The 3 - June 12, 2009

Welcome in to another installment of "The 3”, highlighting relevant news to the Christian community. Subjects today: religious symbols and the courts, a college student's freedom of expression restored, and a Supreme Court non-decision on military policy toward homosexuals. Here we go...

3 - Boxed in...

There's a storm in the desert that has been brewing, and religious liberties legal organization Alliance Defense Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court this week in a case of a Veteran's memorial monument in the shape of a cross that has been, well...covered by a plywood box, if you can believe that! Various forms of the cross have existed at the location ever since 1934 when the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a private organization, placed it on what was then its own property. In 2001, the ACLU filed suit against the National Park Service. In 2004, Congress authorized the transfer of the one acre of land under the cross back to the VFW in exchange for five acres of other land, but the ACLU said the land transfer was unconstitutional, a federal district judge agreed, and that was upheld by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, setting the stage for an appeal to the nation's highest court, which has agreed to hear the case.

Click here to read ADF's account.

Want to see the monument in question? Also, you can go to http://www.donttearmedown.com/ to learn more.

Also, this week the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a 10 Commandments monument in Oklahoma. In this case, the judge writing for the majority said the monument violated the "Establishment Clause" due to the motive of the private individual who donated the structure.

Alliance Defense Fund is considering an appeal. Here are the details.

2 - Bruin bravery

A UCLA student was offered an opportunity to have a personal statement read at graduation. However, the faculty member due to read those words apparently took offense to a reference to Jesus Christ and said that could not be done. Well, after pressure from former Navy chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt (Pray in Jesus' Name Project) and others, the school reversed its decision. This clears the way for Christina Popa's statement to be read.

Here is the story from The Christian Post.

Christina set up a Facebook page, and you can view it here. You can see the university's statement as of 6/9/09.

1 - Don't ask, don't tell, don't rule

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case challenging the military's policy on homosexuality, better known as "Don't ask, don't tell". This non-decision leaves the current policy intact. If the high court would have accepted the case, the Obama administration would have been forced to defend a policy that the President actually opposes. Allowing open homosexuality in the military would have detrimental and distracting consequences, and numerous military leaders have spoken out against reversing the policy. Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel had some strong and pertinent statements, and he is quoted in this article from LifeSite News.

You can download a copy of Matt's comments 6/12/09 on The Meeting House by going to the Intersection Download Center at www.meetinghouseonline.info/download.

Also, receiving honorable mention:
Carrie Prejean dismissed as Miss California USA.