Anyone heard about this upcoming case that could give the 'christian' Right a lot of new power?

[ck4829]

I've done a search for it and have not been able to find anything about it.

"Dear Marci! (It was sent to a friend, but also arrived in my inbox too)

REF: The Religious Right is going after public education funding once more, this time at the college level in CO.!

Hi Again! Marci, You once mentioned to me that if anything "big" came up, to buzz you about it! I think the following court case falls into that category...and I (we) may possibly need somekind of help from you in this U.S. District Court Case being heard here in Denver before Marcia Krieger's Court.

A Denver/U.S. District Court is about to hear a case before Judge Marcia Krieger's court...pushed by the Religious Right! It has to do with some kind of "summary judgement" that if it goes the way former U.S. Sen. William Armstrong wants it to go, it could unleash huge amounts of public money across this nation to go to "pervasively sectarian colleges". Colleges like Colorado Christian University (CCU), of which William Armstrong is the new president!

He has since becoming president of CCU established on that Lakewood, CO campus an organization called, The Council of Reference, whose board members include former Reagan cabinet official, Don Hodel. Hodel for a time headed Focus on the Family when James Dobson suffered a mild heart attack, a couple years ago.

There are others on the Council of Reference who are tied to the Council for National Policy (NCP), a "politically covert organization" started in 1981, by Tim LaHaye, author of the "Left Behind Series" religious stories! Many Religious Right/GOP leaders meet under the aegis of the NCP which includes ultra-conservative Republicans, conservative & Christian media, and conservative philathropy leaders to advance a very large right-wing political cabal! They really don't need this extra public money to feather their financial nest eggs and institutions!

A few years ago, the Colorado General Assembly established a series of state-funded grants in amounts ranging from $500 to $5,000 per student per year, depending on various factors--a sort of voucher system for students going to colleges! At the time that this legisation was passed, Colorado's General Assembly was
under the political control of the Republicans, and our Republican Governor, Bill Owens, was sympathetic to it.

Students under this state statute are permitted to use these "college voucher funds" to pay tuition at approved post-secondary institutions of higher education...which include here in Colorado the following: U. of Colorado...U. of Denver...Colorado College (Colo Sprgs)...Regis (Jesuit) University...the Art Institute of Colorado...Colorado
Technical University...Denver Automotive and Diesel College...and the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design.

Senator Armstrong states that CCU is being left out of this approval list because it is pervasively sectarian and that he says is unfair. He wants Judge Marcia Krieger to allow this Christian Fundamentalist, Evangelical, Conservative Protestant Training Entity to also receive approval from the Colorado Commision on Higher Education (CCHE)! CCHE has ruled that Colorado Christian University is blatantly too religious and has not, therefore, been included CCU as among those Colorado-based colleges included in the voucher program.

Armstrong claims that this exclusion of CCU is a violation of the First Amendment and 14th Amendment!

Certain Colorado-based colleges were approved but not this "pervasively sectarian college" of which former
Senator William Armstrong is now the president. An article in the Saturday, March 17th edition of the Rocky Mountain News (Denver), p. 31, has Armstrong's opionion-editorial appearing in it...where he is pleading that Colorado Christian University be added to the list of other more secular colleges! He cites that since a Catholic
Jesuit college, Regis University, is among the secular colleges that it represent a wedge that should open the
door wider to include CCU. (I opposed Regis University being included for fear that this kind of argument would
later arise...and now it has! Maybe Regis U. should be removed from the list in order to quell this kind of argument that is now being pushed by Armstrong and CCU!)

If he, Armstrong, gets his way in U.S. District Court, as has occurred in a California case, then a precedent could be established where this movement goal to violate the "separation of church and state" could gain even more
momentum. One must remember what Pres. John Adams once said, "This kind of thing needs to be nipped in the bud!" Maybe Regis University should lose its inclusion on the CCHE's list!

Not being the most sophisticated person on a computer, I'm not quite skilled enough yet to know how to send
an attachment, in this case, the actual photocopy of Armstrong's op-ed piece from the Rocky Mtn. News. I
will therefore send the photocopied op-ed by Armstrong to Cordozo School of Law, 55th Fifth Ave., New York, NY to you, by mail for your review!

Thank you for taking time to read this! Thank you for writing your book, Religion and the Rule of Law!

p.s. Please e-mail me a blurb about whether or not you are interested in thiscase. I would be hopeful and interested in seeing anything that you might write to Judge Kreiger as a "friend of the court"! Sen. Armstrong sure the heck has written this Judge...and leaned on her probably in some other ways, too!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Appreciatively Yours,

GP, Center for Early American History (& Catholics-On-Pause), 8977 W. 56th Pl., Arvada, CO 80002
Ph [phone]"

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Yeah, it's a real case, but...

sheesh, it would be nice if they included a link, or at least the name of the case in these spam emails.

Anyway, without looking too much further, here's their side of the story from two years ago. Dunno what's actually going on now or how far the case has actiually progressed:

http://www.ccu.edu/admissions/news/news_story.asp?iNewsID=251&strBack=%2Fadmissions%2Fnews%2Fnews_archive.asp

So, it might be going to trial but so what? Then it could be appealed, whoever wins. There's plenty of statutory and caselaw saying that gummint money can't go to religious studies or institutions that discriminate, so they'll probably lose somewhere along the line.

BYW, amicus briefs are written by lawyers, not the general public. No judge anywhere ever considers emails, faxes, letters, or whatever from "interested parties" unless properly drawn up and submitted through the usual channels. In fact, past experience tends to show that contacting a judge about a current case in any way except through a proper brief just pisses them off.