Barry Smitherman Stood for Religious Rights of Kountze Students with Greg Abbott

As Christmas nears, one thing we are talking about is the Merry Christmas bill. The Merry Christmas bill was passed this year to allow teachers and students to be able to celebrate Christmas in schools without fear of lawsuits. This is a great bill, but it only scratches the surface of stopping the attacks against Christianity in schools. The Texas Attorney General is on the front lines defending the religious rights of Texans and Texas Students.

Texas Attorney General Candidate Barry Smitherman does not just stand up for Christian Conservative values, Smitherman goes out of his way to get involved. From rallying against Common Core and CSCOPE, to promoting the Merry Christmas Bill, Smitherman has been there. Just last week, Barry Smitherman went way out of his way to speak at a Women on the Wall #CanISee anti-Common Core community meeting in Frisco, TX organized by Alice Linahan.

Since we are on the topic of standing up for students in Texas, I want to let everyone know about how Smitherman stood up for the religious rights of cheerleaders at Kountze High School. Many people do no know about how Smitherman went out of his way to stand up for the religious rights of students in the small east Texas city of Kountze. Kountze, TX is a small city in Hardin County in East Texas. Last year there was a battle of ideas that occurred here. The Kountze Cheerleaders made their own signs with their own money to hold up at public football games after school. Some of the signs had encouraging Bible verses on them. The Wisconsin based freedom from religion foundation did not like that these signs had Bible verses on them. This anti-Christian organization is known for going around the country finding people to threaten with lawsuits unless they back down from anything that even mentions God. These students have a Constitutional right to express their faith, even in school. Unfortunately, many organizations and individuals do not have the money to fight a lawsuit so they just give in to the demands of the freedom from religion foundation.

These students in Kountze, TX were not backing down from their faith or from their rights. The students and parents started speaking out and created a facebook group. They took a bold stand. Word started to get out about the situation and the cheerleaders got some legal help from the Liberty Institute.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman heard about this situation in Kountze, TX. Smitherman probably had lots of important issues on his plate, but he took time to get involved and stood up for these kids in Kountze. I am from Hardin County and I was very involved in standing up for the Kountze Kids. Barry Smitherman personally sent me a hand written statement expressing support for the Kountze Kids and standing up for their Constitutional rights.

See the Kountze Faith letter form Barry Smitherman here

This really impressed me and this is one of the reasons why I really support Barry Smitherman. Smitherman got involved even when no one was looking. His actions are exactly what I would expect from a possible Texas Attorney General. In fact, your current Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott did get involved to defend and protect the religious rights of the Kountze Kids.

Barry Smitherman getting involved over the years from Frisco to Kountze shows me that he have the values and dedication needed to be the next Texas Attorney General.

Christian Mom Scores Big Victory After School Banned Daughter’s ‘God’ Assignment

from The Blaze:

Officials at Lucy Elementary School in Memphis, Tenn., have reversed course after a teacher banned a 10-year-old student from writing about God for a class assignment.
The school decided to accept and grade Erin Shead’s work after her mother, Erica, spoke out to media and after the Liberty Institute, a conservative legal group, got involved, WREG-TV reported.
Erin received a 100 percent on her work.
The situation began last month when Erin and her classmates were asked to pick one idol to write about. When Erin picked God, her teacher sent her home with the completed assignment and told her to choose someone else. Erin then selected Michael Jackson, whom the teacher accepted.

A photo of Erin’s assignment about admiring God (Image source: WREG-TV)

Erica Shead was angry and began speaking out when she learned that her daughter’s God-themed assignment wouldn’t be accepted.
“I didn’t want any money. I strictly wanted Erin’s right to be able to express herself not to ever be taken away again,” Shead said of the debate surrounding her daughter. “It was kind of like, wow, she can talk about Michael Jackson but she can’t talk about God.”
more here: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/17/they-cannot-take-god-out-of-our-children-mom-scores-big-victory-after-school-banned-daughters-god-assignment/

Anti-Christian Terrorists Detonate Bomb at Cross Memorial in Oregon Park

from Todd Starnes of Fox News Radio: http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/war-memorial-cross-damaged-by-bomb-blast.html

Someone ignited an improvised explosive device next to a war memorial cross that a prominent atheist group wanted removed from a public park in Coos Bay, Ore., an attorney for the city told Fox News.
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An official statement on the city’s website called it an act of “criminal mischief” and stated that an ”unknown person(s) vandalized the memorial with an improvised explosive device.”
“We unfortunately are now to the point where explosive devices are being placed next to crosses,” said Hiram Sasser, director of litigation at the Liberty Institute.

Photo by Thomas Moriarty, The World

The Texas-based Liberty Institute was hired by the city to determine the constitutionality of the Mingo Park Vietnam War Memorial cross.
The cross is still standing, but did sustain superficial damage, Coos Bay City Manager Roger Craddock told Fox News.
“Other than some charred marks on the cement structure there was no real damage to the memorial,” he said.
The blast startled local residents as well as dispatchers at the local police station, according to local news reports.
The cross had been donated to the city in 1972 but had become the center of controversy recently when the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent city officials a letter demanding they remove the cross.
“We have no objection to the veterans’ memorials,” FFRF attorney Rebecca Markert wrote to the city. “Our objection is to the message of endorsement of Christianity over other religions and non-religions.”
The FFRF is a Wisconsin-based group of freethinkers, atheists and agnostics that has a history of targeting small towns and communities on issues regarding public displays of the Christian faith.
“These people will stop at nothing to intimidate communities to tear down their veterans memorials,” Sasser told Fox News. “Now the crazies are trying to blow one up.”
Police are working with explosives specialists from the Oregon State Police but so far they do not have any suspects.
Sasser said it’s fortunate no one was hurt by the blast.
“This memorial is right next to the area where many children play,” Sasser told Fox News. “A child could have been killed or wounded by the IED exploding.”
In May the cross was vandalized. Someone wrote the word “Remove” in the middle of the cross along with a dotted line and arrow to indicate where to “cut.”
Sasser called on the FFRF to stop “fanning the flames of hostility toward veterans memorials.”
“There are consequences for fomenting hatred for what were once obscure veterans memorials,” he said. “The FFRF should immediately condemn this dangerous criminal act.”

Judge Says Kountze Students ALLOWED to Hold Religious Signs. Restraining Order by Judge Steve Thomas

Texas State District Judge Steve Thomas has granted a temporary restraining order that will allow students at Kountze School Football games to hold religious signs for the next 2 weeks pending an October 4th, 2012 Hearing.

Regardless of the outcome of the hearing, there will be a big rally at the next Kountze Lions Home Game Oct. 5th, 2012. We will have signs and t-shirts supporting these kids and supporting their rights.

Kountze ISD Superintendent Kevin Weldon got some bad advice from Texas Association of School Boards and Weldon BANNED students from even making their own personal signs with Bible verses to hold at football games after receiving an anonymous complaint.

It did not take long for the community to take a stand against this Superintendent's decision. A facebook group Support Kountze Kids Faith got 30,000 members overnight and local political leaders like Congressman Steve Stockman and State Rep James White spoke out in support of these students. Now the issue has become a national one with Todd Starnes (Fox News Radio), and other national media outlets covering the issue today.

Beaumont Lawyer David Starnes has teamed up with Liberty Institute Lawyer Michael Johnson to represent these kids. The Liberty Institute is national organizations that defends unconstitutional actions against Christians. The Liberty Institute has win 99% of their cases. Johnson says that student led religious activities using student personal resources are permitted in schools. Johnson says that many people forget the second part of the First Amendment that says Congress Shall Make No Law Prohibiting The Free Exercise Of Religion.

Judge Thomas made a very good decision to err on the side of these students' religious rights until a hearing on the matter.

This is why it is important to support good Judges. I knew Steve Thomas was a great guy so I supported him to be appointed as Judge. When the election came around, there was no one I would have voted for to be District Judge over Steve Thomas. Judge Thomas is a great guy who is very knowledgeable and fair. It is good to see that voting in good judges, even locally, can have a huge impact.

Governor Rick Perry wisely appointed Steve Thomas to be the State District Judge over Hardin County following the death of Judge Plunk. Thomas had run for the position as a Republican just a couple years early and nearly unseated the long-time Democrat Judge Plunk, so it was an easy decision to pick Steve Thomas to fill in as Judge until the next election. The primary elections are over and Steve Thomas ran unopposed in the Primary and will be unopposed in the general election so he will retain his seat as a now elected State Judge.

2012 Democrat Platform is HORRIBLE - God Booed, Obama 200 times, Partial Birth Abortions Paid by Taxes

Read the Full 2012 Democrat Party Platform here: http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform?source=DNC_TW


The Democrats took God and Support for Israel out of their platform but then after they got some bad press they added them back in. Even the vote to add God back in to the platform was a divided vote with half of the Democrat crowd yelling NO. Does this represent America? NO!

The Democratic Platform was in favor of late term (9th month!) and partial birth abortions funded by our tax dollars.

Even just as disturbing is that the 2012 Democrat Platform mentions Obama by name over 200 times! A Party Platform is not supposed to be about a person or in support of a person. A Party Platform is supposed to be a set of values and beliefs. The people of a party are people who prescribe to the party platform. It is not the other way around. The party should not build itself around a candidate! The party should be built around a set of beliefs! Well, that is what the Democrats have done. They have no beliefs or values, they just believe whatever Obama says and does. They have built their platform around him. In contrast, the Republicans only mentioned Mitt Romney once in the Republican Platform and that was only in the Introduction and the the platform itself!


Watch this Allen West Campaign YouTube Video: Three times they said no to God

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNQuT2worqc&feature=youtu.be





Here is what Liberty Institute had to say about the Removal of God Controversy at the DNC 2012:

Wednesday, delegates of the Democratic National Convention voted to add the mention of God back into the party platform, but not everyone in the Charlotte arena was happy about the announcement as many booed and shook their fists.

The party received criticism the day before for removing God from the platform, which was included in 2008. They also eliminated the mention of Jerusalem, but that was added back in with Wednesday’s vote as well.

The elimination of God from the Democratic Party platform appears to be consistent with the current administration that has been working very hard to remove God from the public arena altogether. Although the mention of God was voted back in, it is disappointing that the delegates were so divided on the issue and that the announcement evoked such a negative reaction from the crowd. It is the harsh reality of where we are headed as a nation, and a very real example of the growing hostility to religious freedom.

Christians Victims of Govt. Hostility - Shocking Family Research Council/Liberty Institute Report

According to Fox News, A new report by the Family Research Council and the Liberty Institute claims that there's been a rising pattern of hostility toward Christians in America over the past decade.

The 140-page "Survey of Religious Hostility in America," prepared by the Liberty Institute and the Family Research Council, highlighted more than 600 examples illustrating what it characterized as religious animosity shown by judges, government bureaucrats, schools and secular groups. From ObamaCare mandates that force religious entities to pay for contraception, to children being punished for uttering prayers in school, the report's findings shocked even those who commissioned it.

Read the Full Report HERE: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF12H29.pdf

Liberty Institute Releases Religious Rights Kit for Students

From Liberty Institute:

Just in Time for School Liberty Institute Releases Know Your Religious Rights Kit for Students

http://www.libertyinstitute.org/news/time-school-liberty-institute-releases-religious-rights-kit-students/

In the upcoming weeks, 50 million students will be heading back to public school, and Liberty Institute wants to equip your family with the ultimate “school supply” – the Know Your Religious Rights Kit.

The Know Your Religious Rights Kit is part of The Angela Project – our nationwide effort to stop the widespread assault of religious freedom in our public schools. The project is a result of Liberty Institute’s 2011 case in which a federal judge threatened a model high school student and valedictorian with jail if she mentioned God in her graduation speech.

In this case, Liberty Institute was able to step in and get the ruling overturned, but unfortunately, many stories of religious hostility and discrimination in public schools are never told – sometimes because students are unaware of their constitutional rights.

Now, through this comprehensive kit, students will be provided with important information on their religious rights. No student should have to face religious hostility and discrimination in school; instead they should feel free to express their beliefs and feel empowered to stand up for their faith.
We need your support to keep this initiative going. Please continue to pray for our nation’s students as they head back to school, share information on The Angela Project with your friends and family, and donate to this important cause so we can continue to protect the First Amendment rights of America’s students.

Texas Sonogram Abortion Bill is Ruled Constitutional - 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Upholds the Law & Removes Injunction

Major Victory for the State of Texas and for life!

Texas passed a law in the 2011 Legislative session that requires a sonogram to be performed for women who are contemplating killing their unborn baby. This would allow the woman to be fully informed about what she is doing and who is inside of her.

This law was challenged in court U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks put a hold on key provisions of Texas’ new sonogram law.

This ruling was appealed to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 5^th Circuit today struck down the injunction against the Sonogram Bill and ruled that the bill is constitutional.

Jeff Mateer, the General Counsel for the Liberty Institute, posted this comment on his Facebook page:

Breaking News -- Victory at 5th Circuit: The Court (Edith Jones opinion) holds recently enacted Texas Sonogram law constitutional. The Fifth Circuit reversed Judge Sparks, vacating his granting of preliminary injunction, which had stopped enforcement of the Texas Sonogram law.

Below is a Previous Story from earlier this week from the Liberty Institute blog:

Sonogram Bill Goes Before 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Today 

Today, the Sonogram Bill (HB 15) will go before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The State of Texas will be seeking to overturn U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ruling that put on hold key provisions of Texas’ new sonogram law. The Sonogram Bill, which requires doctors or certified sonographers to perform a sonogram on women seeking an abortion at least 24 hours before the procedure, was overwhelmingly passed by the Texas Legislature and signed into law by Governor Perry this past legislative session.

Liberty Institute, on behalf of Texas State Senator Dan Patrick and Representative Sid Miller – authors of the Sonogram Bill in the Texas Senate and House respectively, filed an amicus brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the law. Liberty Institute argues that HB 15 is consistent with Supreme Court precedents and only requires the disclosure of truthful and accurate information to allow women to make informed decisions regarding their pregnancies. Liberty Institute was also involved in helping lawmakers draft the best language for this legislation and provided legal advocacy at numerous legislative hearings on this matter when pro-abortion advocates tried to stop this effort.

Read the legislators’ amicus brief filed with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas Medical Professionals Performing Abortion Services v. Lakey.