Category: Courts

April 23, 2013
image showing angry face with word Atheists!

A complaint I hear often in debates about church and state is about people who challenge violations who hide their identity. People who oppose separation of church and state think that people who sue should be known publicly as if not knowing their identity makes their case not valid. I respect people who challenge violations of church and state and use their real names, but as a case in South Carolina shows, it’s something you have to be prepared to do with eyes wide open. Some Christians really really don’t like challenges to their privilege especially if the complaint comes from atheists.

In Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Jordan Anderson and his family challenged the systematic proselytizing in his middle school. They won the case but the family was harassed for challenging the Christian privilege in their community.

April 2, 2013
screencap Jackson OH Jesus location in High School building
Jackson OH Jesus location in High School building

During a federal court hearing in Columbus on Tuesday, lawyers for the Jackson Ohio City Schools agreed to remove the picture of Jesus that was at the center of a church & state lawsuit brought by the Freedom of Religion Foundation and the ACLU. The district claims its insurance company wouldn’t cover the costs of the lawsuit. There is no word if the lawsuit will continue but for now the district made the right decision.

March 30, 2013
image of WTC Cross being blessed before installation at the 9/11 memorial in New York
WTC Cross being blessed before installation at the 9/11 memorial in New York

Back in July of 2011, American Atheists filed a lawsuit to prevent a Christian cross from being installed at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York. On Good Friday, U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts ruled that the obvious Christian cross was really a secular item. I don’t know who should be more angry with the decision, atheists who don’t have any symbol marking their dead at the site, or Christians who keep having their symbols deemed generic and secular.

March 26, 2013
image showing an Amish Buggy on a road with the slow moving trangle on the back

During the debate over the government requiring employers to provide coverage for birth control, we’ve heard one argument, false as it is, that in doing so would infringe on religious beliefs. Although that isn’t a valid argument it does bring up the question about how far does a state go to accommodate religious beliefs? The real debate is where is that line between the public good and a person’s beliefs. When can that line be crossed? The simple answer is the line can be crossed when the religious beliefs might harm other people like those needing access to birth control.

Here is an example of protests from the Catholic church about the birth control mandate:

March 22, 2013
image of a map version of state of Kentucky

Last week, two church & state cases from Kentucky were resolved. One concerning a state law that said “security was unattainable without reliance on ‘Almighty God'” lost in the US Supreme Court. Another case involving religious coercion at state-funded baptist children’s home was settled out of court as a victory for support of separation of church and state. We can’t always win these court cases but we need to fight as much as possible to protect the wall between church & state.

March 15, 2013
screenshot New location of the Jackson Ohio Jesus
New location of the Jackson Ohio Jesus

It was reported on Thursday that the Jesus painting that had been hanging in the hallway of the Jackson Ohio middle school for 47 years and is at the heart of a 1st amendment lawsuit by the Freedom of Religion Foundation and the ACLU, has been moved to the High School at the request of the “owner” of the painting – the Hi-Y Club.

The school board had created a “limited public forum” at the middle school and High School and claimed the painting belonged to the Hi-Y Club in order to cover their obvious violation of the separation of church and state.