THE OKLAHOMA CHAPTER OF
AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011 - 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Oklahoma City Community College - 7777 S. May, OKC
Parking Area “D” - Entrance “CU1” - Rooms CU2,CU3
FREE PUBLIC DEBATE
“Resolved, the United States Constitution neither established
nor advocates for a Christian nation.”
Dr. Bruce Prescott (Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists, Exec. Dir.) will argue the AFFIRMATIVE ( http://mainstreambaptist.blogspot.com/ )
Dr. Steve Kern (Southern Baptist, pastor) will argue the NEGATIVE
http://www.olivetbaptistokc.com/
●Audience members will have the opportunity to express
with which position they tend to agree.
●A brief time of “Questions and Answers”
from the audience will be scheduled.
●For more information contact Jim Huff - jah30@cox.net
or Mike Fuller - mf12@sbcglobal.net or James Nimmo, 405-843-3651
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Too Christian or Not? To be or Not to be --Two Events
And I apologize to Shakespeare and his reading fans
=======================
What: 2011 OK Legislative Bill Preview - Religious vs. Civil Use of Tax Payer Money
When: Saturday, January 29, 2011, 9:30am to 11:30am
Where: OK State Senate Chamber, Capitol Building, 2100 N. Lincoln, OKC, OK
Who: OKC Chapter of Americans United for Church & State and the public!
Americans United for Separation of Church & State,
Oklahoma City Chapter, Announces 2nd Annual Legislative Preview
(Oklahoma City) The Oklahoma City Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church & State will hold its second annual Oklahoma Legislative Preview on Saturday, January 29, 2011 in the State Senate Chamber, Oklahoma Capitol Building, located in Oklahoma City.
Convening at 9:30 am, this event previews bills submitted by both Houses of the Oklahoma Legislature that involve the use of public tax money to advance religious viewpoints that could violate the state and federal Constitutional prohibitions against mixing religious doctrine with secular government. The event will conclude at 11:30 am.
The language and expenditures of these bills will be reviewed and discussed in an open meeting with all interested citizens invited to participate with questions and comments.
Sponsors of the selected bills will be invited to speak briefly about each topic with questions from the audience encouraged.
Please note that access to the Senate Chamber will be through the west security entrance of the State Capitol. Ample free parking and handicapped facilities are available.
Americans United (AU) is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans.
For more information about the Oklahoma City Chapter of Americans for Separation of Church and State please visit http://www.au.org or contact Mike Fuller at 405-570-3244, Nick Singer at 405-416-3126 or James Nimmo at 405-843-3651.
2) THE OKLAHOMA CHAPTER OF
AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011 - 7:00 pm
Oklahoma City Community College - 7777 S. May, OKC
Parking Area “D” - Entrance “CU1” - Rooms CU2,CU3
FREE PUBLIC DEBATE
“Resolved, the United States Constitution neither established
nor advocates for a Christian nation.”
Dr. Bruce Prescott (Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists, ExD) will argue the AFFIRMATIVE
Dr. Steve Kern (Southern Baptist, pastor) will argue the NEGATIVE
●Participants will have the opportunity to express
with which position they tend to agree.
●A brief time of “Questions and Answers”
from the audience will be scheduled.
●For more information contact Jim Huff - jah30@cox.net
or Mike Fuller - mf12@sbcglobal.net
=======================
What: 2011 OK Legislative Bill Preview - Religious vs. Civil Use of Tax Payer Money
When: Saturday, January 29, 2011, 9:30am to 11:30am
Where: OK State Senate Chamber, Capitol Building, 2100 N. Lincoln, OKC, OK
Who: OKC Chapter of Americans United for Church & State and the public!
Americans United for Separation of Church & State,
Oklahoma City Chapter, Announces 2nd Annual Legislative Preview
(Oklahoma City) The Oklahoma City Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church & State will hold its second annual Oklahoma Legislative Preview on Saturday, January 29, 2011 in the State Senate Chamber, Oklahoma Capitol Building, located in Oklahoma City.
Convening at 9:30 am, this event previews bills submitted by both Houses of the Oklahoma Legislature that involve the use of public tax money to advance religious viewpoints that could violate the state and federal Constitutional prohibitions against mixing religious doctrine with secular government. The event will conclude at 11:30 am.
The language and expenditures of these bills will be reviewed and discussed in an open meeting with all interested citizens invited to participate with questions and comments.
Sponsors of the selected bills will be invited to speak briefly about each topic with questions from the audience encouraged.
Please note that access to the Senate Chamber will be through the west security entrance of the State Capitol. Ample free parking and handicapped facilities are available.
Americans United (AU) is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans.
For more information about the Oklahoma City Chapter of Americans for Separation of Church and State please visit http://www.au.org or contact Mike Fuller at 405-570-3244, Nick Singer at 405-416-3126 or James Nimmo at 405-843-3651.
2) THE OKLAHOMA CHAPTER OF
AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011 - 7:00 pm
Oklahoma City Community College - 7777 S. May, OKC
Parking Area “D” - Entrance “CU1” - Rooms CU2,CU3
FREE PUBLIC DEBATE
“Resolved, the United States Constitution neither established
nor advocates for a Christian nation.”
Dr. Bruce Prescott (Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists, ExD) will argue the AFFIRMATIVE
Dr. Steve Kern (Southern Baptist, pastor) will argue the NEGATIVE
●Participants will have the opportunity to express
with which position they tend to agree.
●A brief time of “Questions and Answers”
from the audience will be scheduled.
●For more information contact Jim Huff - jah30@cox.net
or Mike Fuller - mf12@sbcglobal.net
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Senate Staff Recommending a "Citizens United" decision for non-profits?
Jesus's Own Traditional Admonition Being Cast Aside?
The recent US Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money for political candidates and elections is wanting to be imitated by several religious non-profits that hold an IRS-granted tax exemption known as a 501 (c) 3.
Ostensibly this is granted because the religious corporation has filed a claim of being engaged in charitable work. Such religious groups are allowed to speak and proselytize on issues but not for specific candidates.
Oklahoma has one church in particular, Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, OK, whose pastor, Paul Blair, has chosen to make him and his church an example for challenging this current IRS prohibition against religious campaigning for candidates.
You can read here http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=12983523 about the maneuvers Blair is taking to circumvent the First Amendment's prohibition of religious favoritism from government.
You can read here http://tinyurl.com/2ccvnye the report from Senator Grassley's committee reporting the non-cooperation of several prominent religious corporations
Here is the latest press release from Americans United and its executive director, Barry Lynn concerning the Committee report.
------------------
Grassley Investigation of TV Preachers Veers Off Course, Says Americans United
January 7, 2011
Senate Finance Committee Staffers Are Wrong To Recommend Scrapping Federal ‘No-Electioneering’ Rule For Non-Profits, Says Watchdog Group
A Senate Finance Committee investigation into several high-profile TV ministries went badly off track when staffers recommended that Congress repeal a federal ban on partisan politicking by churches and other non-profit groups, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) announced in 2007 that committee staff would investigate six TV ministries that might have been abusing their non-profit status. A staff memo delivered to Grassley yesterday reports on the findings, including lack of cooperation from four of the six ministries being examined.
But the report also includes a recommendation that the Congress do away with the federal tax law ban on partisan political activity by non-profit groups.
“I have to wonder what these Senate staffers could possibly be thinking with this breathtakingly wrong-headed suggestion,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “It’s a sign that this investigation has gone seriously off course.”
Lynn noted that the investigation got under way because of allegations that several high-profile TV preachers were abusing non-profit status by living lavishly while raking in millions tax-free every year. Issues of church-based politicking had not been raised during the investigation.
Lynn said if the ministries were abusing non-profit status, then more accountability and oversight might be in order. Yet Grassley’s staffers have recommended doing away with the “no electioneering” rule, which would only turn these same ministries loose in the world of partisan politics to do what they will with little or no oversight.
“If these multi-million-dollar ministries are already misusing their donations for personal gain, imagine how much more dangerous they would be operating in the world of partisan politics,” said Lynn. “I don’t want to see Pat Robertson and other TV preachers using their tax-exempt empires to give backing to favored candidates, and I don’t think most other Americans want that either.”
Under current federal law, all non-profit groups holding a 501(c)(3) tax exemption are forbidden to intervene in partisan elections. This ensures that money donated to these groups is used for charitable purposes, not political ones.
Scrapping this rule, Lynn said, would open the door to the politicization of America’s religious organizations and wreak havoc with campaign-finance reporting laws.
--------------
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Cross Clarification
clip --
from the ruling: Continued McKeown, “The use of such a distinctively Christian symbol to honor all veterans sends a strong message of endorsement and exclusion. It suggests that the government is so connected to a particular religion that it treats that religion’s symbolism as its own, as universal.”
http://blog.au.org/2011/01/05/cross-clarification-appeals-court-rules-that-central-symbol-of-christianity-does-not-represent-all-war-dead/
or http://tinyurl.com/26m7evd
Serious Christians ought to be the first ones to be alarmed by the notion that their most sacred symbol is on the verge of being co-opted by the government.
from the ruling: Continued McKeown, “The use of such a distinctively Christian symbol to honor all veterans sends a strong message of endorsement and exclusion. It suggests that the government is so connected to a particular religion that it treats that religion’s symbolism as its own, as universal.”
http://blog.au.org/2011/01/05/cross-clarification-appeals-court-rules-that-central-symbol-of-christianity-does-not-represent-all-war-dead/
or http://tinyurl.com/26m7evd
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