Category: Entanglement - Page 25

January 9, 2013

Jackson Ohio School Board Wants A Lawsuit Over Unconstitutional Jesus Portrait

screencap of woman who was booed at school board meeting

Woman who spoke out against the Jesus Portrait was booed by crowd

Tuesday evening almost 300 people witnessed the Jackson Ohio school board agree to be sued over an unconstitutional portrait of Jesus hanging in a lobby of the middle school. The story had more typical Christian privilege talking points and actions including booing a person who publicly voiced opposition to the portrait. Stay classy Jackson.

WBNS 10TV in Columbus had the story during their 11 PM newscast. The school board meeting was where the Jesus portrait issue was discussed. They had received a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation informing them that the portrait, that has hung in the middle school for 65 years, had to be removed or the school district could be sued. This story continued to highlight the typical Christian privilege talking points and actions we see in these church and state battles.

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January 8, 2013

TV Station Fumbles Story About Jesus Picture in An Ohio Middle School

Jesus Portrait in Jackson Ohio Middle School

A story, at the top of the 6 PM newscast on WBNS 10TV in Columbus, about a complaint over a Jesus portrait hanging in an Ohio middle school hit all the false talking points over religious symbols in a public school. The report missed or ignored an opportunity to give accurate information on the 1st amendment and instead spent a majority of time trying to defend an obvious illegal act.

WBNS 10TV is the top ranked news station in Columbus Ohio. It’s owned by the company that also owns the only print newspaper in town, The Columbus Dispatch. 10TV gave 3 minutes at the top of their premiere 6 PM newscast, on Monday 01/07, about a complaint lodged against a portrait of Jesus hanging in the public area of the middle school in Jackson Ohio. Chuck Strickler, who is also an anchor at the station was the reporter on the story. The fact they gave the story 3 minutes of time on the primary newscast and had one of their veteran anchor/reporters doing the story shows how important 10TV believed the story to be.

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January 7, 2013

New Year Brings Unnecessary Call For Prayer In The Schools

The new year begins much like the old year ended with unnecessary calls for “returning” religious prayer to the public schools. Indiana State Senator Dennis Kruse (R) introduced a bill, on the first day of a new legislative session, to force children in public schools to pray at the start of each day. Not only would such a law violate the 1st amendment, it simply isn’t needed. Prayer wasn’t removed from schools, only forced recitation is prohibited.

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December 31, 2012

A Religious Downside To Citizens United

clipart showing scales of justice to represent a court of law

Citizens United was a US Supreme Court decision in 2010 that said corporations had free speech rights like individuals. On Friday, 12/28, judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that corporations, citing Citizens United, could have religious freedom rights like an individual. If the ruling stands or in the future the US Supreme Court agrees, then a Pandora’s box will be opened where businesses could be allowed to discriminate based on religious beliefs.

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December 5, 2012

Christians Believe No Nativity Scenes In A Park Makes God Sad

created image of a park with a canceled sign for a Nativity scene and Jesus saying he quit

December isn’t the Christmas season – it’s the ‘War on Christmas’ season. It’s the time when the religious right and their propaganda machine called FOX “news” whine and complain if they aren’t allowed to shove their religion down your throat through the use of a diorama of the fictional birth of the savior of said religion based in a public spot like a park or a court house. Listening to the religious right one would assume God would quit if he didn’t see said dioramas in said park. Yeah, right?

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November 25, 2012

We Need To Fight All Violations Of The Wall Between Church And State

In the news recently was a press release from American Atheists announcing they had appealed a court case to the US Supreme Court. The case, American Atheists, Inc. v. Kentucky Office of Homeland Security, is against a Kentucky law that would require state training materials to proclaim a reliance on God for protection of the state. One response I read about the appeal on an e-mail list I’m on wondered why American Atheists would waste time on such a case that was, in their view, giving lip service to believers. Unfortunately, many believers live for such lip service so those of us who want to protect the separation of church and state have to file law suits against what on the surface looks like minor offenses.

Here is some detail on the case American Atheists, Inc. v. Kentucky Office of Homeland Security:

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