From Prof. Friedman and Prof. Byrd come two cases of interest to me: one for personal reasons; the other out of curiosity.
Curiosity first: the 5th Circuit Court is hearing a case involving a monument in Harris County, TX, which recently had neon lighting installed to highlight a Bible therein (no, I'm not joking). You can read some background on it here. Oddly, the county went ahead and removed the monument, apparently hoping to moot the case, just days before the case begins arguments at the 5th C. The BJC filed an amicus brief in the case. See here and here for more.
The personal case revolves around Teen Ranch, an outfit strongly resembling Teen Challenge, with which I have personal familiarity. The 6th Circuit Court has upheld a lower court's ruling which allows a state agency to prevent boys from being sent to the Christian facility. See Prof. Friedman's posting for details, and Teen Ranch's side of the story archived here. It appears that their site is down for good -- perhaps their legal fees and such have caused them to sacrifice the domain. One has to wonder how the federal funds going to such organizations will continue once the Dems start to revamp the whole "faith-based initiative" mess. Perhaps the Dems won't tackle it. For the sake of our country's future, I hope they do.
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Technorati tags: Religion, Church-state
