Tag: church and state

January 8, 2014
Rendering of proposed Satanic monument in Oklahoma
Uncle Baphomet, tell us a story?

Christians in Oklahoma are freaking out over a request by members of the Satanist religion to erect a monument to their religion on the grounds of the Oklahoma state capital next to a 10 Commandments monument. The Christians are upset about the attack on their privilege but it shows another good reason why government property should be free of any religious trappings. You either accept all religions or none of them. The Christians only have themselves to blame for the divisiveness.

The ACLU has a lawsuit to remove the 10 Commandments monument on the grounds of the Oklahoma capitol. A New York based group, Satanic Temple, requested a permit to erect their own monument next to the Decalogue. The design released by the group is for a 7 foot tall representation of Baphomet, a bearded, goat-headed, winged hominid with horns seated on a throne beneath a pentagram with two smiling children to either side.

December 5, 2013
image of actual text of the Bill of Rights

This week House Bill 376 was introduced in the Ohio legislature. I call it the ‘Jesus Painting Protection Act’ but the formal name is ‘Ohio Religious Freedom Restoration Act’. It creates special rights for the ‘religious’ to avoid any law or act by the state or local governments if it is a ‘burden’ on a person’s religious beliefs. This dangerous law could leave children unprotected from abuse, allow discrimination in areas way beyond just same sex marriage, and allow Sharia Law.

One reason given for the introduction of the bill was the recent removal of Jesus paintings from two public schools here in Ohio.

November 19, 2013
?
John Freshwater

In probably the last gasp for Mount Vernon, Ohio’s proselytizing teacher, John Freshwater, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 today that his termination for insubordination was correct. In addition the court ruled that Freshwater had his rights violated when the school district demanded he remove his personal Bible from his classroom desk but that his additional actions in defying that order was enough to justify removing him.

October 10, 2013
screencap Jackson OH Jesus location in High School building
Jackson OH Jesus location in High School building

The other day I posted an update to the Jackson, Ohio school district Jesus painting court case. Someone on twitter sent me a strong reaction tweet about it and the ensuing conversation shows that some theists don’t want religious freedom for others – just themselves.

Here is the original tweet:

October 5, 2013
screenshot from news report about Jesus painting in Jackson Ohio middle school
Jesus painting in Jackson Ohio middle school before it was moved to the High School in March

Eight months after a lawsuit was filed against a Jackson County Ohio school district over a Jesus painting that had hung in a stairwell of the middle school building for 66 years, a final settlement has concluded the case. The Jackson City School District agreed to remove the painting from school district property and pay $3,000 in damages to each of the suit’s five anonymous plaintiffs as well as the legal costs for the ACLU and Freedom from Religion Foundation.

The district also tried to claim that since insurance paid out the damages, no taxpayer dollars were used. Taxes are used to pay the insurance premium, and will likely increase because of the claim, so like their idea that the Jesus painting was not a violation of the law, their idea about no taxpayer money being used to pay off the lawsuit is also wrong.

August 19, 2013
created image of a sing with text Atheists Need Not Apply

The director of operations of a Subway franchisee, in West Virginia, sent letters to several churches and congregations saying his company was “in need of Christian employees.” I’m sure some people will not see the problem with such a letter, after all a business should be able to make hiring decisions that prefer a particular group of people. Some may think the guy was just trying to reach out to a segment of people to recruit more workers. The problem is that such outreach is actually against state and federal law.