c. 2007 Religion News Service
ACLU Wants Jesus Out of Courthouse
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Jesus has no place in the lobby of Slidell City Court, says the Louisiana ACLU, which has asked court officials to remove his portrait within a week or face a possible lawsuit to force the issue.
Several people have complained to the ACLU about the picture, and one has filed a written complaint, prompting the organization to intervene, said Joe Cook, the Louisiana chapter’s executive director. The ACLU also wants the court to remove lettering beneath the portrait that says, “To know peace, obey these laws.”
The organization sent a letter Wednesday (June 20) to court officials saying the display violates the First Amendment by advancing religion.
Cook said it would be impossible for the court to oblige every religious group with a similar display in the court’s lobby. Therefore, the display has to go, he said.
“If you can’t accommodate, you must separate,” Cook said. “That’s the beauty of the First Amendment.”
Slidell City Court Judge Jim Lamz, who was unavailable for comment, issued a statement through Ann Barks, a court spokeswoman. Barks noted that the display had been in place for several years.
“I was shocked and disappointed to receive the letter,” Lamz said in the statement. “To my knowledge, no one has made a complaint. I’m disappointed the ACLU released their letter to the press either before or simultaneously to us, which indicates they’re not interested so much in a resolution, but in confrontation and publicity.”
Katie Schwartzmann, the ACLU attorney who wrote the letter, said the display conveys a religious message and instructs those who see it to obey Jesus’ laws.
“The display is prominently placed in the lobby of the courthouse, such that every person entering the courthouse is subjected to it,” Schwartzmann said. “Moreover, as an admonition hanging in a court of law, it clearly gives the impression that only believers in the law of Jesus Christ will receive justice in that courthouse.”
The ACLU has given court officials one week to remove the display. Schwartzmann said the organization is prepared to file a lawsuit in the matter, but legal action could be avoided if the court cooperates.
_ Christine Harvey
Vicar Uses Sheep to Save Money on Lawn Care
LONDON (RNS) A church vicar in Devon has found the best answer to keeping his two-acre churchyard tidy and the grass mowed is a flock of sheep.
The Rev. John Leonard, vicar of Kingskerswell, acquired the sheep 18 months ago to help maintain the grounds of the next-door manor house. The church was originally built as a chapel for the manor house.
Leonard said he meant to buy four lambs that would be sent off for slaughter after a year. But he ended up with four “Jacob” sheep, a rare breed that tradition says are descendants of the flock kept by the biblical patriarch.
He named them, appropriately enough, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John before realizing they were all female. They were renamed Martha, Marcia, Lucy and Joanna.
The only snag is the church’s poor fence. The sheep, Leonard said, are “particularly good at getting out.”
Using the sheep as lawnmowers has meant a saving of about $3,000, Leonard said. The sheep have bred. Leonard now has six lambs and says he will keep three and find good homes for the others _ as mobile lawnmowers.
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: New York Assemblywoman Teresa R. Sayward
(RNS) “And one night I said to him, `You have to be what you are; you can’t be what people think you should be.”’
_ New York Assemblywoman Teresa R. Sayward, recalling a conversation with her gay son, Glenn, while speaking Wednesday (June 20) in support of a bill to allow same-sex marriage in New York. The bill passed 85-61, but state Senate leaders say they will not consider the bill. She was quoted by The New York Times.
KRE/LF END RNS
