The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a federal lawsuit today against New Kensington-Arnold School District to remove a prominent Ten Commandments monument from the grounds of Valley High School, New Kensington, Pa.
FFRF, a Madison, Wis.-based nonprofit state/church watchdog with 18,500 nonreligious members including more than 673 in Pennsylvania, is a named plaintiff, along with two local parents with children in the school district. They are: FFRF member Marie Schaub, who has a child, Doe 1, in the school district who regularly encounters the bible edict, and Doe 2, a student at Valley High School, along with Doe 3, parent and guardian of Doe 2. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania. Both parent plaintiffs have felt stress and anxiety over concern that they and their children would continue to encounter the religious monument at school.
A tombstone-like monument of the Ten Commandments, approximately six foot tall, is directly in front of the main school entrance, near two footbridges that students and visitors use to enter the building. The bible monument was presented by the New Kensington branch of the Eagles, a fraternal order that has littered the landscape with similar monuments. FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott first sent a letter in March to the District Superintendent requesting that he remove the Ten Commandments monument because it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The district failed to move the monument or even write an official response.
Board President Robert Pallone, however, wrote in March on the Facebook webpage called "KEEP THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AT VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL," that the district would not "remove this monument without a fight !!!!!" Clergy in the area held a rally during the school day in front of Valley High School to support the decision to retain the religious monument.
The complaint notes the display "lacks any secular purpose," citing Stone v. Graham, a 1980 Supreme Court decision which ruled the Ten Commandments may not be posted in public school classrooms, because "The pre-eminent purpose" for doing so "is plainly religious in nature."
The District's posting of Ten Commandments monument at the high school not only endorses and advances religion, but "also impermissibly coerces students to suppress their personal religious and non-religious beliefs and adopt the favored religious view of the District." The district also usurps parental authority.
The Eagles campaign started when a devout judge and Eagle member, E.J. Ruegemer— who wanted to promote religion and Minnesota granite — teamed up with film director Cecil B. DeMille, interested in promoting his 1956 epic, "The Ten Commandments." In 2002, FFRF successfully removed one of the first such monuments placed on government property, in the City of Milwaukee. Yul Brenner had turned up for the dedication.
FFRF is asking for a permanent injunction directing the district to remove the Ten Commandments monument from district property, reasonable costs and attorneys' fees, and nominal damages to plaintiffs. FFRF and its plaintiffs are being represented by Marcus B. Schneider of Pittsburgh.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation scored a touchdown against football prayer at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga this week.
The pre-game prayer, which typically included a reference to 'Jesus Christ,' was traditionally delivered by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and had been a home game staple since 2010.
FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor initially wrote to UTC Chancellor Roger Brown on May 15, 2012: "While students, athletes, and athletic event attendees may choose to gather privately in prayer, a public university has no place in encouraging or endorsing religious ritual."
After several months of indecision, Brown announced on Sept. 10 that the university would make "the right decision for the university" and offer a moment of silence in lieu of prayer.
Brown told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that "we need to make sure there is never anybody that goes away from our campus, our stadium, our arena or classroom or work, that feels like they have been excluded or feel uncomfortable in any way."
Please phone Brown today and tell him that you support UTC's wise decision to end pre-game prayer. The religious community is making a loud fuss. To read more about it or watch TV coverage, scroll to the end. In order to sustain this recent victory, Brown's choice must be reaffirmed. Help FFRF keep religion out off the playing field by sharing some secular 'praise' with UTC.
If you are a resident of Chattanooga and/or Tennessee, please identify yourself as such. Include your address and other contact information when appropriate.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has followed up on Walker County Schools’ (Ridgeland, Ga.) response to its request to investigate unusual constitutional violations by Ridgeland High School football coach Mark Mariakis. Although praising the superintendent’s “commitment to upholding the Constitution,” the letter raised some lingering concerns.
FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel’s Aug. 21 letter of complaint had detailed allegations FFRF had received over a number of egregious public sports-church entanglements at Ridgeland High School. Most notably, they included the coach taking public school football teams to pre-game church meals where pre-meal prayers are conducted. FFRF also asked for an investigation into the allegation that Mariakis regularly prays with his teams, had pressured public school students to attend a “Christian football camp,” and that the team had adopted a “team chaplain.”
Walker County Schools Superintendent Damon Raines responded on Aug. 30 that “the district will not have a team chaplain nor will school officials or employees, including coaches, organize, lead, or participate in any prayers. Staff will also refrain from participating in the FCA [Fellowship of Christian Athletes].” The District indicated pre-game meals will no longer include “religious references.”
As Seidel stated in his Sept. 11 reply, “taking public school teams to church still involves constitutional concerns.” Quoting legal precedent that prohibits public schools from holding graduations in churches, Seidel argued that regardless of the purpose in choosing to have a pre-game meal in a church, “the sheer religiosity of the space create[s] a likelihood that high school students . . . would perceive a link between church and state.” FFRF suggested that the district could avoid legal liability and save money on transportation by hosting a “potluck” at the school and allowing “any organization, restaurant, or business to donate meals.”
FFRF was alarmed over Mariakis’ attendance on Sept. 9 of a “Rally to Pray” by those who wish to “keep prayer in the practices and before games.” FFRF’s response called the coach’s appearance “inappropriate,” saying, “It seems to send a message that he is unrepentant and hostile to First Amendment limitations on his proselytizing.” The letter asked the schools to investigate the context of his remarks and to “ensure that Mariakis understands he cannot use his position as coach to ‘share the Gospel’ with his team and other public students.”
FFRF urged the district to adopt a written policy over religion in the schools “clearly prohibiting proselytizing and prayer by school officials or at school-arranged and sanctioned events.” FFRF also noted that it appears public school buses and drivers are taking players, coaches and staff from the school to churches for meals. FFRF further requested a response to an unanswered allegation from its original complaint that the football program has used the bible as a motivational tool.
Seidel concluded his reply: “We hope the Panthers can put this matter behind them soon and concentrate on winning. Good luck against River Ridge on Friday.”
“When a public school district has permitted unconstitutional practices to flourish for years, it creates a climate of intolerance. We see that intolerance in the community’s reaction to our reasonable request to ensure that student rights of conscience, and Supreme Court precedent, are honored in Walker County schools. The business of a public school is to educate, not to proselytize. This is a ‘teaching moment’ for Walker County schools and we feel it is the District’s duty to explain not only to staff, but to students and the community, why the First Amendment was adopted and why its prohibitions against devotionals in public schools are laudable and protect us all,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
A nonreligious Canadian family has been battling distribution of Gideon bibles in their Ontario public schools by asking the schools to distribute Just Pretend: A Freethought Book for Children, written by Dan Barker and published by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
It was announced last week that the family’s complaint against the District School Board of Niagara will be heard by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal in February. Rene Chouinard says his family is being discriminated against “due to creed.”
Rene and Ana Chouinard of Grimsby, Ontario, had complained several years ago after a permission slip to distribute Gideon bibles was sent home with their middle child, then in Grade 5. Their complaints prompted the principal to drop the practice. By the time their youngest child entered Grade 5 in 2010, the distribution of bibles had resumed. The school district has been permitting Gideon bible distribution since 1964.
In March 2010, after Rene Chouinard complained again, the school board amended its policy by inviting other religions to distribute books to children. But the board refused Chouinard’s request to distribute Just Pretend or Barker’s book for adults, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist, also published by FFRF. Chouinard’s intent, as he told media, was not actually to distribute freethought books to children, but to force the school board to stop distributing bibles.
Niagara school officials told him they had consulted the Ontario Multifaith Information Manual, which lists diverse religions but does not mention atheism or secular humanism. Chouinard noted that the manual doesn’t list the Gideon Society, either.
“If all points of view are not allowed, then Ontario’s vaunted respect for equality and diversity is ‘just pretend,’ ” commented FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.
Just Pretend is an illustrated book suitable for elementary school-age children (or “children of all ages”) that explores myths like Santa Claus and compares them with claims of the existence of a god. In an entertaining and fun way, Just Pretend introduces children to the tests of reason, and encourages them to apply reason to any idea, fairy tale, myth or religion.
“We would consider the bible X-rated and totally unsuitable reading for young children. But Just Pretend is written with the respectful premise that children should be free to decide what to think about religion for themselves, when they are mature enough to understand the concepts,” noted Annie Laurie Gaylor, who co-directs FFRF.
School boards in Toronto, Peel, Durham, York and Waterloo counties had already banned Gideon bibles. In April, the Bluewater District Board in Ontario dropped bible distribution after a parent objected because the distribution of free bibles “undermines the secular nature” of public schools. The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board voted in June to halt distribution of Gideon bibles, according to news coverage.
U.S. Supreme Court actions and First Amendment law bar Gideons from entering U.S. public schools to distribute bibles. Nevertheless, the predatory evangelical Protestant men’s organization is continually flouting the law, with the help of religious principals.
“It takes constant vigilance to keep the Gideons out of public schools,” says Gaylor.
FFRF has produced two “bible warning labels” to combat ubiquitous Gideon bibles in hotel rooms, including one, “Gideon Exposed” written by Ruth Green, author of The Born Again Skeptic’s Guide to the Bible, which urges people to judge Gideon for themselves after reading Judges, chapters 6-9. Gideon reputedly murdered thousands for worshiping “false gods.”
FFRF, which serves freethinkers (atheists and agnostics) and works to keep religion out of government, has more than 18,500 members in North America.
Listen to an interview of Rene Chouinard (second half of Freethought Radio broadcast, Sept. 8, 2012) at: http://ffrf.org/news/radio/.
(A special thanks to FFRF member Florent Rizvanolli, pictured above.)
In time for the Democratic National Convention, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has placed a patriotic message with a secular twist on two prominent billboards in Charlotte, N.C. The billboard, drawn by editorial cartoonist Steve Benson, depicts Uncle Sam wagging his finger and warning: “God fixation won’t fix this nation.”
Those traveling from the airport to the convention will be treated to a highly visible view of FFRF’s red-white-and-blue message on a 10x30-foot billboard on Interstate 77 north of Fifth Street. A hard to miss 14x48-foot billboard with the message is found near Charlotte’s downtown, on the 1700 block of Freedom Drive, 900 feet west of Morehead Street.
FFRF put the same message up in Tampa for the benefit of this year’s Republican convention. FFRF, a nonpartisan state-church watchdog, is continuing a tradition started in 2008, when it placed a billboard message saying “Keep religion out of politics” in Denver and Minneapolis for the national party conventions.
View FFRF's Aug. 31 press release for more information.
Click to enlarge image
In time for the Democratic National Convention, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has placed a patriotic message with a secular twist on two prominent billboards in Charlotte, N.C. The billboard, drawn by editorial cartoonist Steve Benson, depicts Uncle Sam wagging his finger and warning: “God fixation won’t fix this nation.”
Those traveling from the airport to the convention will be treated to a highly visible view of FFRF’s red-white-and-blue message on a 10x30-foot billboard on Interstate 77 north of Fifth Street. A hard to miss 14x48-foot billboard with the message is found near Charlotte’s downtown, on the 1700 block of Freedom Drive, 900 feet west of Morehead Street.
The billboards, which FFRF refers to as an “election-year caveat,” were scheduled to go up on Thursday.
“Our equal-opportunity message to both political parties and all public officials is: Get off your knees and get to work!” said FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “God fixation, the preoccupation by our nation and its elected officials with religion, is holding back progress scientifically, intellectually and morally.”
FFRF put the same message up in Tampa on Aug. 23 for the benefit of this year’s Republican convention. FFRF, a nonpartisan state/church watchdog, is continuing a tradition started in 2008, when it placed a billboard message saying “Keep religion out of politics” in Denver and Minneapolis for the national party conventions.
FFRF spokeswoman Annie Laurie Gaylor cited as an example of the dangers of religion in politics and government the “pandering” decision by both parties to give in to a request by the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to deliver convention prayers. Cardinal Timothy Dolan gave the closing prayer yesterday for the Republicans and will also pray at the Democratic convention.
“The Catholic bishops are trying to unduly influence and interfere with U.S. politics, particularly by trying to kill the health care contraceptive mandate —despite the fact that most American women are not Catholic and most Americans use and support contraception,” Gaylor noted. “It’s disturbing that both parties kowtow to Timothy Dolan.” FFRF ran hundreds of TV commercials this summer in regional markets featuring actress and playwright Julia Sweeney, a well-known former Catholic, objecting to the bishops’ anti-contraceptive attacks.
The Madison, Wis.-based group represents more than 19,000 freethinking (atheist and agnostic) members nationwide, including 485 members in North Carolina, and an active N.C. chapter, the Triangle Freethought Society. FFRF has brought about 60 lawsuits to keep religion out of government.
A district court gave the green light to the right of the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s nonbelieving directors to continue their challenge of the parish exemption giving preferential tax benefits to “ministers of the gospel.”
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb, Western District of Wisconsin, issued a strong 20-page opinion and order today permitting FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor and President Emerita Anne Gaylor to pursue their challenge of the 1954 law.
Known as FFRF v. USA, the lawsuit was filed in September 2011. The plaintiffs receive part of their salaries designated for a housing allowance. Yet they do not qualify for the parish exemption as they are not "ministers of the gospel.”
“We are very pleased that the court has acknowledged our injury and right to sue over this,” said Barker, a former minister who previously qualified for housing allowance benefits, but does not have that privilege as director of an atheist/agnostic organization. FFRF calls the statute a subsidy, rather than an accommodation of religion.
FFRF seeks a declaration that the federal statute creating the parish exemption violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. FFRF asks the court to enjoin the allowance or grant of tax benefits exclusively for ministers of the gospel under 28 U.S.C. § 2201 that 26 U.S.C. §107.
The federal government argued that the FFRF directors would not have standing to challenge the law until they claim an exemption on their tax returns and the IRS denies them. “Because it is clear from the face of the statute that plaintiffs are not entitled to the exemption, I see no reason to make their standing contingent on the futile exercise of making a formal claim with the IRS,” Crabb ruled. She wrote that “there is no plausible argument that plaintiffs could make that they qualify as ‘ministers of the gospel,’ so it would be pointless to require plaintiffs to jump through the hoop of filing a claim to prove that they are not entitled to the exemption.”
She dismissed as “another strawman” the government’s characterization of the FFRF directors’ injury as mere “disagreement with the government’s claim.” Crabb wrote: “It is undoubtedly true that plaintiffs object to §107 because they believe it violates the establishment clause and that this may be the primary reason they filed the lawsuit, but that is not the injury plaintiffs are alleging for the purpose of showing standing.”
The exemptions permit clergy to deduct from their taxable income housing allowances furnished as part of compensation. The unique benefits to clergy date to 1954, when Congress amended the tax code to permit all clergy to exempt their housing costs from their taxable income. U.S. Rep. Peter Mack, author of the amendment, declared:
"Certainly, in these times when we are being threatened by a godless and antireligious world movement we should correct this discrimination against certain ministers of the gospel who are carrying on such a courageous fight against this foe. Certainly this is not too much to do for these people who are caring for our spiritual welfare."
The statute says the gross income of a minister of the gospel does not include “the rental value of a home furnished to him as part of his compensation,” or “the rental allowance paid to him as part of is compensation, to the extent used by him to rent or provide a home and to the extent such allowance does not exceed the fair rental value of the home, including furnishings and appurtenances such as a garage, plus the cost of utilities.”
The §107 tax exclusion can be used by ministers for virtually all of the costs of home ownership, including: Down payment on a home; home mortgage payments, including both interest and principal; real estate taxes; personal property tax; fire and homeowners liability insurance; rental payments; and cost of acquiring a home (i.e., legal fees, bank fees, title fees, etc.).
Crabb’s ruling means FFRF’s lawsuit will go forward to be argued on its merits.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has been successful in removing prayer from the Big Spring School Board meeting agenda in Newville, Pa.
School board president Wilbur Wolf told The Sentinel yesterday that "prayer will be removed from future meeting agendas to avoid the potential cost of legal action against the board and Big Spring School District."
A local complainant informed FFRF that the board began every twice-monthly meeting with a prayer.
FFRF Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert asked Wolf and the board in an Aug. 17 letter to discontinue the "practice of scheduling prayer" as part of school board meetings.
Markert pointed out several appeals court rulings, including a decision this year, in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (which has jurisdiction over Pennsylvania) have struck down prayer by public school boards. In the recent Doe v. Indian River School District case the appeals court ruled that school board prayer rose above "the level of interaction between church and state that the Establishment Clause permits."
"The issues discussed and decisions made at Board meetings are wholly school-related, affecting the daily lives of district students and parents," wrote Markert.
Wolf attributed the board's change in policy to high legal costs and told The Sentinel that ending prayer "is the prudent thing to do."
"Ending this type of egregious public school violation is a huge feat. We hope that other school districts will learn form Wolf's wise decision and take steps in their own community to honor the Establishment Clause," said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
FFRF added that nearly 1.5 million Pennsylvanians identify as nonreligious, so school boards should not lend their power and prestige to religion, amounting to a governmental endorsement of religion.
"It's imperative we keep up with the growing trend toward secularism and encourage board members to worship on their own time," added Gaylor.
FFRF sent letters to three other Pennsylvania school boards in August and is waiting for a response from Octorara Area School Board in Atglen, the Eastern Lancaster County School Board in New Holland and the Greencastle-Antrim School Board in Greencastle.
Please view photograph below of the Freedom From Religion Foundation's election-year caveat, a billboard that went up Thursday in time to greet GOP convention-goers in Tampa, on Kennedy Boulevard, 50 feet west of Arrawana Street. (The same message will be going up on two billboards in Charlotte in time for the Democratic National Convention next week.)
(Please do not confuse FFRF's billboard message with that of another atheist group, which tried unsuccessfully to place a very different message in Tampa, and which has voluntarily removed its billboards in Charlotte. This is the second presidential election in a row in which FFRF has placed billboards at both convention sites promoting secular government.)
For more details, read FFRF's earlier full press releases:
'Act of God' doesn't stop atheist message in Tampa
FFRF brings election-year caveat to RNC, DNC
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which has called for an investigation into proselytizing by a coach, advised Walker County Schools (Ga.) in an Aug. 27 follow-up letter to avoid “self-serving and misleading” offers of pro bono legal representation.
The Aug. 27 letter by FFRF attorney Andrew Seidel to Superintendent Damon Raines points out that Liberty Counsel’s “no cost” representation offer, which the Liberty Counsel mistakenly sent to Walker County, Ala., instead of Walker County, Ga., is “disingenuous.” Seidel explained, “Even with pro bono legal representation, a court battle could cost Walker County taxpayers thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Attached to the three-page letter was a document listing a sample of Establishment Clause cases that schools and local governments have lost, and payments taxpayers were forced to shell out, despite “pro bono” representation. Two cases involved Liberty Counsel and their claim that “the battle is costing taxpayers ‘zero dollars.’ ” The county governments and taxpayers in those cases lost a total of more than $460,000 — one county had to take out a loan to make the payment.
FFRF notified Raines of additional violations such as the football team's chaplain, and that prayer occurs at other sporting events. These violations were pointed out on the “Support Coach Mariakis” Facebook page. That page also provided photographic evidence of the unconstitutional prayers and confirmed that the coach “talked about the Lord very regularly during pre-game speeches… Because of his Godly example many came to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior!”
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A secular message from nonbelievers is greeting GOP convention-goers in Tampa — courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the nation's largest association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics). FFRF's patriotic red-white-and-blue message, depicting a finger-wagging Uncle Sam cautioning that "God fixation won't fix this nation," was placed Thursday on Kennedy Boulevard, 50 feet west of Arrawana Street.
FFRF's election-year caveat was drawn by editorial cartoonist Steve Benson, coincidentally the grandson of Ezra Taft Benson, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture under President Dwight Eisenhower who became president of the Mormon Church. Steve Benson left the Mormon Church in a highly publicized break in the early 1990s.
In time for the Democratic National Convention, FFRF will place the same message on two billboards in Charlotte, including a hard-to-miss 14x48-foot version near downtown Charlotte, at 1720 Freedom Drive, 900 feet west of Morehead Street. Those traveling from the airport to the Democratic National Convention will be treated to a highly visible view of FFRF’s “God fixation won’t fix this nation” message on a 10x30-foot billboard on Interstate 77 north of Fifth Street.
“Our equal-opportunity message to both political parties and all public officials is: Get off your knees and get to work!” said FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.
By taking its educational message to political party-goers, FFRF, a nonpartisan state-church watchdog, is continuing a tradition started in 2008, when it placed a board in Denver near the DNC and had a moving billboard in Minneapolis close to the RNC.
“The preoccupation with religion by our nation and our public officials is holding back the USA scientifically, intellectually and morally,” added Annie Laurie Gaylor, who co-directs FFRF.
Gaylor called it "pandering" for the RNC to invite the head of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, who's on the warpath against Obama's contraceptive mandate, to deliver the closing prayer to the RNC.
Based in Madison, Wis., FFRF represents more than 19,000 members nationwide including nearly 900 in Florida. FFRF has brought about 60 lawsuits to keep religion out of government.
Atheist Ireland has donated $100 to the Hunger Task Force via the Freedom From Religion Foundation in response to FFRF's recent victory ending Irish Fest's discriminatory Catholic Mass discount in Milwaukee, Wis.
Michael Nugent (photo), chairperson of Atheist Ireland wrote to Irish Fest officials:
Thank you for ending the discrimination in admission charges against non-Catholics attending your Irish Fest this Sunday, and for reflecting the reality that Irish identity today transcends our various religious or nonreligious beliefs.
You may have seen the results of the Global Index of Religion and Atheism published last week by Gallup International. The Irish figures showed 47% of Irish adults identifying as religious, 43% as nonreligious and 10% as convinced atheists.
Your promotion of this more inclusive sense of Irish identity is positive and welcome.
As a small token of our gratitude, we are sending $100 to the Freedom from Religion Foundation to buy some food items to donate to your collection. Perhaps you might allow free admission to some people who otherwise could not afford the entrance fee.
Please pass on our thanks to your organizing committee and to people participating in your festival.
"We were so pleased that Atheist Ireland took a vested interest in this local complaint. It is important that we have the support of Irish citizens, and that secularism is on the rise in Ireland. We hope that Irish Fest continues to respect the diversity of the ever-changing religious climate," said FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.
Irish Fest organizers in Milwaukee announced on Aug. 16 that they were dropping a promotion that violated civil rights laws by rewarding Mass attendance. Irish Fest said they would offer everyone who drops off a food donation by 11 a.m. free admittance.
FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott sent several letters of complaint to the organization over the past two years over the violation of the Civil Rights Act.
A full-page prepaid ad (click on the image to enlarge) by the Freedom From Religion Foundation which had been accepted more than a month ago to run on Saturday, Aug. 25, was summarily refused a few days before publication by the Daily Standard in Celina, Ohio.
FFRF was contacted on Aug. 20 by Frank M. Snyder, publisher, and its payment was refunded.
The ad had been suggested and underwritten by a generous Celina FFRF member. The donor noted that the newspaper had accepted and published a full-page ad by a religiously motivated anti-abortion outfit on June 6 encouraging Ohio Senate President Pro-Tempore Keith Faber, from Celina, to pass a fetal “personhood” bill.
The signature ad, “It’s Time to Quit the Catholic Church,” has run in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, generating a lot of dialogue on the Catholic Bishops’ interference with contraceptive coverage for American women.
The ad, an open letter to ‘liberal’ and ‘nominal’ Catholics, asks:
“Do you choose women and their rights, or Bishops and their wrongs? In light of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops’ war against women’s right to contraception . . . Why are you aiding and abetting a church that has repeatedly engaged in a crusade to ban contraception, abortion and sterilization, to deny the right of all women everywhere, Catholic or not, to decide whether and when to become mothers?”
FFRF receives “a disproportionate number of state-church complaints from Ohio residents unhappy with religion in Ohio government,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “It’s hard to educate or make headway with such obvious and blatant favoritism and censorship. What happened to the vaunted marketplace of ideas?”
She is encouraging FFRF members and others disturbed by the Daily Standard’s double standard to contact the newspaper. “Why does this newspaper fear open debate so much it will squelch an important alternative message?"
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The Freedom From Religion Foundation will be urging Republicans (next week) and Democrats (in two weeks) to stay out of the religion business, with billboards in Tampa, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C. FFRF is placing billboards in both cities hosting the national political conventions with its special election-year caveat to keep religion out of government.
The patriotically colored billboard artwork by editorial cartoonist Steve Benson depicts a finger-wagging Uncle Sam warning that “God fixation won’t fix this nation.” Benson is the grandson of Ezra Taft Benson, who was secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture under President Dwight Eisenhower and later served as president of the Mormon Church. Steve Benson left the Mormon Church in a highly publicized break in the early 1990s.
FFRF’s 10x30-foot “God fixation” billboard is scheduled to go up today, weather permitting, in Tampa on Kennedy Boulevard, 50 feet west of Arrawana Street, in time to greet GOP convention-goers.
The following week, FFRF will place two billboards in Charlotte, including a hard-to-miss 14x48-foot version near downtown Charlotte, at 1720 Freedom Drive, 900 feet west of Morehead Street. Those traveling from the airport to the Democratic National Convention will be treated to a highly visible view of FFRF’s “God fixation won’t fix this nation” message on a 10x30-foot billboard on Interstate 77 north of Fifth Street.
“This is an equal-opportunity message to both political parties and all public officials. Essentially, we secularists, who comprise nearly a fifth of the U.S. population, are telling government officials that it’s time to get off your knees and get to work!” said FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.
“God fixation won’t fix our nation, or any nation. A preoccupation with religion in government and a political fear of offending religious lobbies is holding back our nation scientifically, intellectually and morally,” added Annie Laurie Gaylor, who co-directs FFRF.
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York, who has been invited to deliver the closing prayer at the Republican National Convention, has been strongly criticized by FFRF for his role in trying to sabotage the contraceptive insurance coverage mandate. FFRF exposed the role of Dolan and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in its signature newspaper ad, "It's Time to Quit the Catholic Church," which has run in The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and Los Angeles Times.
"It is this kind of unseemly partnership between religion and politics that disrespects the constitutional principle of secular government. Dogma should never be allowed to trump humanity or civil law," Gaylor added.
FFRF, based in Madison, Wis., acts as a state/church watchdog. FFRF is the nation’s largest association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics) with more than 19,000 members, including nearly 900 in Florida and almost 500 in North Carolina, which is also home to the Triangle Freethought Society, an active chapter of FFRF.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sent letters of complaint to four Pennsylvania school district boards to inform members that their prayers at meetings are unconstitutional.
Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert sent letters to the Octorara Area School Board in Atglen, the Eastern Lancaster County School Board in New Holland, the Big Spring School Board in Newville and the Greencastle-Antrim School Board in Greencastle. In all instances, a local complainant had alerted FFRF to the violations.
FFRF is a national nonprofit organization with over 18,500 members, including over 600 in Pennsylvania.
"It is beyond the scope of a public school board to schedule prayer as part of its scheduled meetings," Markert noted, citing numerous court cases, including the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals' 2011 ruling in Doe v. Indian River School. "Federal courts have struck down school board practices that include this religious ritual."
The 3rd Circuit, which encompasses Pennsylvania, emphasized in Doe v. Indian River that school board prayer is analogous to other school prayer cases when it comes to protecting children from the coercion of school-sponsored prayer, which is heightened in the context of public schools.
Markert told the boards that the prayers they choose not only demonstrate their endorsement of and preference for religion over nonreligion, but also Christianity over all other religious faiths. (The Octorara board regularly recites the Lord's Prayer.)
"Prayer at public school board meetings is unnecessary, inappropriate and divisive," Markert said. "Calling upon board members, as well as parents and students of the school, to pray is coercive, embarrassing and beyond the scope of our secular school system.
"Board members are free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way. The school board, however, ought not to lend its power and prestige to religion, amounting to a governmental endorsement of religion that excludes the 15 percent or more of the U.S. population that is nonreligious, including nearly 1.5 million Pennsylvanians (American Religious Identification Survey, 2008)."