Military Agrees to Stop Sponsoring of Boy Scouts

The Pentagon has agreed to cease direct sponsorship of hundreds of Boy Scout units on military facilities across the United States and overseas.

The move was part of a negotiated settlement agreement submitted to a federal court in Chicago on Nov. 16, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois, which brought suit against the Defense Department in 1999. The ACLU filed the suit because the military personnel who led the Scout troops and packs were required to pledge their loyalty to God.

Does that mean that Boy Scout troops can’t meet on military bases? “Absolutely not,” Ed Yohnka, director of communications for the ACLU of Illinois, said. “And, in fact, it does not mean that servicemen, the military workers, or people who provide support to the military can’t continue to be active in Boy Scout or Cub Scout activities. It simply means that they can’t do it in their official capacity.”

The pro-family Alliance Defense Fund called the Pentagon’s message to military bases warning them not to sponsor Boy Scout troops “absurd” and “out of touch with the law and the American people.”

“The Boy Scouts are a federally chartered, patriotic organization approved by Congress,” ADF Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb said. “The Boy Scouts have an excellent record of teaching values and helping in exactly the sorts of ways that Americans want.”

McCaleb said he believes what the ACLU is effectively doing is eliminating the possibility of the Scouts being on remote bases, or on bases that don’t have a large residential community surrounding the base.

“I think the more important thing, constitutionally, is that our Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution both rest on the recognition of a Supreme Being,” McCaleb said. “That, being a given, for the military to refuse to sponsor a group because it recognizes a Supreme Being, in my mind, is just insane.”

(Pete Winn—CitizenLink/EP News)

Christians in Philadelphia Face Prison Time for Evangelistic Efforts At Gay Pride Event

Members of “The Philadelphia 11,” as the group has been dubbed, face as many as a combined 47 years in prison. Their ordeal began in October at a pro-homosexual event called OutFest, where Michael Marcavage and 10 others peacefully delivered a gospel message.

But the event’s volunteer homosexual security team, the Pink Angels, corralled the group with large sheets of Styrofoam while blowing whistles to drown out their voices.

“Although these people with the pink signs (were) blocking our message and impeding our way, we (were) the ones being put under arrest,” Marcavage said. “We were doing nothing more than being very peaceful, very loving, just concerned about the well-being and salvation of those in attendance of the event.”

Marcavage was charged with five misdemeanors and three felonies, which included ethnic intimidation, criminal conspiracy, and inciting a riot. The American Family Association Center for Law and Policy (CLP) is filing suit in federal court to stop the case in the state courts, which CLP says is not a common practice.

Joe Murray, a CLP staff attorney, especially objects to the charge of ethnic intimidation, saying the city is using the legal system to muzzle a constitutionally protected message.

(CitizenLink/EP News)

Supreme Court Justice Speaks Out Against Religion-Neutral Government

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia livened things up at an interfaith conference on religious freedom at a Manhattan synagogue on Nov. 22. Mr. Scalia told the gathering that a religion-neutral government doesn’t jive with an America that reflects belief in God in everything from its money to its military. “I suggest that our jurisprudence should comport with our actions,” he said.

Scalia also defended his belief that the Constitution should be followed as written by the Founding Fathers, rather than interpreting it to reflect changing times. “Our Constitution does not morph,” he said. “As I’ve often said, I am an originalist, I am a texualist, but I am not a nut.”

(EP News)