Annie Laurie Gaylor, one of two people representing the Freedom From Religion Foundation she co-founded with her husband Dan Barker, is demanding that the city of Hondo, Texas, remove a sign that calls the area “God’s Country”:
This is God’s Country. Please Don’t Drive Through It Like Hell.
Turns out the sign has been around for decades: Read more
Dan Barker, co-president with his wife of their self-founded Freedom From Religion Foundation, has filed a lawsuit against the Chaplain of the US House of Representatives, Patrick J. Conroy, because Barker was denied the opportunity to provide an atheistic “invocation.”
So, to be clear, a person who doesn’t play soccer is suing the soccer coach because he wants to be in the soccer game — but not play soccer.
Makes sense. Read more
The Stars and Stripes is creating an interactive map with photos of veteran and war memorials throughout the United States:
Across the United States, towns have honored their soldiers and fallen soldiers in different ways – sometimes small or sometimes with large monuments. They are permanent markers in towns across the country that only locals know of but wandering tourists could easily miss.
We at Stars and Stripes want to document these Read more
When the Ten Commandments monument was removed from the Oklahoma State Capitol a few weeks ago, Franklin Graham lamented the attacks on any public reference to God or Jesus Christ:
We have been appalled at news reports of ISIS and the Islamic State tearing down all symbols of Christianity in the Middle East; but think about it–we’re doing it to ourselves here in the U.S. Atheists, activists, and anti-God groups like the ACLU, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and the Military Freedom of Religion Foundation are on a quest to erase or tear down anything associated with the Name of Jesus Christ.
Graham was referring to Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s awkwardly-named Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which was in the news recently demanding Read more
The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is billed as the world’s largest workplace charitable campaign. It allows federal employees, including members of the US military, to allot donations from their paychecks to a variety of non-profit organizations. While “charity” can sometimes be stereotypically religious, the CFC allows government workers to donate to everything from the Family Research Council to Planned Parenthood.
One regional campaign chose an interesting set of artwork for the cover of their listing pamphlet:
Those who keep up with religious issues in the culture will immediately recognize the symbol of secular humanism, as epitomized Read more
Update: As of November 2015, the full Ninth Circuit refused to re-hear the FFRF appeal, effectively ending the case.
The Montana ski resort statue known as “Big Mountain Jesus” has survived the most recent challenge to have it torn down (from the appeal argued in July). The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a small atheist group that scours the country for signs of religion over which to be offended, sued because the statue is technically on federal land, though the land is perpetually leased to a ski resort. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty defended the statue.
The statue was built in the style of European shrines by the Knights of Columbus to honor the 10th Mountain Division. The Division’s soldiers fondly recalled the many shrines they saw during their combat in World War II. In that regard, it was not raised as a religious shrine itself, as the FFRF claims, but as a memorial that invokes those shrines as an homage to the 10th Mountain Division.
The Appeals Court panel found, in a 2-1 ruling, the statue was essentially secular in purpose — including as justification its “irreverent” use: Read more
In 2014 the Freedom From Religion Foundation appealed the dismissal of their lawsuit intended to remove a statue of Jesus from public land (which is leased as a ski resort). The affectionately named “Big Mountain Jesus” statue was erected as a memorial to the 10th Mountain Division, who recalled seeing many similar shrines during their campaign in Italy during World War II.
A 3-member panel of the 9th Circuit Read more
The Bladensburg Cross, ca 1920-1950.
In what is presumably an effort to prove that it is not “anti-Christian,” Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF has joined a lawsuit (PDF) with the American Humanist Association demanding the removal of the Bladensburg, MD, “Peace Cross.” The Peace Cross was erected in 1925 by the American Legion. Weinstein says (PDF)
The Bladensburg Cross is a Christian symbol on government property…
Because the Bladensburg Cross is a Christian symbol, it sends a message to all of our non-Christian MRFF clients that they are outsiders and unwelcome in the Town of Bladensburg. This message is particularly harmful in the context of a war memorial. It sends Read more