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And the regualtions begin…

A Christian group that claimed it was banned from the campus of Wright State University in Ohio because of its religious standards has been reinstated.

Members of the Campus Bible Fellowship said they were informed late Monday that they would be allowed to resume holding meetings on the Dayton campus. The reinstatement came after repeated media requests to school officials.

“We’re good for now, but come May, we’ll be up against the same qualifications they refused us on this time,” said Gary Holtz, 62, a Campus Bible Fellowship organizer. “I believe because of public pressure [school officials] changed their case.”

Holtz said the college banned the fellowship from holding meetings on campus Jan. 30 because the group refused to adopt university-mandated nondiscrimination language. Adhering to the college demands would have prevented the fellowship from requiring that voting members adhere to religious and behavioral standards, he said.

University officials also objected to the group’s requirement in its constitution that voting members be practicing Christians, Holtz said.

“They were saying that we could not preserve the nature our group being professing Christians,” Holtz said. “It denied us the opportunity to meet on campus and to be able to have information tables as all the other groups can do.”

A fellowship member, Joseph Hollaway, said Tuesday that he received an e-mail indicating that the group could meet on campus through the end of the year. He said the group did not submit a revised constitution to university officials.

Dr. Dan Abrahamowicz, the university’s vice president for student affairs, confirmed that the group is not banned from campus, but it was not immediately clear what led to the fellowship’s reinstatement.

“CBF is not banned and is, in fact, a recognized student organization,” Abrahamowicz wrote in an e-mail to FOXNews.com. “I do acknowledge that there was a lack of clarity in university student organization policy which delayed recognition for a few days.”

Dr. Rick Danals, director of student activities at Wright State, said the fellowship had been denied campus privileges because of incomplete registration forms.

“They weren’t fully registered because they failed to submit the university nondiscrimination clause as part of their constitution,” Danals told FOXNews.com Tuesday. “We do allow groups to organize based on their values and beliefs; however, we don’t allow groups to discriminate people.”

The fellowship, which has had more than 20 members in previous semesters, didn’t include clauses concerning gender identity and military status in its equal opportunity policy statement that are “required by all student groups on campus,” Danals said.

Despite the college’s assurance that the group can meet on campus this Friday, Hollaway says he has his doubts.

“We were seeking to protect ourselves as a group and what we stand for,” he said. “It’s a constitutional matter of freedom.”

Following their ban from campus, Campus Bible Fellowship representatives contacted Robert Shibley, vice president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, who informed Wright State University President David Hopkins of potential legal ramifications.

“They could be sued for violating the First Amendment rights of the Campus Bible Fellowship, and that’s a lawsuit they would almost certainly lose,” Shibley told FOXNews.com on Monday. “College campuses are supposed to be a marketplace of ideas, and the affect of Wright State’s decision would be to reduce the amount of diversity on campus.”

Montana Constitition to define when life begins

WASHINGTON D.C, USA (Worthy News) — A new bill could give citizens in the least populated American state the right to constitutionally define a person as a human being “from conception”, as part of a national movement to reduce abortion rates, Worthy News monitored Tuesday, February 26.

If House Bill 406 passes, voters in Montana will decide in next year’s elections whether or not to amend the state’s constitution and recognize a human being “at all stages of life”, from the moment of conception till death, “regardless of age, health, level of functioning, or condition of dependency.”

If approved by Montana voters, the amendment will go into effect Jan. 1, 2011, senators said.

“The whole point of what I am trying to do is define when a person is a person,” explained Republican State Senator Dan McGee. “I believe and I think probably a majority of Montanans believe that life begins at conception.”

MORE STATES

Montana is among seven American states considering bills or initiatives that would provide legal protection to all persons from the moment of conception.

The ‘personhood’ proposals make no reference to abortion, but they are viewed as challenging the legal reasoning behind Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court court ruling that legalized abortion in the United States.

Before Montana’s action, North Dakota passed a bill last week, 51-41, that says “a human being includes any organism with the genome of homo sapiens.” No state legislature had ever passed a person hood bill.

Pro-lifers in Mississippi — one of the nation’s most pro-life states — are expected to begin a “personhood petition” drive soon, after a similar in. A drive already has begun in the state of Oregon.

Legislators in Maryland, Alabama and South Carolina are also sponsoring ‘personhood’ bills.

NEW MOVEMENT

The initiatives, described as a “new movement” by Baptist Press news agency, comes months after voters in Colorado voted down Amendment 48, which would have defined a person as “any human being from the moment of conception,” failed at the ballot, 73-27 percent.

It was the first time in the nation’s history that voters considered a personhood law. Pro-life activists have promoted this legislation, saying all persons have the right to be born and to live in freedom.

However pro-choice groups say it will limit the possibilities of women to seek abortions in a medically save environment. (With additional reporting by Worthy News’ Stefan J. Bos).

US Fairness Doctrine “Threatens” Christian Radio

Sunday, February 22, 2009 (1:02 am)
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News International Correspondent

Will Christian radio be challenged in the United States?

WASHINGTON, D.C., USA (Worthy News) — A high ranking American senator will force a vote next week to prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from reinstating the ‘Fairness Doctrine’, amid fears it could jeopardize Christian radio and conservative talk shows.

Republican Jim DeMint, who chairs the Senate Steering Committee, said his anti-Doctrine bill would halt attempts by the FCC to “censor” opinionated programs, and suggested the White House supported his proposal, Worthy News learned Sunday, February 22.

“I’m glad President Barack Obama finally confirmed his opposition to the Fairness Doctrine, which attacks the right of free speech on talk radio,” explained DeMint. “But many Democrats in Congress are still pushing [the Doctrine]. With the support of the new administration, now is the time for Congress to take a stand against this kind of censorship.”

He added he wanted to push for an amendment within the next few days “so every senator is on record: Do you support free speech or do you want to silence voices you disagree with?”

“CONTRASTING VIEWS”

The ‘Fairness Doctrine’ mandated from 1949 to 1987 that broadcasters presented contrasting views on controversial issues.

Yet, instead of bringing political diversity to the airways, the Fairness Doctrine had a “chilling effect” on broadcasting debate as many networks ceased airing controversial opinions to avoid giving opponents free airtime, critics said.

Amid mounting pressure, the FCC determined in 1985 that the Fairness Doctrine may have violated the First Amendment of the Constitution. Two years later courts ruled that the FCC was no longer obligated to enforce it as it wasn’t mandated by Congress. Soon after, Congress attempted to pass legislation restoring the Doctrine, but Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush vetoed the bills.

Leading conservative talk-show hosts and their allies in Congress have expressed concerns that the Doctrine may be revived in ” camouflaged form” to silence conservative talk radio, including Christian programs.

Although the Obama administration has denied it would pursue the Fairness Doctrine, they recalled that fellow Democrat President Bill Clinton once said: “You either ought to have the Fairness Doctrine, or we ought to have more balance on the other side.”

Future American Christian Students Uncertain As Obama Signs Stimulus Plan

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 (7:56 pm)
By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

COLORADO, USA (Worthy News)– Devoted Christian students across the United States faced uncertainty Tuesday, February 17, as President Barack Obama signed into law the nation’s biggest ever economic stimulus plan which bans religious worship or instruction in university and college facilities that receive state funds for renovations.

“No funds awarded under this section may be used for – (3) modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities – (A) used for sectarian instruction or religious worship; or (B) in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission,” a part of the plan says.

One of the effects will be to bar Bible studies and worship meetings by Christian and other religious student groups in facilities that have undergone repairs or modernization work underwritten by stimulus funds, according to religious liberty advocates.

The measure is part of the almost $800 billion in government spending and tax cuts that Obama says are designed to get America’s economy back on track. However critics describe the plan as anti-religious. “The dust is settling on the “bipartisan” stimulus bill and one thing is clear: it is anti-religious,” said former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who is also an ordained Baptist pastor.

STRIKING PROVISION

“During debate, Senator Jim DeMint offered an amendment to strike the provision from the bill but it failed 43-54, with Democrats voting overwhelmingly for this blatantly anti-religious provision,” Huckabee wrote on his Website and in an e-mail to supporters, monitored by Worthy News.

“Why would Democrats add this provision into a spending bill that they say is “urgently needed” to help our economy?” he added. Supporters of the provision say it guarantees the separation of church and state and ensures that tax payers dollars are not used for religion.

However the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said in published remarks that it would challenge the provision in federal court as it allegedly encourages discrimination.

“This is an unacceptable provision that clearly discriminates against religious organizations that have a legal right to use those facilities,” ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow said in a written statement. “This is not what ‘economic stimulus’ is about. We know that the American people don’t want their tax dollars used for discriminatory measures.”

OBAMA “REORGANIZING”

It came shortly after Obama already signed an executive “reorganizing” the White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to be used only for “secular purposes”, not evangelism. Yet despite controversies, Obama seemed pleased when signing the stimulus plan outside of Washington, in the Western city of Denver, Colorado on Tuesday, February 17.

Denver hosted the 2008 Democratic National Convention, at which Obama received his party’s presidential nomination. The majority of Colorado voters supported Obama in the November election, after several elections in which Republicans won the state.

“I do not want to pretend that today marks the end of our economic problems nor does it constitute all of what we are going to have to do to turn our economy around,” he said at the signing ceremony. “But today does mark the beginning of the end.”

Colorado also has a reputation for supporting businesses that produce and support so-called “clean energy”.

HAPPY COMPANY

Before President Obama signed the legislation, Blake Jones, the president of the Colorado-based Namaste Solar company, which makes solar energy equipment, said the stimulus plan will help his company and many others.

“Our trade association – the Solar Energy Industries Association – estimates that as a direct result of this stimulus bill, U.S. solar companies will create 69,000 good-paying jobs this year, and almost double that number over the next two years,” he added.

Overall, the Obama administration claims the plan will create or save millions of jobs, cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans and inject new money into efforts to reform education, health care, and rebuild infrastructure.

Others aren’t so sure. They include United States Representative Tom Price (R-Roswell) who became somewhat of a television celebrity last week when smashing the 1,000 plus pages of the bill and waving what looked to be a small, dead ball of fur on the floor of the U.S. House. The prop was reportedly from a pet store.

EXPENSIVE MICE

“What’s in it? Have you read it?” he said of the $787 million stimulus bill. “We found 30 million for mice. Got 30 million for mice. You can’t be serious. What a joke. $30 million for mice. Does that create jobs?”

The economic stimulus plan passed both houses of Congress, with all majority Democrats supporting the measure and nearly all Republicans voting against it. Minority-party lawmakers have warned the plan is too costly and wasteful, and will not work.

On Wednesday, February 18, Obama was to visit the Southwestern state of Arizona to introduce a program he said would help millions of homeowners avoid mortgage foreclosures. Several economists and politicians agree that the U.S. financial crisis began with bad loans in the home mortgage industry.