Foundation member Margaret Downey filed a complaint in 1992 against the Chester County Council of the Boy Scouts of America after the council rejected her as a volunteer and refused to enroll her son Matthew, then 14.
Matthew, 18, is no longer eligible to join that troop.
The state Human Relations Public Accommodations Act forbids discrimination on religious grounds. The Human Relations Commission proposed that the Boy Scouts offer to let Downey join as a volunteer and her son to join the appropriate level of scouting without requiring them "to acknowledge a belief in the existence of God."
The agency determined that the Boy Scout group should notify administrative personnel and volunteers "that individuals who are unwilling or unable to acknowledge a belief in the existence of God for religious reasons may nonetheless apply for and be accepted as scouts and/or volunteers under the same terms and conditions otherwise imposed . . . ."
A conciliation session was scheduled for late February. A New York attorney for Boy Scouts of America, George Erickson, indicated that the scouting group did not plan to accept a settlement.
Downey expected to be represented at the session by James Grafton, a California attorney whoe nonreligious sons were expelled from an Orange County troop. Grafton sued and a state court ordered the troop to readmit the twins. That case is now before the California Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling in 1993 declaring that the Boy Scouts are not subject to federal civil rights law for discriminating against boys on the basis of creed. That case was brought by Elliott Welsh on behalf of his seven-year-old son.
Downey's preliminary victory has been reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer and area newspapers.
A January 23 prayer by Joe Right, pastor of the Central Christian Church, Wichita, outraged many legislators and spectators:
"We confess we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word and called it moral pluralism," intoned Wright. "We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable." Wright concluded by invoking "the living savior, Jesus Christ."
Sabrina Standifer, R-Wichita, walked out, reported the Wichita Eagle. Delbert Gross, D-Hays, sat down, later commenting: "I have never heard in ten years as divisive, sanctimonious, self-serving, overbearing prayer as I have heard this morning."
Rep. David Haley, D-Kansas City, said: "I take personal umbrage to the prayer we had to suffer through this morning."
Legislative invocations became controversial in Missouri last year after several lawmakers complained that House and Senate chaplains invoked Jesus. Chaplains continue to pray in the name of Jesus.
Wright defended his remarks, saying "many legislatures throughout the nation, not just Kansas, have legalized sin. Should I support that as a Christian?"
One hundred eight-one countries have ratified the "Rights of the Child." The United States is among eight nations, including Saudi Arabia, that have not.
The treaty, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1989 after a ten-year drafting process, recognizes:
Treaty supporters contend the nonratification of this treaty by the Senate undermines U.S. credibility in a world where 35,000 children die each day from preventable causes.
Similarly, the U.S. Senate has failed to ratify the U.N.'s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, first introduced in 1979 and signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. The Clinton Administration has pushed for hearings and ratification but Jesse Helms is now chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. More than 139 countries have ratified this measure.
The school voucher dispute centers on whether public money should be used to fund private schools. Opponents say such a program would further weaken public schools by slimming down student enrollment and would violate state/church separation.
The plan still requires the approval of the Senate. The Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State has already vowed to go to court to stop the plan.
The state of Wisconsin currently subsidizes several private secular schools in Milwaukee under a program targeting inner-city schoolchildren. In the state budget passed last year, Gov. Thompson extended public aid to include religious schools. This was the first such action in the nation, a development hailed as precedent by the Religious Right.
The State Supreme Court enjoined the state from funding religious schools under the so-called "choice program" until it decides its constitutionality. Funding continues for nonsectarian private schools.
The failure of the nonsectarian "choice" schools was predictable, according to nationally recognized choice critic Alex Molar, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee education professor. "This is what happens when you make education policy based on ideological zealotry instead of the best interest of the children," Molar says.
Even schools with no proven track record were eligible for funding, increasing likelihood of school closings leaving students in the lurch.
The director of one closed school, Exito, has been charged with issuing $47,000 in worthless checks.
"Under the present law, the Department of Public Instruction has no authority to question either the business or educational viability of any person or entity which presents itself to the department to operate a choice school by filing the proper application forms," according to Roger Sunby, director of financial services for DPI.
Also closing was newly formed Milwaukee Preparatory School. Both schools have been accused of exaggerating their enrollments.
In early February, two other "choice" schools admitted they were struggling to survive: Medgar Evers Academy, with 33 students, and Woodson Academy, both new schools started to take advantage of public funding.
The DPI is conducting audits of enrollments of all 17 "choice" schools.
Kenneth Starr heads the private team defending the governor's religious choice plan. Starr is the former solicitor general under President Bush who is now investigator into President Clinton's tie to the Whitewater land development.
The district had proposed creating a separate classroom for the students, who are members of the Plymouth Brethren Church and who shun technology due to their religious beliefs.
The practice, first banned in 1959, is widespread in Egypt, Muslim countries, and other parts of Africa. The genital mutilation ranges from clipping the tip of the clitoris to cutting away the outer sex organs.
Most Egyptians believe the operation curbs a girl's sexual appetite or that it is ordained by Islam, while others just blindly follow the tradition. Approximately 70-90% of Egyptian girls are circumcised before puberty.
Last year women's and human rights groups were outraged when the government lifted the ban on state hospitals performing the procedure. Families mostly rely on midwives and amateur surgeons who use anything from razor blades to knives to perform the circumcision, often without anesthetic. In many cases the botched procedures result in problems ranging from excessive bleeding and infections to difficult childbearing or death.
Businesses that sell alcohol products challenged the Florida county's 16-year ordinance contending it violated state/church separation.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said the ban "has the purpose and effect of endorsing sectarian Christian practices."
Hmong shamans (medicine men) believe a dog's night vision and keen sense of smell can track down more elusive evil spirits and barter for a sick person's lost soul.
Other cases of Hmong culture and traditions have created problems for officials. In 1990, nine Hmong children died of measles when parents, who had consulted a shaman, waited until the children were in cardiac arrest before taking them to a hospital.
Also in 1990, parents of a Hmong boy ignored court orders by refusing to allow doctors to perform corrective surgery on his club feet. A shaman told the parents that the boy's handicap was caused by an ancestor's sins and surgery would curse the next generation.
The priest sprinkled holy water on the station's entrance, pumps, snack area, ice machine, and even blessed a cigarette advertisement depicting the Marlboro man.
Sheila and Rick Hamilton sued the Grandview Assembly of God and teacher Sandra Moran after discovering their son Derek, then two, had had his mouth taped shut in October, 1994. When she complained to school administrator Rev. Reg Larson, he told her he sanctioned the taping as "corporal biblical principles" and had taped up children himself.
Church-sponsored daycares do not need to be licensed by the state, which requires only health and fire inspections. Hamilton notified the Missouri Division of Family Services, which initially investigated the incident, telling Larson the taping was "inappropriate" before deciding the case was outside DFS jurisdiction.
In a deposition, the pastor described the incident involving Derek. He observed three children with thumbs taped together and two children with tape on their mouths. He saw the teacher remove the tape so the children could eat their lunch.
"I thought her instruction and her loving demeanor towards each of these kids was in line with her intent and purpose," Rev. Larson said. He admitted she probably got the idea from watching him tape children.
The church school claims it has stopped the taping to prevent "misunderstanding." Moran was eventually fired.
Before enrolling their child in the school, the Hamiltons asked about discipline policy and were told the school used "timeout and redirect."
"This school does this terrible thing to my little boy and these 12 people think it's okay," Hamilton said in a Kansas City Star interview.
Child advocates are calling for stricter regulation of church-run daycares. A licensed daycare would probably have lost its license or been charged criminally under similar circumstances.
The measure was marginally supported in the fall referendum with 54.8% of voters in favor of ending three centuries of church control of classrooms.
The "practitioners" use prayer, instead of medicine, to treat sickness.
The suit was filed by Rita Swan, a former Christian Scientist whose son died of meningitis, who now heads Children's Healthcare Is A Legal Duty. Swan is challenging taxpayer payments to Christian Scientist institutions as a violation of state/church separation.
Christian Science nursing homes received about $7.4 million in Medicare in 1992. Swan estimates the yearly total at $10 million.
Suhre, 85, filed his lawsuit in September 1994, claiming the display of the Ten Commandments on the courthouse wall violated his civil rights. The two marble tablets have been on the judge's bench since 1931. When Judge Lacy Thornburg dismissed the case, he said the commissioners and county manager have immunity from testifying about their motives in refusing to remove the commandments.
The appeals court ruled the council can not claim legislative immunity. The county has spent more than $60,000 defending the religious tablets.