Cecil Bothwell was elected to the Asheville, North Carolina city council. Mr. Bothwell has also admitted that he “believes in the Golden Rule but finds the question of whether there is a God or not ‘irrelevant.'” Of course some conservative Christians are upset that an atheist was elected to public office and one man, in an ironic twist the former president of the local NAACP, said he would file a lawsuit challenging Bothwell taking office.
Category: Courts
I try to be understanding of cultures formed around religious beliefs. Sometimes those cultures go too far. One is FGM done to women in Egypt and the other is religious justice for “crimes”.
On Wednesday, February 25th, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling on a Utah monument case that involved the city of Pleasant Grove and religious group which tried to donate a monument to their Seven Aphorisms to be placed near an existing one with the Christian 10 Commandments. Unlike most cases like this, it was considered on Free Speech grounds rather than on religious establishment grounds. The court ruled that a government can pick and choose what gifts to receive and in doing so seemed to open them up to establishment challenges in the future.
Just in – Freedom From Religion Foundation sues President Bush and Governor of Wisconsin over National Day of Prayer
The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based Christian legal group, is looking for a fight.
It is has talked Christian ministers from 22 states to use their pulpits Sunday to deliver political sermons or endorse presidential candidates. Its goal is to take a test case to the US Supreme Court to overturn the 54 year old ban on churches and other tax exempt groups from getting directly involved in politics or endorsing specific candidates.
It seems that 5th grade students were trotted outside their schools and given copies of the New Testament by members of Gideons International, and evangelical society known for handing out Bibles as part of their missionary work. When the ACLU got involved, some people took the opportunity to attack them.