Freethought Today

Vol. 24 No. 8 - Published by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. -
October 2007

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Theocracy Alert

Religious Right Amass War Chests

James Dobson's Focus on the Family received $142.2 million in 2006 and Focus on the Family Action took in $14.6 million
The Family Research Council run by Tony Perkins took in $10.3 million. FRC Action took in $1.1 million
Don Wildmon's American Family Association took in $16.9 million in 2006
The Alliance Defense Fund took in $26.1 million in 2006
Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network took in $236.3 million in 2005 (Analysis by Americans United)

Florida Gov Posts Religious Symbol

Evidently courting the Jewish vote, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist posted a mezuzah, or boxed Jewish scroll, on his office doorpost at the Capitol in October. In attendance was a regional director of the ultra-Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch.

Jewish custom attributes divine protection to the people of the house if a mezuzah (Hebrew for "doorpost") is displayed.

State Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Brandon, told critics: "The constitution provides freedom of religion, not freedom from religion."

Flag and God Approved

Conservative members of Congress in October compelled the Architect of the U.S. Capitol to reverse a ban on the use of the word "God" in framed certificates which accompany honorary American flags flown over the Capitol.

Tens of thousands of Americans each year request to have flags flown over the Capitol to honor loved ones. The flag is raised, unfurled and lowered about 275 times a day on three flagpoles over the Capitol. The banners are delivered, along with certificates of authenticity, to those who requested the ceremonies. Guidelines had said "political and/or religious expressions are not permitted on the flag certificate."

"I'm glad that the Architect of the Capitol is no longer censoring the Architect of the Universe," said Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla.

"God" Greets DC Visitors?

U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) introduced a bill in October to place on permanent display at the Capitol Visitor Center the Pledge of Allegiance, containing the phrase "one nation under God," as well as the motto, "In God We Trust."

Musgrave says she wants to remind tourists of America's Christian heritage when the center opens in 2008.

Sports Prayer Litigated

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit heard arguments in October over whether a public school football coach can continue to bow his head and kneel while his players pray around him. Marcus Borden, a football coach in East Brunswick, N.J., was told to stop inviting clergy to lead pregame prayers in 1997, so he began leading the prayer himself. Parents complained to the school board in 2005, and the board threatened him with disciplinary action. Borden, who is Catholic, resigned, then returned to his job and launched a lawsuit. A federal court ruled in his favor last year.

"Public schools and their football teams should be places where students of all religions and students of no religion are made to feel welcome," says Jo Ann Magistro, East Brunswick schools superintendent.

The executive director of the American Football Coaches Association told The Washington Post that about half of high school football coaches pray with their teams or lead teams in prayer: "It's very much like warriors going into battle, a platoon going into battle."

Court: Jury Can Invoke Bible

The federal appeals court in San Francisco in September upheld a death sentence by a jury which had consulted the bible's pro-capital punishment teachings.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit split 9-6, saying bible verses distributed by the jury's foreman did not require a reversal of the death sentence imposed on Stevie L. Fields in 1979. The foreman, in preparing a list of pros and cons about the death penalty, passed out bible passages such as, "He that smiteth a man, so that he dies, shall surely be put to death."

Dissenter Judge Ronald M. Gould wrote that the majority had endorsed "a theocratic jury room" in which jurors consider "the death penalty in light of Scripture."

Court OKs Voting in Church

U.S. District Judge Donald L. Middlebrooks ruled on July 31 in a Florida lawsuit that the use of churches as polling places is permissible. The case, brought by the Appignani Humanist Legal Center of the American Humanist Association, challenged the voting venue of Emmanuel Catholic Church in Delray Beach. Plaintiff Jerry Rabinowitz objected to walking past a church-sponsored "pro life" banner framed by multiple crosses, and voting next to prominent religious symbols and slogans.

Middlebrooks wrote: "This is not a case where a governmental actor actively placed a religious icon or message at a voting location, or on another piece of government property. Voting in a secular election, even in the presence of religious objects, is not equivalent to state-sponsored prayer at a public school graduation."

Catholics Boycott "Golden Compass"

A film version of the fantasy book, The Golden Compass, by nonbelieving children's author Philip Pullman, debuts on Dec. 7, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Involving lavish special effects, the $180 million production is directed by Chris Weitz ("About a Boy"). Pullman wrote the fantasy series to counter the piety of C.S. Lewis' "Narnia" series. The Los Angeles Times describes the series "as a story that many perceive as antireligious, written by an outspoken atheist who merges fairy tale characters with Christian theology, quantum physics and Nietzschean pondering."

The Catholic League, the U.S.'s largest Catholic lay group, is urging a boycott and hawks a $5, 25-page pamphlet, "The Golden Compass Unmasked."

Oral Roberts U Scandal

A lawsuit filed by three former professors in October makes lurid claims against Oral Roberts University, in Tulsa, Okla., alleging:

Oral Roberts' son, Richard, engaged in illegal involvement in a political campaign.
Donations were used for 11 home remodels in 14 years, the university jet sent Roberts' daughter to the Bahamas and Florida (the $30,000 Bahamas trip was billed to the ministry as an "evangelistic function of the president").
Use of a Mercedes convertible and Lexus SUV for Roberts' wife, Lindsay, also accused of spending tens of thousands on clothes, giving nonacademic scholarships to friends' children, and sending many text messages on university-issued cell phones to "underage males."

The university, featuring a 60-foot-tall bronze sculpture of praying hands, reported nearly $76 million in revenue in 2005. Oral Roberts, now 89 and semiretired, claimed 20 years ago that God appeared to him and told him to raise $8 million for Roberts' University, or else he would be "called home."

DiIulio Touts Faith Offices

Bush's first faith czar, Democrat John DiIulio, is promoting Democratic-reinvigorated "faith-based" politics in his new book Godly Republic: A Centrist Blueprint for America's Faith-Based Future. DiIulio left the White House faith-based office after seven months, but still claims funding religious groups to provide government social services is the answer to social problems.

Illinois Adopts "Moment of Silence"

The Illinois legislature overrode a veto of a moment of silence law by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in October, adopting a law requiring public school students and teachers to observe a brief moment of silence to begin each school day.

An atheist father with a child at Buffalo Grove High School in Chicago filed a federal lawsuit in October challenging the requirement for a brief period of prayer or reflective silence.

Baptists: "Will of Christ" Supreme

A recent article by The Christian Index, Georgia's Baptist newspaper, reported that the Southern Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission "is wielding an ever-increasing influence in its efforts to make the will of Christ supreme in public affairs."

The Index quoted ERLC's Barrett Duke:

"There are 16,000,000 Southern Baptists and we should be able to shut down the congressional switchboard all by ourselves when there is a need to voice our convictions on a certain issue. Southern Baptists could very well be America's best hope as God's instrument to turn this country around."n

"Compassion Capital" Funds Faith

The federal government announced in October that $57.8 million in grants were awarded to 387 faith-based and community organizations, through the Administration of Children and Families division of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The Compassion Capital Fund, a cornerstone of Pres. Bush's faith-based initiative, has awarded $636 million to more than 4,500 organizations since 2002.

One set of grants worth $17.5 million went to intermediary groups to build the "capacity" of small faith-based groups. One recipient was Faith-based Solutions of Reno Nev., whose website describes it as "a company dedicated to the mission of Christ." It says "equipping and encouraging the Body of Christ is one of our privileges," and that it helps groups "develop, expand and carry out a God-given vision."

A second set of grants went to combat gang activity and youth violence. One faith-based group receiving funding is Fresh Ministries, of Jacksonville, Fla.

A final set of grants targets homeless persons, rural communities, at-risk youth and "strengthening marriages." At least six of the at-risk grants went to groups with Christian-based mission statements, including pregnancy counseling centers against abortion.

LifeSource International's mission is "bringing life by instilling hope in the mind, Christ in the heart, and tools in the hand, for all to become the best God desires them to be." Neighborhood Ministries, of Phoenix, whose website mission is "to be the presence of Jesus Christ," received a $50,000 grant in federal funds.

Evangelical "Value Voter Summit"

About 2,000 evangelicals, along with Republican candidates vying for their vote, attended the "Values Voter Summit" hosted by the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 19.

Romney won the straw poll vote, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, just 30 votes behind.

Rudolph Giuliani pledged to give money to "faith-based groups" that promote alternatives to abortion, promised to appoint "Supreme Court justices in the mold of Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, or Chief Justice Roberts," and said: "Freedom of religion is not freedom from religion," to audience cheers.
Mitt Romney, introduced by Jay Sekulow, Pat Robertson's legal mouthpiece, invoked his "quiver full" of children and grandchildren, vowed to "make out of wedlock birth out of fashion again," said he would be a "pro-life president," and concluded: "The effort to establish an antireligion in America--the antireligion of secularism--has got to come to an end. We're a nation under God and we do place our trust in him."
Fred Thompson bragged about being hired by Bush to help confirm John Roberts as Supreme Court Chief Justice, said the founding fathers "knew the scriptures," referred to "a global conflict with radical Islam," and promised he would "go into the Oval Office and close the door and pray" within the first hour of being president.
Ron Paul promoted his "We the People Act" to strip the federal courts from deciding issues relating to prayer in school, gay marriage and abortion.
John McCain referred to the nation's "foundation of the Judeo-Christian tradition," the "struggle against Islamic extremism," the "consistent message of the Gospels," his "faith in my country and faith in my God," and promised to "appoint strict constructionist judges that won't legislate from the bench."
Tom Tancredo quoted the bible to denounce abortion, warned that Muslims have infiltrated Europe, and said "everything we are, everything we have achieved in this nation is under attack from jihadism abroad to multiculturalism here at home."
Duncan Hunter bragged about getting Congress to defy a court ruling to remove the Mount Soledad cross from its public perch in San Diego by declaring it a federal monument, calling the cross "a great symbol of our Christianity and our beliefs and our veterans and our country."
Mike Huckabee referred to abortion as "a holocaust," mentioned the "threat we face from Islamofascism," decried people trying to "change the holy word of God as it relates to the definition of marriage," said he had never outgrown his Sunday school tutoring and that he spoke "the language of Zion" as a "mother tongue," adding: "We need to move the cultural norms to meet God's standards."

Fundy Endorsements Rack Up

Bob Jones III, grandson of Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian college that teaches that Mormonism is a cult, endorsed Mormon Mitt Romney for president in late October.

Romney is also backed by Don Wilton, past president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, and Dr. John Willke, founder of the National Right to Life Committee.

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, announced that he and a group of 50 religious leaders are prepared to propose a third-party candidate if a pro-choice contender (Giuliani) gets the Republican nomination.

Onward, Christian-Right Electioneers

The Religious Right is actively mustering its troops to control the White House and the 2008 election:

Jonathan Falwell (son of) is on the road urging Virginia pastors to tell their congregants to vote for candidates who "believe the bible is the truth," according to The Washington Post.
Southern Baptist pastor Rick Scarborough has launched Vision America, a 70-week campaign of one-day crusades to motivate conservative church members to "vote their values."
James Dobson's family research council hosted a 2007 Washington "briefing" in October.
The American Family Association sponsored a "values voters 2008 presidential debate"--inviting only Republican contenders. Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson skipped the loaded event on Sept. 17 in Fort Lauderdale, and were told, "You can run but you can't hide."

"The event is to glorify God, and seek His choice," said debate organizer Janet Folger.

Giuliani Employs Accused Priest

Victims' groups have begun protesting campaign events by presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani, for hiring a Catholic priest months after the priest was accused of sexually molesting two former students and an altar boy, and being told by the church to stop performing priestly duties.

Monsignor Alan Placa, a longtime friend who officiated at Giuliani's second wedding, works at Giuliani Partners in New York. In October, Giuliani described Placa as a close friend for 39 years, whom he would continue to give "the presumption of innocence and benefit of the doubt."

Accusations were made before a Suffolk County grand jury in 2002. Mortgage broker Richard Tollner said Placa molested him repeatedly when he was a student at a Catholic boys school at Long Island in 1975. The abuse started when he and Placa were at the high school making posters for a Right to Life march. The grand jury report concluded that the priest abused the boys sexually "again and again," but could not be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations.

Placa served as a lawyer for the diocese in dealing with allegations of abuse against other priests, claiming he saved the church hundreds of thousands of dollars. "He was a wolf in sheep's clothing," said an attorney representing several victims of abuse by other priests in the diocese.

Religious Comp Time Improper

"Religious compensation time"--a benefit created by a 1978 law permitting civilian federal employees to work small amounts of overtime, bank those hours, then take them off for religious observations--has been improperly used, reports The Washington Post (Oct. 12, 2007).

During Bush's first term, in which he set up a website to promote religious comp time, three Naval civil managers used hundreds of hours of accrued religious leave to play golf, gamble, run marathons and travel to Europe.

Congressional investigators found that many workers in the Food and Drug Administration accrued religious leave in higher amounts than permitted. More than two dozen workers were paid for unused portions of that leave. Retiring drug regulator Mark Elengold received $18,633 extra in his final paycheck for time he had reserved to go to synagogue, but had not.

Religious comp time "is not intended to be used as a cash cow for retiring FDA bureaucrats," charged Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). Employees may not accrue religious comp time for more than four pay periods or eight workweeks, must identify in advance in writing planned religious observances, and expend all banked hours before accruing new religious leave.

Teacher Fired Over Evolution?

Steve Bitterman, 60, a college instructor at Southern Community College, Red Oak, Iowa, claims he was fired for saying Adam and Eve is a fairy tale that should not be interpreted literally.

"As a taxpayer, I'd like to know if a tax-supported public institution of higher learning has been given veto power over what can and cannot be said in its classrooms to a fundamentalist religious group," Bitterman told Associated Press after being fired in September.

He called the Genesis story a fairy tale in a conversation with a student after class and was told the students had threatened litigation. The school president refused to comment over whether Bitterman had been fired for the biblical reference.

Catholic Church Defends Franco

Fighting broke out in St. Peter's Square in late October after the Vatican staged its largest beatification ceremony for 498 Catholic clergy killed by the left during the Spanish Civil War. The ceremony revived bitter memories of the Catholic Church's support of Gen. Francisco Franco, a 36-year dictator.

Texas God Pods Spread

An Associated Press survey in October found that at least 10 states now run faith-based prison programs. Texas officials have opened a dozen faith-based dorms for about 1,300 inmates, since the Carol Vance Unit near Houston started in 1997. It is run by InnerChange, a project of Watergate felon Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship Christian ministry. The Vance program is an exclusionary program dealing with low-risk inmates who receive special help upon release.

Eight InnerChange programs operate in Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa and Arkansas.

The Florida Department of Corrections itself runs three prisons, two for men, one for women, as "faith and character-based institutions." Five more "faith-based" facilities are being considered.

The Corrections Corporation of America, the largest for-profit operator of prisons, has "faith pods" housing for about 1,660 inmates at 24 prisons in 13 states.

In Iowa, where a federal judge ordered an InnerChange program shut down, the program is continuing on a temporary basis using only private funds, pending an appeal.