Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

Above, controversial bench in Charlotte County, Virginia (photo: WSET, Lynchburg, VA)

December 2017 – Attempts to remove every public vestige of Christianity from America continue in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida.

In Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. et al v. The County of Lehigh, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled that Lehigh County cannot depict a cross in its official seal. Though the judge said the cross did not violate the U. S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause or seek to establish a religion, he was still compelled to follow higher court precedent. With admitted reluctance, he ruled against the cross, in favor of four residents represented by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

In Charlotte County, Virginia, community residents placed a bench near Randolph-Henry High School’s baseball field in memory of Colton Osborne, a local student who had loved baseball. Engraved with Osborne’s favorite verse, Philippians 4:13, the bench was deemed in violation of the Establishment Clause by Dr. Nancy Leonard, superintendent of Charlotte County Schools, who ordered its removal. Although residents campaigned to save it, the memorial was relocated by the VFW to avoid expensive litigation.

The battle surrounding a historic 34-foot cross in Pensacola’s Bay View Park intensified when the Northern Florida U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the American Humanist Association, ordering removal of the cross. The AHA represented four plaintiffs in Kondrat-yev et al v. City of Pensacola. The cross is allowed to stand until resolution of the city’s appeal, which is supported by 14 states, 5 Jewish groups, and many others who filed friend-of-the-court briefs.

christiannews.net, 10/3/17; becketlaw.org, 10/4/17