February 17
Davis, CA – The University of California at Davis decided to back away from a school policy that would identify religious discrimination as “The loss of power and privilege to those who do not practice the dominant culture’s religion. In the United States, this is institutionalized oppressions toward those who are not Christian.” After a large number of Christian students filed a complaint, the university decided not to include this in “The Principles of Community” policy document.
April
Newark, DW – “O Beautiful,” a play that had been awarded a $50,000 commission from the University of Delaware, featured a Jesus character who was sympathetic to abortion rights; he is shown saying he never condemned abortion. The Jesus-character concludes, “Honestly, I — I don’t really have an issue with it.”
May 17
Gainesville, FL – The Florida Alligator, an independent student newspaper at the University of Florida, condemned the Catholic Church in an editorial after the Vatican issued new guidelines for handling instances of sexual abuse. The newspaper called the guidelines “complete, beatified bulls***.”
September 30
Washington, D.C. – Actor Michael Moore lectured at Georgetown University about his latest book, Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life. During his speech he made a gratuitous joke implying that Jesus was homosexual: “You know those 12 men Jesus was always hanging out with? Mhm.” The audience laughed.
October
Washington, D.C. – Catholic University of America was sued by a George Washington University professor, John Banzhaf, claiming that the Catholic institution does not accommodate Muslim religious practices. Interestingly, there were no complainants: not a single Muslim at Catholic University ever complained about seeing pictures of the pope or the display of crucifixes in campus buildings. The impression was left by the media that Muslim students are behind this assault on the First Amendment. Banzhaf’s lawsuit was later dismissed by a judge who slammed the professor for filing it in the first place.
November 18
Jacksonville, FL – Patrick Capriola, the assistant principal at the Bannerman Learning Center, sued the principal, Linda Turner, and the Clay County school district, claiming that Turner had violated his constitutional rights by sending e-mails of a partisan political and religious nature. He maintained that by doing so she subjected him and other employees to her proselytizing efforts.
Among the allegedly offending e-mails was the following: Turner told the faculty to “enjoy God at work at the North Pole”; she requested that they pray for rain in Texas; and she said her faith “may move mountains.”
