Important Takeaways:
- Atheists Cheer as Upcoming UK Bill Could Upend History, Disestablish Church of England
- The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), an atheist group, called the move “brilliant” and Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said she and her group are “cheered” to see the potential break.
- “At a moment when the United States is struggling to retain our secular democracy, we’re cheered by the news that disestablishment is being debated and contemplated in Britain,” Gaylor said in a statement. “The privileging of the Church of England is holding back progress and allows it to force its doctrines on the majority of non-Christians. It’s time the British tell the Church of England to ‘sod off.’”
- The relationship between the U.K. government and the Church of England is one that gives 26 bishops seats in the House of Lords, with the monarch — King Charles III — officially considered “Defender of the Faith,” according to Christian Today.
- Plus, there are state-funded Church of England schools.
- As CBN News previously reported, this issue has been heating up in recent years, with calls for separation intensifying, especially after a 2021 census showed less than half — 46.2% — of Britons identified as Christians.
- It was the first time in history a majority of the country no longer identified as Christian.
- “The fact that Christianity is no longer the majority religion means policy is out of step with society,” Professor Linda Woodhead, head of the department of theology and religious studies at King’s College London, told The Guardian at the time.
- We’ll have to see next month what happens once Scriven’s bill comes up for debate.
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An atheist who has shown vehement zeal in his quest to remove Christianity from the public square is again making a challenge against the national motto of “In God We Trust” on American currency.
Michael Newdow, who has filed multiple lawsuits in his campaign against God, first submitted his complaint in 2013 stating that the motto violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. However, in September of that year, a federal judge ruled against him.
He also lost an appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Now Newdow is seeking people to join him with suits in seven of the 12 circuits based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
“[C]hallenges to this practice under the Establishment Clause have, so far, failed,” he wrote in a recent guest post on Patheos. “Challenges under RFRA, however, are not as susceptible to misapplication. This is because every Supreme Court justice involved in the three RFRA cases heard to date has agreed that, under RFRA, religious activity may not be substantially burdened without a compelling governmental interest and laws narrowly tailored to serve that interest.”
“There is obviously no compelling government interest in having ‘In God We Trust’ on our money,” Newdow continued. “Accordingly, for those who feel that being forced by the government to carry a message that violates their religious ideals is substantially burdensome, lawsuits are now being prepared…”
Newdow is focusing on finding children because he believes children will have more of an impact on justices than adults.
The superintendent of a Texas school district is standing up to a militant anti-Christian who attacked a school principal for quoting the Bible during school announcements.
Hemant Mehta, who calls himself “the Friendly Atheist”, took the unfriendly step of contacting the virulently anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation after what he claimed was an anonymous student’s complaint over Proverbs being read during announcement time.
“He who leads upright along an evil path will fall into his own trap, but the blameless will receive a good inheritance,” Principal Dan Noll read from the book of Proverbs in one of the announcements. “The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.”
The FFRF demanded that the Principal stop reading scriptures and for disciplinary action be taken against Noll.
White Oak Superintendent Michael Gilbert would have none of that.
“The residents were offended at the use of Scripture, demanding that it be stopped and calling for disciplinary action against Mr. Noll,” he stated. “I am fully aware of the practice at the high school and will not pursue any action against our high school principal or any other member of our faculty/staff concerning this issue.”
“Let me also be clear that we have not (in my opinion) violated anyone’s rights and/or subjected anyone to undue stress,” Gilbert continued. “Bible studies and Scriptures are allowed in schools. The requirement is that the material be presented in a neutral manner. It is my position that we met that standard with the morning announcements.”
A cross that stood on a hill above Grand Haven, Michigan for over 50 years will now be removed after an anti-Christian man who does not live in the community threatened a lawsuit.
Grand Haven City Council voted 3 to 2 for the removal of the cross from Dewey Hill despite massive opposition from the community for the move.
Grand Haven resident Brandon Hall, who writes for West Michigan Politics, says that the community is united against a man they see as a bully.
“One thing I want to make clear: Grand Haven is not divided. It is very united in support of the cross,” Hall said. “All my atheist friends hate what is going on here. It’s very surprising that one guy can come from out of state and start all this. It is very shocking and disappointing.”
Mitch Kayle, who is openly bigoted against Christians, has bragged on social media of his actions attacking anything that might be Christian in public. He has conducted similar hate campaigns in Hawaii.
“He is an atheist extremist who targets Christians and gives atheists a bad name,” Hall said.
A group of residents is raising funds to purchase the land the cross sits upon to keep it standing above the city.
A group of atheists who are angry the chancellor of Troy University sent an e-mail that says democracy works in America because people know “they’re accountable to God” are demanding an apology.
“Atheists are overwhelmingly ethical and upstanding people. It is not true that religion is necessary to keep people from becoming criminals,” wrote Americans Atheists’ President David Silverman in an open letter sent to Jack Hawkins Jr. on New Year’s Eve. “In fact, in the United States, in states with the highest percentages of atheists, the murder rate is lower than average. In the most-religious states, the murder rate is higher than average.”
The message from Chancellor Jack Hawkins Jr. read: “As we approach a new year I am reminded of the blessings we enjoy within a democracy which is the envy of the world,” wrote Hawkins. “For your pleasure — and as a reminder — I am sharing with you a 90 second video which speaks to America’s greatness and its vulnerability.”
The video link was Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen saying a visiting Chinese scholar told him about the importance he saw of religion in American democracy and life.
A spokesman for Troy University sent a statement to the Christian Post about the email.
“The purpose of this email was to spur introspection and encourage thoughtful discussion as we transition from the challenges of 2014 to the opportunities ahead in 2015,” read the statement. “This message and video were shared to provide the university community with information and insights for healthy consideration and debate about our country’s democracy, the role it plays in the world and the challenges America faces going forward.”
A group of atheists aimed to mock the Christian Ten Commandments with a list of their own “for the modern age.”
Anti-Christianists Lex Bayer and John Figdor launched the contest last month to “open up for discussion what gives life meaning when secular culture is on the rise.” The contest received over 2800 submissions from 18 countries.
Some of the “winning” submissions for their mock list included “God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life” and “There is no one right way to live.”
Judges for the action included Adam Savage of the Discovery Channel show “Mythbusters.” Each one of the ten “winners” was given $1,000 for their “commandment.”
The two atheists that headed up the mockery said that they want to demonstrate you don’t have to be Christian to be moral.
A display at a playground in Newark, Delaware has been removed because some anti-Christianists threatened a lawsuit.
“Earlier this month, the city of Newark received a complaint regarding the playground equipment, which had been installed for some time, alleging that it was in violation of the establishment clause, citing numerous examples of case law,” a city spokesman told The Christian Post. “After review, our city solicitor advised that the display be removed, and the Parks and Recreation Department, acting on this advice, removed the display.”
The complain came from the anti-Christian group Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the local chapter Delaware Valley Americans United.
Janice Rael, vice president of the anti-Christian group, said that two anti-Christian grandparents didn’t want their grandchildren to possibly be exposed to anything related to the Bible.
The anti-Christian groups celebrated their removal of Christianity from that part of the public.
An atheist student has taken steps to have a church’s youth director banned from her school because she was offended he was talking about Jesus with students at her lunch table at Salem, Oregon’s Straub Middle School.
The student claims she has no issues with Christianity and that the church director made nasty comments to her, but witnesses say that Shelby Conway is not telling the truth.
The director, Tim Saffeels, says that he only sat at the table of Conway because a member of his church’s ministry. He said that some of the other kids at the table brought up the issue of Christianity and that he did not insult or berate anyone at the table.
Saffeels has been visiting schools for three years until the campaign by Shelby Conway to have him banned.
“I didn’t say at all any of the comments concerning atheists are evil, that their opinions are illogical,” Saffeels said. “In no way, at that moment, did there seem to be any issue concerning a confrontation or anything like that. The first time that I saw that there was an issue was when I received a call from the principal.”
He said that he doesn’t go into the schools to preach but rather to build relationships with the students who are already part of their ministry.
A man who once proudly proclaimed to be an atheist and libertarian now says he’s a conservative Christian after writing a book that was aimed to “explore the horrors of the 20th century.”
The authors of the book, Jason Jones and John Zmirak, argue in their writings that the horrors of the last century stem from five evil ideologies: racism; nationalism; militarism and “total war” utopian collectivism; radical individualism; and Unitarian hedonism.
Jones says that he was putting together a two-minute video on the concept which was soundly rejected by the “leftist faculty” at his school.
“I just wanted to pour the horrors of the 20th century into two minutes,” Jones said, “to create an urgency among young people at my school, and why they should major in political science, because ideas matter.”
However, the video had one major unexpected impact.
It led Jones to Christ.
Jones said now he feels a passion to bring the truth to the world to help them over the next 100 years to avoid the crimes of the last 100 years such as the holocaust.
A major atheist leader is drawing fire from the pro-life community after he said children who have Down Syndrome should be aborted.
Richard Dawkins also said “unless you are a vegan, you are in no position to object to abortion.”
Dawkins said the justification for killing any Down Syndrome child is that they do not have human feelings when they are in the womb.
Dawkins’ comments drew many angered comments but also some very reasoned responses including from Kurt Kondrich, whose daughter inspired the Down Syndrome Prenatal Education Act in Pennsylvania.
“My 11-year old daughter has been nothing but a priceless blessing to our family and community since her birth, and she is a girl with many abilities,” he stated, noting that Chloe is active in a variety of activities, including volleyball and baseball, and loves to read. “Chloe has planted countless positive seeds, and she is a beautiful, intelligent, independent young lady who has accomplished more amazing feats in 11 years than most people do in a lifetime. She is more than capable of taking care of herself and helping others.”
Several groups said that Dawkins’ comments were in line with those of people in history who advocated eugenics and the elimination of individuals called “defective” by those in power.
