How Hobby Lobby and Others are Taking a Stand for Religious Liberty

Yesterday, March 25, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases challenging the religious liberty issues at stake with the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare): Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. andConestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius.           What are these important cases about?
Religious Liberty in the Courts Obamacare requires that businesses provide health care for their employees, and that health care must include coverage for all contraceptives, at no cost to the employees.

Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties have stated that they don’t have a problem covering most forms of birth control for their employees, but their religious beliefs do not support the use of emergency contraceptives meant for use after conception because they believe that the result of these emergency contraceptives is an abortion.

The question that these companies are presenting to the court is – do for-profit businesses have the right to exercise the religious beliefs of their owners in the workplace?   At issue in the Hobby Lobby case is whether a federal law passed in 1993 called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects Hobby Lobby from being forced to pay for emergency contraception.

At issue in the Conestoga case is whether the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the company from being forced to pay for emergency contraception.

Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties are joined by at least 45 other for-profit companies that have brought cases to trial regarding the contraception mandate of Obamacare.  In addition, there are separate cases right now that focus on the rights of religiously-affiliated organizations and the mandate.

It will likely be a few months before we hear a decision from the Supreme Court in these cases.  In the meantime,please pray for the companies as they continue to stand up for religious liberty.

Update on the Brynn Williams Case

Last month, we told you about the case of Brynn Williams, who had prepared a short “Christmas tradition” speech to share with her first grade class. Before Brynn Williamsshe was able to recite John 3:16 – and just 10 seconds from the end of her speech—she was stopped.  You can read the full case here. In response to recent statements made by employees of the Temecula Valley Unified School District, please click here to see additional documentation in support of Brynn’s and the Williams’ claims. This documentation has been submitted to the school board for their review and for a hearing on the matter. 

           We stand behind the statements of our clients. We believe the evidence and analysis of the facts contradicts statements made by both the principal and teacher (see Attachment 4 for an in-depth review of the facts).

Regardless of the specifics of the actual incident, we have always held that this is not about the principal or the teacher. Our claim is and always has been that the principal and teacher were enforcing practices and policies of the District as they were required to do. Those practices and policies have always been the focus of our efforts and we are requesting that the Temecula Valley Unified School District adopt a policy that protects the religious liberty of students and implements training for teachers and administrators. If you have any questions regarding the Williams' claim, please review our response here.

"Jesus Is Not Allowed In School" Case Gathers Major Media

This week, we told you about our new case, in which our young client, Isaiah Martinez, brought a gift for his classmates: Candy canes with a Christian Isaiah Martinezmessage attached explaining the legend of the candy cane.  After conferring with the principal, his first grade teacher removed the Christian message from the candy canes and told him, “Jesus is not allowed in school.”  You can read the full story of this case here. This is an important case, and one that all parents, students, and teachers deserve to hear about.  The message is critical – our children should not be subjected to hostility from their public school teachers and administrators simply because they are Christians and desire to live out their faith in the place they spend a significant portion of their time…at school.

We are grateful that this case is being amplified by the media so that more families will be encouraged to stand for our religious liberty.  Here are a few of the media links:

          Please keep our clients and Advocates in your prayers as we continue to pursue this matter.  If you’re interested, you can read more about our cases and work within the public schools here.

Teacher to First Grader: "Jesus is not allowed in school"

On December 13, 2013, first grader Isaiah Martinez took Christmas gifts intended for his teacher and classmates at Merced Elementary in the West Covina Unified School District. Each gift consisted of a traditional candy cane with a message attached that recited the legend of the candy cane. The legend references a candy maker who created the candy cane to symbolize the life of Jesus Christ. Isaiah’s older sister told him about the legend of the candy cane and Isaiah asked if he could share it with his teacher and his classmates. Isaiah and his sister then purchased candy canes, printed the candy cane message and tied a copy to each candy cane.

When Isaiah brought his Christmas gift to school, his teacher took possession of the candy canes.Is faith allowed in school? After conferring with the school principal, the teacher told Isaiah that “Jesus is not allowed in school” and, at the apparent direction of her principal, ripped the candy cane message from each candy cane, threw the messages in the trash, and handed the candy canes back to Isaiah for delivery to his classmates. Isaiah then nervously handed the candy canes to his classmates in fear that he was in trouble for trying to bring a little Christmas cheer and “good tidings” to class.

We sent a demand letter to the West Covina Unified School District demanding a written apology and has demanded that a new policy be adopted to prohibit school officials from bullying and intimidating Christian students and religiously affiliated students.

A copy of the demand letter can be found here, which provides more depth to the facts as asserted by the Martinez family along with relevant legal arguments.

Robert Tyler, Advocates' General Counsel, said, “Advocates for Faith & Freedom has experienced a surge in phone calls from students and their parents across the country who are victims of religiously motivated bullying; not bullying by other students, but bullying by teachers and school officials.” He continued, “The pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction that public schools are becoming a place of hostility toward Christian and other religiously-based worldviews.  It’s time to push the pendulum back in the right direction where kids can experience true tolerance without religiously motivated hostility from their teachers and school officials.”

Please join us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date on our progress in this case and others.

 

 

Last Chance to Help Us in 2013

Dear friend,

        A quick reminder that today is your LAST CHANCE to give a tax-deductible gift to Advocates for Faith & Freedom this year.

There’s still time to help us as we carry out this work to defend our First Amendment liberty to spread the Gospel of Jesus and to live out our faith in our daily lives.  We’ve taken on numerous new cases in the last few months; you can read about these important matters here.

Your gift can be made securely online at http://www.faith-freedom.com/donate/.  Or you may send a check postmarked by today to our office:

24910 Las Brisas Road, Suite 109 Murrieta, CA 92562

If every person on our email list gave just $25, we would make tremendous headway with our 2014 budget.  Please consider giving $25 or more today.

We know you receive a lot of requests at this time of year, and we thank God every day for you and your faithfulness to this ministry!

No "Justice" This Year?

We have had several people call our office and ask about our annual Justice Gala, a fundraising event typically held in October in Southern California.  This year, we decided not to hold the gala, for two main reasons: 1.  Organizing, staffing, and executing Justice is a large financial commitment each year, and

2.  Many times, the finances and resources we have available to carry out our core mission – defending the First Amendment right to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ – are impacted.

          But, there’s still a BIG way you can help us financially…

This year, we decided to put a greater effort towards year-end fundraising to help support the flurry of new cases that have been coming into our office over the past few months.  You can read about these new cases here.

Normally, around 400 people attend our Justice Gala, at $150 per ticket.  If we can get that same commitment from you, our supporters, we will be able to put a full $60,000 towards our cases and our mission to defend religious liberty in the courts!  At this point, we are at about 10% of our fundraising goal.

          Are you able to give a tax-deductible gift of $150 before the end of the year?  If so, please visit this page to find out how you can donate online, by mail, or by phone.

We appreciate each and every one of you – thank you and God Bless!

Help Advocates Fight for Christmas!

Will you help us preserve the real meaning behind Christmas?christmas baby           We are looking for cases where people have been denied the right to celebrate the true meaning behind Christmas because of the ever present hostility directed at Christianity!  Here are some examples of the hostility we’re talking about:

  • One South Carolina charter school canceled its annual Operation Christmas Child toy drive, since The American Humanist Association threatened them with a lawsuit.  The group claimed that the school’s actions violated the Constitution, since Operation Christmas Child is a project of the Christian relief agency Samaritan’s Purse.
  • A neighborhood in Orange County, in which several homes put up elaborate lights and decorations for the benefit of the community were told they needed to take down some of the lights because they are a violation of City ordinances.  They were confused, since they had done this for the last 5 years without any city interference.
  • One Wisconsin school district told music educators that, for holiday programs, they had to either: 1) Include 5 non-religious holiday songs for each religious one; 2) Hold a music program with no holiday music at all; or 3) Cancel the concerts.

          If you have heard of a situation like one of these, or experienced it yourself, please contact our office so our lawyers can intervene.

We want to make sure that parents, students, teachers, governmental agencies, property owners and businesses owners don’t cower to the threat of the so-called “separation of church and state.” That phrase is not in our Constitution and does not require us to remove all semblance of Christ from this season celebrating His birth!

God bless you and Merry Christmas!

A Case at the Supreme Court

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case regarding compulsory prayer before governmental meetings. supreme_court_building The town of Greece, NY, decreed in 1999 that all town board meetings would begin with prayer.  The vast majority of clergy asked to lead the prayer are from Christian churches, which some say violates their First Amendment right to freedom of religion, since individuals have vastly different belief systems.

In addition, when the clergy accept the invitation to pray before the meetings, they are then acting on behalf of the government.  Some argue that this crosses the line between “separation of church and state.”

What do you think?  Do you think that compulsory prayer before governmental meetings should be done away with?  Do you think the town should have to simply provide prayer in a more inclusive way, honoring different belief systems?  Or, do you think they should be allowed to continue in the way they’ve conducted business for the past 10+ years?  Join the discussion on Facebook and let us know!

Student's Free Speech - DENIED

Caylin, an 8th grade student at a Corona-Norco public school, was reprimanded and threatened with consequences after passing out a flier to schoolmates before school began warning her fellow students of the new “co-ed bathroom and locker room bill.” This controversy arises as referendum petitions are being Little_Girl_in_front_of_school (1)

circulated for signatures in order to repeal AB 1266, a new California law that allows public school students to use opposite-sex restrooms and locker rooms, and also allows students to play on opposite-sex athletic teams.

On the morning of October 21, 2013, Caylin was standing outside in the lunch area at 7:00 a.m. (before school started) distributing a flier warning students of this newly adopted law that affects students’ privacy rights. Since school had not yet started, students were talking with friends and waiting for the school bell to ring. As Caylin was handing out eighteen fliers to friends and school acquaintances, a school security officer came over and asked if she was responsible for distributing the fliers. Caylin informed the officer that she was and he told her to report to the principal’s office.

Once in the principal’s office, Principal Dade told her she could not hand out political fliers because it was against the law. Principal Dade asked Caylin who told her to distribute the fliers. Caylin informed Principal Dade that she decided to do it on her own after learning about the new law from church. Principal Dade replied that Caylin’s church “should be ashamed for making her do this [distribute fliers].” Caylin informed Principal Dade that no one told her to do it. Principal Dade threatened Caylin that she would face consequences if any parents called to complain.

Advocates for Faith & Freedom intervened on behalf of Caylin, sending a letter to the school’s Principal and Superintendent detailing the reasons their policy is unconstitutional. We requested that Caylin be allowed to distribute her fliers and that the school respond, or we would be forced to take legal action.

Long ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” We at Advocates take this idea of students’ rights very seriously.

Our General Counsel, Robert Tyler, stated, “Censorship of a student based on a ‘24 hour’ notice requirement is unconstitutional.” He further stated, “Students have the right to express their opinions on controversial subjects, and even warn other students of new laws that threaten their personal privacy.”

In the afternoon on October 29, 2013, the school district relented in writing and agreed to allow Caylin to resume her distribution of fliers that warn of the “co-ed bathroom and locker room bill.” Caylin plans to continue passing out the fliers each day at school.

Christy, the mother of Caylin said, “All parents of public school students should be outraged at this bill. I was very surprised when the school wanted to silence my daughter rather than let her be a voice for herself and all students whose privacy is being threatened by this bill.”

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to defend the freedom of students like Caylin, who wish to express themselves, their faith, and their ideas at the place where they spend a good majority of their time at this age…their schools.

Referendum Against "The Bathroom Bill"

Bathroom sign symbolsIn August of this year, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1266 into law in California. This law allows public school students to choose whichever athletic team they want to be on - male or female. Further, it also allows public school students to choose the restrooms and locker rooms of their choice - male or female. Advocates’ attorneys have been warning you of this “gender liberation” movement for years. We are now faced with this law and we plan to do something about it! Advocates for Faith & Freedom, along with other organizations, are involved in the referendum to overturn the co-ed bathroom law for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

How California Residents Can Help 

  • Advocates’ Murrieta office is a Petition DistributionCenter where you can pick-up petitions or you may download the petitions from the website: www.privacyforallstudents.com.  We are located at 24910 Las Brisas Road, Ste. 110, Murrieta, CA 92562. Signed petitions can be delivered to our office by November 1st or you can mail them directly to: Privacy for All Students, 660 J Street, Ste. 250, Sacramento, CA 95814 by November 6th.  If you are a registered voter, get a petition and gather signatures from as many concerned citizens, family, and friends as you can.  (Very Important to Note:  Be sure that everyone who signs the petition - up to 8 signatures – are all signing the petition from the same county they are registered in and no post office boxes, otherwise the entire petition will be invalid.)

  • Ask your pastor, priest or rabbi if they would be willing to set up tables and      encourage their congregation to sign the petitions. We need 505,000 signatures by the first week of November.  

How Non-Californian Residents Can Help 

  • Please pray that we can get enough signatures so that this senseless law will be overturned. Currently this is happening in California, but it’s just a matter of  time that this type of law may affect your state as well.

Now is the time for all people of California to get involved to stop this ridiculous legislation. We are reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who wrote:

      “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state.  It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.” Strength to Love, 1963.