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MILITANT
ATHEISM: LEGAL SUCCESSES AND LOSSES
Militant Atheist are determined,
focused and well funded. Most battles they have engaged America in
have been won. This has emboldened and energized them. Their successes will
continue, unless believers join forces to stop their unrelenting attacks.
The
most momentous first achievement by militant atheists has been the removal of Bible readings
and prayer recitations from American public schools. The
litigant was Madalyn O'Hare,
who founded the "American
Atheists" organization.
OTHER ATHEIST SUCCESSES AS
LISTED ON "FREEDOM FROM RELIGION" WEB SITE.
- Winning the first federal lawsuit
challenging direct funding by the government of a faith-based agency
- Overturning a state Good Friday holiday
- Winning a lawsuit barring direct
taxpayer subsidy of religious schools
- Removing Ten Commandments monuments
from public lands
- Ended bible instruction in public
schools after 51 year practice
- Halted prayer at public institutions
- Stopped direct subsidy to religious
schools
- Ended commencement prayers at a Top Ten
University after 122 years of practice
- It has ended distribution of Gideon bibles in public
schools.
- Has brought nearly 30 First Amendment lawsuits since
1977, and keeps several Establishment law challenges in the courts at all
times.
RECENT COURT CASES
OTHER COURT CHALLENGES
"FREEDOM FROM RELIGION" LOSSES
- Challenged a Congressional proclamation calling 1983 "The Year of the
Bible" (dismissed as
moot)
- Challenged a Ten Commandments monument in a public park in La Crosse,
Wisconsin (dismissed)
- Filed a federal lawsuit to stop the building of a chapel at the
Illinois statehouse (lost in appeals court)
- Went to Colorado state court to remove a Ten Commandments monument on
Capitol grounds in Denver (lost in State Supreme Court)
- Challenged "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency in Colorado (lost in
10th Circuit Court)
- Tried to block the state of Wisconsin from granting $100,000 to assist
building a center at St. Norbert Catholic College, DePere, Wisconsin (lost
in appeals court)
- Challenged a lighted nativity scene in a public park in Waunakee,
Wisconsin (lost in Wisconsin Supreme Court)
- Sued over the removal of its banner, "State/Church: Keep Them
Separate," from the rotunda of the Wisconsin State Capitol (lost in
federal court)
- Went to federal court in Missouri to sue over the phrase "So help me,
God" on tax forms (case was dismissed, then was lost after re-filing).
Wikipedia,
"Freedom From Religion Foundation." <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_From_Religion_Foundation>, Jan. 21,
2007.
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