn babies undergo blood screening within 48 hours of birth is an infringement on their religious beliefs and their right to decide what’s best for their four children.

Two years ago, Muslim groups protested when the plot of the hit Fox drama '24' cast Islamic terrorists as the villains who launched a stolen nuclear missile in an attack on America. Being portrayed again as the heartless wrongdoers has drawn renewed protests from Muslim groups, including one that had a meeting with Fox executives two years ago over the issue. "24 is a heightened drama about anti-terrorism," the statement read. "After five seasons, the audience clearly understands this, and realizes that any individual, family, or group (ethnic or otherwise) that engages in violence is not meant to be typical. ()() I think CAIR knows this show hits a little too close to home. How many sleeper cells are actually in this country right now? Nobody knows because the ACLU won't let us monitor their phone calls.

This year, Beliefnet's Most Inspiring Person award goes to the Amish of Nickel Mines, Pa. This small religious farming community, whose members do without cars and electricity, was invaded by 21st century violence when a gunman took over a one-room schoolhouse and shot 10 young girls, leaving five of them dead. One of the girls who was slain, Marian Fisher, reportedly offered to be killed first to spare the others. Within hours, despite their grief and loss, the Amish had extended forgiveness to the killer and reached out to help his widow and children. Beliefnet members were amazed by this example of radical forgiveness and voted overwhelmingly for the Amish....

A federal court has issued an order that will prevent a New Jersey school from censoring students' Christian musical selections in future talent shows. The Alliance Defense Fund said the order comes down in favor of an elementary school student who, when she was a second-grader in May 2005, had been chosen to participate in the competition, and then picked "Awesome God," made famous by the late singer-songwriter Rich Mullins, to perform. Officials at Frenchtown Elementary School denied her permission, a decision endorsed by the board of education, citing not only the song's religious content but its "proselytizing" nature.

Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a civil rights lawsuit in defense of the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of a seventh grader who was ordered by Maryland middle school officials to stop reading her Bible during free time at school or face disciplinary action. Institute attorneys have asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to declare that prohibiting students from reading Bibles or other religious texts during their free time is unconstitutional.

Muslims are outraged over Pope Benedict’s recent speech, in which he denounced violence as a means of bringing about religious conversion. How did they demonstrate their anger? Ironically, with violent protest -- even murder. ()() Thus proving that what the Pope said is as true now as it was in the 14th century.

A federal court of appeals unanimously struck down a Florida school board policy barring students from distributing religious literature on campus. Represented by the public-interest group Liberty Counsel, student Michelle Heinkel of Cypress Lake Middle School in Fort Myers had sought permission to distribute religious and pro-life literature about the "Day of Remembrance," set aside to remember unborn children killed by abortion.

The Church and the Culture Wars There they go again. The liberal media, it seems, likes nothing better than to play up what they see (or create) as divisions in the evangelical ranks. This Sunday’s New York Times featured a front-page story about Gregory Boyd, an evangelical pastor in Minnesota who is highly critical of the religious right and refuses to talk about abortion or other cultural war issues from his pulpit.

A dozen high school students suspended for wearing T-shirts expressing their religious beliefs are considering filing a lawsuit. The students at Oakmont High School in the Sacramento, Calif., suburb of Roseville were participants in an event Thursday at more than 700 high schools across the nation to counter the homosexual-activist "Day of Silence," called the "Day of Truth."

Can a Christian be a liberal? Short answer: no. There is no way a Christian can buy into neo-liberal ideology and be faithful to the bigger-than-Dallas teachings of the scripture and expect to continue enjoying his hard-won religious liberties.

Planned Parenthood changes the advice it offers women taking RU-486, while <strike>religious</strike> groups opposed to legal abortions re-ignite the debate over whether the “medical abortion” regimen should be administered at all.

The Democrats are trying to "reframe" their message to make people think they believe abortion is wrong. I think this is going to be a hard sell if they plan to continue ferociously defending abortion-on-demand right up until the moment the baby's head is through the birth canal.

Along with the many seasonal clashes over the display of Christmas trees and religious items, there are disputes over the sale of toys like the G.I. Joe action figure and squirt guns, which the anti-war group Code Pink believes are inappropriate.

Association can't exclude homosexuals, non-believers as members A state university in California refuses to recognize a Christian student organization because it requires members to live according to the group's religious faith.

A charter school in Florida has added an Islamic holiday to its calendar of days off next year. The move came one month after the school's district drew national attention with a decision to avoid pressure from Muslims by eliminating all closures coinciding with religious holidays. The decision later was reversed after massive protest.

Managers in charge of two federally subsidized housing facilities have told residents in one case they cannot sing Christmas carols, and in another they can't decorate their own entry doors with religious symbols, according to a religious-liberty law firm.

Teachers at a Georgia elementary school reportedly were told to nix any religious pins and refrain from referring to a party as a "Christmas" party, while the local district has censored certain religious Christmas songs from its "winter" program.

A new poll released this week reveals some disturbing findings, yet the results can hardly be called surprising. Americans, by a clear majority, feel that religion is “under attack” in America. From schools, to department stores, to public display, more and more, the religious is being replaced by the secular.

Stop The ACLU was started on February 9th, 2004. We started with high hopes, and we realized we were facing a goliath. There were many reasons why we thought the ACLU needed to be countered, and they are numerous. We wanted to provide a way to inform the public of the ACLU’s agenda, as the MSM sugar coated it. We wanted to be a central database for people to gather, exchange ideas, and get actively involved in real ways of stopping them. It is a monumental task, exhausting, time consuming, and often frustrating. But it is a fight worth fighting.