West Suburban Chicago Chapter Americans United for the Separation of Church and StateAmericans United for the Separation of Church and State has formally filed a complaint with the IRS over this bishop’s intervention in the presidential elections.
“Bishop Jenky’s intervention in the election wasn’t just extreme and mean-spirited, it also seems to be a clear violation of federal law,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “Churches are tax-exempt institutions, and they aren’t allowed to intervene in partisan politics.”
Margo Ely
The West Suburban Chicago Chapter of Americans United (WSCCAU) is planning a joint session with the North Shore Chapter of AU to welcome author Katherine Stewart to Chicago.
Katherine Stewart is the author of “The Good News Club” subtitled “The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children.”
Ms. Stewart will be appearing, as part of her cross-country book tour, at Revolution Books in Chicago on Friday, March 23rd, and will be speaking at our joint event being held from 7 PM to 9 PM on Thursday, March 22nd at…
___ Atherton Hall
___ Countryside Church Unitarian Universalist,
___ 1025 N. Smith Street, Palatine, IL 60067
Ample parking is available, as well as handicap accessibility.
We’re still working on being able to provide some refreshments and have some books available for purchase and signing on Thursday evening. More details on these items will be reported as we obtain information from the bookstore and the church.
Please monitor our chapters’ websites (http://wsccau.wordpress.com/ or http://www.nscau.org/), and your email for additional information as it becomes available. We’re hoping for a good turnout from both chapters to hear Ms. Stewart.
Please info me at wsccau@yahoo.com if anyone needs transportation (we’re looking to do some car-pooling), or if you’d be able to offer a friendly ride-share for one or more people.
The Revolution Books is located at 1103 N. Ashland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622 (http://chicagorevolutionbooks.blogspot.com/).
More information about the book can be found here: http://www.thegoodnewsclub.com/
Katherine Stewart
At our last meeting in January, it was announced that we were planning to sponsor, in conjunction with our sister chapter – the North Shore AU, a speaker recommended by our national AU office. Katherine Stewart, the author of “The Good News Club” subtitled “The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children.” will be visiting the Chicago area and will be speaking on the evening of Friday, March 23rd at Revolution Books in Chicago.
For additional information, check out her interview at…
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/01/24/an-interview-with-katherine-stewart-author-of-the-good-news-club/
Right now we are exploring if there’s any interest in also having Ms. Stewart be a guest speaker at a “special” joint meeting of both the West Suburban Chicago and North Shore Chapters on Thursday, March 22nd.
We’re also investigating a suitable venue for this meeting somewhere at a “halfway point” between the Naperville and North Shore areas.
More information will become available as the project develops
The U.S. Supreme Court today (Jan 17, 2012) announced that it will not intervene in a controversy over sectarian prayer before meetings of the Forsyth County, N.C., Board of Commissioners.
The justices’ action leaves in place an appellate court decision barring the county from regularly opening its meetings with Christian invocations.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, one of the groups sponsoring the lawsuit, said the high court was right not to intervene.
Said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, “When government meetings are opened regularly with Christian prayer, it sends the unmistakable message that non-Christians are second-class citizens in their own community. That’s unconstitutional, and it’s just plain wrong.
This new film by Scott Burdick highlights the Executive Director of Americans United, Rev. Barry Lynn, several times in the movie, as well as other prominent individuals. It’s about the Religious Right and their efforts in King, North Carolina to violate the 1st Amendment. It’s very well done and worth a two-hour sitting at your computer.
The number of organizations engaged in religious lobbying or religion-related advocacy in Washington, D.C., has increased roughly fivefold in the past four decades, from fewer than 40 in 1970 to more than 200 today.
November 11, 2011
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the only nonprofit organization that is solely dedicated to working tirelessly to stop unconstitutional religious discrimination and oppression in the United States armed forces, has been nominated for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize, the third consecutive year that MRFF has received a nomination.
November 10, 2011
A Tennessee county has agreed to erect a local man’s display promoting church-state separation as part of a legal settlement, Americans United for Separation of Church and State announced today.
Earlier this year, Americans United challenged the Johnson County Commission’s decision to display the Ten Commandments and Christian literature in the county courthouse lobby while refusing to display Ralph Stewart’s posters about the historic role of church-state separation in American law.
As part of a legal settlement to end the case, the Johnson County Commission has agreed to hang Stewart’s posters in a prominent place and make changes to its policy concerning other displays.
“I’d prefer for government to stay out of the business of promoting religious documents altogether,” said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “But if government officials choose to go down this path, they must at least play fair and treat all citizens equally.”
