Tag Archives: Liberty Institute

Washington Football Coach May Be Fired over Prayer

Photo Courtesy of the Liberty Institute

Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach in Bremerton, Washington, was told that he could be fired if he continued to lead prayer in front of students on public school property.

The school district told Kennedy in a letter that while the former Marine is allowed to pray at work, he cannot do so in front of students. This includes even bowing his head, taking a knee, or any other action that would indicate that he could be praying.

The issue stems from Kennedy’s tradition of praying in the middle of the football field after every game. While other people can join voluntarily, the district believes it could alienate the students and staff that participate in different religious practices.

“Your talks with students may not include religious expression, including prayer,” Superintendent Aaron Leavall wrote. “They must remain entirely secular in nature, so as to avoid alienation of any team member.”

State Superintendent Randy Dorn backed the district’s decision.

“School staff exercising their right to silently pray in private on their own is fine. But leading a prayer isn’t,” he said. “School officials are role models; leading a prayer might put a student in an awkward position, even if the prayer is voluntary. For students who don’t share the official’s faith, players, the official’s public expression of faith can seem exclusionary or even distressing.”

The school district also state that Kennedy’s religious practices violate federal law that separates church and state, and possibly leaving the school and district open to lawsuits.

The irony of this is that they are already being sued by the Liberty Institute who is representing Kennedy. They state that the district is violating his religious freedom.

“The ball is in their court, the school district’s court,” said Mike Berry, senior counsel with Liberty Institute. “They have the opportunity to make this right, to do the right thing and to follow the law.”

Attorney Hiram Sasser added this: “What they are saying is he cannot pray by himself, he cannot simply take a knee at the 50-yard-line,” Sasser said. “That’s like telling a coach he can’t wear a yarmulke if he’s Jewish, he can’t wear a turban if he’s a Sikh, he can’t pray to Mecca if he’s a Muslim, he can’t wear a cross necklace if he’s a Christian.”

While the suit will be filed by the end of the week, Coach Kennedy will still lead the football team on Friday night, and plans to continue his tradition of praying at the 50-yard-line.

Auburn, New York Officials Targeting Church

Officials with a New York town are targeting a church for an outreach to their community.

A code enforcement officer for the city told First Presbyterian Church that a “glee camp” they hosted at a building they own.  A cease-and-desist order was issued in July saying that the church’s camp was a violation of zoning because they were operating a commercial action in a residential zone.

“Cease operating a summer glee camp @100/camper in a residential district. This is not an allowable use here,” the order said.

“I believe this action is a misguided and discriminatory act on the city’s part that not only harms the church’s ability to carry out its religious mission in the community, but also threatens a chilling effect upon other faith organizations similarly situated in residential areas throughout the city,” Pastor Eileen Winter said in a deposition.

The church charges $100 per camper but the money goes entirely to offset the church’s costs to put on the camp.  The church makes no money on the camp and some years even loses money.

Hiram Sasser of the Liberty Institute says that the city is in violation of the Religious Land Use Act.

Military Chaplain Condemned For Saying Faith Helped Him

A military Chaplain has been issued a “letter of concern” for telling people attending a class on suicide prevention that his Christian faith has been a help to him.

Colonel David G. Fivecoat, the commander of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade at Fort Benning, issued the punishment against the Christian pastor for his mentioning how faith helped him in hard times.

The Liberty Institute has stepped in to defend Chaplain Joseph Lawhorn and allow him to exercise his Constitutional right to share his faith.

“The Constitution, federal law, and military regulations all make clear that religious expression in the military is not only permitted, but it’s protected,” Mike Berry of the Liberty Institute told The Christian Post.  “Congress recently strengthened religious freedom for service members in the FY13 and FY14 National Defense Authorization Acts (Sections 533 and 532, respectively).”

The letter, which stays for three years in Lawhorn’s personnel file unless Fivecoat leaves command, is a black mark against the pastor who simply did his job.

“You, above all others, must be cognizant of the various beliefs held by diverse soldiers,” the letter of concern reads. “During mandatory training briefings, it is imperative you are careful to avoid any perception you are advocating one system of beliefs over another.”

New York High School Prohibits Christian Student Group

A New York high school is denying a Christian student her right to form a student group on campus.

Elizabeth Loverde had proposed a “Dare To Believe” club to the principal of Wantagh High School and was reportedly told by Principal Carolyn Breivogel that the group would be rejected because it would violate the Constitution.

The Liberty Institute has stepped in to help Loverde protect her Constitutional rights.

“Once a secondary school such as yours creates a limited open forum, it cannot deny equal access to student groups on the basis of the religious content of the students’ speech,” read a letter to the school from the Institute. “We therefore demand that the school reconsider its position, approve Liz’s club proposal, and grant official recognition to Dare to Believe.”

The school has released a statement saying that they are now reviewing the request.

Long Island High School Discriminates Against Christian Students Again

Officials with a high school in Long Island, New York that was caught discriminating against Christian students last year has been caught doing it again.

Ward Melville High School told John Raney, 17, that he could not have a Christian club as part of the clubs at the school last year.  Raney had founded Students United In Faith, a service-oriented Christian group.  When the Liberty Institute stepped in, the school Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich reversed the decision and apologized.

Now that the spotlight was off, the school is trying to discriminate against Christian students again.

The school’s Assistant Principal, ironically named Christian Losee, is trying to keep the Christians from having a group this year because of alleged lack of interest and “financial limitations.”  However, the school approved four new clubs.

The Liberty Institute was surprised the school would try again to discriminate against Christian students and is taking action.

“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.”

Arkansas State University Allows Players To Wear Crosses

In a victory for the religious freedom of Christians, Arkansas State University has announced they will allow players to continue to have cross shaped stickers on their helmets to pay tribute to fallen classmates.

The only condition from the school is that the players pay for the stickers themselves and that they personally place them on the helmets.

The stickers, which bare the initials of classmates Markel Owens and Barry Weyer who died in the last year, had been placed on all the helmets as a way for the team to pay tribute.  An anti-Christian attorney in Jonesboro, Louis Nisenbaum, saw one of the players on TV with a cross on his helmet and sent a threatening letter to the school.

After initially saying they would remove the crosses in response to the anti-Christianist, the school relented after student athletes contacted various religious freedom organizations to defend their religious freedom.

“In the interest of allowing our student-athletes to memorialize their fallen colleagues, Markel Owens and Barry Weyer, it is the university’s position that any player who wishes to voluntarily place an NCAA-compliant sticker on their helmet to memorialize these individuals will be able to do so,” University attorney Linda McDaniel wrote.

“This is a great victory for the players of Arkansas State University,” Liberty Institute litigation director Hiram Sasser remarked following the decision. “The university officials and the Arkansas attorney general did the right thing restoring the religious liberty and free speech rights of the players to have the original cross sticker design if they so choose and we commend them for doing so.”

Arkansas State University Player Fights Back Against Anti-Christianist

A member of the Arkansas State University football is standing up against an anti-Christianist who demanded a cross emblem on the team’s helmets remembering slain classmates be removed.

The cross emblem was used because both of the slain students, Markel Owens and Barry Weyer, were open and practicing Christians.  The team thought that a cross was appropriate to fit both young men.

Jonesboro attorney Louis Nisenbaum decided that the team shouldn’t be able to honor their fallen classmates that way and sent a demand to the school.

“That is a clear violation of the Establishment Clause as a state endorsement of the Christian religion,” the anti-Christianist wrote. “Please advise whether you agree and whether ASU will continue this practice.”

The school then said they would remove the crosses even though they saw no legal grounds to require it to avoid litigation.

One football player, who is remaining anonymous out of fear of the wrath of anti-Christianists, has obtained legal assistance from the Liberty Institute to fight the decision.

“ASU’s actions in defacing the students’ memorial stickers to remove their religious viewpoint is illegal viewpoint discrimination against the students’ free speech. As these stickers were designed by and adopted by the students on their own, they constitute protected student speech,” the letter, written by Director of Strategic Litigation Hiram Sasser, stated. “Furthermore, ASU’s actions evince that hostility to religion that the Supreme Court has stated is a violation of the Establishment Clause.”

The Liberty Institute has demanded an answer by Wednesday as to whether or not the school will affirm the players have the right to voluntarily put the crosses on their helmets.

Christians Allowed To Meet Again In Plano, Texas

Christians in Plano, Texas are no longer breaking the law when they gather to praise God.

The Agape Resource and Assistance Center had been holding Bible studies in the homes of members before the city told them they violated an ordinance that you cannot have more than 8 people inside a home at any one time.

The ministry contacted the Liberty Institute who informed the city they were in violation of the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

“It is unlawful and unjust for the City of Plano to ban the ministry of Agape Resources and Assistance from fulfilling its calling to serve local women and children in crisis,” Hiram Sasser, Liberty Institute’s director of litigation, stated. “We are hopeful that the City of Plano will lift its unlawful ban, and no further legal action will be necessary. This is an outrageous violation of our client’s religious freedom.”

The city of Plano responded June 12th with a letter apologizing for an error.

“It has come to the [city’s] attention that the aforementioned Notice was issued in error and should therefore be disregarded,” Cynthia O’Banner from the city wrote in the response letter.  “As previously conveyed, the City of Plano appreciates Agape Resource & Assistance Center for services rendered to citizens in need.  Please accept our apology for the misunderstanding.”

Texas Church Wins Injunction To Have Bible Studies In School

A Whitney, Texas church has won a temporary injunction against a school district that had refused to allow the church on their grounds for a Bible study.

Judge F.B. McGregor ruled that Prairie Valley Baptist Church has the same rights to rent the school for after-school clubs and meetings because other community groups are given the opportunity.

The church’s associate pastor and youth minister had contacted the school district last December to hold an after-school Bible study at Whitney High School.  The school’s Superintendent, Gene Solis, contacted the church before the application was even formally submitted, saying he was rejecting the request because if the church was allowed to use the facilities then “fringe groups” could also use them.

Pastor Drew Tucker said he asked the Superintendent to reconsider and then presented the request to the school board.  Superintendent Solis then urged the board to reject the request because the Bible study would be illegal and violate school board policy.

After the Liberty Institute contacted the school, the pastor applied again only to be denied because the school claimed it would cause a traffic congestion problem.

The court ruled the Bible study could take place while the case moves through the court system.  The Liberty Institute praised the court’s decision, saying that it follows well-established federal and state laws on the free exercise of religion.