The Supreme Court declined in a 7-2 decision to hear the appeal of a school district that held their graduation ceremonies inside a church building, allowing a lower court ruling to stand that holding such an event inside a church is unconstitutional.
The anti-Christian group Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit in 1990 against the Elmbrook, Wisconsin School District which had been holding their graduation ceremonies inside a non-denominational church facility. The anti-Christianists said the mere existence of Christian symbols in the building meant the school was promoting Christianity over all other religions.
While multiple lower courts ruled in favor of the school district, the anti-Christian group continued to file appeals until the full 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a three-judge 7th Circuit panel and ruled in their favor. The Supreme Court before their formal refusal to hear the case shelved the case for two years.
Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented from the majority. Justice Scalia wrote that while a school district may have to act to soothe angry people, it doesn’t mean it’s the constitution’s job to soothe hurt feelings. The justices also noted the flawed 7th Circuit ruling was in conflict with the Supreme Court’s decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway, which stated that mere offense does not equate to coercion.
A judge appointed by President Obama created a hostile environment in their courtroom when they implied that a pro-life doctor was a liar.
Federal Judge William Conley is overseeing a trial challenging a Wisconsin state law that requires abortionists to have admitting privileges at hospitals. The law is similar to one upheld in many southern states.
Dr. John Thorp, an obstetrician with the University of North Carolina, was testifying about abortions and the complications that arise during the procedure. As Dr. Thorp was testifying, Judge Conley began to make an increasingly hostile series of questions and comments to Dr. Thorp.
When Dr. Thorp testified that he believed complications for abortions to be under-reported by abortion providers, Judge Conley referenced a quote from author Mark Twain.
“[There are] lies, damn lies and statistics,” the Judge said to Dr. Thorp.
When Dr. Thorp was obviously insulted by the Judge’s implications he was a liar, the Judge tried to backtrack and say that he wasn’t really saying that Dr. Thorp was lying.
Dr. Thorp stuck to his testimony throughout the rest of the hostile questioning.
“Admission privileges allow for continued care rather than sending a patient to a black box, which is my opinion what transfer agreements allow them to do,” Thorp said. “I reject the final premise that a law like this will harm Wisconsin women.”
A virulent anti-Christian organization has complained to Clemson University accusing the football team of promoting “Christian worship.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation of Wisconsin claims, “Christian worship seems interwoven into Clemson’s football program. We are concerned that this comingling of religion and athletics results, not from student initiative, but rather from attitudes and unconstitutional behaviors of the coaching staff.”
The FFRF’s main problem is that the coach of the team hired a Christian to be the team’s chaplain. They claim that because the coach is an employee of a public university, his hiring of a Christian is showing preference and endorsement of the Christian religion.
The group is also upset that almost the entire team shows up for a voluntary chapel service the night before each game. They also reportedly know the coach’s favorite Bible verses, 1 Corinthians 9:24-25.
Coach Debo Swinney dismissed the accusations saying that there is no Christian coercion on the team. He told the Chronicle of Higher Education that his team has Muslims, Catholics and Mormons and that the best player takes the field every game regardless of their personal faith.
A vehement anti-Christian group is targeting Wisconsin’s governor because he tweeted a reference to the Bible on the social media networks Twitter and Facebook.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation released a statement calling on Governor Scott Walker to immediately remove the reference from his social media account. The group’s co-Presidents say because the tweet came from the official account of the Governor, it means the state is endorsing Christianity.
Walker had written “Philippians 4:13” which reads, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
“This braggadocio verse coming form a public official is rather disturbing,” the FFRC wrote in their letter. “As governor, you took an oath of office to uphold the entirely godless and secular United States Constitution.”
The governor’s office has not commented on the anti-Christian group’s demand.
A Christian college is bowing to the whims of the world and changing the school’s nickname into something that’s not “outdated”.
Maranatha Baptist University of Watertown, Wisconsin has announced they are dropping the nickname “Crusaders” because they want to appeal to a “more global society.” The school and its athletic teams have been the Crusaders since their founding in 1968.
The school claims it wasn’t done for political correctness.
“Our world has changed since 9/11 and we’ve become a more global society with the Internet,” Executive Vice President Matt Davis told Fox News. “The heartbeat behind this was not political correctness, but expanded opportunities for our students.”
A director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations told Fox that he welcomed the name change from “Crusaders.”
The anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation is at it again. This time, they’re targeting hotels that are connected to state universities and demanding that Gideon Bibles be removed from the rooms.
“We atheists and agnostics do not appreciate paying high prices for lodging, only to find Gideon Bibles in our hotel rooms, sometimes prominently displayed,” FFRF Co-President Dan Barker wrote in a statement obtained by Fox News.
The Bibles were given by the Gideons to the Lowell Center, a lodge owned by the University of Wisconsin-Extension in Madison.
The FFRF claimed a lodge guest was terrified by the presence of the Holy Bible in their room.
“As you may know, the mission of the Gideons is to ‘win the lost for Christ,’” the FFRF’s attorney wrote in a letter to the university. “The Gideon’s [sic] efforts to proselytize have frequently brought about conflict with non-religious persons and persons from minority faiths.”
The University of Wisconsin then immediately removed all Bibles from the rooms.
A teacher who was caught watching pornography was offered his job back by a Wisconsin school district after a state arbitrator and the state Supreme Court ruled he could not be fired for it.
Andrew Harris was fired from his job as a seventh-grade teacher for collecting, distributing and watching pornography on his school-issued computer. The investigation was launched after Harris started showing pornographic images to a female teacher in his school.
The teacher’s union then filed a grievance claiming his dismissal was unfair. A state arbitrator then ruled in favor of the teacher saying it was unfair of the school to fire him for viewing and distributing pornography from the computer. The arbitrator ordered the teacher to be rehired to his same job or a similar job and be paid back pay for the time he was out of work.
The cost of the back pay to taxpayers is nearly $200,000.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court validated the arbitrator’s decision by refusing to hear the case.
The school district then offered a similar position to Harris because they felt the $1 million spent defending themselves in the lawsuit was enough to ask from taxpayers.
Parents in the school district are outraged, demanding to know why a teacher who is watching pornography around underage kids is not a threat to the children. They also question how the teacher’s union could say this teacher did nothing worth being fired.
At least six people are confirmed dead after a Sunday outbreak of tornadoes across the Midwest.
The town of Washington, Illinois was devastated by a massive tornado that tore an 1/8th mile wide track through the entire town. Mayor Gary Manier said that up to 500 homes have been damaged or destroyed and that some neighborhoods are completely destroyed.
“How people survived is beyond me,” Manier said.
The tornadic storms are considered unusual for mid-November. Damaging winds and tornadoes were reported in 12 states: Michigan, Iowa, Illnois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York.
The storms moved so fast at times that weather forecasters were warning people to see shelter even before they could see a change in the weather.
The storm threatened the Chicago area forcing the game between the NFL’s Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens to be delayed for two hours as teams and spectators huddled under the stadium.
Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has signed a law that would require any woman seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound of the baby before the procedure and for all doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Continue reading →
