Breaking News–I agree with Americans United for Separation of Church and State

[Des Moines Register]

Spending taxpayer money on a faith-based treatment program in which Iowa prisoners immerse themselves in evangelical Christianity is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled today.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 28-page decision, concluded that the program at the Newton Correctional Facility has advanced religious indoctrination at government expense.

However, the appeals court rejected a lower-court order that would have required the faith-based treatment group to repay about $1.5 million to $1.7 million in program expenses to the Iowa Department of Corrections. The lawsuit was brought by Americans United for Separation of Church and State on behalf of inmates, their families and Iowa taxpayers.

The treatment program, known as the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, has operated since October 1999 at the Newton prison under the sponsorship of Prison Fellowship Ministries. A total of 104 inmates currently participate in the program, spending 24 hours a day, seven days a week in work, counseling and prayer.

Read about it here.

[From me]

I actually agree with the ACSCA. Why? Because I think the program should be privately funded. I wouldn’t want a publicly funded program that was sponsored by the Mormons, Buddhists, Muslims or Pagans. My parents minister to the military but they raise their support. No government money is being used at all.

What do you think?

when you get caught drunk–just scream religious oppression!

[News Record]

A Greensboro man was particularly offended when he saw a religious slogan posted in the back of a patrol car.  While a deputy was searching M. Reza Salami’s car at a sobriety checkpoint last Saturday, the deputy asked Salami to wait in the back of his patrol car, Salami said.

There, Salami, a professor at N.C. A&T, saw a sign reading “Jesus is your savior” between the front and back seats.  Salami complained to the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office about the sign and sent a letter to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington nonprofit that works to uphold that separation.

Sheriff BJ Barnes  said the sheriff’s office doesn’t have a formal policy on what personal effects deputies are allowed to keep in their patrol cars, but he supports deputies displaying anything that gives them comfort for 12-hour shifts on a dangerous job.

Barnes said sheriff’s employees of all religions are allowed to express their personal beliefs and the issue had never been problematic.

“Religion has never been an issue for us,” he said. “I wish this guy would put his energies toward something else.”

Read about it here.

[From me]

I can’t imagine how stressful it must be to be a first responder like a police officer or firefighter.  What is the big deal about expressing their faith?  If it were a Muslim or Morman I would feel the same way.  Could it be this man complained because he was caught with an open container of booze?

What do you think?

Christian Right Looks to Rebound

[Associated Press]

Headed into the 2008 election season, Christian conservatives are weary. Their movement has lost iconic leaders and the Republican presidential field is uninspiring. But they may have found hope in a trailer on the campus of Bell Shoals Baptist Church. Organized by a scarcely known Tampa-area Christian group and ending Saturday, the summit sounded a back-to-basics theme: that evangelicals are called to be active citizens to combat threats from the left; that the work must involve not just national advocacy groups but local people and pastors; and the fight requires patience and persistence.

This weekend’s summit had its disappointments. Organizers had hoped up to 350 people would attend, laying the groundwork for a new Florida activist network.  But only 104, nearly all from Florida, had registered by Friday. A workshop on the basics of grass roots activism drew a handful of people — and one was a spy, an activist for Americans United for Separation of Church and State researching the opposition.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Rebound?  Why?  What good have politics done for the cause of Christ.  I was involved in politics for many years.  I majored in Public Administration which I was preparing for a career in politics.   I vote and I support candidates privately but as a minister I would never tell someone who to vote for.  I don’t believe that politics have ever saved anyone’s life.  The so-called conservatives have abandoned Christians and embarrassed us this year and in years past.

I’ve got a novel concept.  Instead of organizing groups at churches to get people elected, why not get together and pray for our nations leaders?

What do you think?

Battling of the monuments…

[USA Today]

A Ten Commandments monument will remain on the lawn outside City Hall in Fargo, N.D., for now, but the City Commission’s recent vote to keep it there won’t end controversy over the marker. The Red River Freethinkers, a group of about 100 people who believe the monument violates the constitutional separation of church and state, will continue to press commissioners to allow them to erect a new marker nearby. It would feature a quote from a 1797 treaty signed by the United States and Tripoli: “The United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”

Read about it here.

[From me]

We can argue over posting the 10 Commandments in schools, courts and public grounds from now until eternity.  To me posting them is fine.  But I would rather see is followers of Jesus living the 10 Commandments.  If we followed them and the the Great Commandment to love God and our neighbors we would become the monuments ourselves.

What do you think?

‘God’ Removed from Graduating Senior’s Yearbook

[From Christian Post]

A graduating senior at Higley High School in Gilbert, AZ discovered this week that his reference to “God” had been edited from his yearbook profile. Anthony Sciubba, 18, approached the school Wednesday about why the yearbook had taken out ”God,” who he felt was essential to his bio page, and was told that it was to avoid problems with the separation between church and state.

Read about it here.

[From me]

I don’t get this one at all. It is a student, not a teacher who is telling his fellow students that God transformed his life. What is the problem?

What do you think?

Pat Robertson invites Mormon for Commencement at Regent

[From Christian Post]

Some students and alumni at an evangelical Christian university founded by Pat Robertson are upset with the commencement choice of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon.

Pat Robertson, chancellor of the Virginia Beach school, invited the former Massachusetts governor to be the keynote speaker at the May 5 ceremony.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Some of the Zionists really confuse me.   They will partner with groups like the Mormons who are far, far from Christianity because they are social conservatives.  Yet they refuse to cooperate with the Christian left.  Now, I don’t agree with the Christian left on many issues but who do you think God is going to listen to –A cult that doesn’t worship the real God or Christians who are social liberals?

The fact is politics will not save anyone.  Only a relationship with Jesus will.

What do you think?

Jesus to be made King of Poland…

[From NCBuy]

Some members of Poland’s Parliament have introduced legislation making Jesus Christ king of the country.  If Jesus of Nazareth does win in the legislature, he will attain the same honor afforded to his mother, the Virgin Mary, who was made an honorary Queen by King John Casimir over 300 years ago.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Somehow I don’t think Jesus needs man’s help in becoming King.