AROUND THE STATES

Georgia State Affiliate Leaves Christian Coalition

The once-mighty Christian Coalition continued its unraveling with yet another state affiliate's departure this fall.

In late September, the Christian Coalition of Georgia severed its ties with the national group, saying in a statement that the "Christian Coalition of America has demonstrated by their actions in word and in deed a desire to drift from our founding tenets. The Christian Coalition has left us, we have not left them."

Affiliates in Iowa, Alabama and Ohio have also recently quit the Coalition. Roberta Combs, president of the national Christian Coalition, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it would seek to find another person to re-create a Georgia chapter.

On Oct. 1, the Coalition announced that Dr. Joel Hunter would become president of the national organization. Combs will serve as the group's chairman.

In a press release, Hunter said, "I look forward to building upon the successes under Roberta's leadership and expanding our mission to concern itself with the care of creation, helping society's marginalized, human rights/religious issues and compassion issues."

According to Associated Baptist Press, Hunter is considered a political moderate. Many evangelicals and others know the Orlando, Fla., pastor because of his participation in a campaign by several evangelical groups to combat global warming. Earlier this year, he appeared in commercials for the campaign, in which he appealed to fellow evangelicals to combat climate change as part of the scriptural command to care for creation.

Daughter Can Learn About Polygamy, Pa. Court Rules

Pennsylvania's top court has ruled that a father has a First Amendment right to discuss polygamy with his daughter.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled 5-1 on Sept. 27 that state officials may not interfere with Stanley M. Shepp's desire to talk about his religious belief in polygamy with his daughter, even though polygamy is a crime.

Speech that incites citizens to commit crime is generally not protected by the First Amendment. But, as the Pennsylvania court noted, parents do have a constitutional right to "direct the religious upbringing of their children."

The Pennsylvania court ruled in Schepp v. Schepp, "Where, as in the instant matter, there is no finding that discussing such matters constitutes a grave threat of harm to the child, there is insufficient basis for the court to infringe on a parent's constitutionally protected right to speak to a child about religion as he or she sees fit."

The constitutional question arose during a custody dispute between Shepp and his ex-wife, Tracey L. Roberts. Roberts told the court that Shepp's belief in polygamy caused the demise of their marriage and that she did not want her then 10-year-olddaughter exposed to the concept.

Scholar's Report Finds Texas Bible Classes Bogus

Many Texas public schools are sponsoring Bible courses that wind up being tools to proselytize, a recent study finds.

The Texas Freedom Network (TFN) studied more than 1,000 public school districts in the Lone Star State and found that 33 had provided some type of Bible course during the 2000-01 school year.

The report, "Reading, Writing and Religion: Teaching the Bible in Texas Public Schools," revealed that many of those courses were riddled with factual errors and advanced specific religious views. Only three school districts were found to be providing courses that did not violate the Constitution.

Mark Chancey, author of the TFN report, asserts that many courses fail to meet minimal academic standards. Chancey said many of the teachers are not properly trained and some districts allow local clergy to offer the instruction.

"Many schools portray their Bible classes as social studies or literature courses," Chancey said, "Yet, intentionally or not, most are really courses about religious beliefs of the teacher or minister leading the class or of those who created the course materials."

Chancey, a biblical scholar at Southern Methodist University, discovered that a lot of the courses present the Protestant version of the Bible as true and make other sectarian assumptions. The Bible, he said, is often presented as literal truth and the stories in it as factual. Judaism is viewed through a Christian lens as a faith that was "completed" by Christianity. Other courses have been used to prop up creationism and bogus "Christian nation" historical views.

Copyright Americans United for Separation of Church and State Nov 2006
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