Attacking Christianity AGAIN!

Posted by johnhouk on May 01, 2008
 John R. Houk
© April 30, 2008

Dear friends and fellow Christians, Christianity is again being persecuted by the Secular Humanist organization known as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), other well funded Left Wing Organizations and even a school board that could not accept a favorable Lower Court ruling in favor of Christianity and has pressed on the persecution in Appellate Court.

Yes as you may have guessed the Appellate Court ruled against Christianity.

What am I talking about?

I am talking about infringement of First Amendment Rights being violated not allowing a High School Coach to even bow his head or knee in SILENT prayer. The ACLU says this act creates a “destructive environment” for the students.

Did you read that right? Indeed! According to the ACLU, Christianity creates a destructive environment for High School students in East Brunswick, NJ.

Hello! That is prohibiting the free exercise of religion by the government.

Here are the details from the one of the bastions of Christian Liberty – The Rutherford Institute.

JRH
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ACLU Claims Prayer Creates a ‘Destructive Environment’

John W. Whitehead
Rutherford Institute Email
Sent: April 30, 2008 1:15:54 PM

Our schools are in a deplorable state, and our young people are surrounded by dangers on all sides—from premarital sex, school shootings and drug and alcohol abuse to low literacy standards and a lack of understanding about the difference between right and wrong. In light of this, you’d think the schools would be grateful for a teacher who serves as a positive, moral role model for young people. But when religion is involved, even heroes like Marcus Borden find themselves under fire.

According to the legal director for the ACLU of New Jersey, Borden has fostered a “destructive environment” for students. What did Borden, a high school football coach in East Brunswick, N.J., and a recipient of the national Caring Coach of the Year award, do to create such a “destructive” environment?

He merely bowed his head silently, and at other times, he knelt down on one knee, again silently.

Coach Marcus Borden wasn’t attempting to pray with his football players, nor was he leading them in prayer. All he did was show respect for their pre-game tradition by bowing his head.

Traditions, after all, are important to Americans. And pre-game prayers are a longstanding football tradition. In fact, pre-game, student-led prayer has been a regular part of the game of football since before Coach Borden started leading the team in 1983. Indeed, over the course of 25 years, more than 2,000 East Brunswick football players have taken a knee and opted to voluntarily pray before taking the field on game days.

The prayers typically follow along the lines of, “Dear Lord, please guide us today in our quest in our game. Please let us represent our families and our communities well. Lastly, please guide our players and opponents so that they can come out of this game unscathed, no one is hurt.”

The practice quickly became a target for official censure after school officials passed a policy in October 2005 prohibiting representatives of the school district from participating in student-initiated prayer. Yet even that wasn’t enough for school officials. So they ordered Borden to stand still, rather than bend a knee and bow his head while his players recited pre-game prayers.

Although Borden won at the district court level, the school appealed the ruling, aided by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. And just last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that a football coach may not silently bow his head or “take a knee” with his team as a gesture of respect for student-led prayers prior to a game.

Coach Borden has not wavered in his determination to stand strong. He knows what hangs in the balance—our young people. And he knows that he is not alone in this.

We are standing with Coach Borden in this battle, and I hope we can count on you to stand with us. I’ve given Coach Borden my word that The Rutherford Institute will continue to fight for his right to silently bow his head during pre-game prayers.

As you know, it costs thousands of dollars to take these cases through the courts—sometimes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court! And in this case, we particularly need your faithful prayers and financial support in order to prevail.

Please take a moment now to make a special tax-deductible donation of $35, $75, $150 or more to The Rutherford Institute in support of our legal and educational efforts in this and many other cases. You make it possible for us to offer legal assistance at no charge to individuals like Coach Borden when their rights have been threatened or violated.

There is so much to be gained if we win, but even more to lose if we don’t.

Please let us hear from you today. The future of freedom rests with you.

Faithfully yours,
John W. Whitehead
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Rutherford Attorneys Ask Appeals Court to Re-Visit Case of Football Coach Prohibited from Bowing Head During Team's Pre-Game Prayer

Nisha N. Mohammed
4/29/2008
The Rutherford Institute

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. -- Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a petition for re-hearing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in the case of a football coach who was prohibited by school officials from silently bowing his head or "taking a knee" while his players offered a pre-game prayer. Institute attorneys, acting as co-counsel for football coach Marcus Borden, are asking the Third Circuit to revisit the recent ruling of a three-judge panel of the court, which held that Borden's expressive conduct is not protected by the First Amendment.

"If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will mean that high school teachers across the United States will have no free speech or academic freedom rights at all," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "This undermines a time-honored tradition that has less to do with religion than it does athletic tradition. It's a sad statement on our rights as Americans that schools are no longer bastions of freedom."

The case arose in October 2005 after officials at East Brunswick High School adopted a policy prohibiting representatives of the school district from participating in student-initiated prayer, which has been a regular part of the high school football team's pre-game activities for over 25 years. However, school officials justified their actions by insisting that while student athletes have the constitutionally protected right to pray, that privilege does not extend to coaches, who are public employees and whose participation would violate the "separation of church and state."

In July 2006, U.S. District Judge Dennis Cavanaugh declared that the school district violated Borden's constitutional rights to free speech, freedom of association and academic freedom when they prohibited him from silently bowing his head and "taking a knee" with his players while they engaged in student-initiated, student-led, nonsectarian pre-game prayers. The District Court also ruled that the school district would not be subject to liability under the Establishment Clause by virtue of Borden's gestures of respect. However, in challenging the court's decision, the school district, aided by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, argued that Borden has no constitutional rights of expression or academic freedom in connection with his duties as a teacher and coach.

Institute attorneys rebutted the school district's claims, insisting that the liberties secured by the U.S. Constitution guarantee Borden's right to offer a simple, silent gesture of respect, whether he does so by silently bowing his head or taking a knee while his players say their pre-game prayer. In issuing its ruling, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals reversed the lower court judgment in favor of Borden, declaring that "based on the history of Borden's conduct with the team's prayer, his acts cross the line and constitute an unconstitutional endorsement of religion."
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Attacking Christianity AGAIN!
John R. Houk
© April 30, 2008
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The Rutherford Institute
1440 Sachem Place
Charlottesville, VA 22901
Phone: 434-978-3888
FAX: 434- 978-1789
http://www.rutherford.org

Under the regulations of the United States Internal Revenue Service, The Rutherford Institute is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Donations to support The Rutherford Institute's legal and educational work help to safeguard the constitutional rights and religious freedoms of all Americans. Donations are tax-deductible. In compliance with general industry standards of a nonprofit organization, the Institute is audited annually by an independent accounting firm.

Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization that provides free legal services to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated.

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