The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down an Arizona law that forced churches to display their signs at night while other signs were allowed to be continually displayed.
The Good News Community Church of Gilbert, Arizona had filed suit in 2008 over a city ordinance that prohibited signs pointing out directions to an event from being erected more than 12 hours before an event and more than one hour after the scheduled beginning of the event.
The city kept telling the church they put up too many signs and that they left them displayed for too long.
The church said that the law was unfairly being applied to churches. Political signs were not given the same restrictions for being displayed at short times. For signs that are not non-ideological there are no restrictions on the time for display.
The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision ruled the city was discriminatory in the law and thus declared it unconstitutional.
“[A]n innocuous justification cannot transform a facially content-based law into one that is content neutral,” the justices wrote. “Innocent motives do not eliminate the danger of censorship presented by a facially content-based statute, as future government officials may one day wield such statutes to suppress disfavored speech.”
“That is why the First Amendment expressly targets the operation of the laws—i.e., the ‘abridg[ement] of speech’—rather than merely the motives of those who enacted them,” the ruling continued.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the church, hailed the Court’s decision.
“The Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling is a victory for everyone’s freedom of speech,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman in a statement. “Speech discrimination is wrong regardless of whether the government intended to violate the First Amendment or not, and it doesn’t matter if the government thinks its discrimination was well-intended. It’s still [the] government playing favorites, and that’s unconstitutional.”
The U.S. Army has ordered a recruiting office to remove a sign because it says “God”.
The sign outside a Phoenix area recruiting station since last October read “on a mission for both God and Country.”
The sign was removed after complaints from anti-Christianists outside the Phoenix area who were incited by anti-Christian media outlets. The biggest opponent was noted bigot Mikey Weinstein, who called the picture a “poster of shame.”
“Long story short, the poster at the Phoenix armed forces recruitment hub is an absolutely abominable slap in the face of everyone who’s ever taken the time to digest, understand, and swear the service members’ sacred oath to protect and defend the United States Constitution, let alone those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the values, rights, and protections contained therein,” Weinstein wrote on the self-described left-wing website Daily Kos.
Army Recruiting Command spokesman Brian Lepley said the local office had produced the sign without prior approval.
The Supreme Court is going to hear arguments in the case of a lawsuit brought by a small church against the town of Gilbert, Arizona.
The city has a law that prohibits the church from posting roadside signs.
The Alliance Defending Freedom is representing the Good News Presbyterian Church in the case. ADF Senior Web Writer Marissa Poulson said Monday that the signs are important.
“By stating the church’s signs are less valuable than political and other speech, the town is ignoring the church’s free speech rights and claiming to have the power to handicap, and even eliminate, speech it deems unimportant,” wrote Poulson.
The suit focuses on the fact that church signs are given restrictions that are not placed on other form of speech.
- Political signs can be up to 32 square feet, displayed for many months, and unlimited in number.
- Ideological signs can be up to 20 square feet, displayed indefinitely, and unlimited in number.
- Religious signs can only be 6 square feet, may be displayed for no more than 14 hours, and are limited to 4 per property.
The ADF says that if the government can use this law to restrict religious speech, there’s nothing to stop them from restricting other speech.
A teacher at Arizona State University openly mocked Christ in one of the school’s classes.
Christofer Bang teaches biology and ecology courses for the state-funded university. The teacher held a class last week where he openly mocked Christ and described Biblical creation as “magic.”
The teacher’s actions were released to the website Campus Reform by a student who wished to remain anonymous. The teacher posted a slide that showed Darwin on one side with his evolution and Jesus on the other with a caption that read “zap! Magic!”
“Quite a few students in the lecture hall were bothered by the picture, and it didn’t contribute to the lecture besides adding spite,” the student said.
Arizona State officials are defending the teacher’s anti-Christian attitude.
“The image you are referring to is on the title page of a [PowerPoint] and sets the stage for a discussion about the extremes of the public discourse on evolution/creationism,” Sandy Leander, media relations manager for ASU’s School of Life Sciences stated.
Even non-Christian students were offended by the teacher’s actions.
“All the professor needed to do was state the facts about evolution and move on,” one student said. “There’s no need to attack Christianity in the process.”
An earthquake rattled northern Arizona Sunday night.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported the 4.7 magnitude quake centered 7 miles north of Sedona and was 6 miles deep. While no homes reported damage, the highway department had to clear rocks and debris from highways between Sedona and Flagstaf.
“Business as usual,” said David Brumbaugh, director of the Arizona Earthquake Information Center at Northern Arizona University told azfamily.com. “It’s nothing unusual to have earthquakes in this part of the state. Most of them are too small to be felt.”
The USGS reported over 1,200 people said they felt the quake.
“I think what I heard was the house kind of rattling,” said Donna Kearney Lomeo, a Sedona real estate agent, told azfamily. “It sounded like a bunch of balls rolling around on the roof.”
Smaller aftershocks have been felt in the region.
An Arizona football coach is riding the bench for two weeks because he prayed with his team.
Tom Brittain, head varsity coach at Tempe Preparatory Academy, has asked a member of his team to lead a prayer. The coach then joined the students after they began praying.
That’s when Headmaster Dr. David Baum swooped in and suspended the coach because he dared to pray with his team.
He also gleefully stood by his decision.
“I think I preserved the religious freedom of our students, who have to have the liberty to be able to practice or not practice their religion on our campus, without interference by adults,” Baum said.
Parents were outraged at the anti-Christian action taken by Dr. Baum. They showed up at the homecoming game last week with T-shirts showing support for the coach saying “Let Tom Coach.” Students also had a poster with the “we believe in Coach Brittain” message and had personal notes of support for the coach.
Storms sparked in part by Hurricane Norbert off the Mexican coast have brought record amounts of rainfall to Phoenix resulting in massive flooding.
Governor Jan Brewer declared a state of emergency for the flooding and ordered all non-essential government workers to stay home because of the extremely dangerous conditions.
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport recorded a record two inches of rainfall. Channel 12 in Phoenix reported some areas with rainfall totals surpassing 5 inches. The flood was called “the biggest in 44 years.”
“Occasionally we’ll get a storm that really dumps on the west end of U.S. 60, or the central part, but not to this extent over the whole urban area,” Steve Waters of the Maricopa County Flood Control District told AZCentral.com. “There is still rain coming from the southwest. We’re going to be in this for the better part of the day.”
Maricope County Flood Control District officials told people to avoid driving Monday.
At least 10,000 homes and businesses were without power as of Monday morning because of the storms.
A Satanist has been arrested in Prescott, Arizona after threatening a Christian-owned homeless shelter.
Eric Minerault, 22, was arrested after he was seen burning something on the steps of the Yavapai Territorial Gospel Rescue Mission in Prescott. The staff of the mission said that someone had set a fire on their steps.
Minerault was found on the steps of the church next to a burned and wet Bible.
Police said that Minerault then admitted that he burned the Bible and then urinated on it because he wanted to “curse the Christians.” He said that he was the “dark Lord” and that he was putting curses on the Christians who were inside the building.
Police are trying to determine if Minerault is being a series of Bible burnings on church properties around the Mesa area or if he is working independently of others.
Officials say they consider the other case separate and an arsonist on the loose until they can find evidence to prove otherwise.
An apparent Satanist is burning Bibles on the lands of various churches near Mesa, Arizona.
Police say that the suspect has burned Bibles on six different occasions since May. The Bibles are usually ripped apart before they’re burned and so far there’s been no evidence left behind for police to use in their investigation.
Officials say the incidents are “bias crimes” and that at one of the churches, the arsonist scrawled “Hail Satan” on the church’s gates.
The first burned Bible was found on Mother’s Day at Mesa Baptist Church.
“Mother’s Day morning we were opening up our double doors and as we came out we walked right up on a burned Bible,” Pastor Mark Rice told KSAZ-TV, thinking at first it was a prank. “When it happened [again] a week later, we knew it was intentional.”
The pastor said the “Hail Satan” message was carved into the church gates with a nail or knife in letters three inches high.
Pastor Rice said he hopes that the situation doesn’t turn any more violent or destructive than it has been already.
Credentialed pastors are being banned from ministering to the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants being kept at border patrol facilities in Texas and Arizona.
“Border Patrol told us pastors and churches are not allowed to visit,” said Kyle Coffin, the pastor of CrossRoads Church in Tucson, Arizona to Fox News’ Todd Starnes. “It’s pretty heartbreaking that they don’t let anybody in there — even credentialed pastors.”
A Border Patrol spokesman confirmed the surprising ban.
“Due to the unique operational and security challenges of the Nogales Placement Center, religious services provided by outside faith leaders are not possible at this time,” the Border Patrol told me in a statement. “However, CBP’s chaplaincy program is supporting the spiritual needs of the minors for the limited time they are at the center.”
Area churches are even prohibited from donating items like soccer balls or other recreational items for the children.
A counselor that worked at the Lackland Air Force base center said in their entire tenure at the facility not a single minister or chaplain was brought to the children.