Tag Archives: Church and State

Reminder: Constitution Restricts Government, not Citizens

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, recently received a national religious liberty award at the annual Religious Liberty banquet.  In his speech, he reminded listeners of something they should have learned in American government in high school:

“I’m always fond of pointing out to people that when you look at our First Amendment to the Constitution, which is in large part there because Baptists insisted that it be there in order for them to vote to ratify the Constitution, all of the restrictions are on the government, not Read more

Atheist Jason Torpy Equates Himself with Abolitionists

Jason Torpy, the one-man Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, is an atheist and former Army officer.  While his MAAF is ostensibly a “community support network,” he recently revealed the true motivation behind his ideology.

In a recent display of internet frustration, Torpy took fellow atheists to task for not banding together and being “anti-” enough.  The context was a comment that people don’t join groups for things they don’t believe in, spoken by Neil deGrasse Tyson, a self-described agnostic (who says he is “often claimed by atheists”):

Do non-golf players gather and strategize? Do non-skiers…come together and talk about the fact that they don’t ski? I can’t do that. I can’t gather around and talk about how much everybody in the room doesn’t believe in God.

This is the same point raised by many people  Read more

Obama Issues 2012 National Day of Prayer Proclamation

Consistent with US law, President Barack Obama proclaimed Thursday, May 3, 2012 to be a National Day of Prayer.  He also called specifically for prayer for US troops:

Let us pray for the continued strength and safety of our service members and their families…

I invite all citizens of our Nation, as their own faith directs them, to join me in giving thanks for the many blessings we enjoy, and I call upon individuals of all faiths to pray for guidance, grace, and protection for our great Nation as we address the challenges of our time.

His proclamation for a day of prayer contained a subtle Read more

Second Camp Pendleton Memorial Cross on Hold

The as-yet undecided case of the Camp Pendleton cross, a memorial facing complaints by atheists, has actually impacted a second, unrelated cross.  LCpl Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire, and members of his platoon had apparently planned to erect a cross on an overlooking hill on Camp Pendleton:

But because of a pending military review of placement of religious symbols, the parents of Lance Cpl. Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt Read more

Mojave Cross Case Settled, Cross will Stand

In April 2010, the US Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that claimed a transfer of National Park Service land in the Mojave National Preserve — upon which stood a cross — was an end-run around the US Constitution.

In January 2011, the VFW sued the government for failing to abide by that decision and allowing the cross to stand.  In fact, while the case was ongoing the cross was stolen; when a replacement appeared, the government took it down.

Now it appears the case is done:

A federal judge has approved Read more

Weinstein Recycles Material to Sell Book on Religious Freedom

Michael Weinstein took a pay cut in 2010, so it looks like he felt the need to write a book to try to make up the difference.  He wrote an “op-ed” printed on the Washington Post website, though it was characterized by a fairly solid theme:  No new material, except for hawking Weinstein’s book.

It was refreshing, in some respects, to see Weinstein eschew the subtlety of some of his supporters and just come right out and say he and his “religious freedom” group are targeting Christians:  Read more

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