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CITY COUNCIL VOTES TO REMOVE VETERANS MEMORIAL, SO TOWN REMOVES CITY COUNCIL #o4a #news #veterans


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November 9, 2015, Mr Americana, Overpasses News Desk

URL of the original posting site: http://overpassesforamerica.com/?p=19265

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Members of a city council in Iowa voted Monday to remove a veterans memorial that included a cross from a local park, and in turn, members of the community voted on Tuesday to remove the council members from office.

iowa memorial

As previously reported, the display features the silhouette of a soldier bending down on one knee before a cross-shaped grave marker, and was reportedly placed in Young’s Park by a local veteran. The individual had not sought permission from the city, but the city saw no issue with the memorial since it was understood to honor veterans.

”We warned them multiple times if they let our town down they would be voted out,” Allison Schmitz of Stop the Insanity posted online this week. “They didn’t listen, and look, the people have spoken!”

In August, Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) sent a letter to officials with the Iowa Department of Parks and Recreation to seek the removal of the memorial after it said that it received a complaint about its presence on government property.

“The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits government bodies from promoting religion on public land, including through the display of Latin crosses—‘the preeminent symbol of Christianity,’” the letter read. “Please remove the Latin cross from government property.”Bull offended

The demand resulted in an uprising within the community, including a rally in support of the monument. But on defendMonday, council members voted 3-2 to have the memorial relocated to private property across the street and replaced with another display. April Verwers, Carolyn Formanek and David Roozeboom all voted against the memorial, while Dawn Allspach-Kline and Tim Pitt voted in favor of it.

In turn, on Election Day Tuesday, residents voted for Verwers and Formanek’s opponents, booting them from office. Roozeboom did not seek re-election.

“I think they needed to listen to the constituents along with the rallies,” newly-elected council member Rick Kingery told local television station KCCI. “The people put out 2,000 wooden crosses across town. That is a huge number. People wanted their voices heard, and they were not listened to.”

Mayor Brian Hatch defended the city council to reporters, stating that none really wanted to move the memorial, but that in the best interest of the city, some voted to do so in order to avoid a lawsuit. “I hope it brings some closure to it,” he said. “I hope we can kind of achieve the best of both worlds. We avoid a costly lawsuit and at the same time we still have the silhouette memorial up honoring the veterans, right across the road hopefully, on private property.”More Evidence

But the  which is representing the veteran who initially placed the monument, is now considering the available legal options, as it believes removal of the monument is unconstitutional.and veterans

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Teacher Tells Girl Bible Quotes Banned From School


Posted on May 22, 2015 by Tad Cronn

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://politicaloutcast.com/2015/05/teacher-tells-girl-bible-quotes-banned-from-school/#m1cApwh7AxMBGYF5.99
 Different Free Speech Ideologies

Freedom of expression. It’s not a difficult concept. Basically, every human being has the right to speak his mind without fear of government punishment or penalty. Accepted, reasonable restrictions on speech are generally very loose, like no yelling “fire” in a crowded auditorium and no speech that is genuinely disruptive like standing up and reciting the Communist Manifesto while the teacher is trying to conduct class.

Yet somehow, school officials across this land often seem to forget that the right to freedom of speech, particularly religious speech, does not end at the classroom door. The latest example comes from Somerset Academy near Las Vegas, Nevada, where sixth-grader Mackenzie Fraiser was given an “All About Me” report assignment that was supposed to include an inspirational quote. When Mackenzie wanted to use John 3:16, however, her teacher said that biblical quotations and quotes from the Book of Mormon were forbidden by the school.

The incident might not have even come to light except that some months later, the same teacher made an assignment about self-esteem, and Mackenzie’s parents suggested using a Bible quote, reasoning that the reason Mackenzie has strong self-esteem is that she is made in God’s image. At that point, the sixth-grader spilled the beans about her teacher’s prohibition of things scriptural.

Mackenzie’s father, Tim Fraizer, the pastor of Grace Point Church, fired off an email to his girl’s teacher, certain that there must have been a miscommunication. The reply he received, however, was an email from an assistant principal, Jenyan Martinez, confirming that Mackenzie recalled the incident correctly and that the teacher was, in fact, enforcing school policy. In her response, Martinez suggested that the reason for banning the biblical quote from the original assignment was because, as an oral report, the assignment would give Mackenzie a, quote-unquote, captive audience for her religious beliefs.Liberalism a mental disorder 2

Liberty Institute attorney Jeremy Dys told The Blaze, “When students go to school they do not lose their First Amendment rights. It chilled her speech and, as such, what the school is teaching these kids right now is that it is wrong to reference their faith at school. If they don’t apologize for this mistake … then the lesson that these students will take away is that it is wrong to reference their faith in school.”first-amendment-flag

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the academy said in a statement that it values students’ rights and the incident was under review.

The Mackenzies are asking for the school to apologize and allow their daughter to submit her original assignment with the quote for a grade, which seems very reasonable. Had the situation been inverted, and an atheist student found herself banned by a Christian academy from using, say, a Richard Dawkins quote, the fireworks would be seen far and wide.Leftist determonation to destroy freedom of religion

So why is it considered acceptable by so many government officials to impose on Christians’ rights while asserting a position of de facto atheism? The right to freedom of speech should preclude any policy of selective “diversity.”cause of death freedom combo 2

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School Bans Christian Club — Again


Obamacare

October 6, 2014 By

http://www.tpnn.com/2014/10/06/school-bans-christian-club-again/

Starnes Christian Club
CP 01Educators at Ward Melville High School are either woefully ignorant of the U.S. Constitution or they really don’t like Christian teenagers.

For the second year in a row, the Long Island, New York high school has denied students the right to form a Christian club.

“I feel like they have something against me and my faith,” 17-year-old John Raney told me. “I feel marginalized.”

John is the founder of Students United in Faith, a service-oriented Christian club. Nearly 20 young people wanted to join the club – but the school said no.

“I wanted to start the club because I thought it would provide a safe space for Christians to meet and talk about their faith,” he said.

As John noted, there aren’t many places like that in Long Island — especially at Ward Melville High School.

So here’s the back story:

cp 12Last year, the school pulled the same stunt. They banned John’s club because of its religious nature. Attorneys with Liberty Institute, a law firm specializing in religious liberty cases, stepped in and threatened to sue.

After a school district investigation, Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich reversed the ban and apologized to John.

She told television station WCBS the initial reason for rejection was “apparently inaccurately conveyed.”

And by “inaccurately conveyed” she means they got their hand caught in the religious liberty cookie jar.

Fast forward nine months later and the school once again is telling the Christian kids they aren’t welcome to co-mingle.

I called the school district to find out what was going on. They said they would get back to me. I’ll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, John said Assistant Principal Christian Losee cited a lack of student interest in the group as well as the school’s “financial limitations.” But those excuses did not hold water.

John said there were at least 17 students who wanted to participate in the club. That seems like a pretty respectable number.  And if, in fact, the LMSELCHD Sacred Cowschool had money trouble, why did they approve four new clubs this year?

So John picked up the phone and called Liberty Institute, a nationally known religious liberty law firm. “I cannot imagine why they would come back a second time to discriminate,” said attorney Hiram Sasser. “For some reason, Ward Melville High School does not want to follow the Equal Access law.”

Sasser fired off a letter to the school district demanding the Christian students be allowed to form their club.

“This is not a complicated issue,” Sasser wrote. “Simply put, public schools cannot discriminate against religious clubs and must treat them equally, and provide them equal access to school facilities, as non-religious clubs.”

Attorney Sasser was able to compile a list of all the school’s clubs – 33 in all. They’ve got everything from a fishing club to a ceramics club. They even have a Gay-Straight Alliance.

“They let all these other clubs meet with no problem whatsoever,” John told me. “But the second me and my friends mention faith or mention God, they get up in arms about it – like there’s something wrong with believing in these things.”

Sasser said the law is clear. It doesn’t matter if only two people wanted to join the Christian club – the school would have to accommodate them.

“If they allow the fishing club, they have to allow the Christian club, too,” he said. “They cannot exclude the Christian club.”

After what happened last year, I suspect the school knows that. It seems to me they’re just engaged in a bit of bullying and intimidation.

“It sends a chilling message to all faith groups – telling them the school views these clubs as not acceptable,” Sasser said.

more tolerantJohn’s mom, Trudy Fischer, told me she’s proud that her son is sticking up for the club.

“I was really surprised in today’s age that children still have to stand up for their First Amendment rights,” she said. “Tolerance is really preached in their school. They talk about tolerance, but when it comes to this – there is no tolerance. They want to shut them up.

That’s right, Trudy. They want your son to shut up. They want to marginalize these young Christian teenagers and make them think there’s something inappropriate, something sleazy about their religious beliefs. But what’s truly sleazy is government-employed bigots continuing to bully Christian teens trying to do good deeds.

Republished with permission. Originally published at FoxNews.com.

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10 Year Old Student Wins Right To Write About God


http://lastresistance.com/3450/10-year-old-student-wins-right-write-god/

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When Erin’s teacher found out that she was going to write about God, she told the girl that she had to pick someone else and that she wouldn’t accept the assignment because it had something to do with God.  The teacher went so far as to tell Erin that she had to take her assignment about God off of school property because it might be a violation of the First Amendment.  How can writing about your religion be a violation of the freedom of religion?  The teacher obviously was clueless about the Constitution and the law.  Basically, the teacher told Erin that God was not allowed in her public school.

Erin ended up doing the assignment twice, first with God as her idol and then choosing Michael Jackson as an idol to write about, which was very acceptable to the teacher.  However, due to the scene the teacher created, her fellow students began teasing her about her faith in God.

When Erin got home that day, she asked her mother if she was allowed to talk about God at school or not.

Erin’s mom, Erica contacted the principal to complain about the teacher’s reaction to her daughter’s desire to write about God.  She said she asked the principal:

“How can you tell this baby, that’s a Christian, what she can say and what she can’t say?”

Jeremy Dys, an attorney with the Liberty Institute came to the aid of the Snead family and met with the school officials.  After the meeting, Erin was allowed to turn in her first assignment about God and received an A for her paper.  After the meeting, Erin’s mom told the local news:

“[She simply] wanted Erin’s right to be able to express herself not to ever be taken away again.”

“I just wanted every Christian to know that we have a right to be able to express ourselves.  We understand that they’ve taken prayer out of schools, but they cannot take God out of our children.”

Dyes added:

“Of course students can talk and write about God in school.  Young teachers, like Erin’s, have been barraged with so much false information for so long that they are afraid that a 10-year-old student’s coloring assignment might violate the First Amendment. That kind of intimidation by the ACLU and Freedom from Religion Foundation is wrong and is precisely what Liberty Institute was founded to combat.”

I’ve heard of numerous cases where uninformed teachers and administrators are so afraid of lawsuit that they readily accept the anti-Christian propaganda of the ACLU, Freedom from Religion Foundation and other atheist groups that readily trample all over the constitutional rights of students and teachers.  If your kids or anyone else’s kids that you know of have had their constitutional rights violated by teachers or school administrators, you need to contact someone like Liberty Institute to help get those rights back.  If not challenged and proven wrong, teachers and school officials will continue to trample all over your child’s rights of freedom of religion and speech.
Read more at http://lastresistance.com/3450/10-year-old-student-wins-right-write-god/#gue3gcKujjdexqdT.99

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