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
Each year since 1993 the President has declared January 16th to be “Religious Freedom Day,” in order to remember the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. President Obama is scheduled to release his proclamation tomorrow.
Jefferson’s statute continues to be a strong expression for the value of religious liberty even today. Though the statute has been discussed in many places and in great depth, there are two important points to take from the statute. First, Read more
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote a commentary yesterday entitled “‘In this World You Will Have Trouble’ — Welcome to Rowan County.” He thoughtfully discussed the controversy surrounding Kim Davis, County Clerk of Rowan County, who has now been jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses.
The marriage licenses bear her signature as the state authorizing official for the union, and Davis has maintained that places her personal imprimatur on a “marriage” that violates her religious beliefs:
As Mrs. Davis and her attorneys have made clear, she has been willing for her name to be removed from marriage licenses in Rowan County, but she is not willing to put her name on those licenses so long as that would require her approval of same-sex marriages. But Judge Bunning made clear that he would be satisfied only when Mrs. Davis either issues marriage licenses in compliance with the Obergefell decision or resigns her office.
Mohler notes that, like many judicial decisions, they may have impact far greater than some may realize — including the US military: Read more
Each year since 1993 the President has declared January 16th to be “Religious Freedom Day,” in order to remember the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. President Obama has not yet issued his proclamation this year [Edit: now available] but will likely do so today.
Jefferson’s statute continues to be a strong expression for the value of religious liberty even today. Though the statute has been discussed in many places and in great depth, there are two important points to take from the statute. First, Read more
Father Ray Leonard is a civilian contract chaplain who filed a lawsuit after the US military refused to allow him to perform services during the budget crisis known as the “government shutdown” last year.
Father Leonard’s lawsuit has been dismissed as moot (PDF), essentially because the government allowed him to return to work after it re-opened.
Legally, if a defendant reverses a policy in response to a lawsuit, the courts will not (necessarily) consider the claim moot. In this case, however, the judge decided the military did not change its mind because of his lawsuit, but because the government re-opened. Paraphrased, this “mootness” exception says Read more
In light of the recent accusations that the US Air Force has been kowtowing to the whims of Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, its worth recalling what happens when the military doesn’t grant Weinstein special deference:
In 2010, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein demanded that the Fort Carson hospital change its insignia because it contained a cross and
violate[s] the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state and should be removed.
He met with Fort Carson’s commander — who told him to pound sand. Weinstein threatened to sue. The Army said they didn’t care.
Guess what happened?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
The Fort Carson patch remains the same as it ever was. The Army Read more
Chaplain Ray Leonard, the civilian contract Catholic Priest now famous for suing the US government after he was banned from his congregation during the government shutdown, has now said he has experienced official retaliation as a result of his suit:
A Catholic priest has been the target of government retaliation…
The government’s alleged retaliation against Father Ray Leonard began with depriving the civilian priest of two months of his salary, even after the Department of Justice (DOJ) had allowed him to continue his ministry…
Chaplain Leonard’s attorney from Read more
The Rev (Dr.) Albert Mohler wrote an interesting article responding to comments by Jonathan Turley, the lawyer for the successful Utah “sister wives” legal challenge and law professor at George Washington University [emphasis added]:
Turley’s article is an example of a concerted, very sophisticated, libertarian argument that is fast gaining ground in American life. Just last year the state of Colorado decriminalized adultery. The president of the Independence Institute testified for the decriminalization, stating that “it is a conservative value to get rid of bills that are useless.”…
The original statute was hardly useless. It was a profound moral statement about the sanctity of marriage and the crime of violating the marriage vows, thus subverting marriage and the family and endangering children and weakening the larger community.
Mohler also revisits the argument that the state should not “legislate morality,” which he accurately rebuts by Read more