Falwell: Graduates: We will not be silenced

[meegbear]

FALWELL CONFIDENTIAL
Insider weekly newsletter to The Moral Majority Coalition and
The Liberty Alliance http://www.moralmajority.com <http://www.moralmajority.com/>

From: Jerry Falwell
Date: May 25, 2006

GRADUATES: WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED

I wish I could have been there to witness it myself.

After Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. issued a restraining order barring Russell County (Ky.) High School and senior Megan Chapman from including prayer at the school’s graduation ceremony, students decided to take matters in their own hands. (Miss Chapman was elected by students last fall as the senior class chaplain.)

In an act of protest to the court order issued just hours before the graduation, about 200 seniors spontaneously stood and began reciting the Lord’s Prayer, prompting a standing ovation from a standing-room only crowd at the ceremony.

The student message: We will not be silenced.

The religious freedom organization Liberty Counsel, which is representing Miss Chapman, reported that thunderous applause drowned out the last part of the prayer.

“The revival-like atmosphere continued when senior Megan Chapman said in her opening remarks that God had guided her since childhood,” Liberty Counsel reported. “Megan was interrupted repeatedly during her speech by the cheering crowd as she urged her classmates to trust in God as they go through life.”

What an amazing scene. But it’s a scene that never should have transpired because the court order, according to Liberty Counsel, is “invalid, wrong, and limited.”

“First, the court had no authority to order Megan to refrain from prayer as she was never made a party to the case,” said Mathew Staver, the founder of the organization who is also the interim dean of the Liberty University School of Law. “Moreover, a temporary restraining order which restricts a person’s speech cannot be issued without first providing the affected person notice and an opportunity to be heard. Second, the court order runs contrary to the best legal precedent established in Adler v. Duval County School Board, a case successfully litigated by Liberty Counsel. Finally, the order was limited because it only addressed prayer. It did not, nor could it, prohibit Megan from thanking God or sharing her religious viewpoint during her speech.”

I never cease to be amazed at how activist judges and militant leftists are bent on forbidding even the most basic expressions of faith from the American landscape. In this case, students had voted, under no duress, to have Miss Chapman act as their chaplain. But because a couple of people express offense and bring in the ACLU, the entire class loses its right to have the graduation they wanted, solely because God and/or prayer was to be mentioned.

Mr. Staver noted, “It is a clear violation of the First Amendment to require a school to intentionally censor religious viewpoints of student speakers at graduation. Religious speech has just as much protection as secular speech. In fact, the First Amendment elevates religious expression to our first freedom.”

I am pleased to partner with Liberty Counsel in the “Friend or Foe Graduation Prayer Campaign” which is designed to help students like those at Russell County High School to be able to pray if they so choose. Liberty Counsel, which is comprised of hundreds of affiliate attorneys in all 50 states, has offered its services to defend the school board and to work on behalf of Megan Chapman to protect her right to free speech against the ACLU’s lawsuit.

Any students in America who face similar problems (or any type of religious freedom problem) should immediately contact Liberty Counsel to receive pro bono legal help: http://www.lc.org/

SBC NEEDS RONNIE FLOYD’S LEADERSHIP

My good friend Dr. Ronnie Floyd, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark., will be nominated for the position of president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) at the annual meeting in June, in Greensboro, N.C. I believe Dr. Floyd, who serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at Liberty University and as chairman of the Liberty Seminary subcommittee, is one of the rising stars of the SBC and one of the great defenders of the faith in the 21st century.

Dr. Floyd has built one of the greatest churches in all the land and I think it’s quite appropriate to note that on May 8, another Liberty trustee, Dr. Johnny Hunt, said he will personally nominate Dr. Floyd to the position.

Liberty Theological Seminary president Dr. Ergun Mehmet Caner, added: “I am thrilled that Dr. Floyd finally agreed to be nominated. Many younger leaders of the SBC have been asking him to run for years. We desperately need his wisdom, innovation and leadership. For my generation, this is wonderful news. He shall be a tremendous president.

Dr. Caner noted, “We stand at a crucible in Church history and I believe Dr. Floyd is God’s man for the hour. His church in northwest Arkansas is an amazing testimony to the passion for souls that exemplifies his life. My generation is in dire straits — we need the wisdom of a man who is both a visionary and an elder. If we do not turn to men such as Dr. Floyd, we are in danger of becoming a Rehoboam Generation, ignoring the wisdom of our elders and splitting the kingdom.”

[BOSSHOG]

1. "Any type of religious freedom problem"

Well jer, any of your lil students would have to leave this country to encounter any such problems. "Christians" in the USA do not have religious freedom problems jerry. You are just having an extremely difficult time replacing the constitution with the bible and because of that you whine incessantly about being persecuted. I look forward to the civil war. I look forward to defending the constitution against you and your kind.

[Deja Q]

3. Not the Bible.

Only the passages he's personally cherry-picked through.

[BOSSHOG]

4. That's true

Pick the one's that justify hate and ignore the one's that would be inconvenient to "christians." Oh Jerry, poor pitiful, hypocritical jerry, you are to be pitied, but fuck it.

[Joe_VB]

6. I'll stand right next to ya Boss during the civil war.

I'm a big fan of the constitution. If I remember right that is the oath I took when I joined the service, to support and defend the constitution not the King James Bible. It goes something like this:


"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

[BOSSHOG]

9. I tend to get my

panties in a wad when religiously insane zealots start fucking with the constitutional liberties of American Citizens. Amending the constitution solely because they hate homosexuals does not cut it. And I continue to wonder why they are not stoning to death people who work on the sabbath which is directed in the bible. Could it possibly be they just pick and choose in their religious doctrine?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

2. Hey, Jerry .........

bite me.

Then swallow that big bite you just took out of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, you America-hater, and explain to everyone why it doesn't apply to these kids who clearly haven't received a decent education. If they had, they'd understand the separation of Church and State, and, perhaps more to your point, you overweening fuck, they'd understand what the Constitution means in their daily lives.

You sure as hell don't, except when it serves your own immoral purposes, such as jumping into this bit of theater of the absurd, where you clearly adore freedom of speech - but not for those who might disagree with your own wrong-headed conclusions. Seems your education is quite lacking, too, Jerry.

Back 'em up, that's the way, as your base collapses under its own dead weight, and make sure you get your usual ticket #1,274 for the traditional gangbang of the Constitution, you specious, self-indulgent bag.

[NC_Nurse]

5. Nicely put.

Whenever this turd opens his mouth, global warming is hastened exponentially.

[mmonk]

7. We won't either Jerry

[teenagebambam]

8. "And when you pray,

do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words."

Yours,
Jesus

[area51]

11. I love Matthew 6:5-6. (n/t)

[sinkingfeeling]

10. And I can't wait until 'hate monger' Ronnie Floyd leaves Springdale!