Headlines: Separation of Church and State (T23R-2)
Americans United Issues Statement on Tony Dungy Appointment to ... Common Dreams (press release), ME WASHINGTON - March 31 - Americans United for Separation of Church and State today expressed disappointment at the Obama administration's decision to ask former football coach Tony Dungy to serve on the president's Advisory Council on Faith-based and ... Dungy invited to join White House faith council |
President Obama Straddles the Wall of Separation Huffington Post, NY One possible exception to Judge Hamilton's middle of the road image is the separation of church and state. (There is also an abortion informed consent decision that will draw attention.) In 2005, Judge Hamilton ruled that the Indiana legislature must ... |
ADL Disappointed in Governor Kaine Signing Senate Bill 817 Into Law FOXBusiness ADL believes that permitting Choose Life license plates and providing taxpayer funded subsidies to a sectarian institution is incompatible with the separation of church and state. The separation of church and state, as embodied in the First Amendment ... |
 Opposing Views | AZ Supreme Court Calls School Voucher Program Unconstitutional Opposing Views, CA By Americans United - 24 Hours Ago Last week’s Arizona Supreme Court decision striking down two school voucher programs is a welcome action that protects religious liberty and public education, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State. ... |
 Boston Globe | Bishop Promotes Gay Civil Rights The Emory Wheel “It’s time to start demanding separation of church and state.†Robinson said that church and state are extremely intertwined when it comes to marriage, noting that religious officials often sign marriage licenses, when instead the state should always ... US gay bishop: 'Church should bless marriage, not legalise it' |
Separating church/state our heritage Florida Times-Union, FL He founded the Clay County chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He also is on the organization's national council. And he says that while there isn't a prohibition against a school using a song with a religious theme, ... |
 Seattle Post Intelligencer | Take on Life: A double standard for 'church and state' in Connecticut Danbury News Times, CT "You don't get rid of all of (the parishes) over the occasional sour apple," the bishop said, arguing that the legislature should not interfere in the operation of the church. But as Lori played the separation of church and state card, the church's ... Catholics protest Connecticut church finance bill Connecticut looking to regulate the Catholic Church? Catholics Fume Over Proposed Law |
Vt. Governor vows to veto marriage bill Vermont Cynic (subscription), VT “We say that there is separation of Church and State, but if this bill does not pass, I find it hard to believe in such a separation.†Dorothea “Dot†Brauer, Director of LGBTQA Services, said that it is the responsibility of the Vermont government to ... |
Americans United for Separation of Church and State today expressed disappointment at the Obama administration’s decision to ask former football coach Tony Dungy to serve on the president’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
“God & Country,” the religion blog of U.S. News & World Report, said today that Dungy has been asked to serve on the council, but he has not yet decided whether to do so.
Dungy, former coach of the Indianapolis Colts football team, has well-known ties with intolerant Religious Right groups. In 2007, for example, he spoke at a fund-raising dinner for the Indiana Family Institute, a James Dobson-affiliated group that opposes gay rights, reproductive rights and separation of church and state.
Said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United’s executive director, “I am surprised and disappointed that Dungy has been asked to serve on the council. His view that civil-marriage law should reflect religious doctrine is not in keeping with the Constitution.”
Added Lynn, “It is extremely important for the advisory council to uphold civil rights and civil liberties, and I am concerned that Coach Dungy is far from the best person to do that.”
Dungy, in his remarks at the Indiana Family Institute dinner, supported an Indiana constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and suggested that public policy ought to reflect religious doctrine.
"I feel like telling people when they look at this issue of same-sex marriage . . . I'm not on anybody's side," Dungy said. "I'm on the Lord's side."
According to U.S. News, Dungy accepted the Indiana Family Institute's Friend of the Family Award and said he "embraced" the IFI’s support for the gay marriage ban.
"IFI is saying what the Lord says," Dungy said. "You can take that and yound you can make the decision on which way you want to be."
"We're not trying to downgrade anyone else," Dungy added. "But we're trying to promote the family — family values the Lord's way."
Lynn said it is important that the advisory council not advocate views such as Dungy’s that undercut church-state separation.
Concluded Lynn, “I look forward to working with President Obama and his staff as he develops his administration’s position on the faith-based funding issue.”
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
Today’s Arizona Supreme Court decision striking down two school voucher programs is a welcome action that protects religious liberty and public education, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The Arizona high court, ruling unanimously, said the voucher subsidies violate a provision of the Arizona Constitution barring tax funding of religious and other private schools.
“This important decision reflects our best traditions,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “It upholds the right of taxpayers to support only the religious institutions of their choice. Public funds should be spent at public schools.”
Americans United filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Cain v. Horne case, urging the court to strike down the state programs. Vouchers, said AU, plainly run afoul of Article IX, Section 10 of the Arizona Constitution, which states that no tax appropriations may be made “in aid of any church, or private or sectarian school….”
Arizona is one of 37 states with strong constitutional provisions that bar the diversion of tax funding to religious schools. Other state courts have ruled against school vouchers in the past, and more may do so in the future.
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
The Texas Board of Education should remove language from proposed science standards that opens the door to teaching religious concepts in public schools, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
“Texas can either have world-class science standards or allow fundamentalists to sneak religion into classrooms through the back door,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “It can’t do both.”
The board has been deliberating the science curriculum for months. At issue is a set of standards known as Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). The science standards are under review, and a faction on the board insists on using them to promote religion.
In December, a curriculum-writing team proposed standards that emphasize sound science. The following month, the board adopted the standards but added language that scientific, educational and civil liberties organizations say would compromise the teaching of evolution.
The board will meet March 26 to discuss the issue with a final vote scheduled for March 27.
In a letter to the board today, Americans United urged members to uphold sound science and reject any schemes intended to advance religion in the classroom.
Noting that religious instruction belongs in the home, not public schools, AU State Legislative Counsel Dena S. Sher argues that the language in the standards could lead to litigation.
“Americans United recommends that the Board proceed with caution in adopting the standards approved at the January Board meeting because courts have determined that undermining evolution like the January amendments do is unconstitutional,” wrote Sher. “Americans United remains vigilant of students’ and parents’ rights to have sound science, rather than religious belief, taught in public-school science classrooms and will not hesitate to challenge any introduction of religion into Texas’s public schools.”
The federal courts have repeatedly struck down Religious Right attempts to push religion in public school science classes. In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court in Edwards v. Aguillard invalidated a Louisiana statute requiring science educators to “balance” teaching evolution concepts with “creation science” concepts.
In 2004, Americans United and the ACLU challenged the promotion of “intelligent design” creationism in Dover, Pa., public schools. A year later a federal district court ruled in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District that such governmental advocacy of religion is unconstitutional.
Americans United noted that reports issued by the U.S. Department of Education in 2007 and 2008 show that the academic achievement of D.C voucher students is no better than that of students attending D.C. public schools. A November 2007 report by the General Accounting Office also criticized the program, finding that “accountability and internal control were inadequate.”
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State today praised the U.S. Senate for refusing to provide funding indefinitely for a controversial private school voucher plan in Washington, D.C.
Americans United asserts that the program, initially funded as a five-year experiment, serves mainly to funnel tax money to religious schools and has not raised student achievement.
“D.C.’s voucher experiment, cooked up in the laboratories of the far right, has failed,” declared the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “The Senate did the responsible thing in taking the first steps toward ending this program.”
The federally funded voucher plan was foisted on the District of Columbia by private school advocates in the Bush administration in 2004. The House of Representatives recently approved an omnibus spending bill that included language winding down the pilot program over the next year unless certain steps are taken. Those steps would include congressional reauthorization of funding and approval by the District of Columbia City Council.
It is widely believed that these conditions would be difficult to meet, with the result that the program would end.
U.S. Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) put forward Amendment 615 to the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill (H.R. 1105) that would have stripped this language from the bill.
The Ensign amendment faced a vote today and failed by a tally of 58-39.
Lynn noted that voters have repeatedly rejected ballot referenda at the ballot box. Public opinion polls also show that Americans prefer other options to spur education reform.
“The public wants strong, well-funded public schools,” Lynn said. “Vouchers are a distraction from reaching that goal.”
On March 3, Americans United sent a letter to every senator, urging them to vote against Ensign’s amendment.
“Senator Ensign’s amendment would open the door to the indefinite funding of the expired D.C. voucher program even though it has been proven ineffective, would harm civil rights and civil liberties, and would strip necessary accountability standards needed to fix identified problems that exist in the current program,” asserted the letter.
Americans United noted that reports issued by the U.S. Department of Education in 2007 and 2008 show that the academic achievement of D.C voucher students is no better than that of students attending D.C. public schools. A November 2007 report by the General Accounting Office also criticized the program, finding that “accountability and internal control were inadequate.”
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday, March 11, will urge a federal appeals court to uphold the right of taxpayers to challenge public funding of a Baptist childcare agency that proselytizes youngsters in its care and discriminates against gay employees who do not share its belief that homosexuality is sinful.
The lawsuit, Pedreira v. Kentucky Baptist Homes For Children, Inc., asserts that Kentucky Baptist Homes has no right to accept state and federal funding while imposing religious dogma on the children in its programs and that the Homes’ religion-based anti-gay employment policy violates civil rights laws.
The federal court action comes at a time when government support for “faith-based” social services remains a deeply controversial national issue. Former President George W. Bush supported government funding of religion and religiously based job discrimination through his faith-based initiative. President Barack Obama has drawn criticism for failing to revise the Bush plan to include much-needed civil rights and civil liberties safeguards.
The Pedreira lawsuit was filed in 2000 on behalf of a group of Kentucky taxpayers, including Alicia Pedreira, an employee at the Louisville home who worked with troubled young people. Despite her excellent performance reviews, Pedreira was terminated based on the home’s religious beliefs about homosexuality in 1998 after it became publicly known that she is a lesbian.
A federal district court dismissed the case on March 31, 2008, ruling that the plaintiffs do not have legal standing to bring it. Americans United and the ACLU are asking the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the case so that the plaintiffs can pursue their challenge to public funding for Kentucky Baptist Homes.
“This is a vitally important lawsuit for all Americans,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “It will determine whether taxpayers can be forced to subsidize religious indoctrination and religious discrimination. The civil rights and civil liberties of every American are very much at stake.”
Added Americans United Senior Litigation Counsel Alex J. Luchenitser, who will argue the case before the appeals court, “Our federal courts must keep the door open to Americans whose religious liberty rights are being violated. The trial judge’s decision threatens to essentially take church-state separation out of the Constitution.”
Ken Choe, a senior staff lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Project, said, “This case illustrates the all-too-real dangers of the government funding religious organizations without adequate safeguards. Alicia Pedreira was fired because she didn’t conform to the religious beliefs of her government-funded employer.”
Said Alicia Pedreira, “I put my heart and soul into helping the children who were under the care of Baptist Homes and was making a difference in their lives. It was unfair to be fired for being a lesbian. It’s not right that an organization that is funded by state and federal dollars to do work for the state can get away with this.”
In documents filed with the 6th Circuit, Americans United and the ACLU noted numerous examples of the religious nature of the childcare agency. Its president has touted the Homes’ success in converting children, and the agency calls itself “Christ centered.”
A report by the Children’s Review Program, a private contractor hired by Kentucky officials to monitor programs for children, lists numerous instances where young people complained about being forced to attend Baptist services or said they were not permitted to attend services of other faiths.
The Pedreira case is scheduled for oral argument at 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 11, at the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse, 100 E. Fifth St., Cincinnati, Ohio.
Attorneys joining Luchenitser and Choe on the Pedreira legal team include Americans United Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan; Washington, D.C., attorney Murray Garnick; attorneys David Bergman, Joshua Wilson, Elizabeth Leise and Alicia Truman of the international law firm Arnold & Porter LLP; ACLU attorneys James Esseks, David Friedman, Daniel Mach and William Sharp; and Vicki Buba of the Oldfather Law Firm in Louisville, Ky.
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State has called on the Senate to reject Sen. John Ensign’s proposal to extend Washington, D.C.’s private school voucher plan.
The program, Americans United asserts, funds religious schools, diverts attention from public school improvement and has not raised student achievement.
“The sad truth is, this fight is not about helping kids in D.C. or anywhere else,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “It’s about ideology. Some people just don’t like public schools and want to use vouchers to funnel public funds to religious and other private schools.
“The American people have rejected this approach over and over again at the ballot box,” Lynn continued. “The Senate should reject school vouchers as well. Our focus should be on improving public schools, not undercutting them through vouchers.”
D.C.’s federally funded voucher plan was foisted on the District of Columbia by private school advocates in the Bush administration in 2004. It was initially funded by Congress for five years as an experiment.
The program is due to expire this year, but some senators, notably U.S. Sens. Ensign (R-Nev.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), are pushing to continue it.
Ensign has put forward Amendment 615 to the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill (H.R. 1105) that would have the effect of extending the program. The matter could face a Senate vote as early as Monday.
Lynn noted that some voucher supporters have resorted to extreme rhetoric. Yesterday, DeMint said during a news conference that most D.C. public school students end up joining gangs.
“If you send a kid to [public] school in D.C., chances are that they will end up in a gang rather than graduating,” DeMint said.
On March 3, Americans United sent a letter to every senator, urging them to vote against Ensign’s amendment.
“Senator Ensign’s amendment would open the door to the indefinite funding of the expired D.C. voucher program even though it has been proven ineffective, would harm civil rights and civil liberties, and would strip necessary accountability standards needed to fix identified problems that exist in the current program,” asserted the letter.
AU’s letter notes that reports issued by the U.S. Department of Education in 2007 and 2008 show that the academic achievement of D.C voucher students is no better than that of students attending D.C. public schools.
In addition, a November 2007 report by the General Accounting Office criticized the program, finding that “accountability and internal control were inadequate.”
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
The U.S. Supreme Court made the right call today in refusing to hear a case from New Jersey dealing with a high school football coach who wants to pray with students, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Without comment, the justices announced that they will not hear an appeal of Borden v. School District of the Township of East Brunswick, a challenge brought by high school football coach Marcus Borden. The high court’s decision leaves in place a lower court order barring Borden from involvement in his students’ religious activities.
“A coach’s job is to teach kids how to play a sport, not promote religion,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “This case is a firm reminder that parents, not school personnel, are the rightful decision-makers when it comes to children’s religious upbringing.”
Borden claimed he merely wanted to show respect while players prayed by bowing his head and going down on one knee. But the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that Borden’s actions would be seen by students as official promotion of religion, given his 23-year history of organizing and leading prayer for students.
The Supreme Court struck down coercive forms of school-sponsored prayer in 1962 and declared mandatory Bible reading in schools unconstitutional the following year. Since then, the court has ruled uniformly that public schools cannot sponsor religious activities.
Americans United says the court record clearly showed that Borden had long been promoting worship activities among students. He often personally led pre-game prayer and for 14 years brought in a chaplain to pray with players prior to team meals. He later began assigning students to lead the devotions.
Borden discontinued these activities after school officials insisted because they had received complaints from parents.
After a U.S. district court ruled in Borden’s favor, Americans United offered to represent the East Brunswick Public Schools pro bono. AU Assistant Legal Director Richard B. Katskee argued the case before the 3rd Circuit and won a ruling there on appeal.
Said Katskee, “Children have a clear right to attend public schools without religious pressures being brought to bear by school personnel. Coach Borden was out of bounds, and the courts were right to blow the whistle. I hope that other coaches and school personnel learn a lesson from this.”
“Public school officials simply may not engage with students in religious activity,” said East Brunswick Board of Education President Todd Simmens. “Consistent with this law, the Board of Education and district officials have, throughout this case, made certain that no school employee supervises or otherwise participates in any type of prayer with our students. Needless to say, the Board is pleased that, in this case, the courts have reaffirmed this long-standing constitutional principle.”
In addition to Americans United, the school district is also represented by Scarinci & Hollenbeck, LLC.
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, announced today that he is stepping down as chairman of that organization.
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, issued the following statement:
“James Dobson’s decision to resign as chairman of Focus on the Family is unlikely to make much of a difference in the day-to-day operations of that organization. Dobson intends to continue his daily radio program and monthly mailings. He has also said he will keep handing out political endorsements. Many who listen to Dobson’s daily radio broadcast may not even be aware of this change.
“Focus on the Family is merely rearranging the deck chairs on its big, intolerant ship.
“I do not expect this change to mean we will see any moderation in the rhetoric of Focus on the Family or its arm in Washington, the Family Research Council. For years, FOF has been the leading voice of religious extremism and intolerance in America. It has led the attack on the legal rights of gay and lesbian Americans, worked assiduously to undermine reproductive rights, assaulted the religious neutrality of public schools and labored to replace science with far-right, fundamentalist dogma.
“Despite my differences with him, if Dobson were truly retiring, I would wish him well. But I know that Dobson and so many other leaders of the Religious Right intend to remain active, working to force their exclusionary worldview onto the rest of us.
“For that reason, I vow that Americans United will continue to strongly oppose the agenda of Dobson and Focus on the Family no matter what title he uses.”
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that a Utah community does not have to erect a religious code from a group called Summum in a public park where the Ten Commandments are displayed.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State said the court made the right decision but urged that all permanent religious symbols be removed from government-owned parks.
“Government has no business erecting, maintaining or promoting religious symbols or codes,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “The answer in this case is to remove the Ten Commandments from the public park, not compound the problem by adding more sectarian material.”
The case centered on Pleasant Grove City, Utah, which displays a Ten Commandments monument in a public park. A religious group called Summum sought the right to erect its “Seven Aphorisms” in the park as well. When city officials declined, Summum sued, arguing that its free-speech rights had been violated.
The Supreme Court analyzed the case under free-speech law, ruling 9-0 that it would be impractical to force communities to permanently erect every monument they are given.
Americans United filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case supporting neither side but urging the court to consider church-state separation. AU’s brief argued that these monuments are government speech that must respect the separation of church and state, a stance the court affirmed.
Lynn said the case should have been analyzed under church-state doctrine.
“No one expects that a community would be required to erect every symbol it is given,” Lynn said. “The question lurking below the surface is why government should have the right to display religious symbols and signs at all.”
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
The U.S. Supreme Court should use a new controversy over a cross on park land in California to make it clear that government has no right to display religious symbols, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The court today announced it will hear Salazar v. Buono, a legal battle centering on the display of a cross at the Mojave National Preserve in California. The cross was originally erected by the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1934 and has since been replaced several times by private citizens.
“This cross is in the middle of a national park, and anyone looking at it would assume it was erected by the government,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “The federal parks belong to all Americans and are not the appropriate place for the display of religious symbols.”
In 2003, Congress approved a rider to a Defense Department bill declaring the cross a “national memorial” and mandating a land exchange that would transfer the cross and the property beneath it to private hands. Lynn called this an obvious ploy designed to keep the cross on federal land.
He noted that a request by another citizen to display a Buddhist symbol in the area was denied. This, Lynn said, is proof of unconstitutional government favoritism toward one religion.
Lynn also disputed claims that the cross is a war memorial.
“Men and women of many faiths and none have served our country honorably and died to preserve our rights,” Lynn said. “A Christian symbol cannot memorialize them all.”
The Supreme Court will also use the case to examine issues of “standing” the right to sue. Lynn said he hopes the court makes it clear that individuals who oppose government display of religious symbols have the right to challenge them in court.
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
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