Atheist activist Michael Newdow has lost another court case in his quest to eradicate all references to Christianity from society.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled to uphold lower court rulings that the phrase does not violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution and does not mean the government is choosing a religion to force on citizens.
“As the Supreme Court has repeatedly indicated in dicta, the statutes at issue in this case have a secular purpose and neither advance nor inhibit religion. The Court has recognized in a number of its cases that the motto, and its inclusion in the design of U.S. currency, is a ‘reference to our religious heritage,’” the Court ruled. “We therefore hold, in line with the Supreme Court’s dicta, that [the motto appearing on currency does] not violate the Establishment Clause.”
The Court went on to say that they disagree the plaintiffs have had a substantial burden placed on them and their religious beliefs.
The Alliance Defending Freedom praised the ruling.
“Americans need not be forced to abandon their religious heritage simply to appease someone’s animosity toward anything that references God,” ADF’s Rory Gray said to the Christian Post. “The Second Circuit rightly reached the same conclusion because this suit was based on a deeply flawed understanding of the First Amendment.”
The planned Satanic ceremony at Harvard University was canceled after an outcry from students and alumni.
The Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club announced on Monday it would not hold the event because negotiations between themselves and the bar where it was scheduled broke down without an agreement. The Club says they were unable to find another suitable location.
The Club said the New York group Satanic Temple would still hold a mass because they wanted to “reaffirm their respect for the Satanic faith.”
The ceremonies held by the Satanic Temple are parodies of the rites of the Catholic Church.
Almost 400 Harvard students and over 100 alumni had signed a petition opposing the event being held on the campus.
“This form of satanic worship not only ridicules the central practice of Catholicism, the Mass, but it also mocks and offends all who have faith in Christ,” the petition reads. “Far from being an event that promotes an understanding of “cultural practices,” it, in fact, promotes contempt for the Catholic faith and religion generally. We are Catholics, other Christians, and supporters of genuine tolerance and civility, and we are offended and outraged this event has been permitted to take place at Harvard.”
For an hour on April 24th, New York City’s Times Square proclaimed the name of Jesus.
Hillsong Church bought all the screens in the square and played a loop of a video that flashed “Jesus” and “No Other Name”. Hillsong is releasing a new album called “No Other Name” and is hosting conferences this year, but the video did not say anything about the church.
Hillsong members in the Square that night reported many passersby stopping to look at the display, openly wondering what business was behind the loop of Jesus and “No Other Name”.
“Times Square, one of the most iconic locations on Earth, is a place where so many names scream for fame,” Hillsong Art and Communications Director Jay Argaet said. “The most powerful brands, biggest shows and famous celebrities. Every name wants to be the greatest! Perhaps this would be the most powerful way to remind the world HIS name trumps them all.”
The “No Other Name” campaign is based on Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
New York health officials have reported that the antibiotic resistant superbug MRSA has been found in private homes.
The bacteria that cause 23,000 deaths a year has been most commonly found inside hospitals and nursing homes. The Centers for Disease Control says that outside of health care settings, the most common way for the bacteria to spread were close quarter living situations such as military barracks or athletic locker rooms.
HealthDay is reporting that 161 New York residents who became infected with the bacteria had contracted the disease in their homes.
“What our findings show is it’s also endemic in households,” said lead researcher Dr. Anne-Catrin Uhlemann, of Columbia University Medical Center.
Doctors say the discovery will now require not only treatment of the victims of the bacteria in the hospital but also a full search of the victim’s home and actively remove the sources of the bacteria.
An investigation by the New York Post has discovered the New York State Health Department has been negligent in their inspections of the state’s abortion clinics.
The report says that some facilities have not been inspected for violations in over a decade. The report also says that only 25 centers that provide abortions are regulated by the health department while pro-abortion supporters say that there are 225 abortion providers within the state.
The inspection reports show that 8 of the 25 clinics were never inspected between 2000-2012. Five had only one inspection and another eight only two or three times in the 12-year span. In all, a total of only 45 inspections were held during the 12-year period.
By comparison, state law requires all restaurants to be inspected once a year and every tanning salon once every two years.
A state Health Department employee told the Post that some facilities that perform abortions are not required to list that service in their operating certificates. In the case of places that do list abortion as a service, only one clinic had a legal action taken in the last 12 years.
A British citizen who is a Hasidic Jew was brutally attacked on a New York street in what members of the Jewish community are calling another example of the “knockout game.”
While police are refusing to acknowledge the attack was a “knockout” attack, at least one public official says the assault on the 65-year-old man certainly appears to fit the criteria.
“He was attacked from behind by two individuals, brutally attacked,” Democratic New York City Councilman David Greenfield said. “They did not take anything from him, and he was in such bad condition that he had to be hospitalized.”
The man had traveled to New York for a wedding. He was attacked on the street in Brooklyn as he left the wedding.
The NYPD has increased patrols in the areas where the “knockout game” began in October last year. Police are reportedly looking at surveillance video of the assault for clues.
A rare bacterium has been discovered at fish markets in multiple New York boroughs and has been confirmed to have infected at least 30 people.
Health officials say they do not know the source of the outbreak. The bacterium, Mycobacterium marinum, is common in fish but does not normally infect humans. Markets in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan have been found to have the bacterium.
The infection causes bumps under the skin or tender lesions. Once the bumps turn into open wounds, they won’t heal on their own. If the infections are not cleared at that point, they can go deeper into the skin and require surgery.
Dr. Jay Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control, said a part of the problem in finding the source is that the infection can take weeks to show even the most mild symptoms.
A doctor in the Chinatown section of New York said that many patients who came to him said they were infected at a site where they were cut by a fish bone. One victim said they had cut themselves on a lobster.
While not completely frozen to the riverbed, Niagara Falls is putting on a display of winter beauty from the latest polar vortex.
The upper part of the waterfall has completely frozen in the bitter temperatures, creating the impression for the second time this winter that the legendary waterfall has completely frozen.
The water pressure keeps the falls from freezing to the riverbed meaning that under the stacks of ice the river continues to rage. However, none of the running water can be seen flowing over the falls as sheets of ice blanket the rocks and hills surrounding the falls.
Temperatures in the area have been hovering between zero and 9 degrees this week.
The cold freezing the falls is not the only record cold. In Iowa, Des Moines broke a low temperature record set in 1884. Atlantic City set a record not only for March 3rd but also for the entire month of March with 2 above zero, breaking a record dating back to 1874. Several towns around Washington DC also shattered records.
Parents in an upstate New York public school district are furious that a judge is keeping secret letters from at least 22 teachers who were supporting a colleague that sexually assaulted an 8-year-old boy.
Some of the letters in support of convicted pedophile Matthew LoMaglio during his sentencing phase were even written by the teachers on school stationary. The parents say that because the letters were written on school stationary, they were on taxpayer provided items and thus should be available as public record.
Prosecutors say their case was hampered by the fact teachers in the same school as the defendant refused to help in his prosecution.
A petition by parents in the district says, “we believe that children in the Rochester City School District are in danger.”
“It’s upsetting, but more than that, it’s fearful,” parent Karen Bryant told Fox News. “We have 22 teachers who still support this man and sent the letters after he was convicted and admitted he was guilty.”
The school district told Fox News they did not authorize any teachers to write letters in support of LoMaglio.
Four workers at a New York group home have been fired after they were found to be causing the disabled residents of the home to fight for their amusement.
The workers shot video of the fights on their cell phones.
Erin McHenry, Justin McDonald, Stephen Komara and Rosemary Vanni are all facing a charge of endangering the welfare of a disabled person along with other individual charges. Bail was set at $10,000 for all but Vanni who did not appear at court and had a warrant issued for her arrest.
The group reportedly made two 50-year-old men who had the mental capacity of preschoolers fight with each other. When one was knocked out of his wheelchair by the others, the workers can be heard on the video praising the one who beat him.
All four workers will likely face prison time if convicted.
