Contact:  Don Swarthout, President, Christians Reviving America’s Values, CRAVE, 859-219-1222, 859-619-2811

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 /Standard Newswire/ -- On September 26, 2006 a bill was passed in the United States House of Representative which will prohibit the ACLU or other similar organizations from continuing to receive awards from the courts when they win a case against the Establishment Clause or the Freedom of Religion.

This bill, HR 2679, seems like a good thing since the ACLU has made a habit of suing counties, cities and states in Establishment Clause or Freedom of Religion cases.  Freedom of Religion is a right protected by the First Amendment. 

The dirty secret is that when the ACLU wins one of these cases they are paid huge amounts, usually in tax dollars, for their supposed costs of the trial. On the other hand when the ACLU loses one of these cases they are not required to pay the winning side anything…not one thin dime.

The ACLU has 400,000 members with revenue of $44 Million in 2003.

There are two shocking things concerning the vote on HR 2679 The Public Expression of Religion Act in the House of Representatives.  First, the passage of this bill by a vote of 244 to 173 was not widely reported in the main stream media.  Secondly the vote was pretty much along party lines with 218 Republicans voting YEA and 166 Democrats voting NEA.

It seems that just the fact that 166 Democrats voted against this Bill indicates that Democrats are opposed to the Freedom of Religion portion our First Amendment.  In fairness, 26 Democrats voted for this Bill which indicates that a few Democrats were willing to be honest with themselves about this question.

“The 1976 Civil Rights Attorney’s Fee Awards Act was much needed legislation, but in recent years, certain groups have abused the congressional intent of this law in Establishment Clause lawsuits against the Boy Scouts, the Ten Commandments, and now veterans memorials,” according to Thomas P. Cadmus, National Commander of the American Legion.

Cadmus also said, “When out-of-court settlements are more cost effective than the judicial process, then the system is clearly broken.”  Joseph E. Caouette, Chairman of Americanism, added, “Each time the threat of outrageous attorney fee awards by the courts drives an out-of-court settlement, Lady Justice receives another ‘black eye’ and justice is defiled

Don Swarthout, President of Christians Reviving America’s Values said, “I personally want to thank John Hostettler, Republican from Indiana, for creating this bill.  This bill will stop the ACLU’s abuse of the Civil Rights Act and it is about time.  We need to return to the beliefs of our Founding Fathers in order to turn America around before it is too late.”

“I have studied a great deal about the true history of this country and I know we were truly founded as a Christian nation.  The real truth of the matter is that Religion will always be a part of our nation because we cannot separate government and religion from each other.  The principles of good government and the principles of Christianity are exactly the same principles.  The fact that we have turned our back on God is at the root of our problems in America today,” Swarthout added.

Swarthout concluded by saying, “Our Founding Fathers made every daily decision based upon the principles of Christianity.  Today we seem to be afraid to talk about faith because it might not be politically correct, but in fact it is politically correct to be allowed to discuss our faith.”