OKLAHOMA: Gov. Mary Fallin Defies Order To Remove Ten Commandments Marker

According to Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, the Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state capitol is not an endorsement of Christianity but a "tribute to historical events." So it stays where it is. CNN reports:

"Oklahoma is a state where we respect the rule of law, and we will not ignore the state courts or their decisions. However, we are also a state with three co-equal branches of government," Gov. Marry Fallin said in a statement Tuesday. Fallin said the state attorney general has filed an appeal, while the legislature pursues changes to the state Constitution that makes the monument legally permissible. "During this process, which will involve both legal appeals and potential legislative and constitutional changes, the Ten Commandments monument will remain on the Capitol grounds," she added. Last week, the state Supreme Court ordered the monument removed because it violates the state's constitutional ban against the use of public funds or property to benefit a religion.

Some supporters of the monument have suggested selling the ground underneath it to a private citizen or group.

RELATED: In December 2013 Fallin denied spousal benefits to both straight and gay Oklahoma National Guard members rather than comply with the edict handed down by then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. In 1998 then-Lt. Gov. Fallin divorced her first husband shortly after her Oklahoma Highway Patrol bodyguard was alleged to have had an affair with her.

Quote Of The Day - Matt Barber

"It happens every year. School officials hostile to religion, most especially the Christian religion, begin spouting the mythological 'separation of church and state' talking points spoon-fed them by the aforementioned secularist organizations. This disinformation campaign has had tremendous success over the years and so we must set the record straight. That’s what Liberty Counsel is doing. If you know of any graduate being told not to pray, not to lead his or her fellow public school graduates in prayer, or otherwise being told not to share his or her faith from the podium (assuming that graduate has earned a role as a student speaker), then please call Liberty Counsel at 1-800-671-1776 or email them at Liberty@LC.org to file a report. Let’s give these anti-Christian stink bugs a mouthful of constitutional bug spray. And, graduates, congratulations. We’re proud of you. And so is your Lord." - Matt Barber, writing for World Net Daily.

Happy Openly Secular Day

(Tipped by JMG reader Doug)

TENNESSEE: House Votes To Make Bible The Official Book Of The State

Via the Tennessean:

The Holy Bible is the official book of Tennessee in the view of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Despite questions of constitutionality, lawmakers beat back an attempt to make Andrew Jackson's Bible the official book and voted 55-38 in favor of Rep. Jerry Sexton's original bill. "History's going to tell us where we stand on this. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to have the side that I'm on," said Sexton, R-Bean Station, after the vote. "It may be kind to me in the future and it may not be kind, and that's OK. I made a decision for today and I feel good about it." Although a GOP-led effort, House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, was one of 20 Republicans to vote against the measure. House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, and four Republicans abstained. Only six Democrats voted in favor of the bill.

Gov. Bill Haslam has declined to say whether he will sign the bill should it also be approved by the state Senate.

Liberty Counsel: Repeal The Lemon Test

The Liberty Counsel yesterday filed an amicus brief with the Tenth Circuit Court in which they argue for the overturn of the so-called Lemon Test, an expression that arose from Lemon v Kurzman, the 1971 Supreme Court ruling which grants private citizens standing to complain when the government endorses a specific religion. From the Liberty Counsel's press release:

“Since 1971, the Lemon test has allowed mere offended observers to overturn years of religious tradition,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. In the case currently before the court, two Wiccans were offended over a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Bloomfield, New Mexico, municipal building.

“The Lemon test has meant that the Establishment Clause, designed to prevent federal establishments of religion, has morphed into a weapon aimed at eliminating all vestiges of public religious expression,” added Staver. “It is past time to abandon that judge-made rule and return to the actual words and intent of the First Amendment,” concluded Staver.

Federal lawsuits require that the complainant have standing, which means they must demonstrate that they have been injured by an act of government. Over the years, the Supreme Court has loosened the standing requirement for Establishment Clause claims, allowing people to file suit merely because they are offended. In Lemon v. Kurtzman, the Court ruled that religious activity must be diluted with secular influences.

The Liberty Counsel argues that recent Supreme Court decisions indicate that a repeal of the Lemon Test is possible. And then the Ten Commandments can be everywhere.

Huckabee: There'd Be No School Violence If Kids Could Pray To Jesus Every Day

Second Circuit Court Of Appeals Rules That WTC Cross Isn't A Religious Symbol

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the public display of the so-called WTC Cross is a secular remembrance of the 9/11 attacks and not a religious symbol.

“Thank God,” said Father Brian Jordan, the Franciscan priest who had the cross pulled from Ground Zero weeks after an excavator showed it to him. “In a way, we’ve been vindicated. I’m satisfied and gratified that this will go down as a piece of history — as a reminder.” American Athiests had tried to get the cross booted from the museum, claiming a constitutional church-state violation. “Atheists died on 9/11, members of our organization suffered in lower Manhattan on that day, and our members helped with the rescue and recovery efforts, yet we are denied equal representation in the National Museum,” American Atheists President David Silverman said in a statement.

American Atheists say they may seek an en banc review of the decision or appeal directly to SCOTUS.

Rep. Louis Gohmert: It's The Job Of Christians To Tell Non-Christians That They Are Totally Going To Hell

Via Raw Story:

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Tuesday grilled a pastor who supports the separation of church and state, asking him why he did not share the “good news” that non-Christians were going to Hell. At a House Judiciary Committee hearing about religious freedom on Tuesday, Gohmert told the Rev. Barry Lynn, who serves as the executive director for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, that the Founders of the country — and Franklin Roosevelt — had often mentioned religion in their writings. “Do you believe in sharing the good news that will keep people from going to Hell, consistent with Christian beliefs?” the Texas Republican wondered. Lynn, however, disagreed with the congressman’s “construction of what Hell is like or why one gets there.” “So, you do not believe somebody would go to Hell if they do not believe Jesus is the way, the truth, the life?” Gohmert pressed.

You are going to spend eternity writhing in a lake of fire because God loves you so fucking much. And any law that stops somebody from screaming that to you at your government workplace? That law was written by Satan. 

E.W. Jackson: Satan Supports The Separation Of Church And State

This is the nutjob who ran for lieutenant governor of Virginia.

Focus On The Family Mocks Justice Kagan's Dissent In Public Prayer Ruling

Liberty Counsel Cheers SCOTUS Ruling

"Liberty Counsel has been actively engaged in protecting the rights of Americans to pray in public forums. Monday, the fruits of our labor paid off in a big way. Today, to the consternation of anti-Christian segregationists, historical revisionists and Church-state separatists, prayer in the public square remains protected in the United States of America thanks to patriots like you and five Supreme Court Justices. We live in the land of liberty because America was founded upon prayer. Prayer signaled the turning point in the history of America. It would be extremely dangerous for our nation’s courts to have ruled to remove prayer from public forums. Together we must preserve our unalienable right to get down on our knees to pray – and we must never fail to rise up to fight when that freedom is threatened." - Liberty Counsel head Mat Staver, writing for Barbwire.

FRC Cheers SCOTUS Ruling On Prayer

"The court today has upheld our first and most fundamental freedom. The court has rejected the idea that as citizens we must check our faith at the entrance to the public square. We applaud the majority on the court for getting that right. This is an historic victory for all Americans of faith and for the common-sense reading of the Constitution itself. The Court's affirmation of the right of Americans to practice their faith in public life and the public square is a major win for the religious liberty we have always cherished.If the lower court ruling were correct, then Congress would have been violating the Constitution for more than two centuries. The Supreme Court majority recognized the absurdity of a ruling that would have even found the Constitution's authors in violation of their own document. This welcome decision is very helpful in putting the brakes on the efforts of militant secularists to rid the public square of any religious expression." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, via press release.

SCOTUS Upholds Public Prayers

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court today upheld the right of public prayers before government meetings.

The court ruled in favor of the town of Greece, N.Y., a Rochester suburb that has opened its monthly public meetings with a Christian prayer since 1999. Two residents, one Jewish and the other atheist, claimed that because the prayers were almost always Christian, the practice amounted to government endorsement of a single faith.  The Supreme Court last considered the issue of government prayer in 1983, ruling that the Nebraska legislature did not violate the Constitution by opening its sessions with a prayer from a Presbyterian minister.  But the challengers in the New York case argued that the meetings of the Greece town board were different, because members of the public who sought action from the board were legally required to attend and were not simply part of a passive audience — drawing attention to themselves if they declined to participate in a prayer that was contrary to their beliefs.

More about the case:

The current court, with its 5-4 conservative tilt, agreed to consider the case following a federal appeals court's ruling against the town. Judge Guido Calabresi of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals said its actions "virtually ensured a Christian viewpoint" and featured a "steady drumbeat of often specifically sectarian Christian prayers." The Obama administration came down forcefully on the town's side — most notably because both houses of Congress have opened with prayers since 1789. The case hinged on these words from the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." That has come to be known as the Establishment Clause. The House and Senate have had chaplains on staff since 1789. But the prayers delivered these days by Senate Chaplain Barry Black and House Chaplain Patrick Conroy are far less sectarian than those heard in churches, temples and synagogues.

Stand by for Christianist cartwheels.

Donohue: Let's Make Atheists Impotent

"Militant atheists have a new goal: they object to students hearing the name of God in the Pledge of Allegiance. No atheist has to say the Pledge, or utter the dreaded words, 'under God'  - it is optional - but that is not enough: they want to stop others from saying it. The American Humanist Association, and its ilk, are not satisfied to opt out of saying the Pledge of Allegiance. They want the government to silence everyone from saying it. We do not have to worry about the Taliban in the United States—religious fanatics are properly impotent. But we do have to worry about their secular counterpart—atheist fanatics. It is their impotence that we must secure." - Catholic League blowhard Bill Donohue.

WISCONSIN: Vandal Crumples Atheism Sign At State Capitol Building

The Freedom From Religion Foundation reports that a vandal tried to crumple the above sign at the Wisconsin Capitol Building in Madison. The FFRF posted their message to counter an Easter display erected by the Concernstipated Women. They have posted an additional message next to the sign:

Why is this sign so mutilated? Somebody, presumably somebody who disagreed with our message, tried to destroy our sign. Apparently, this person believes the Capitol is a public forum for Christianity only. If you don’t think religious messages should be displayed on government property, join the club! We don’t think they should be, either. But as long as religious groups use the Capitol to proselytize, FFRF has a right to respond to their message. Religion is divisive. It belongs in churches, not the State Capitol. Keep religion out of government.

After attempting to destroy the sign, the vandal was chased by security guards but eluded capture.

Tony Perkins: Air Force Academy Cadets Are Rebelling Against Persecution

Tony Perkins writes via press release:

At the U.S. Air Force Academy, jets aren't the only thing taking off. So is a campus-wide rebellion against the forces of political correctness. Frustrated by the school's decision to scrub a Bible verse from one of the dorm whiteboards, cadets decided to take matters into their own hands. In a show of defiance, Bible verses started popping up on dry erase boards throughout the dorms -- outraging the anti-Christian "tolerance" police at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. This latest controversy boiled over earlier this week, when MRFF insisted that a verse from Galatians, posted on a cadet's personal hallway whiteboard, somehow created a "hostile environment." He pressed for the cadet -- and any officer(s) who ignored the display -- to be punished for "misconduct." Not so fast, said cadets, who offered a teachable moment of their own. Overnight, Scriptures from Philippians 4 to Psalm 28 started appearing up and down dorm hallways on whiteboards -- a stealth operation to counter the growing culture of religious oppression. "This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands," read one. "This very day I will give the carcasses to the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel." A few cadets even quoted from the Quran, just to give the display a little multi-faith color.

Todd Starnes is outraged over at Fox News, of course.

WTC Cross Appeal Opens On Thursday

Oral arguments begin Thursday in the American Atheists lawsuit to have the so-called WTC Cross removed from government property in downtown Manhattan. Via the Christian Post:

Two days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, construction workers found a cross beam among the wreckage of the Twin Towers. Measuring 17 feet tall and approximately 4,000 pounds, the piece of debris became known as the World Trade Center cross, and for many, became a symbol of hope amid despair. When the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation completed its national 9/11 Memorial and Museum in 2011, the WTC cross was included among the items displayed. In July 2011, American Atheists filed suit against the museum for having the WTC cross and for reportedly lacking other secular and religious images of a non-Christian nature. The suit was filed before the New York Supreme Court, County of New York, and named among its defendants the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the 9/11 Museum, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. "The installation of the cross at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum is facially violative of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America," reads the suit in part.

A lower court ruled against American Atheists last March, saying that the cross has "historical significance" that outweighs concerns about the separation of church and state.

Satanists Vs Oklahoma

The NYC-based Satanic Temple says they have the right to erect the pictured monument at the statehouse in Oklahoma. Via Raw Story:

The group offered to donate a monument last month, after State Rep. Mike Ritze (R-Broken Arrow) and conservative Christians were allowed to erect a Ten Commandments monument on the statehouse grounds. Lawmakers in Oklahoma, however, have insisted that the Satanists should not be given the same treatment as Christians. “This is a faith-based nation and a faith-based state,” Rep. Earl Sears (R-Bartlesville) said. “I think it is very offensive they would contemplate or even have this kind of conversation.” After other groups — including PETA and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster — asked for their own displays, the Oklahoma City Capitol Preservation Commission placed a moratorium on new monuments at the statehouse. But the Satanic Temple insists erecting a monument of their own is within their constitutional rights.

The group has raised nearly all of the $20,000 they say they need to place the statue.

Uncommon Douchery: Erik Estrada Stars In Liberty Counsel Movie With Mat Staver

Kyle Mantyla writes at Right Wing Watch:

On the heels of Rick Santorum's flop as a movie mogul, it looks like the professional anti-gay activists over at Liberty Counsel have been bitten by the acting bug and decided to try their hands at filmmaking as well, with the release of a feature film called "Uncommon" starring none other than Erik Estrada. Based on the trailer, the film looks to be exactly as awful as one would expect a movie made by Liberty Counsel to be ... especially one that actually features Mat Staver in an acting role.

More from Raw Story:

The Christian conservative legal foundation released the trailer to “Uncommon,” which stars Erik Estrada as a principled janitor who helps the students put together the Bible-based production. The theme is in line with Liberty Counsel’s goal to allow students and school employees to promote religious beliefs in public schools.“Religious liberty in public school is certainly a fitting topic for our first feature film,” said Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel founder and chairman. “Many of the calls Liberty Counsel receives are from parents and students whose speech and religious viewpoints are being censored in the public schools.” According to its IMDB.com page, “Uncommon” will depict students at fictional Rosewood High School as they work to create their own theater, music and dance departments after they are eliminated due to budget cuts. “Struggling to find the right script, music and choreography the students get advice from an uncommon source: the Bible,” writes Daniel Bowden on IMDB. The trailer indicates the film’s climactic scenes will include courtroom scenes featuring Staver arguing on behalf of the students.

The film opens January 14th.

RELATED: Last August, Staver was named in a RICO Act suit which alleges that he conspired to kidnap the daughter of Janet Jenkins, a lesbian whose estranged partner went "ex-gay" and vanished to Central America with the child. The child is still missing and a Christian minister was last year found guilty of abetting her abduction.

SCOTUS To Hear Public Prayer Case

In 2008, Americans United for Separation of Church and State first sued the town of Greece, New York on behalf of two residents who claimed that allowing public prayer at city meetings was a violation of the Establishment Clause. Last year the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the town. Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear an appeal brought by the anti-gay Alliance Defending Freedom.

Some legal experts say while the high court has allowed public prayers in general, it has not set boundaries on when they might become too sectarian in nature. "The case involves a test between two different kinds of legal rules," said Thomas Goldstein, SCOTUSblog.com publisher and a leading Washington attorney. "The Supreme Court has broadly approved legislative prayer without asking too many questions. But in other cases where the government is involved with religion, it has looked at lots of different circumstances. So we just don't know whether this court will be completely approving of legislative prayers in this instance." The justices are now being asked to offer more firm guidelines over when and if such public prayers are constitutionally acceptable.

More about the ADF:

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a "legal ministry" based in Scottsdale, Arizona, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Greece Town Board, saying the Supreme Court has upheld the practice of government bodies "to acknowledge America's religious heritage and invoke divine guidance and blessings upon their work." "A few people should not be able to extinguish the traditions of our nation merely because they heard something they didn't like," said Brett Harvey, an attorney for the group. "Because the authors of the Constitution invoked God's blessing on public proceedings, this tradition shouldn't suddenly be deemed unconstitutional."

RELATED: The ADF is also behind many lawsuits that seek to thwart the civil rights of LGBT Americans