Current Events – Page 82

Offense Mounted Against WWII Veterans

Oct 3, 2013JerryCurrent EventsCurrent Events

The following blog post is by Family Council staff member Deborah Beuerman.

For what reason did the nation’s commander-in-chief order blockades placed around the WWII Veterans Memorial to keep out visiting veterans? The Memorial is essentially a landscape feature in a very large park through which people can walk 24/7. Usually the area is manned by a few staff members for only part of that time, but they were deemed non-essential and sent home—until the President decided that it was essential for them to come back in order to put up barricades to keep people out.

Honor Flights, a charity group that brings WWII veterans from around the country to visit their memorial, schedules the visits months in advance, so it was known that veterans would be visiting this month. Why was it commanded that these veterans in their 80s and 90s who had come far to visit their memorial, many for the first and last time, be blocked from walking in this park?

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Atheists Angry IRS Granted Them Tax-Exemption

Sep 10, 2013JerryCurrent EventsFreedom From Religion Foundation

The atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation–who has gained notoriety in recent months for repeatedly threatening lawsuits against public officials and local governments who celebrate Christmas or open meetings with prayer–is again at odds with the government–this time over its tax status.

According to BreakPoint, the IRS has given the Freedom From Religion Foundation the same tax-exempt status it gives to churches. FFRF argues they do not want the exemption, because an atheist group is not a religious organization. As the Washington Times notes, the federal government has filed a response stating that Buddhists and Taoists are not theistic either, but they are still religious groups.

Atheists Seek to Stop Pledge of Allegiance in Schools

Sep 6, 2013JerryCurrent EventsAtheism, Current Events

According to Alliance Defending Freedom, atheists in Massachusetts are suing to ban the Pledge of Allegiance from public schools because they find the pledge offensive:

“Atheist parents and students are seeking to stop recitation of the Pledge in public schools–even though no student is required to recite it–because the atheist students claim to be ‘offended’ by simply hearing the words ‘under God.'”

The people seeking to bar the Pledge from schools lost in lower court earlier, but have appealed the court ruling to Massachusetts’ state Supreme Court.

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