How Divine Law Is Undermined in American Courts
Negative Court Cases This is an example of a court case that undermines the Ten Commandments and/or Natural Law.
Problematic Court Cases This is an example where the Ten Commandments and/or Natural Law may be undermined.
Probably Good Court Cases This is an example of where much effort was expended to defend divine law.

The following grid shows how government courts are attacking divine law (e.g., the Ten Commandments and Natural Law) on all "7 Mountains" depicted on the image at the right. (Cursor over the image to see how the 7 Mountains are an extension of the 3 covenantal institutions in Scripture and how these covenantal institutions are based on the Trinitarian character of God.). The 7 colors in the left column below correspond to the 7 Mountains on the image at the right. The 2nd column below summarizes how judges undermine divine law or limit fundamental freedoms in an institution based on God's law. The third column gives the name of the relevant court case, and the 4th column summarizes the case. In every situation summarized below, there is an opportunity for Christians and their churches to articulate more clearly how God's Law can and should guide judges issuing decisions. Such articulation of God's should show how government courts must protect the rights of religious people to build institutions that respect what God teaches about life, liberty, property, and other fundamental rights.

Government: Judiciary Attacks on Ten Commandments Displays McCreary County v. ACLU The Kentucky display was impermissible because there were insufficient secular displays nearby.
Church Attacks on Public Invocations Galloway v. Town of Greece In Galloway v. Town of Greece, however, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Supreme Court's decision in Marsh v. Chambers and struck down legislative prayer. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of Galloway v. Town of Greece, revisiting this issue for the first time since Marsh v. Chambers.
Church Attacks on Public Speech and Expression Rainey v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs In Rainey v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the director of the Houston National Cemetery informed a pastor, Scott Rainey, that he could not pray "in Jesus' name" at a Memorial Day service. Following the filing of a lawsuit, Liberty Institute attorneys discovered that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had a policy that funerals at national cemeteries could not include religious content. Government officials told grieving families that wanted a religious funeral that the service could not reference God.
Church Attacks on Public Speech and Expression Barton v. City of Balch Springs In Barton v. City of Balch Springs, city officials told senior citizens at a senior center that they could not pray before their meals, listen to religious messages, or sing gospel songs because religion is banned in public buildings. After the senior citizens filed a lawsuit, government officials told the senior citizens that if the won their lawsuit their meals would be taken away because praying over government-funded meals violates the "separation of church and state."
Education Attacks on Religious Liberty in the Schoolhouse High School in Floyd County, Virginia, Bans Students from Posting the Ten Commandments on their Lockers The Floyd County High School administration banned students from posting religious material. This censorship came about when students who are members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes placed copies of the Ten Commandments on the fronts of their lockers. The administration removed the copy from each locker that displayed the Ten Commandments.
Family Attacks on the family Satawa v. Board of County Road Commissioners of Macomb County, A Michigan family erected a Nativity scene display for over 63 years at the median of a county road servicing over 82,000 cars per day. The Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote a complaint to the Road Commission in 2008 on behalf of an anonymous resident to have the display removed. Despite the structure's nine-and-a-half foot height, bright lights at night, and other structures erected at the site by private organizations, the Road Commission claimed that it was unaware of the display until the complaint. The display was immediately removed for not having a permit, and subsequent applications for a permit were denied. The owners of the display offered to pay for insurance, display a sign clearly stating that it is a private display, and move the display twenty-five feet from the curb. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan held that the denial of the permit was justified by a compelling state interest in traffic safety.
Family Attacks on the family Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America, An agnostic family sued San Diego and the Boy Scouts because the city had leased some public parkland to the Boy Scouts. The family claimed the lease violated the Establishment Clause because the Boy Scouts do not allow agnostics to become members. A federal district court in California agreed with the family and held that the lease violated the Establishment Clause.
Family Attacks on the family Cisco Employee Fired for Religious Views About Marriage Dr. Frank Turek, a Cisco employee, was fired for his religious view that marriage should be between a woman and a man. He had never expressed this view at work, but did express it through a book he authored. Cisco's leadership discovered on the Internet that he had authored the book. The employee was fired without having been addressed about the issue or given opportunity to speak and despite high regard from other employees and managers.
Business Attacks on family business Bakery Owners Harassed The Klein family regularly serves homosexuals at its bakery in Colorado; however, the family cannot participate in homosexual weddings by providing a celebratory wedding cake without violating sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage. The family explained this to the media and the customers whose order it could not complete. Nevertheless, hate-filled messages from around the world flooded social media outlets and review sites in an apparent attempt to ruin the family-owned business. There were even attacks against similarly named bakeries in different states. One such mistaken bakery owner complained that she was scared because of the threats made by angry anti-religious activists.
Business Attacks on family business Chick-fil-A Forced to Discontinue Its Monday Church Bulletin Discount Chick-fil-A in Jacksonville, Florida, provided a discount to patrons who brought a church bulletin on the Monday following a church service. The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent two letters to restaurant's owner, arguing that the discount was discrimination on the basis of religion under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Chick-fil-A subsequently discontinued the service.
Business Attacks on family business Tennessee County Clerk Forces Employee to Remove Privately Owned Religious Poems from Personal Workspace Americans United for Separation of Church and State found out that an Anderson County Clerk employee hung two privately owned religious poems in her workspace. It demanded the County Clerk's Office remove the employee's personal property from her own workspace. The County Clerk complied and forced its employee to remove the poems.
Media/Press Social Media Sites Censor Christian Views Social Media Sites Censor Christian Views Social media websites are censoring Christian viewpoints, according to a new study from the National Religious Broadcasters association. The NRB published a press release claiming a recent study conducted by the organization found that Apple, the iTunes App Store, Google, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon are potentially censoring Christian views from websites as part of a routine business practice.
Media/Press Social Media Sites Censor Christian Views Teacher Suspended for Personal Facebook Comment Mount Dora High School in Florida suspended Former "Teacher of the Year" Jerry Buell because he posted a Facebook status, at home on his private computer, voicing his religious opposition to same-sex marriage and homosexuality.
Arts & Entertainment Entertainment disrupted Stratechuk v. Board of Education, S. Orange-Maplewood School District, A New Jersey School District prohibited celebratory religious music at school holiday events. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the school district's policy as constitutional, rejecting claims that it violated the First Amendment.
Arts & Entertainment Entertainment disrupted "God Bless America" Called Egregious and Prohibited in California School A teacher at Ada Givens Elementary School taught her students the famous patriotic song written by Irving Berlin titled, "God Bless America." An aggressive atheist group vigorously objected, calling it "egregious" to include the song in school music curriculum. Despite the song's clear secular purpose to prosper America and the undisputed secular purpose to include it in the curriculum, the school yielded to the anti-religious demands and removed the song from its curriculum.
Government: Defense Attacks on Veterans Memorials Salazar v. Buono In Salazar v. Buono, the memorial was saved only after Congress transferred the land to private ownership.
Government: Defense Attacks on Veterans Memorials Trunk v. City of San Diego Trunk v. City of San Diego, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the veterans memorial is unconstitutional, but the courts are still determining whether the memorial must be removed.
Government: Defense Attacks on Veterans Memorials Hewett v. City of King, North Carolina Trunk v. City of San Diego, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the veterans memorial is unconstitutional, but the courts are still determining whether the memorial must be removed. In Hewett v. City of King, North Carolina, Americans United for Separation of Church and State are demanding that a memorial designed by The American Legion be removed because it depicts a cross-shaped headstone.
Government: Judiciary Attacks on Ten Commandments Displays Van Orden v. Perry The U.S. Supreme Court heard both cases at the same time and held that the Texas display is permissible only because there were other secular monuments around it
Education Attacks on Religious Liberty in the Schoolhouse Matthews v. Kountze I.S.D. The Kountze High School cheerleaders wanted to display encouraging messages to the football players of both KHS's team and the opposing teams. The cheerleaders decided that the best way to encourage the players was to write Bible verses on the "run-through" banners that the football players run through at the beginning of each game. The Freedom From Religion Foundation discovered that the cheerleaders were writing Bible verses and sent a letter to Kountze I.S.D. demanding that the school district stop the cheerleaders. The superintendent of Kountze I.S.D. then banned any student group, including the cheerleaders, from bringing signs with religious messages to sporting events. The cheerleaders sued the school district to protect their free speech and religious liberty rights. A state district court judge held that the cheerleaders' speech is protected and may not be censored by the school district. The school district is now appealing.
Education Attacks on Religious Liberty in the Schoolhouse Morgan v. Swanson Public school officials told Jonathan Morgan, a third-grader in Plano, Texas, that he could not include a religious message in the goodie bags that he was bringing to the "Winter Party" to share with his classmates. School officials prohibited other children at the school from distributing pencils that stated "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" and "Jesus Loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so." A government school official ordered another student to stop distributing tickets to a Christian drama and to discard the remaining tickets. In a fractured en banc opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stated that the students are protected by the First Amendment but that their protection was not clearly enough established to award damages against the school officials involved.
Family Attacks on the family Romeike v. Holder, No. 12-3641 (6th Cir. 2013) The U.S. Justice Department revoked asylum granted to a Christian family from Germany. The family fled to the United States to avoid a Nazi-era law meant to eliminate philosophies and religions inconsistent with state ideology by banning primary education outside public schools. When the Romeike family tried to homeschool its kids to provide religious education, it was slapped with oppressive fines and German authorities forcibly removed the children to public school. The U.S. federal government opposed the family's asylum in the U.S., arguing that parents do not have a fundamental right to choose their children's education, even when public schools insist on a curriculum offensive to the family's religious beliefs. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals accepted the government's arguments, and the Romeike family has now petitioned the White House to stop their deportation.
Business Attacks on family business Holland v. U.S. Dep't. of Health and Human Svcs., Holland v. U.S. Dep't. of Health and Human Svcs., No. 2:13-15487 (S.D.W.V. filed Jun. 24, 2013)
Arts & Entertainment Entertainment disrupted Christian Concert Goes Encounters Opposition Billy Graham Ministries put on "Rock the Fort" at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, as it has done at many other military bases. "Rock the Fort" is a Christian music festival that the Army allows to occur on base, but does not pressure soldiers to attend. Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation both wrote letters to the U.S. Army complaining that its allowance of the festival violated the Establishment Clause. The Army let the festival go on as planned.
Church Attacks on Public Invocations Atheists of Florida, Inc. v. City of Lakeland, Florida In Atheists of Florida, Inc. v. City of Lakeland, Florida, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals followed the Supreme Court's decision in Marsh v. Chambers and upheld a city commission's opening each meeting with a prayer.
Church Attacks on Public Invocations Marsh v Chambers In Marsh v. Chambers, a 1983 U.S. Supreme Court case on legislative prayer, the Court noted that Congress has opened with prayer since the founding of the United States and Congress hired a chaplain to give these opening prayers the same week that it passed the First Amendment.
Education Attacks on Religious Liberty in the Schoolhouse Pounds v. Katy I.S.D. A Houston-area school district banned religious items at Christmas and Valentine's Day cards that contained religious content, merely because they were religious. When one student was asked what Easter meant to her, she was told that she could not say, "Jesus." A federal court held that the Katy I.S.D. violated the students' constitutional rights because of its hostility to religion.
Education Attacks on Religious Liberty in the Schoolhouse Schultz v. Medina Valley I.S.D. Angela Hildenbrand, the valedictorian of her class, wanted to say a prayer during her graduation ceremony from Medina Valley High. A fellow student from an agnostic family filed a suit to prevent Hildenbrand from praying. The federal district court judge issued an order prohibiting Hildenbrand from using words like "Lord," "in Jesus' name," and "amen." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the ruling and allowed the prayer. On June 6, 2011, Hildenbrand gave her speech, which included a prayer.
Education Attacks on Religious Liberty in the Schoolhouse Barrow v. Greenville I.S.D. A public school district denied Karen Jo Barrow an assistant principal position because she refused to remove her children from a private Christian school. The U.S. District Court in Dallas ruled against Ms. Barrow, arguing that the right of parents to choose private education was not a fundamental right. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, however, found that the superintendent violated Ms. Barrow's constitutional parental rights and she subsequently won a jury verdict against the government school official.
Church Attacks on the Religious Liberty of Churches and Ministries Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & Sch. v. EEOC A private Christian school fired Cheryl Perich, a minister and a teacher at Hosanna-Tabor Lutheran School, for threatening to sue the school after she was asked not to return because she had narcolepsy. Perich sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In response, the school argued its right to hire or fire Perich based on the "ministerial exception," which legally protects the rights of churches to select its religious leaders without government interference. The Justice Department argued that the "ministerial exception" does not exist and the government may regulate churches' selection of pastors. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the ministerial exception and specified that government regulation of the hiring and firing of ministry leaders would violate both the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause.
Church Attacks on the Religious Liberty of Churches and Ministries Opulent Life Church v. City of Holly Springs, MS The Opulent Life Church in Holly Springs, Mississippi, wanted to move into a larger facility because it had nearly outgrown its present meeting place. Once the church found a new property, however, it also discovered that the city would not grant a permit for the church to move into the new property without getting permission of sixty percent of all property owners within a one-quarter mile radius of the proposed site—a requirement that applied only to churches and to no other type of facility or business. The Opulent Life Church sued the City of Holly Springs for violating the Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which prohibits zoning ordinances from discriminating against churches. After the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of the church, the case settled, and Opulent Life Church is now free to move into its new property.
Church Attacks on the Religious Liberty of Churches and Ministries Barr v. City of Sinton The City of Sinton, Texas, completely banned Pastor Barr's Christian organization, which provides housing and religious instruction to men who have been released from prison for misdemeanor offenses, from existing anywhere within its city limits. In a landmark decision, the Texas Supreme Court applied the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act to rule in favor of Pastor Barr and his ministry.
Church Attacks on the Religious Liberty of Churches and Ministries HEB Ministries, Inc. v. Texas Higher Educ. Coordinating Bd. Texas passed a law forcing all seminaries to get state approval of their curriculum, board members, and professors. The State fined Tyndale Seminary $173,000 for using the word "seminary" and issuing theological degrees without government approval. The ministry filed a suit to prohibit the government's attempts to control religious training. Both the district court and the court of appeals upheld the law. Finally, after nine years of suffering and losses, the Texas Supreme Court reversed and held that the law violated the First Amendment and the Texas Constitution.
Church Attacks on the Religious Liberty of Churches and Ministries Westbrook v. Penley A member of CrossLand Community Bible Church in Fort Worth, Texas, had an unbiblical relationship and desired to divorce her husband without a biblical reason. She refused to repent of her sin, and the church, through its church disciplinary process according to the book of Matthew, sent a letter to the congregation informing them of the member’s lack of repentance and the unacceptability of her behavior. She sued the church, the elders, and the pastor, dragging secular courts into an internal church matter. The Texas Supreme Court unanimously held for the church.