President Obama connected his faith with his policies toward the poor at the National Prayer Breakfast today, a subtle but sharp contrast to remarks made by presidential hopeful Mitt Romney the day before.

“Living by the principle that we are our brother’s keeper. Caring for the poor and those in need,” Obama said before an audience of about 3,000 at the Washington Hilton. These values, he said, “they’re the ones that have defined my own faith journey.”

Specifically, Obama said, they translate to policies that support research to fight disease and support foreign aid. His faith, he continued, inspires him “to give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy.”

Romney has come under fire for telling CNN on Wednesday that “I’m not concerned about the very poor,” but is instead focused on the middle class. He later said his remarks were taken out of context, and promised to fix any holes in the safety net protecting the impoverished.

Romney, who made a fortune as the CEO of Bain Capital, is seeking to counter critics who portray him as a “vulture capitalist.” Recently he released his tax returns, which showed his income at nearly $21 million last year and that he paid a lower tax rate than most Americans.

The 60th annual prayer breakfast is a bipartisan event sponsored by members of Congress who meet weekly for prayer when Congress is in session.

Flanked by first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Obama talked about his largely secular upbringing, and “finding Christ when I wasn’t even looking for him so many years ago.”

Obama did not mention recent tensions between the White House and Catholic and evangelical leaders over new rules that will mandate nearly all religious institutions to offer coverage for contraception to their employees.

Late Wednesday, Celia Munoz, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and a former staffer for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, sought to clarify what she called “confusion” over the contraception mandate.

“The Obama administration is committed to both respecting religious beliefs and increasing access to important preventive services,” she wrote in a White House blog post. “And as we move forward, our strong partnerships with religious organizations will continue.”

Obama shared the dais with Christian author and humorist Eric Metaxas, who asked the audience to forsake “phony” religiosity and to recognize the humanity in their political foes.

“If you can see Jesus in your enemy, then you know you are seeing through God’s eyes and not your own,” Metaxas said.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco dismissed recently a lawsuit filed by a student who claimed that his high school history teacher made statements in class that ridiculed religion and promoted hostility towards Christians.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed last Friday a lawsuit filed by student Chad Farnan against his former instructor, James Corbett, saying that teachers should be able to discuss controversial subjects freely.

In its decision, the court said there is no need to determine whether Corbett’s remarks violate the constitutional requirement for government neutrality, and said there is no clear indication that anyone’s constitutional rights were violated.

The court decision stated, “We must be careful not to curb intellectual freedom by imposing dogmatic restrictions that chill teachers from adopting the [instructive] methods they believe are most effective.”

Farnan filed the lawsuit in 2007 when he was a  sophomore at Capistrano Valley High School. The 15-year-old student taped several statements that Corbett made in class that Farnan felt were offensive.

In his lawsuit, Farnan charged Corbett of “repeatedly promoting hostility toward Christians in class and advocating ‘irreligion over religion’ in violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause.”

Some 22 statements that Corbett made were presented as evidence by Farnan to the lower court. However, the court ruled that only one statement could be considered, where Corbett referred to a former teacher’s belief in creationism as “religious, superstitious nonsense.”

When the lower court ruled on behalf of Corbett, Farnan appealed the case and requested that all 22 statements that he had recorded be given consideration.

However, the Appeals Court dismissed the case in a 3-0 decision and upheld the decision of the lower court.

Farnan is presently a college student at Pepperdine University. His attorney, Robert Tyler, told The San Francisco Chronicle, “This case is about establishing legal precedent concerning the rights of children to be able to sit in a public school classroom without having their religion attacked.”

Tyler added, “This ruling was a disservice to millions of public school children, parents and teachers,” The Orange County Register reported. “It’s quite ironic that while the Ninth Circuit complains in the decision that the law is unclear as to whether a public school teacher showed hostility in the classroom, it failed to bring clarity when it had the opportunity to do so. Instead of addressing the constitutionality of the case, the court abandoned it.”

Corbett, 38, is still teaching at Capistrano Valley. He told the Orange County Register that he was pleased with the ruling, saying, “The court’s opinion was more than gratifying, it was a victory for free thought and academic freedom. The Ninth Circuit affirmed that in America, no religion has a right to demand that teachers defer to their beliefs. If that were true, teaching would become a constitutional minefield.”

Among the statements Corbett made in the course of teaching lessons in his class was, “When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can’t see the truth.” Corbett also said in another instance, (referring to the 16^th century conflict between religion and science), that evidence of creationism is as plentiful as proof that “there is a giant spaghetti monster living behind the moon who did it.”

In its decision, the Appeals Court said, “In broaching controversial issues like religion, teachers must be sensitive to students’ personal beliefs and take care not to abuse their positions of authority. … But teachers must also be given leeway to challenge students to foster critical thinking skills and develop their analytical abilities.”

A pastor in New London, WI, is transforming the lives of young people, their families and a community by combining karate lessons with scripture.

Pastor Bill Stiebs, founder of Cornerstone Christian Church, opened up a successful karate school in the 1980s, but one decade later, when he and his wife Lynn were born again, they transformed it into a Christian Karate school, according to Appleton Post Crescent.

Stiebs has been studying karate since 1975 when he was 15 years old. Karate was a good outlet for his aggressive personality because it is an individual sport rather than a team activity, Appleton Post Crescent reported.

In the early 80s he started his own karate school and by 1985 taught traditional classes in kickboxing karate to 50 students. He became successful, working out with world champions such as Jeff Smith, Joe Lewis and Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, who acted in movies starring Chuck Norris, according to Appleton Post Crescent.

But in 1991 he and wife Lynn were on the brink of a divorce. This led others to share their faith with the couple, and as they focused on the love of Jesus, it filtered into the details of their lives, including their marriage, Appleton Post Crescent said.

Christian karate

It also led Stiebs to introduce Christian karate in his school. Stiebs told Appleton Post Crescent, “Well, at that time we went from 40 or 50 students up to 80 students. So it actually increased in size. People wanted that. They were looking and searching for something in life that was more solid, that they could count on and God was part of that whole process.”

A video of Stiebs’ class helps one to understand why it works so well. One remembers an old movie, Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams who inspires his students to love literature by embedding it in their experience, for example, kicking a football while saying a line of a poem.

Stiebs’ class runs in similar fashion, only the tool for teaching is karate. As children do certain movements, they memorize applicable bible verses. Because there is such a spirit of love and encouragement the children learn happily. Eventually they also enjoy mentoring other new students in both the sport and bible.

Stiebs also made sure that the children didn’t bow to each other, a normal practice in karate sessions. He told Appleton Post Crescent, “We believe the only master that we have is Jesus and we would bow to Jesus. To each other, we do high-fives and handshakes. We just encourage each other in our lives.”

Stiebs also told Appleton Post Crescent that meditating had to change too. “[I]nstead of meditating upon how we could clear our minds and think of the power within ourselves, we begin to think about the power of Jesus in our lives. We begin to pray instead of meditate upon other things. And so prayer was an integral part of the karate along with learning and teaching scriptures from the Bible that would help and enable people to get through their lives in hard times.”

Karate also became a venue by which Stiebs came to know the children in the neighborhood. Young people would stop by for lessons at his karate school and as trust was built, he could share the bible with them, Appleton Post Crescent said.

Stiebs has degrees in Biblical studies, theology and Christian counseling, according to the Cornerstone Christian Church website. He is a Board Certified Pastoral Counselor and a certified Life Coach.

Stiebs is also a fourth degree black belter who has trained with many world champions of karate. He has taught a “Dangers of Strangers” program in schools throughout Wisconsin, and “Women’s Assault Awareness” in colleges and for corporate clients. He has also helped in the training of police officers and prison guards in WI, the Cornerstone Christian Karate website said.

The Alliance Defense Fund urged recently the University of Illinois to reinstate a Catholic professor who was fired for teaching Catholic beliefs in his Introduction to Catholicism class.

Dr. Kenneth Howell, a Catholic religion professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign has been in the institution’s employ since 2001.

However last year Howell, a highly regarded faculty member with consistently high ratings from students, was fired for talking about the Catholic viewpoint on homosexual behavior, ADF Media said.

Travis Barham, litigator of the ADF, wrote on July 12 to the University of Illinois’ president, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and head of the religion department, seeking Howell’s reinstatement, the Catholic News Agency said.

In his letter Barham said, “In relieving Dr. Howell of his teaching responsibilities, the university is firing him for teaching Catholic doctrine in a class about Catholic doctrine,” Catholic News Agency said.

Barham said Howell was only removed because some people did not like his speech. Still, he stressed that the First Amendment protects controversial ideas from being silenced, the Catholic News Agency said.

In the actual letter it was noted that Howell stressed to his students that they need not become Catholics to do well in his class. Instead, he sought for them to understand and critically analyze Catholic thought.

The issue that led to Howell’s dismissal was an email that he sent to his class as a follow up to a classroom lecture, which explained utilitarianism and natural law theory in shaping the morality of homosexual acts, Catholic News Agency said.

One student decried the letter as hate mail and at the end of the semester Howell was let go for violating “university standards of inclusivity,” the Catholic News Agency said.
ADF Senior Counsel David French doubted the university had a right to curtail classroom speech that was lesson related, and called it an outrage that a professor was fired for doing so, more so because the professor was not allowed to defend himself, ADF Media said.
The subject matter, “The Question of Homosexuality in Catholic Thought,” had been regularly covered in this class. The topic was framed in the context of natural moral law and Catholic belief. In the past students would simply respectfully disagree. The purpose of the email was to enhance student understanding of the subject matter, Barham’s ADF letter noted.

The basis of Howell’s dismissal was an anonymous complaint sent by email to university officials, plus the fact that others including students, staff and faculty disliked Howell’s email.

Barham referred to this as a “heckler’s veto” in his letter, and stressed that the purpose of the First Amendment is to protect the right of controversial ideas to be heard, Barham’s ADF letter said.

French said, “The First Amendment protects the ability of faculty to speak freely, especially when the material is of direct relevance to the class. Professors’ careers cannot be made to stand or fall based on the emotions of intolerant, anonymous students who do not yet understand that opposing viewpoints exist within a free society,” ADF Media said.

U.S. Constitution, page 1

ACLU attorneys in Florida have been naughty. They’ve been endlessly pursuing the defendants in a Santa Rosa School District freedom of speech case without having any plaintiffs to represent.

This is a fact the courts should have been made aware of – because it would make the ACLU’s position moot and could have changed the outcome of the case.

But I’m still waiting for the ACLU to have their hand slapped.

The Santa Rosa School District had entered into a “Consent Decree” that demanded an end to the freedom of speech for Christian students and teachers. This resulted after the ACLU had approached the School District on behalf of two atheist students who alleged that Christian teachers were forcefully witnessing during class time and within class lessons. “Evidence” of this was subjective and sorely lacking.

The atheists further demanded that the Christian school personnel should not even be able to pray at off-campus, privately sponsored events. More information about the initial case can be seen in previous Underground articles here and here .

School personnel were forced to sign the Consent Decree to cease and desist any Christian free speech on school grounds, and the case could have ended there.

But soon, two school administrators found themselves facing a lawsuit for praying at an off-campus privately sponsored event. They were criminally charged for being “in violation” of the decree.

A school district employee who asked her husband to pray at an event, because she wasn’t allowed, was still included in the suit because – after all – he was her husband.

All were eventually cleared of those initial  charges.

However, as time went by, it turned out the unlawful ordinance was still being enforced – because it’s so worded that the ACLU and the School District are constantly trying to find charges against Christian teachers, other school personnel, students, volunteers and even outside associates for not following demands like these:

• The school board could dictate to local pastors how to seat their audiences for private religious services held at their houses of worship, if the events involve school faculty or students.
• Students could no longer say “God Bless” in any situation – they were told to say “Good Luck.”
• School personnel could not be seen praying, even to themselves – anywhere in public.
• Teachers could not answer parents’ e-mails if anything about God was in the parents’ text; nor could parents and teachers conduct God-led conversations.
• School volunteers could not answer any questions regarding religion.
• Christian groups weren’t allowed to rent school facilities for private religious functions if it involves benefiting the students in any way.
  

A snag in the case for the ACLU:
By this point in time, the ACLU had no clients! The atheist students had graduated, and therefore no longer had legal standing as plaintiffs the last time the case was in court. Without clients, by law, the ACLU should have been barred from continuing litigation. But the ACLU never informed court officials.

Thankfully, Liberty Counsel (legal firm for the defendants) found out about this and brought it to the attention of the District Court. In March, 2010 the Court began demanding an explanation from the ACLU about why they continued to pursue the enforcement of the Decree.

Furthermore, the defendants now have a case against the Santa Rosa School District for the illegalities in the Consent Decree and violations against the students’ and teachers’ First Amendment rights to freedom of religious expression.

Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel states on the law firm’s latest press release that the constitutional violations in the ACLU’s court order have been outrageous; that it directly conflicts with previous United States Supreme Court opinions, and that schools are not religious-free zones.

An injunction against the further persistence and enforcement of the Consent Decree has now been requested.

As these types of things happen more and more around the country, we as Christians can stand firm and pray. While peacefully exerting the avenues we have to petition the government with our grievances (another First Amendment right), we can know that God is with us.

“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (Luke 12:11-12, NIV).

A Methodist Church in Loxahatchee, Fla. incorporated recently the stretching movements of yoga and Pilates with Christian prayer and meditation, through a class called Praisemoves, according to the Sun Sentinel.

The class is forwarded by the Community of Hope which always opens in prayer and then ends with a New Testament bible verse such as 2 Corinthians 12:9: “And he said unto me, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me,’” as their ending meditation, the Sun Sentinel said.

Credit: k_vohsen/sxc.hu

Despite criticisms from many Christians who believe that yoga invites demonic spirits into the body, others join the class precisely because of its Christian orientation.

Some prefer its low-impact workout, while others enjoy the chance to dwell on God in a peaceful setting, the report said.

Praisemoves is different from a similarly named group, PraiseMoves which was started by Laurette Willis, who goes to Calvary church in Tahlequah, Okla.

Willis designed PraiseMoves as a way to get fit without compromise, according to their website. PraiseMoves describes itself as the Christian alternative to yoga.

In her website Willis explains in great detail the dangers of yoga and shares her own journey.

She talks of yoga’s Hindu roots and how the different yoga postures are actually offerings to 330 million Hindu gods. She also expressed concern about yoga being taught in public schools to grade school children.

PraiseMoves, Willis says, is not Christian Yoga which she calls an oxymoron, like Christian Buddhism.

Instead, PraiseMoves involves stretching exercises for physical flexibility for one’s body as a temple of God. It is so called because praise moves God. With the movements, the mind focuses on New Testament verses that praise Jesus.

Amy Julia Becker, in her article “Yoga: An Exercise in Discernment” at her.meneutics said, “I’ve started my personal prayer time by integrating God’s Word with breathing techniques I learned in yoga. Breathe in: “Be still.” Hold the breath: “and know.” Exhale: “that I am God.”