Tag Archives: first amendment rights

Weighing in on Pre-Game Football Prayers at Texas High School, Rutherford Institute Advises Officials to Respect Student-Led Prayers

Posted on March 16, 2012 by | Leave a comment

(El Paso, Texas) — In a letter to school officials at Bowie High School, which has come under fire recently for its tradition of having a pastor lead the football team in a pre-game prayer, John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, cautioned Bowie’s principal against ending all prayers before football games, particularly student-led prayers. As Whitehead pointed out, although the Establishment Clause limits government-sponsored religious speech, the First Amendment still fully protects student-led religious speech.

“Too often, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is erroneously interpreted to mean freedom from religion, rather than freedom of religion,” said attorney Whitehead. “Those who subscribe to the notion that society should be free from religion tend to use the principle of a separation of church and state as a bludgeon to eradicate religion from the public sphere. On the other side are those, like The Rutherford Institute, who believe that the First Amendment provides for freedom of religion and that the so-called ‘wall of separation between Church and State’—a term coined by Thomas Jefferson—was intended to refer to a wall placed around the church in order to protect it from any government interference with its rights to religious freedom.”

School officials at Bowie High School, which is part of the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD), recently received a threatening letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based organization claiming “to promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church.” The group threatened Bowie with legal action unless the school ceases its practice of having a local pastor lead the football team in a pre-game prayer. The letter was reportedly prompted by a complaint arising over a 2010 YouTube video showing the Bowie High School football team in prayer.

Asked to weigh in on the matter by members of the community, constitutional attorney John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute wrote a letter to Bowie High School’s principal, Dr. Jesus Chavez, explaining that while it is not easy navigating the waters between the First Amendment’s Free Speech/Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses, there are still viable options available to those who wish to exercise their First Amendment rights within the schoolhouse gates. In making his case for the legality of student-led prayers, Whitehead pointed to U. S. Supreme Court jurisprudence, as well as guidelines from the Department of Education on “Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools.” Quoting the Supreme Court’s ruling in Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Doe, Whitehead noted that”nothing in the Constitution prohibits any public school student from voluntarily praying at any time before, during, or after the schoolday.”

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Rutherford Institute Files FOIA Request Asking FBI to Reveal if and Why Christian Street Preacher was Placed on Terrorist Watch List

Posted on January 25, 2012 by | Leave a comment

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Rutherford Institute has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on behalf of a Christian street preacher believed to have been placed on the Terrorist Watch List based on his religious views. Inclusion on the FBI’s terrorist watch list, which is a secret list maintained by the government, can hamper one’s ability to travel and can result in heightened governmental surveillance. According to information provided to The Rutherford Institute, the FBI has been conducting a secret investigation into the associations and activities of street preacher Michael Marcavage. In an earlier letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller, John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, called on the agency head to either cease the FBI’s investigation of Michael Marcavage, a street preacher well known for publicly exercising his First Amendment rights to free speech and religious expression, or make known the charges being made against him.

The Rutherford Institute’s letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller is available at www.rutherford.org.

“Michael Marcavage deserves to know why he is under investigation and whether he has, in fact, been placed on the FBI’s terrorist watch list. However, if, as we suspect, Marcavage is guilty of nothing more than engaging in nonviolent religious speech which government officials perceive as controversial, then the government has clearly overstepped its constitutional bounds,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “This sort of secret investigation, which is antithetical to the principles of a free society, has a chilling and deleterious effect on the ability of all Americans to exercise their First Amendment right to free speech.”

Christian street preacher Michael Marcavage, the director of an evangelism ministry whose mission is the public proclamation of the Gospel, regularly travels the country preaching in traditional public forums, distributing Christian literature, and engaging passersby in discussions about the Christian faith. Marcavage recently learned that the FBI has been requesting “interviews” with his friends and associates in order to interrogate them about his activities. Subsequently, a reliable source informed Marcavage that he was the object of an FBI investigation and that his name had been added to the FBI’s terror watch list, the Terrorist Screening Database, based on his alleged affiliation with an anti-abortion group known as the “Army of God.” Inclusion on the terrorist watch list, which is a secret list maintained by the government, can hamper one’s ability to travel and can result in heightened governmental surveillance.

Concerned that his placement on such a list could have a chilling effect on his expressive activities, Marcavage asked The Rutherford Institute to intervene on his behalf. Writing to Mueller, Whitehead pointed out that under Homeland Security Presidential Directive 6 (HSPD-6), in order to be placed on the terrorist watch list, an individual must be known to be a terrorist or must be reasonably suspected of being a terrorist. Moreover, Marcavage, who has devoted himself to peaceful advocacy and who has never been involved in terrorism nor associated with any terrorist organizations, including the so-called Army of God, does not meet the criteria laid out in Directive 6. In filing a FOIA request with the FBI, Institute attorneys have asked the FBI to provide any information relating to Marcavage’s possible inclusion on databases or lists of individuals suspected of advocating terrorism or other unlawful acts.

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Rutherford Institute Comes to the Defense of Pennsylvania Third Grader Prohibited from Passing Out Christian Tracts on School Playground

Posted on March 24, 2011 by | 1 comment

The Rutherford Institute has come to the aid of a Pennsylvania elementary school student who was prohibited by school officials from passing out Christian pamphlets to her classmates during non-instructional time. Institute attorneys contacted Northwest Area School District officials after being contacted by the family of third grader Felicia Clark. In their letter to school officials, Institute attorneys are demanding that the unconstitutional prohibition imposed upon Felicia’s expression of her religious beliefs be lifted, pointing out that the school’s actions violate federal and state laws regarding free speech.

“It’s a sad reflection on the state of our public schools that so many school officials remain ignorant about the rights enshrined in the Constitution, especially the First Amendment’s right to free speech and religious expression,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “Rather than stifling speech in violation of the Constitution, as they have done in Felicia Clark’s case, school officials should be teaching their young charges about their rights, and the best way to do that is by championing the rights of students to communicate their ideas to one another, religious or not.”

Felicia’s grandmother, Susan Robbins, contacted The Rutherford Institute after Felicia Clark, a third grader at Northwest Intermediate School in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, came home crying from school. Felicia’s teacher had informed her that she could no longer hand out Christian tracts on the playground or elsewhere at school because it was against the law. When confronted by the grandmother, the principal affirmed the teacher’s directive and stated that the prohibition was being imposed because some parents had complained about the materials Felicia handed out.

In its letter to the school principal, attorneys for The Rutherford Institute point out that forbidding Felicia from passing out religious tracts violates her right to free speech under the First Amendment and the Pennsylvania Constitution. The letter also cites regulations of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education which specifically recognize the right of students to distribute literature and pamphlets while at school, and which provide that this right of expression may be limited only if the student’s speech substantially interferes with the educational process, threatens serious harm to the school community, encourages unlawful activity, or interferes with the rights of other students.

According to the letter, a blanket prohibition on Felicia’s speech is improper and any restriction should be limited to those students whose parents request their children not receive the material. Insisting that Felicia be allowed to exercise her right to free expression, Institute attorneys have asked for a response from school officials by the close of business on Friday, March 25.

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Christians Preach to Muslims & Get Arrested

Posted on September 29, 2010 by | Leave a comment

By David J. Rusin

Does the First Amendment protect Christians who bring their message to Muslims at public events or in front of mosques? This is a good question, given the trend of missionaries being placed under arrest while proselytizing to followers of Islam — right here in the United States:

• On June 18, four Christians were arrested for breach of peace at the Arab International Festival in Dearborn, Michigan. The group’s videos show them engaging in reasoned debate with Muslims or merely roaming around, but one festival volunteer accused them of harassment, making him feel “nervous.” According to the Detroit Free Press, “Police said the missionaries were arrested because they failed to obey police commands. Officers maintain the group’s actions were a public safety issue because they caused a large number of people to gather in a small place.” The trial is now in progress.

• On July 3, two evangelicals in front of Philadelphia’s Masjid al-Jamia were arrested by University of Pennsylvania police officers for disorderly conduct and obstruction of a highway. Michael Marcavage says that a bicycle cop demanded that they cease preaching there. When backup arrived, Marcavage started to film. The Daily Pennsylvanian recounts: “He claimed that Officer Nicole Michel assaulted him and forcibly shut off his camera. Marcavage called 911 because ‘the officer was out of control,’ and began filming once more, at which point the police confiscated the device.” He insists that they intentionally destroyed his footage. The trial is scheduled for November.

• On August 30, Mark Holick was outside the Islamic Society of Wichita, Kansas, distributing “packets that included the Gospel of John and the Book of Romans in English and Arabic, [and] a DVD with testimonies of former Islamists who have come to the Lord,” when police allegedly ordered him and a dozen others to move away from the building. He was then arrested for “loitering and failing to disperse.” Holick wants the charges dropped.

At the core of all three cases is the principle that government or entities acting on its behalf cannot muzzle unpopular speech. Newt Gingrich sounds a more specific alarm: freedom is being sacrificed to Shari’a law’s “intolerance against the preaching of religions other than Islam.”

No American city epitomizes this concern as much as heavily Muslim Dearborn. Members of the same Christian group, Acts 17 Apologetics, were tossed from last year’s Arab fest by abusive security personnel. Dearborn authorities attempted to curb the rights of a separate Christian organization to disseminate material at the 2009 event, restrictions later overturned by a federal appeals court. To add insult to injury, Mayor John B. O’Reilly Jr. recently declared that his city is “under attack” by Acts 17.

To learn more, go to the Islamist Watch blog. This article was originally posted there on September 24, 2010.

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