Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Other Free Exercise Issues (including RFRAs, zoning, etc.)

While death by stoning is a form of punishment in a few countries, does anyone seriously believe that would ever happen in the United States?

While the rest of us are busy worrying about the economy, partisan gridlock in Washington or maybe even the Facebook IPO, the Kansas legislature has been busy fighting off a perceived “threat” from shariah law.

Seriously.

A bill that sits on Gov. Sam Brownback’s desk would ban state courts and other government agencies from basing rulings on laws or legal systems other than those of the United States. The language of SB 79 doesn’t specifically mention shariah – Islamic law – but several state senators said that’s what they want to target.

“They stone women to death in countries that have shariah law,” said Sen. Susan Wagle (R-Wichita), according to the Lawrence Journal-World. “If you vote to not adopt [the bill], it’s a vote against women.”

While death by stoning is a form of punishment in a few countries, does anyone seriously believe that would ever happen in the United States? To even entertain that possibility is a nonsensical farce.

Nonetheless, Kansas legislators thought quite highly of the bill – it breezed through both the Kansas Senate (33-3) and the Kansas House of Representatives (120-0).

One of the few to vote against the legislation, Sen. Tim Owens (R-Overland Park), rightly raised the point that banning shariah law is totally unnecessary. According to the Journal-World, he said that our courts are already governed by the legal code of the United States as well as the Constitution, which separates religion and government. Owens also asserted that the legislation sends the message that Kansas is hostile to anyone who doesn’t believe in the ideals of the Religious Right.

Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, agreed with Owens, insisting that the measure could make it difficult for some to choose Islamic marriage contracts, implement Islamic wills or be buried based on their religious customs.

On top of that, in January a federal appeals court struck down a state constitutional amendment in Oklahoma that banned shariah law. While the Oklahoma scheme did mention shariah by name, the ruling casts serious doubt on the constitutionality of the Kansas plan.

If Kansas legislators are so concerned with protecting women, as Sen. Wagle said, they should stop introducing bills like HB 2598. This measure, backed by the Religious Right and already passed by the House, would force doctors to lie to women seeking abortions about the risks of the procedure.

Lawmakers who actually care about women don’t force doctors to lie to them, and we all know this anti-shariah proposal isn’t about “saving” anyone from radical judges and cruel sentences. It’s about sucking up to the Religious Right.

Brownback hasn’t said what he will do with the anti-shariah bill, but stoning it would seem an appropriate response.

Issues:

Tags:

Nihad Awad, Sam Brownback, Sen. Susan Wagle, Sen. Tim Owens

Location:

Kansas

A Step Forward In Kansas: County Commission Drops Sectarian Invocations

boston — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:16:02 +0000

Prayer at Government Events and Legislative Meetings

Government must represent people of many different faiths (as well as those who don’t believe in deities) and should refrain from sponsoring any type of religious activity.

Last month, the Americans United Legal Department sent a letter to the Reno County Commission in Kansas. A resident of that area had been attending Commission meetings and noticed that just about all of them opened with Christian prayer. That didn’t seem right, so this person contacted us.

Sure enough, our attorneys did some research and found that Christian prayers were used nearly 90 percent of the time to open these government meetings. They promptly wrote a letter to the Commission, letting its members know that this was very problematic from a constitutional standpoint.

Some good news: The Commission has directed its attorney to draft a new policy covering invocations. The policy will ask guest clergy to use non-sectarian prayers.

Naturally not everyone is happy with the change. Robert Noland of the Wichita-based Kansas Family Policy Council (a group that, according to its website, “champions a biblical worldview”), groused that “This effort is to single out Christ. Jesus Christ is the only target.”

Well, no. If the commission had been offering up regular supplications to Allah, Shiva, Zeus or even the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Americans United would have objected to that as well. Our belief is that government must represent people of many different faiths (as well as those who don’t believe in deities) and should refrain from sponsoring any type of religious activity.

To be clear, we would have preferred that the Reno County Commission drop official invocations entirely. Members who felt the need for spiritual guidance would still be free to pray privately on their own before the meeting, but they would no longer presume to pray in everyone else’s name. Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door to government use of non-sectarian prayers in a 1983 ruling, so this is probably the best we can do.

This issue stirred up emotions on both sides in the area. I was pleased to see a local minister bring some much-needed clarity to the issue in a column that ran in the Hutchinson News.

Bob Layne, a retired Episcopal priest (and former member of the Kentucky state legislature), urged a reexamination of the entire issue of government-endorsed prayer. He doesn’t see much value in it.

Layne noted that he and his wife begin each day with prayer and Bible reading. It’s obviously meaningful for them. But he recalled that when he was in the Kentucky Senate, the daily prayer ritual was anything but meaningful.

“Often during the somewhat lengthy praying of the chaplain, the senators would roll up the desktops, place the daily newspaper in the well, stand with heads bowed, and just read the news until the preacher said ‘Amen,’” wrote Layne. “Most paid little attention to the prayer. Also, quite often the preacher invoked the Almighty to nudge or knock the lawmakers into approving whatever agenda the preacher was advocating. Of course, this was usually very subtle, but it was there, always accompanied with a veiled threat of dire consequences if ignored. But even that had little effect. When I prayed over the Kansas Legislature, I basically felt like spiritual veneer being spread over the session to somehow sanctify the proceedings, which often were anything but holy.”

Layne advised the Reno County Commission to follow the advice of Jesus in the Book of Matthew: “Do not pray like the hypocrites. Whenever you pray, go into your room, shut the door and pray to your Father in secret.”

Observed Layne, “I honestly believe that praying in our homes is much more powerful than public prayers, school prayers, or official prayers of any sort. Far too often, the focus of public prayer is on the one praying rather than the deity toward whom the prayer is so loudly and passionately voiced. (Tim Tebow, take note.)”

I can only say one word to that: “Amen!”

Issues:

Tags:

Reno County, Kansas, Bob Layne, Robert Noland, Kansas Family Policy Council

Backdoor Endorsement: Liberty U. Chancellor Falwell Gives Romney A Boost

brown — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:50:53 +0000

Religious Groups’ Involvement in Candidate Elections

Inviting one candidate for office to give a political speech while snubbing others puts a tax-exempt organization on thin ice as far as the Internal Revenue Service is concerned, even if no other sort of verbal endorsement is made. But the intro by Falwell, the school’s top official, was nothing short of a backdoor endorsement of Romney.

It seems Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. just can’t help himself when it comes to political endorsements.

At the Lynchburg, Va., school’s graduation ceremony over the weekend, Falwell made sure to say that inviting Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP candidate for president, in no way constituted an endorsement by the tax-exempt institution. He even said nonprofits like Liberty can’t endorse candidates for office, which is exactly right.

So what did Falwell do next?

He said: “I’m thrilled to welcome the next President of the United States!”

Groan.

Earlier this year Falwell helped former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich with an advertising blitz ahead of the Iowa caucuses in January. Now Falwell delivered Romney a captive audience of evangelical voters, whom Romney is still trying to win over.

Early returns suggest the speech gave Romney a boost with the Religious Right crowd.

“I think he touched on the key issues that are important to social conservatives,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said, according to Politico. “He mentioned Rick Santorum and Rick’s emphasis and the need to have the family and the ties to economic success.”

The larger issue here is that this election foray is far from Falwell’s first venture into partisan politics. Americans United has complained about his activities before, including the Iowa incident, an attempt by the university to discriminate against a student Democrats club in 2009, and a 2009 scheme in which the Liberty student newspaper told students to vote Republican in a local election. (The school also helped register students to vote and bused them to and from polling places on Election Day.)

We don’t know what the IRS is doing about those complaints since investigations are kept private, but if Falwell and Liberty aren’t being investigated, they certainly should be.

It’s no real surprise that Falwell Jr. is heavily involved in partisan politics, because the (rotten) apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell Sr. was smacked pretty hard by the IRS back in the day for diverting resources from his Old Time Gospel Hour to political activity. The IRS fined him $50,000 for his activities in 1986 and 1987.

At this point, it’s obvious that Falwell Jr. is picking right up where his father left off. He has tried before to turn Liberty University into a united bloc of voters, and he did it again this weekend by inviting Romney to speak to students (I’m sure President Obama’s invitation got lost in the mail.)

For someone who presides over a learning institution, Falwell Jr. isn’t much of a student. One would think that the fine his dad got stuck with would serve as a warning, but it seems he hasn’t gotten the message. Perhaps a stronger punishment is in order for this repeat offender.

Issues:

Tags:

Jerry Falwell Jr, Mitt Romney, Liberty University, Tony Perkins

Girl Scouts On The Rack: Catholic Bishops Have Just A Few Questions….

conn — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:13:19 +0000

Joseph L. Conn

Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is conducting an “official inquiry” into the frightening activities of those insidious cookie-mongers.

The Roman Catholic bishops seem to have a problem with strong, independent women, don’t they?

The hierarchy recently launched an offensive against American nuns, accusing them of supporting “radical feminism” and failing to show sufficient enthusiasm for the bishops’ efforts to ban abortion and deny civil rights to gays. Now the all-male church leadership has decided to subject the Girl Scouts to an inquisition.

Several media reports today say the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is conducting an “official inquiry” into the frightening activities of those insidious cookie-mongers.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the bishops, told The Washington Post, “There had been some complaints about the Scouts, and the bishops couldn’t turn a deaf ear. So they want to know, what’s the story?”

I think we all know what “the story” is, Sister. Some Girl Scout leader sometime somewhere mentioned someone who supports birth control. And we can’t have that, can we?

Seriously, it’s that ridiculous.

Religious Right leaders have been playing this game for years. As my colleague Rob Boston reported earlier this year, Focus on the Family and FOF founder James Dobson have accused the group of pushing “a philosophy that includes humanism and radical feminism.” Two years ago, Charles W. Colson called for a boycott of the annual cookie sale.

Now the bishops have decided to get in on the fun.

According to an AP account, critics say the Girl Scouts have ties to Planned Parenthood (they don’t) and shouldn’t take stands on abortion, birth control and sexuality (they don’t). They also shouldn’t have any contact with any groups like the Sierra Club, Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam that don’t toe the bishops’ line on family planning.

The critics blast the Girl Scouts' membership in the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, which (horrors!) has sometimes supported discussion of sex and sexuality. The U.S. organization sets its own policies, of course, and doesn’t necessarily follow the leadership of the larger association, but apparently that isn’t good enough for the folks with the torches and pitchforks.

The critics also complain about a 1993 decision that allowed girls to “substitute wording appropriate to their own spiritual beliefs” for the word “God” in the Girl Scout promise – "On my honor, I will try to serve God and my country." That opens the door to everyone from Atheists to Zoroastrians! Can’t have that, can we?

Conservative Catholic activist Mary Rice Hasson told the AP, “The leadership of the Girl Scouts is reflexively liberal. Their board is dominated by people whose views are antithetical to the teachings of the Catholic Church.”

So now we’re getting to the crux of the matter. The Girl Scouts are a nonsectarian group that welcomes girls and women from many perspectives about religion and teaches them to be strong and independent.

I’ve never been a member of the Girl Scouts, but my AU colleague Rebecca Davis-Nord has. She says she learned first aid, camping, public service and “definitely to think for ourselves and to value ourselves as young women.”

No wonder the bishops have them on the rack.

Here’s the bottom line: The Religious Right and the Catholic hierarchy are increasingly joining forces to try to impose their doctrines on every aspect of American society. They want dominion, and they’re pulling every conceivable lever to get it.

Just say no – and buy another case of Do-Si-Do’s.

Issues:

Tags:

Girl Scouts, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Focus On The Family, James Dobson, Charles Colson

Wedding Announcement: Obama Shift On Marriage Equality Reignites ‘Culture Wars’

boston — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:11:07 +0000

Marriage (including same-sex Marriage)

The 'culture wars' are back – at least for the time being.

By now, everyone knows that President Barack Obama said yesterday that he personally favors marriage equality. Obama said his views on the issue have evolved and told ABC News, “I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”

The president didn’t say that he will push for the idea or that he’ll undertake any specific policy proposals to bring about marriage equality, but an announcement like this can’t help but reverberate widely in an election year.

Obama’s announcement comes on the heels of an endorsement of marriage equality by Vice President Joe Biden and a vote in North Carolina amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions.

All of this means that the “culture wars” are back – at least for the time being. Religious Right leaders will use the new developments to energize their base, raise money and rally around presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

Whenever this issue comes up, Religious Right groups make reckless charges. One of the things they frequently claim is that houses of worship will be forced to perform same-sex marriages.

No, they won’t – not as long as we have a First Amendment. I’ve said this before, but here it is again: Pastors have the right to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies for any reason. For example, imagine a heterosexual, non-Catholic couple that has been cohabiting walking into a Catholic church and demanding to be married. Fat chance. The priest is going to tell them that they must first convert to Catholicism and establish separate households.

Just to be clear on this, the White House said the following in talking points about this issue: “We make it absolutely clear that we are talking about civil marriages and civil laws. This isn’t a federal issue. We must be respectful of religious liberty, that churches and other faith institutions are still going to be able to make determinations about what their sacraments are, what they recognize.”

Don’t expect that to stop the Religious Right, of course. That movement’s leaders live outside the reality-based community.

And don’t expect the Religious Right’s political allies to let an issue this juicy just lie there. Even before Obama made his announcement, they were hard at work whipping up anti-gay hysteria among the far-right base.

Yesterday, for example, Americans United had to send a letter to members of the House Committee on Armed Services – not a legislative panel we usually have a lot of dealings with. Why did we do it? Because U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) put forth an amendment to a Department of Defense bill that would grant chaplains sweeping new power to refuse to assist service personnel if the chaplains felt that doing so would offend their religious beliefs.

Now that gays are allowed to serve openly in the military, Akin says he wants to make certain that chaplains aren’t forced to perform same-sex marriages. But chaplains already have the right to opt out of such ceremonies. This new provision could give them the right to refuse to provide a host of other services that members of our military have earned through their defense of the nation.

A separate amendment would deny the use of military facilities for same-sex weddings – even in states where it’s legal – while still permitting heterosexual unions. This proposal would essentially relegate gay couples to second-class citizenship. (It appears that both amendments passed the committee, but their fate in the full Congress remains uncertain.)

Americans United has noted several times that U.S. marriage policy – and indeed all American law – must be based on secular principles, not theological precepts. In a nation with an officially secular government, the fact that some say the Bible condemns same-sex marriage or the pope doesn’t like it is irrelevant to our civil laws.

No matter what you think of Obama’s announcement, it’s important to recognize what it means to the Religious Right (and the Roman Catholic hierarchy). Even though most Americans continue to tell pollsters that the economy is their number one concern, Obama’s decision will stoke anew the flames of the culture wars and give the theocrats among us another target to attack.

Hang on. It’s going to be a long, brutal campaign season.

Issues:

Tags:

President Barack Obama, same-sex marriage, Rep. Todd Akin, military chaplains

Liberty Counsel Con: What’s Falwell Lawyer Mat Staver Got To Hide?

brown — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:53:56 +0000

Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups

To even the most casual observer, Liberty Counsel isn’t a church or a church auxiliary.

Here’s a question for Mat Staver, head of Liberty Counsel – what do you and your organization have to hide?

Liberty Counsel is a Religious Right legal group operating from Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Liberty University. It does things like argue that the Ten Commandments should be displayed in public buildings, that all abortions should be illegal and that marriage equality should be denied to gay couples.

The rhetoric is often shrill, partisan and breathtakingly wrong-headed. Staver once said Americans United is “out to literally destroy America; they're out to erase our religious heritage and religious symbols from every area of life.” In a recent fund-raising pitch, he said the Obama administration’s inclusion of birth control as part of health care reform is “one of the most disrespectful, ‘in your face’ dictates ever inflicted upon the American people.”

But one of Staver’s most dubious claims is that Liberty Counsel is a “church auxiliary.” That means the organization is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code and doesn’t have to file a Form 990 that gives information on its activities. As a result, the public doesn’t know how much money Liberty Counsel takes in or how that money is spent.

To even the most casual observer, Liberty Counsel isn’t a church or a church auxiliary. In its own words on its website, Liberty Counsel “is an international nonprofit litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.”

That doesn’t sound like any church organization I know. If you cut through the rhetorical fog, it means Liberty Counsel is just another garden-variety Religious Right legal organization doing its best to undermine church-state separation.

Staver, who serves as dean of the Liberty University Law School, told The Roanoke Times that his group’s tax status is no different from the Salvation Army, but that’s baloney. The Salvation Army is actually a Christian denomination.

A recent profile of Staver in the Times noted that his organization has about 35 employees and offices in Lynchburg, Va., Orlando, Fla., and Washington, D.C. The organization also claims hundreds of volunteers who provide legal and other services. Again, this doesn’t sound much like a church.

AU suggested to the Times that it explore Liberty Counsel’s tax status, and the article noted that Staver filed a Form 990 until 2006, when his group started claiming status as a church auxiliary. In its final report to the IRS, Liberty Counsel reported $1.3 million in revenue and $1.1 million in expenses, including a $100,831 annual salary for Staver and $76,421 for his wife, Anita Staver, who is the group’s president.

When asked via email what he makes today, Staver didn’t respond. The group gave the Roanoke newspaper an audited statement that indicated a current income of $4.2 million in the last fiscal year.

AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn told the Times that he is troubled by Liberty’s lack of financial transparency.

“We don't know where they're getting their money or how they are spending it,” he said. “This cloak of invisibility is unique and, I think, really disreputable.”

To add insult to injury, Staver is serving on an evangelical Christian-led committee, the Commission on Accountability for Religious Organizations, which is looking into tax issues involving involving responsible use of resources and transparency!

This is truly an outrage.

Liberty Counsel isn’t a church auxiliary; its’ a Religious Right legal operation. And the question remains – what is this group trying to hide?

PS: Americans United is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and we gladly play by the rules. You can read our most recent Form 990 here.

Issues:

Tags:

Liberty Counsel, Mat Staver, Jerry Falwell Jr., Liberty University

The Barton Lies: New Book Exposes ‘Christian Nation’ Advocate’s Long List Of Distortions

boston — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:29:38 +0000

Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups, Responding to Common Attacks on Church-State Separation

Two professors at Grove City College have just released a book that demolishes David Barton's bogus 'scholarship.'

Last month I wrote about Religious Right pseudo-historian David Barton’s new book The Jefferson Lies, which attempts to prove that Thomas Jefferson was an orthodox Christian and not really a strong advocate of church-state separation.

Reading that thing just about drove me bonkers. Barton wrenches material from context, tells half of the story and sometimes just makes things up. It’s an appalling example of what I call “historical creationism.”

I’ve been debunking Barton’s revisionist history since 1993 – and pointing out repeatedly that the man is not a qualified historian. He has a bachelor’s degree in Christian Education from Oral Roberts University.

But to be honest, I’ve felt a bit hamstrung myself because I’m not an academic either. Neither is another prominent Barton critic, Chris Rodda of Liars for Jesus. Chris does great work, but it’s just too easy for some to dismiss her research (and mine) because it doesn’t come from the academy.

Now the academy has spoken – and Barton is not going to like what it has to say. Two Grove City College professors holding doctorates have just released Getting Jefferson Right: Fact-Checking Claims About Our Third President.

Authors Warren Throckmorton, a psychology professor, and Michael Coulter, a humanities and political science professor, are both conservative Christians. (Grove City is a private Christian institution where, according to its website, the “ethical absolutes of the Ten Commandments and Christ’s moral teachings guide the effort to develop intellect and character in the classroom, chapel, and cocurricular activities.”)

I started the book last night after dinner and couldn’t put it down. To be blunt, it’s a hammer. Throckmorton and Coulter look at numerous pieces of disinformation spread by Barton and give the real story, usually backing up their claims with words from Jefferson’s own writings.

Here are three examples:

* Barton says Jefferson helped found the Virginia Bible Society. Did he? Nope. Jefferson made a one-time contribution to the Society because a business associate asked him to. In reality, Jefferson wasn’t too keen on Bible societies, criticizing them in letters to friends for meddling in the religions of other countries.

* Barton says Jefferson added the phrase “In the Year of Our Lord Christ” to official government documents. Did he? No. The documents referred to were called “sea letters,” a type of passport that enabled ships to move between nations. By the terms of a Treaty with Holland ratified in 1782, Jefferson was obligated to use language on pre-printed forms provided by that nation. Officials in Holland added the “Lord Christ” language.

* Barton says that while Jefferson was a state legislator in Virginia, he proposed a bill that would have punished anyone who worked on Sunday. Did he do this? He did not. Jefferson was part of a committee charged with the task of revising Virginia’s law after the Revolution. Rather than start from scratch, the committee took 126 existing laws and revised some of them. The committee’s work actually liberalized the Sabbath law. They added a huge loophole allowing work done “in the ordinary household offices of daily necessity, or other work of necessity or charity.” The law Barton sees as favoring Christianity actually liberalized a provision that had been much more stringent.

There is much, much more in this book. It’s first-rate scholarship.

So why did Throckmorton and Coulter write it? Their answer is remarkably refreshing: “The duty of Christians as scholars is first to get the facts correct…. Engaging in scholarship as a Christian is not about who is on our team; it should have as an aim of uncovering the facts about a subject, whether it is a historical figure or a theory of social science, and following the data where they lead.”

See more on Throckmorton and Coulter’s website. You can learn there how to download the book, which is a bargain at $4.99. For the price of a cup of fancy coffee at Starbucks, you can get a book that utterly demolishes Barton/Religious Right “scholarship.” (And if you don’t believe Barton has influence, check out his recent appearance on “The Daily Show.” I was really annoyed that Jon Stewart never laid a glove on him. Throckmorton and Coulter should be invited on to set things right.)

If Barton has any shame, he would disappear in the wake of Throckmorton and Coulter’s book. He won’t do that, of course, and millions of right-wing fundamentalists will continue to believe his version of “history” over the real thing.

But thanks to Getting Jefferson Right, the truth will be out there for anyone who takes the time to look for it.

Issues:

Tags:

David Barton, Warren Throckmorton, Michael Coulter, Getting Jefferson Right, Liars for Jesus, Chris Rodda, Grove City College, thomas jefferson

Intolerance In Tennessee: Lenoir City High School Students Face Torrent Of Hate

brown — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:21:23 +0000

Krystal Myers, Lenoir City High School, Zac Mitchell, Van Shaver

It’s so sad that people who are just trying to live their lives by their own beliefs are shouted down simply because those beliefs don’t conform to the norm in a community.

In March, Americans United intervened in Lenoir City, Tenn. after we received reports about a public school that openly favors Christianity.

Trouble began when Krystal Myers, a senior at Lenoir City High School, attempted to submit a column in her school’s newspaper in which she outlined how difficult it is to be a non-believer in an overwhelmingly Christian community, and how she feels like something of a second-class student at a school in which sectarian prayers before football games and graduations are commonplace. (Her column was banned from the newspaper because, school officials said, because it might cause a disruption. The piece later ran in the Knoxville News Sentinel.)

Now, in what is beginning to feel like a cliché, Myers is being subjected to hateful rhetoric and threats from a community that claims to be Christian and prides itself on loving God. Here’s a sampling of some of what’s being said about Myers in a thread called “Krystal Myers Should be Excommunicated from the City and County” on a local message board.

“We cant [sic] pray at football games or school board meetings anymore because of the .. Tramp…$lut… Bitch,” said a poster named “Dude.”

“She should be taken outside the city and stoned,” a poster named “Jethro” said.

“She will burn…..,” “Tennessee Boy,” said simply.

Others have taken to more traditional forums, such as the News Sentinel. In a letter to the editor, J.A. Frahme of Knoxville had the audacity to accuse Myers, who stood up for the Constitution and the First Amendment, of being the closed-minded one.

“Krystal Myers' god is herself,” Frahme wrote. “She wants all others to adhere to her belief by removing God from having any place in the public arena. So it is one religion (atheism) telling another religion (Christianity) to get out of public and governmental places. The students have every right to exercise their Christian beliefs as she does her atheism.”

People like Frahme are totally off base. Not only did Myers find it difficult at best to express her beliefs, but Christian educators were expressing their religion in a way that not only offended Myers, but was unconstitutional.

Sadly the community’s intolerance doesn’t end there. In a separate incident, a gay student named Zac Mitchell was featured in an article for the Lenoir City High School yearbook that was called “It’s O.K. to be Gay.”

This sent some in the community into a tirade.

On the Lenoir topix.com board, one angry poster wrote:

“As a former editor of the Lenoir City High School Annual, I am sad and mad that such trash could be part of the yearbook. … See, people, when you ask God to leave our schools … this is what is going to happen.”

But the prize for most extreme overreaction goes to Van Shaver, a board member of the adjacent Loudon County Schools, who said the teacher who oversees the yearbook should be fired and that a full police investigation should be launched “to hold accountable any and all those who had a hand in this despicable act.”

Protestors have called on students to rip the article about Mitchell from their yearbooks, and some are asking the school to prevent Mitchell and Myers, from walking across the stage at their upcoming graduation.

Americans United understands that the school probably won’t cave to protestors, but heightened security, possibly local police and National Guard members, may be needed at the ceremony.

It’s so sad that people who are just trying to live their lives by their own beliefs are shouted down simply because those beliefs don’t conform to the norm in a community. The United States is supposed to be a place where people can live their lives as they see fit, provided they don’t harm anyone else. Myers and Mitchell haven’t hurt anyone.

The only folks causing trouble are the citizens of Lenoir City who seek to demonize these kids because they had the fortitude to be different. Myers and Mitchell are courageous young people, and we commend them for their stand.

Issues:

School Prayer

Tags:

Location:

Tennessee

Capitol Circus: Religious Right Leaders Plan D.C. Prayer Rally For ‘Evil’ America

boston — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:55:47 +0000