NASA’s Johnson Space Center Sparks Legal Challenge by Banning Jesus from Newsletter

[rangerrebew]

NASA’s Johnson Space Center Sparks Legal Challenge by Banning Jesus from Newsletter

The Praise and Worship Club at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, has been told that it cannot use the word “Jesus” in meeting announcements placed in the JSC Today email newsletter, because it violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution’s First Amendment.

The warning given to the club by the JSC Today legal team in May 2015 has recently picked up national attention, with the Liberty Institute [1] attorneys sending a demand letter to NASA threatening a lawsuit on Feb. 8 and the CitizenGo website launching a petition drive [2] on Feb. 17.


“The purpose of our club is simply to encourage one another, pray together, and worship God,” club spokeswoman Sophia Smith is quoted as saying on the Liberty Institute website. “Our meetings are open to anyone who would like prayer or is interested in what we do.”

In May 2015, the club submitted the following notice to the JSC newsletter:

“Join with the praise and worship band ‘Allied with the Lord’ for a refreshing set of spring praise and worship songs on Thursday, June 4, from 11:15 a.m. to noon in Building 57, Room 106. (The theme for this session will be "Jesus is our life!") Prayer partners will be available for anyone who has need. All JSC civil servants and contractors are welcome.”

Following its publication, the JSC Today legal team told the club they could not include “Jesus” in future announcements, a move the Liberty Institute calls “religious discrimination.”

“It is illegal for the government to censor the name of Jesus in employee emails,” said Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for Liberty Institute. “Censoring a religious club’s announcement to specifically exclude the name ‘Jesus’ is blatant religious discrimination.

“NASA administrators are not above the law,” Dys said. “Government employers are required to respect the civil rights of its civil servants and contract employees—regardless of their religious viewpoint.”   

The letter sent by Liberty Institute “informed NASA JSC’s legal team of NASA’s grave violation of its employees’ religious liberty and free speech rights. The letter threatens a federal lawsuit should NASA fail to immediately correct the problem.”

The CitizenGo online petition is seeking 10,000 signatures and has already gathered almost 8,000 since it was launched on Feb. 17.

“Our country is truly in a sad state if those who study the skies are not even allowed to mention the name of the Creator of the sky,” the CitizenGo website states.

“NASA has fallen prey to the incorrect progressive and liberal interpretation of the establishment clause... an interpretation that bars government employees from all displays of faith, even those that are voluntary or private. This interpretation is false and unconstitutional,” the website states.

The petition states: “This is religious discrimination and your demand that the group refrain from using the word Jesus runs contrary to the club members’ God-given and Constitutionally protected freedom of religion.”

In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Mike Fitzpatrick, president of the Praise and Worship Club, said that the club “let’s the world know that scientists and engineers believe in Jesus” and that he hopes for a positive outcome in the case.

“We’d like a certainty that what we’re doing is acceptable – I’d really like an apology from Johnson Space Center, from NASA, that our rights were infringed and that these rights are restored so in no uncertain terms that we can put Jesus back into the newsletter.”
Source URL: http://cnsnews.com/blog/penny-starr/nasas-johnson-space-center-sparks-legal-challenge-banning-jesus-newsletter

[mountaineer]

Or they could flummox NASA by using some of the other names for Jesus Christ:
 ADAM: (1 Corinthians 15:45) And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. ADVOCATE: (1 John 2:1) My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: ALMIGHTY: (Revelation 1:8) I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. ALPHA AND OMEGA: (Revelation 1:8) I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. AMEN: (Revelation 3:14) And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; APOSTLE OF OUR PROFESSION: (Hebrews 3:1) Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; ARM OF THE LORD: (Isaiah 51:9) Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? (Isaiah 53:1) Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH: (Hebrews 12:2) Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. AUTHOR OF ETERNAL SALVATION: (Hebrews 5:9) And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; BEGINNING OF CREATION OF GOD: (Revelation 3:14) And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; BELOVED SON: (Matthew 12:18) Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. BLESSED AND ONLY POTENTATE: (1 Timothy 6:15) Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; BRANCH: (Isaiah 4:2) In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. BREAD OF LIFE: (John 6:32) Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. CAPTAIN OF SALVATION: (Hebrews 2:10) For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. CHIEF SHEPHERD: (1 Peter 5:4) And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. CHRIST OF GOD: (Luke 9:20) He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL: (Luke 2:25) And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. CORNERSTONE: (Psalm 118:22) The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. COUNSELOR: (Isaiah 9:6) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. CREATOR: (John 1:3) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. DAYSPRING: (Luke 1:78) Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, DELIVERER: (Romans 11:26) And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: DESIRE OF THE NATIONS: (Haggai 2:7) And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. DOOR: (John 10:7) Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. ELECT OF GOD: (Isaiah 42:1) Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. EVERLASTING FATHER: (Isaiah 9:6) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. FAITHFUL WITNESS: (Revelation 1:5) And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood ...  and so on.