Friday, July 06, 2007

Anti-Jesus Activists on Warpath

From "Anti-Jesus activists on warpath" by Gordon James Klingenschmitt, posted 6/26/07 at WorldNetDaily.com

Anti-Jesus activists threatened lawsuits in Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio and New York this month to stop Christians from praying "in Jesus' name" or publicly expressing their faith.

In Iowa, activist lawyer Mikey Weinstein declared victory over the Veterans Administration, claiming the agency caved into his demands to remove Christian symbols from the chapel in the Iowa VA hospital, and also promised to ban Christians who sing hymns (such as "The Old Rugged Cross") in the common-use area. Sadly, the VA also appears eager to silence Christian chaplains, depriving veterans who want Christian ministry in their time of need.

In North Carolina, the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue the town of Clayton after Councilman Bob Satterfield bravely prayed "in Jesus' name" to open a public meeting. "I know who I pray to, and if other people want to pray to that chair over there, they're welcome to. It was my turn to do the invocation, and I did it the way I know how," Satterfield said.

But ACLU attorney Jennifer Rudinger fired back, threatening a lawsuit: "The law is pretty clear. The courts have ruled that it's legal to have an invocation at government functions, but it has to be non-sectarian."

Actually, the courts have mandated no such thing. In the 1983 Marsh v. Chambers case, the Supreme Court upheld 6-3 a chaplain's right to pray a "non-sectarian" prayer on the floor of any legislature, but stopped short of mandating all prayers be "non-sectarian."

Read the rest of this article.