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A federal district court ruled today* that a special Christian license plate mandated by the South Carolina legislature violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie held that the plate, which was to feature a large yellow cross, a stained-glass window and the words “I Believe,” clearly gives favored government treatment to one faith. In a summary judgment ruling, she ordered state officials not to issue the plate.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which served as counsel in the case, praised the decision.

“This is great news,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “Government must never be allowed to express favored treatment for one faith over others. That’s unconstitutional and un-American.

“Some officials seem to want to use religion as a political football,” Lynn said. “That’s an appalling misuse of governmental authority, and I am thrilled that the judge put a stop to it.”

Article continues off site, courtesy Americans United. *PDF Download link.

Reporting from Washington - A Supreme Court argument Wednesday over a cross in the Mojave National Preserve sparked a sharp dispute over whether the Latin cross stands as a symbol of all fallen soldiers, including Jews and Muslims.

In a discussion over whether the display within a public preserve violated the 1st Amendment ban on "establishment of religion," a Los Angeles lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union said a cross "is the predominant symbol of Christianity.

"It signifies that Jesus is the son of God and died to redeem mankind for our sins," Peter Eliasberg told the justices. But because of its special religious significance, he said, it should not stand alone as a prominent symbol in a national park.

Justice Antonin Scalia sharply disagreed. "It's erected as a war memorial. I assume it is erected in honor of all the war dead."

-Article continues off site, courtesy LATimes.

WASHINGTON — Protests by conservative lawmakers led architects to promise to add "In God We Trust" as the national motto and to engrave the Pledge of Allegiance in the new $621 million Capitol Visitor Center.

Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, had threatened to delay Tuesday's opening of the marble-and-stone center that took seven years to build at triple the original cost.

The estimated 3 million people who tour the U.S. Capitol each year will now assemble in a grand monument-like building likely to become a tourist stop on its own.

After taking a tour of the visitor center in September with Steven Ayers, the architect of the Capitol who oversaw its completion, DeMint correctly noted that it had erroneously described "E. Pluribus Unum" -- Latin for "from many, one" -- as the national motto rather than "In God We Trust."

-Article continues off site, courtesy McClatchy Newspapers.

Under state law, God is Kentucky's first line of defense against terrorism.

The 2006 law organizing the state Office of Homeland Security lists its initial duty as "stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth."

Specifically, Homeland Security is ordered to publicize God's benevolent protection in its reports, and it must post a plaque at the entrance to the state Emergency Operations Center with an 88-word statement that begins, "The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God."

State Rep. Tom Riner, a Southern Baptist minister, tucked the God provision into Homeland Security legislation as a floor amendment that lawmakers overwhelmingly approved two years ago.

-Article continues off site, courtesy the Lexington Herald Leader.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Supreme Court Wednesday took up the issue of freedom of speech and religion in a case in which a small sect wants to place its own monument alongside one of the Ten Commandments in a public park in Utah.

The sect, called Summum, filed a lawsuit against the small city of Pleasant Grove for rejecting their monument while allowing the Ten Commandments erected in 1971 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles because it had a historic value.

Summum sued the city for violating their right to free speech and lost, but an appeals court sided with them, ruling that their star-shaped monument had every right to stand alongside the other which it deemed of a religious and not a historic nature.

The Eagles had convinced Pleasant Grove, founded by 19th century Mormons, that the Ten Commandments monument was a tribute not to the Christian religion but to the Mormon pioneers who settled the area.

The nine supreme justices on Wednesday began hearing arguments from both sides involving the constitutional principles of freedom of speech, religion and the separation of church and state.

-Article continues Off Site.

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