Separation Of Church And State

A court ruled Tuesday that the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU-MN) can sue Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), Islamic Relief and state education commissioner Alice Seagren for constitutional violations after allegedly using taxpayer money to illegally promote religion.

A group of parents in the suburban Milwaukee community of Brookfield are suing their school district because the public high school holds its graduation ceremony in an evangelical church.
Nine individuals are suing the school district to prevent the graduation from occurring at Elmbrook Church, countering that previous graduation ceremonies have been held at numerous [...]

Gov. Tim Pawlenty spoke of his faith at the CPAC conference on Saturday, stating that God is the foundation for the government. Pawlenty, an evangelical Christian who says his faith guides his public policy decisions, gave a rousing speech that ranged from the topic of “the traditional family” to his belief that the founding fathers [...]

Considered by many to be the nation’s most influential evangelical leader, Focus on the Family’s James Dobson is stepping down after founding the organization more than 30 years ago. The Associated Press learned on Friday that Dobson would be relinquishing his spot as chairman of the evangelical Christian organization, based in Colorado Springs, Colo. Dobson [...]

A small provision in the economic stimulus package — stipulating that the funds cannot be spent on higher-education buildings that feature religious worship — has sparked outcry from all corners of the religious right, who claim the bill would ban students from holding Bible study or even gathering to pray on campuses. Civil libertarians point out the proposed rule is simply the law of the land.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed suit Wednesday against Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy and the Minnesota Department of Education alleging a violation of the separation between church and state. TIZA was at the center of a media storm last year after the Star Tribune’s Katherine Kersten wrote an inflammatory commentary alleging religious instruction at the taxpayer-funded school. ACLU-MN investigated the allegations and in court documents filed in U.S. District Court said the Muslim organizations from which TIZA leases its space are illegally benefiting from the leasing arrangement.

Separation of church and state advocates lost their injunction to stop prayer and references to God at the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. The Minnesota Atheists were among several groups that brought the injunction as part of a lawsuit seeking to end religious references at the inauguration. The case was heard in U.S. District Court [...]

While candidates hash it out for the executive and legislative branches every four years, little attention is paid to the election of judges in Minnesota. Dan Griffith is running for the Minnesota Court of Appeals seat currently held by Judge Terri J. Stoneburner, and because positions and party affiliations are not part of the campaign process for judicial candidates, most voters don’t know that Griffith is a right-wing evangelical Christian who would make rulings based on his faith.

Drama ensued Monday morning as Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy officials attempted to take cameras away from a reporting crew from KSTP that showed up to cover a report from the Minnesota Department of Education on the charter school. The report was commissioned to determine whether the school had run afoul of church and state concerns [...]

The Minnesota Department of Education released findings in the review of Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), the majority Muslim elementary school that became a target of conservative Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten. She claimed that TIZA was “an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers” and that its activities violated separation of church and state concerns.

MDE [...]