Religious Diversity - period ended 1.15.2006

Religious Diversity/Civil Rights//Judge Upholds Prayer Limits in Ind. State House/Washington Post/Washington/DC/USA/1-Jan-2006/Wash.Post/... The Indiana Civil Liberties Union soon filed suit in the name of four people -- a Quaker, a Methodist and two Catholics -- to stop what critics considered an ...

Religious Diversity/Church-State/Civil Rights/Lobbyist/State legislature opens with voluntary prayer/Decatur Daily Democrat/Decatur/IN/USA/5-Jan-2006//... The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of four people, including a Quaker lobbyist, who said they ...

Religious Diversity/Church-State/Civil Rights/Lobbyist/Turner leads Statehouse prayer session modified on court order/Marion Chronicle Tribune/Marion/IN/USA/5-Jan-2006//... as "savior." The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of four people, including a Quaker lobbyist, who ...

Religious Diversity/Church-State/Civil Rights/Lobbyist/Stand doesn't speak for all/Elkhart Truth/Elkhart/IN/USA/6-Jan-2006//… Recently, the Indiana Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of four people, including Quaker lobbyist Anthony Hinrichs. The lawsuit seeks to restrict the content of prayers offered at the beginning of legislative assemblies. These four persons claim that they find the offering of Christian prayers using the names "God," "Christ" and "Jesus" to be offensive.

In response, the general superintendent of Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers) wrote a rebuttal stating that this viewpoint does not represent the views of most Quakers in Indiana Yearly Meeting.

Quaker Haven Camp, located on Dewart Lake, Syracuse, is a church-related camp and conference center supported by Friends (Quaker) churches. The QHC board of directors and camp staff wish to make clear that the viewpoint being expressed by this lawsuit does not, in any way, represent the beliefs of the camp, its board, staff or supporters.

It is extremely unfortunate that Mr. Hinrichs' position as a Quaker lobbyist has implied the support of Friends (Quakers) in Indiana. This is offensive beyond measure.

DALE GRAVES

President

Quaker Haven board

JERRY & LETITIA DAIN

Quaker Haven Camp managers ….

Religious Diversity/Church-State/Civil Rights/Lobbyist/House opens legislative session with voluntary prayers/Wabash Plain Dealer/Wabash/IN/USA/6-Jan-2006//... The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of four people, including a Quaker lobbyist, who said they ...

Religious Diversity/Church-State/Civil Rights/House Speaker Says He'll Comply with Jesus Prayer Ban/Christian Post/Los Angeles/CA/USA/5-Jan-2006//… House Speaker Brian Bosma said that he will comply with a U.S. district judge’s decision to bar specific references to Christianity by reminding the person picked for today’s opening invocation in the Indiana House of Representatives.


Judge David Hamilton ruled in November a case brought against Bosma by four lobbyists that prayers with specific references to Jesus Christ in the House were unconstitutional. The speaker was strongly against the ban from the start and had requested that the judge amend his ruling to be less vague but was denied.

The speaker would not say who he had chosen to deliver the opening and also would not say if he had reviewed it.

“You will know at the same time the rest of us do,” Bosma said, according to the Associated Press.

Bosma had given “a little” consideration to possibly denying Hamilton’s order but decided against it because he said it would send the wrong signal to citizens regarding their obligation to court orders. He said he will appeal his case to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Critics of Hamilton’s decision say that the judge is undermining a 188-year Indiana tradition by interfering in the legislative branch.

State Rep. Terry Goodin (D-Crothersville) is among several House members who say they will “absolutely” speak Christ’s name if given the opportunity.

"Really, who do you pray to? If you're offering up a prayer, you're praying to a deity. You don't offer prayers to just an open space," Goodin said, according to the Concord Monitor. "I will give the same type of prayer that's been given for 100 years. I won't change my words because of someone in the judicial branch who tells me I must."

The suit against Bosma was filed after one minister, Clarence Brown, who led the House in prayer offered to sing “Just a Little Talk With Jesus.” Many legislators joined in but several walked out.

Later the Indiana Civil Liberties Union filed a suit on behalf of a Quaker, a Methodist and two Catholics who said that the prayers in the house had become too sectarian. Judge Hamilton ruled on Nov. 30 that the overwhelming amount of prayers had promoted Christianity.

Clarence Brown, an evangelical Christian layman who works in an auto parts factory said he had wanted to “share the word. That’s what I’m supposed to do,” he said according to the Washington Post. “I have to do what Jesus Christ says for me to do as a witness.”

Bosma is scheduled to be in attendance in Philadelphia for the 'Justice Sunday III' broadcast on Jan. 8. The previous two editions of the program have focused on Christian advocacy for judges who organizers say are being blocked from serving by senators because of their faith. The focus of the program has also been on liberal judges engaged in "judicial activism" that impose their personal views in matters of law. ….

Religious Diversity/Church-State//The state of prayer/Reporter-Times/Indianapolis/IN/USA/7-Jan-2006//... ACLU of Indiana Executive Director Fran Quigley, who handled the lawsuit, filed on behalf of a Quaker lobbyist, a Methodist minister and two Catholics ...

Religious Diversity/Church-State//Legislative Prayer Stirs Church-State Issues/Kansas City infoZine/Kansas City/MO/USA/6-Jan-2006//... the offering of expressly Christian prayer at the start of Indiana legislative sessions was brought by a Methodist minister, two Roman Catholics and a Quaker. ...

Religious Diversity/Church-State//Special month?/Contra Costa Times/Contra Costa/CA/USA/12-Jan-2006//... Christian, Atheist, Confucian, Taoism, Agnostic, Shintoism, Sikhism, Zorostrianism., Latter Day Saints (Mormon), Voodooism, Society of Friends (Quakers) etc. ...

Religious Diversity///Inland Valley voices of 2005/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/Inland Valley/CA/USA/1-Jan-2006//... I love the fact that I'm three minutes away from two mosques and 10 Christian churches and a Quaker church and a Buddhist fellowship and a Jewish synagogue. ...

Religious Diversity/Silence///Include spiritual exercise on your resolutions list/Huntsville Times/Huntsville/AL/USA/5-Jan-2006//... world. Huntsville is rich in faith options. Tired of endless words? Join the Friends in an hour of Quaker silent prayer. Venture ...

Religious Diversity/Peace Activities//Mary McCarty: Give peace a chance to survive/Dayton Daily News/Dayton/OH/USA/11-Jan-2006//... talks will focus on the peace teachings of various faiths and denominations, including Baha'i, Baptist, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Quaker. ...

Religious Diversity/Peace Activities//McCarty: Give peace a chance to survive/Waco Tribune Herald/Waco/TX/USA/12-Jan-2006//... talks will focus on the peace teachings of various faiths and denominations, including Baha'i, Baptist, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Quaker. ...

Religious Diversity/Peace Activities//McCarty: Give peace a chance to survive/Lufkin Daily News/Lufkin/TX/USA/12-Jan-2006//... talks will focus on the peace teachings of various faiths and denominations, including Baha'i, Baptist, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Quaker. ...