Court sides with university, ADF to appeal

OneNewsNow - 7/28/2010

Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) will appeal the federal court decision that allows Eastern Michigan University to expel Christian student Julea Ward from the counseling program for not affirming homosexual behavior as morally acceptable. David French, senior counsel for ADF, argued last month before the U.S. District Court that "Christian students shouldn t be expelled for holding to and abiding by their beliefs." However, when Ward did not agree to undergo a "remediation program" that would help her "see the error of her ways" and change her "belief system," she was dismissed from the program -- a decision made by the EMU faculty and upheld by the dean of EMU College of Education. ADF notes a school policy that prohibits "discrimination based on...sexual orientation" and prohibits students from condoning what the university describes as discrimination. Another guideline permits the counseling department to discipline students for failing to "tolerate different points of view." French explains that the appeal will be made in hopes that the Sixth Circuit "will understand the constitutional issues involved in the case."

Currency will still carry motto

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 7/29/2010

Another appeals court has upheld the national motto "In God We Trust." The ruling comes from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in a suit against President Obama and the Federal Reserve Board chairman that sought to replace all circulating currency with bills that carry no religious wording. "This was a solid ruling, it was a competent ruling and it was a favorable ruling for those who cherish our national motto and the importance for our government not to have to forsake the acknowledgement of the truth and the history of our nation, its founding and what we premise the whole concept of fundamental rights upon, which is the existence of God," notes Brad Dacus, founder of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI).
He adds that the decision compares with one from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled the motto on U.S. currency "is of a patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of religious exercise." That case, however, is being appealed. "Both courts are correct in making it very clear that acknowledgement of God is a statement of a patriotic notion and is by no means a governmental endorsement of a particular religious creed or doctrine," the PJI founder contends. In this case, one atheist was attempting to impose his views on the rest of America, but Dacus finds it fortunate that the judicial system is one that has held its ground and "not allowed this individual to superimpose his intolerance toward faith or God."