OUR COLUMNISTS (Click on photos for archives) The Church That 'Runs Through It' Commentary by Matt Friedeman The Church and the Kingdom of God were established not as a geographical empire, but as a people who are called to "run through it" -- that is, to touch the world with love, wise counsel, and truth. Sweet Home Alabama Commentary by Joe Murray With the rise of gay activists in Democratic politics, it was only a matter of time before gays below the Mason-Dixon Line attempted to flex their political muscle and challenge the prominence of the party's black leaders. Starting with the Back Page Commentary by Jane Jimenez As millions of students head off to college, it's important to remember that the value of the education they receive inside the classroom is dependent on the lessons they learn outside the classroom. Conquering Giants Commentary by Brad Locke Giants aren't always as scary as they seem. That point was driven home brilliantly by a movie I just screened. Alcohol and the Mel Gibson Saga Commentary by Mark Creech Mel Gibson's alcohol problem is simply a reflection of a much deeper national issue. As evident in this case, America's focus is blurred by its love for booze.

...County officials in Houston want the entire Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review a decision barring the Bible from a monument in front of a courts building. The Harris County Attorney's Office made the request in response to a ruling earlier this month by a three-judge panel of the appeals court. The panel upheld a judge's 2004 decision that the display was unconstitutional. The monument was erected in 1956, but the Bible was removed last year. The county had been sued in 2003 by a plaintiff claiming the display was offensive to non-Christians. Earlier this month, two judges on the three-judge panel said the Bible became a religious symbol in 1995 when neon lights were added around it. [AP]

...A Christian education group in California will finally get its day in court, compliments of a judge's decision against officials in Alameda County who had petitioned for the case to be tossed out. Redwood Christian Schools serves almost 900 students (grades K-12) and 700 families in a geographical area known as the East Bay, approximately 25 miles southeast of San Francisco. Wishing to expand its facilities, RCS sought to build a new junior-high/senior-high campus on land it owned in Alameda County, but has been stymied by county officials for almost five years. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, representing Redwood Christian Schools, filed a lawsuit against the county in November 2001, arguing RCS had the right -- under both the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) -- to build on its 45-acre parcel of land in the East Bay city of Castro Valley. County officials' arguments to dismiss the case have fallen on deaf ears, and now U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti has ruled the case should indeed go to trial on 15 of its 17 most important claims. Kevin Hasson, founder and president of The Beckett Fund, is optimistic about the outcome. "We won the right to press forward on all of our RLUIPA-based civil rights claims, and we are confident that the trial will result in a decision in favor of Redwood Christian," says Hasson. "We don't saddle up to come in second." According to a press release from Hasson's firm, Redwood Christian has experienced a 25 percent drop in enrollment since the county's efforts have kept the construction issue tied up in court. The lawsuit seeks $30 million in damages for lost tuition income and increased construction costs. [Jody Brown]

...A Texas pro-life activist is elated that a federal appeals court has struck down a Waco city ordinance that he says targeted peaceful pro-life demonstrators. In 2004 the Waco City Council passed an ordinance that banned assembly and protests in all school zones during the hours when school zone lights are flashing. John Pisciotta, co-director of Pro-Life Waco -- an affiliate of American Life League -- says Waco's Planned Parenthood clinic just happens to be located within a school zone. Pisciotta says the ordinance was enacted to target the pro-lifers, but the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the ordinance was unconstitutional. "We're so grateful for the attorneys of the American Family Association who have carried the ball on this," says the pro-life activist, referring the Center for Law & Policy. "Last year we had a victory here in a county court, and now the three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit just made a very definitive, very strong statement that this ordinance of the Waco City Council is unconstitutional and set it aside. So we're really elated here in Waco." Pisciotta says the Waco City Council has a history of lending political support to Planned Parenthood, the world's largest abortion-provider. [Rusty Pugh]

...Private property owners in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania are anxious about an effort to create a massive "National Heritage Area" in those states. A National Heritage Area, according to the U.S. government, is a place where "natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally distinctive landscape arising from patterns of human activity shaped by geography." Congress has designated 27 such areas around the country, most of which are located in the eastern half of the United States. Now Virginia's U.S. Senator George Allen has proposed an area to be so deemed. Included in this area are historic farms of many of the Founding Fathers, as well as several crucial Civil War battlefields that have been threatened by commercialization. Peyton Knight of the National Center for Public Policy Research says Senator Allen's proposal could threaten the rights of private property owners. "What his heritage area would do is establish a management entity that is comprised of anti-property rights, special-interest groups and the federal government," he explains, "and that entity would actually create a land-use plan for the area, and then push that land-use plan into action." Knight fears that could lead to confiscation of private property in areas from Charlottesville, Virginia, to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. "It would mean lost property rights in the name of historic, cultural, recreational preservation, and it could mean acquired private property as well, according to the bill," he asserts. Allen's proposed legislation is known as "The Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area Act of 2006" (S. 2645). [Bill Fancher]

...An immigration reform organization is urging concerned citizens to sign a petition calling on President Bush to reopen the case of two Border Patrol agents who face 20 years in prison for shooting a suspected drug-smuggler trying to evade capture earlier this year. A Texas jury found agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, and violating the civil rights of the smugglers. The panel also found the agents guilty of obstruction of justice in failing to report the shooting. Rick Oltman, western field director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), says the prosecution of the two agents was outrageous. "It's politically motivated, obviously to chill enforcement efforts along the southern border," says Oltman. "And even if that isn't the plan, it's going to have that effect." And other Border Patrol agents, he contends, are watching to see the outcome. "It's just a case where we have two Border Patrol agents being prosecuted for doing their job," he says. Oltman is not alone in his outrage; North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones and others want Bush to review the case. "These two agents should not be made scapegoats for our government's inability to put a deterrent on the line that puts these gentlemen at risk whenever they go out to try to secure our nation's border," he comments. It is bad enough that the two Border Patrol agents were unfairly prosecuted, says the FAIR spokesman, but even more outrageous that the smuggling suspect was given immunity for testifying against them. [Chad Groening]

...Republican Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania says he intends to re-introduce a bill which has been vigorously opposed by the State Department and Senate Democrats. The bill, he says, would help the Iranian people overthrow the tyrannical Islamic regime in their country. Santorum calls it the Iran Freedom and Support Act, which seeks to greatly increase American communication with the Iranian people. "We have to aggressively pursue a strategy of sanctions and funding pro-democracy groups to help them change the government within their own country," says the senator. "I think those are really our only two options left, short of military attack." Santorum says a companion bill has already passed the House, but too many of his Republican colleagues joined the Democrats to defeat it in the Senate. But the lawmaker says the fight for this bill is not over. "I'm going to come back in September [and] we're going to try this again," he shares. "This vote was taken before the events in Lebanon and Israel, and it was taken before the attempted plots in Great Britain. So hopefully people will realize that Iran is playing an increasing role in spreading Islamic fascism and the terror tactics they use." Santorum believes the only way to change the policies of the Islamic regime is to change the regime itself. [Chad Groening]

...Maria Shriver, wife of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and an avowed Catholic, says the Dalai Lama has agreed to speak during the California Governor & First Lady's Conference on Women next month (September 26) in Long Beach. California's first lady, who minored in theology at Georgetown University, says she traveled to India a few weeks ago to visit with the Tibetan Buddhist leader. She said the Dalai Lama was keen on speaking to a crowd of women because he believes "that women really are the vessels of compassion for the world, and it is hard to be in touch with your heart and be in dialogue with yourself when you're on a cell phone, a Blackberry, a computer." As an antidote, the Dalai Lama will lead the crowd of 11,000 women in a brief meditation exercise. He also will take questions from the audience. Shriver says she consumes books on religion and attends Mass once a week. [AP]

© 2006 AgapePress all rights reserved.

E-mail this page to a friend

Printer-Friendly Version

Read all of our current headlines