A pupil who led the battle to force a school to tear down a ‘religious’ banner is facing vicious abuse from online commenters, who say she ‘brought hatred upon herself’.

Cranston West High School has covered up the banner encouraging its pupils to be kind to one another while it appeals against a judge’s decision that it violated the First Amendment.

Atheist student Jessica Ahlquist, who said the banner was offensive to non-Christians, has been the target of religious web users angry at the decision.

One man posted a message on Twitter saying: ‘I want to punch the girl in the face.’

A woman posted: ‘I hope there’s lots of banners in Hell when you’re rotting in there you atheist f***.’

Another sent her a message saying: ‘How does it feel to be the most hated person in RI? You’re a puke and a disgrace to the human race.’

Miss Ahlquist is now considering whether or not to stay at the Rhode Island school, and said: ‘The friends I lost weren’t friends in the first place.’

The banner at Cranston West was judged to promote religion because it takes the form of a prayer addressed to ‘Our Heavenly Father’ and concluding ‘Amen’.

Apart from its opening and closing, the banner does not appear to have an overtly religious message.

It asks that students should have ‘the desire to do our best’, should ‘be kind and helpful to our classmates and teachers’ and ‘bring credit to Cranston High School West’.

School officials argued that the banner, which had been hanging in the auditorium for nearly 60 years, was a historical artifact.

But U.S. District Court judge Ronald Lagueux ruled in Miss Ahlquist’s favour, deciding that the presence of the banner in school violated the separation of church and state.

David Bradley, who wrote the prayer as a seventh-grader in 1963, told WPRO he was angry about the decision.

‘I am upset, disappointed and not to say outraged,’ he said. ‘It’s a shame that some judge with an appointment out of a Cracker Jack box can make a ruling like that.’

He described Miss Ahlquist as a ‘trained seal’ who was being controlled by the American Civil Liberties Union.

But the pupil, a junior, today described her delight at her victory in the case.

‘I’m so glad and proud that the right decision was made and that the constitution was upheld,’ Miss Ahlquist said.

‘This country was founded to be a secular country. We’re supposed to keep church and state separate so people can have their rights and their freedom to choose. And I think that this lawsuit is a reflection of that.’

The decision was supported by Lincoln Chafee, independent Governor of Rhode Island, who said: ‘This is a clear-cut violation of the constitution.’

Watch the ACLU Press Conference with Jessica Ahlquist

See the screenshots of the worst threats at: jesusfetusfajitafishsticks.blogspot.com

The Air Force has suspended decades-old Bible-centric ethics training intended to make Christian officers comfortable with the possible use of nuclear weapons. The training program was given to all new missile officers by Air Force chaplains.

“We’re in the process of reviewing that training and we’ll make a determination whether or not to continue [it] or if it will be a different course,” Air Education and Training Command spokesman Dave Smith told Military.com.

Smith said the ethics training has been in place more than 20 years, although he didn’t know exactly when it was begun.

The training slides include quotations from the Bible, portraits of Christian saints, prophets, and famous American generals known for their faith, including George Washington, Union Army Gen. Joshua Chamberlain, and Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.

Every new missile officer had to take the training at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, regardless of their own religious beliefs or lack of them, according to Smith.

AETC halted the ethics training last week after an article on the training was posted at Truthout.org. Former Air Force Capt. Damon Bosetti — described as a missile officer who took the training in 2006 — said he and others referred to the religious section of the ethics training as the “Jesus loves nukes speech.”

The website also published the training slides, which it acquired from the watchdog group Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an organization that has filed numerous lawsuits against the Air Force for allegedly infringing on the rights of religious minorities and non-believers and promoting evangelical Christian beliefs.

MRFF President Mikey Weinstein is also on the board of advisers for Truthout.org, the article stated.

Weinstein said more than 30 Air Force officers, most of them practicing Protestants and Roman Catholics, contacted his group in July to ask if he could help get rid of the Christian-themed nuclear missile ethics training. The Air Force released the slides under a Freedom of Information Act request.

“If this repugnant nuclear missile training is not constitutionally violative of both the ‘no religious test’ mandate of the Constitution and the First Amendment’s ‘No Establishment’ clause, then those bedrock legal principles simply do not exist,” Weinstein said.

Source: military.com

It’s a violation of freedom of religion, obviously. (Jewish and Muslim prisoners were blocked from receiving their holy books.) But beyond that, isn’t it a damaging and cruel form of punishment to prevent inmates from reading books, newspapers, magazines, letters, and other printed material of any kind for years upon years? The Christian Science Monitor reports on rehabilitation, South Carolina-style:

The US Justice Department is asking a federal judge in South Carolina to allow it to intervene in a lawsuit against a sheriff who allegedly forbids prisoners in his jail from receiving books, magazines, or printed materials other than copies of the King James version of the Bible.

Berkeley County Sheriff H. Wayne DeWitt denies that restrictions imposed at the county lockup in Moncks Corner, S.C., rise to the level of a constitutional violation or violate US law.

A Jewish prisoner seeking a Torah said he was told by jail officials that the prison only provides Bibles. Two Muslim prisoners seeking copies of the Koran were told the same thing, according to the complaint. The Justice Department complaint says the jail’s practices violate the First Amendment and the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project, praised the Justice Department for taking action against the jail. “The fact that the Justice Department has chosen to intervene in this case should send a clear signal to jail officials that systematically denying detainees access to books, magazines, and newspapers is unconstitutional,” he said. “The policy in place at the Berkeley County Detention Center is nothing short of censorship, and there is no justification for shutting detainees off from the outside world in such a draconian way.”

Source: DisInfo.com

Some parents say they have evidence the federally-funded National School Chaplaincy program is being used to push religion to public school students.

The controversy is now headed for the High Court, and there is also a Federal Government review and an ombudsman’s investigation.

In 2007 the Howard government introduced federal funding for chaplains to work in schools, with the proviso they were not to evangelise or proselytise.

But the New South Wales Parents and Citizens Association says there is evidence chaplains are proselytising in public schools and students are being encouraged to join religious activities and prayer meetings.

Council of State School Organisations NSW president Helen Walton says her association is receiving more and more information about proselytising incidences.

“When the chaplaincy role was sold to us, it was also sold to us in terms of the fact that it was not a religious-based position,” she said.

“It was purely a welfare-based position. Our concern is that it’s moved beyond that now, that we now have information that some of these people in schools are actually having religious activities, prayer meetings, and encouraging students to come along.”

The United Christian Education Foundation is the chaplaincy provider at Ulladulla High School on the New South Wales South Coast.

A newsletter on its website reads: “There is much to be thankful for as we look back on another year of bringing the great news of Jesus to the precious young people at Ulladulla High School. The other week a Year 7 boy put up his hand and said, ‘I asked Jesus into my life the other day’.

“A Year 8 girl told me about the peace she now has since becoming a Christian,” the newsletter continues.

Proselytising is against the federal Education Department’s guidelines on chaplaincy, but some students at the Ulladulla school believe the chaplain is there to convert them.

“[It is] basically to make people become of his religion. That’s it really. To convert children to their religion,” said Max, a Year 8 student.

Nick, a maths teacher at the primary school nearby, was shocked when the chaplain came to his school and invited the children to pray.

“The chaplain was addressing the Year 6 children, a majority of those children would be going to the local high school and he did say that he was available for children there, and they can come to him and pray with him, or if not, he would pray for them,” he said.

Allegations of evangelism by the United Christian Education Foundation prompted former High Court judge Michael Kirby to write a letter to the school principal. It was leaked to the ABC.

“I was surprised to see these claims, given the great importance attached in the Education Acts of New South Wales to the secular quality of public education in the state,” the letter reads.

“Would you please inform me of whether the claims in the UCEF website are correct; what part you have permitted this organisation to play in the school apart from the one hour of scripture lessons protected by the Act; and whether these involvements of religious viewpoints in the school are known to, and approved by, the Department of Education and Training of the state?”

The chaplaincy provider refused an interview invitation and the school principal confirmed one allegation of proselytising was investigated and the chaplain was reminded about his code of conduct. The chaplain says he does not proselytise at the school.

Federal Education Minister Peter Garrett says his department takes these matters seriously.

“It’s very clear in the existing guidelines that it is not the role of the chaplain to proselytise. If there are isolated incidences where this may or may not have happened it clearly is in breach of the guidelines,” he said.

However Mr Garrett concedes the guidelines in general could be clearer. Changing them will be considered in his current review of the chaplaincy scheme.

Audio: High Court challenge on Chaplains program

Source: abc.net.au

Hours after declaring Sunday that he expects to be running for president within a month, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he’s worried the United States could be “a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists,” in the foreseeable future, according to Politico.

Gingrich was addressing Cornerstone Church, a megachurch in San Antonio, Texas, led by the Rev. John Hagee, an influential leader among American evangelicals. Hagee’s endorsement of then-presidential candidate John McCain in 2008 was plagued by controversy.

McCain ultimately rejected the endorsement over remarks Hagee had made about the Holocaust, in which he appeared to say that Adolf Hitler had been fulfilling God’s will by hastening the desire of Jews to return to Israel, in accordance with biblical prophecy.

“God says in Jeremiah 16: ‘Behold, I will bring them the Jewish people again unto their land that I gave to their fathers. … Behold, I will send for many fishers, and after will I send for many hunters. And they the hunters shall hunt them.’ That would be the Jews,” Hagee had said in an earlier sermon.

“Then God sent a hunter,” his sermon continued. “A hunter is someone who comes with a gun, and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter.”

McCain rejected Hagee’s endorsement of his campaign after learning about the comments in May 2008. “Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them,” McCain said at the time.

Hagee then withdrew his endorsement of the Arizona senator, which he had offered three months earlier.

One irony of McCain rejecting Hagee’s endorsement over his Holocaust remarks is that the Texas evangelist leads the Christian Zionist movement. Hagee is founder and national chairman of Christians United for Israel, which features Elie Wiesel and other Holocaust survivors at its events.

Here’s what Gingrich said at Cornerstone Church on Sunday evening, according to Politico:

“I have two grandchildren: Maggie is 11; Robert is 9,” Gingrich said at Cornerstone Church here. “I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they’re my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American.”

The former House Speaker held up his own faith (he converted to Catholicism two years ago) as proof of his undying patriotism. He lashed out at the college professors and mainstream media he says are seeking to wipe out the Founding Fathers’ Christian values. And he targeted the judges who he charges are effectively re-writing the Constitution.

But Gingrich was mum on his own controversial past, one of martial indiscretions and divorces that have made courting religious conservatives a tall task as he nears a likely presidential run.

Gingrich’s church appearance comes amid a broader campaign to court religious conservatives.

On Monday, Hagee released a statement praising Gingrich’s appearance at Cornerstone. “It was such a great honor to welcome Mr. Gingrich to our church, and hear him describe the centrality of faith in our nation,” he said.

The statement also included praise for Hagee and his wife, Diana, from Gingrich.

“It was truly an honor to be with John and Diana at Cornerstone,” Gingrich said. “Their dedication to serve is inspirational.”

Source: CNN

The US House of Representatives will have a chance to vote on a resolution to affirm the phrase “In God We Trust” as the nation’s official motto after it was approved by the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

Congressman J. Randy Forbes (R-VA), the founder and chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, sponsored the legislation. It would encourage the public display of the motto in all public buildings, public schools and government institutions.

He said he introduced the bill in January because he was troubled by a pattern of omitting God from the nation’s heritage.

“There is a small minority who believes America does not have the right to trust in God, who believes the United States should not affirm trust in God, and who actively seek to remove any recognition of that trust,” Forbes said.

The phrase “In God We Trust” was made the official U.S. motto in 1956, one year after the phrase “under God” was incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance.

Critics of the resolution said it violated the establishment clause of the Constitution, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.”

“The phrase ‘In God We Trust’ does not apply to the more than 16 percent of Americans who identify themselves as atheist, agnostic, nonreligious, or unaffiliated, and it does not apply to religious Americans who do not have Judeo-Christian beliefs,” said Sean Faircloth, executive director of the Secular Coalition for America. “Branding our secular country with a religious motto only creates division among its citizens and erodes the wall of separation between church and state.”

Forbes claimed the resolution addressed different religions across the country and was not “just about Christians.” He said the resolution is meant to affirm the importance of God in the heritage of the United States.

Source: Raw Story

There is no place in British law for Christian beliefs, despite this country’s long history of religious observance and the traditions of the established Church, two High Court judges said on Monday.

Self-described “civil rights advocates” say that a ballot proposition to ban circumcision is on track for gathering signatures, meaning that San Franciscans may vote on the measure this November.

The proposed law is being spearheaded by local resident Lloyd Schofield, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

It’s part of a national push to end the procedure, which some say is steeped in tradition but poses risks and has little medical benefit. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association do not recommend routine circumcision.

Getting on the ballot is the easy part — only about 7,000 signatures are required. Once it’s there, advocates will have to convince voters that snipping off body parts is a bad idea.

Source: nbcbayarea.com

A lawsuit targeting the Pentagon contains an astonishing anecdote about a retired Sergeant’s experience after being sexually assaulted by a colleague during a deployment to Afghanistan.

The lawsuit, available here (PDF), was filed by 17 military women against Secretaries of Defense Robert Gates and Donald Rumsfeld in Virginia. It assails “the military’s repeated failures to take action in rape cases created a culture where violence against women was tolerated, violating the plaintiffs’ Constitutional rights.”

Sergeant Rebekah Havrilla alleges in the complaint that in 2006, after her military supervisor repeatedly sexually harassed her, she was raped by a colleague she was working with at the time.

“He pulled her into his bed, held her down, and raped her. He also photographed the rape,” it reads. Havrilla reported the incident within a month.

In February 2009, she reported for active duty training and, upon seeing her rapist, went into shock.

“She immediately sought the assistance of the military chaplain,” the lawsuit reads. “When SGT Havrilla met with the military chaplain, he told her that ‘it must have been God’s will for her to be raped’ and recommended that she attend church more frequently.”

The complains adds that “SGT Havrilla suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic depression.”

Havrilla’s harrowing story, and the broader lawsuit, sheds light on the ongoing and widely reported problem of sexual assault in the military.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said it was “a command priority” to “ensure all of our service members are safe from abuse” and pledged to commit more resources to the goal.

“Sexual assault is a wider societal problem and Secretary Gates has been working with the service chiefs to make sure the U.S. military is doing all it can to prevent and respond to it,” Morrell told NBC News.

[via Friendly Atheist]