Saturday March 10, 2012

Colorado College, Slocum Commons

Participants will learn:

• How the law defines religious freedom in the public school setting,
• Best practices for respecting all students’ religious freedom, and
• How to be an advocate for religious freedom in your school.

In-service credit for teachers and graduate credit is available. Lunch, textbook and supplemental materials are provided to all participants.

To receive information about the Citizens’ Religious Freedom Institute, join our email list for Freedom Watch Online, email Kristy Milligan, or call us at (719) 520-9899.

Click here to download the flier

Click here for the REGISTRATION FORM.

Click here to download the 2011 Citizens Religious Freedom Toolkit.

Additional resource: US Department of Education guidelines

Additional resource: US Department of Education letter and primer

“Receiving a Steady and Strong Award for Diversity and Inclusion award is a huge honor for us,” said Kristy Milligan, executive director of Citizens Project. “It demonstrates our ongoing commitment to best practices, public education and outreach. Diversity is more than a box you check. It’s not something you do once and then move on. It’s an ongoing commitment to ensuring that everyone has a voice.”

Citizens Project has been a voice of diversity and inclusion in Colorado Springs for 20 years. Milligan says the organization is dedicated to continuing to champion these values in the community. “No one is more committed to diversity and inclusion than the Citizens Project staff and board members,” she said. “These are the unsung heroes, the silent and steadfast champions who work tirelessly to ensure that everyone has a seat at the table.”

About Citizens Project: Citizens Project is a local grassroots organization dedicated to defending and promoting equality, religious freedom, and respect for diversity – the principles on which our nation was founded. We educate the community through our newsletter Freedom Watch and nonpartisan voter guides, we monitor local government and public schools to ensure that rights and freedoms are upheld, and we mobilize residents to make their voices heard.

A simple enough phrase, but apparently it is more complex than it seems. In the early hours of July 2^nd a group of five friends, two of whom are Fort Carson soldiers, were brutally assaulted right outside of a local restaurant. Why, you may ask? Because four of the five were gay.

Discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Colorado Springs is nothing new, but the ramifications of intolerance reach new heights when two of your friends have to be rushed to the hospital, one with an eye swollen shut, and another to emergency oral surgery for a shattered jaw. Can you say excessive?!

Fortunately, police have already taken suspects into custody and are filing charges. But what has the city done about this demonstrable hate crime? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Mayor Bach citied that anything further than a cursory comment about intolerance would be “unnecessary”. So its necessary for the two soldiers to risk their lives fighting for this country, to make sure that people are able to live safe and secure lives here, yet it is apparently “unnecessary” to protect our citizens when back home? They should be shown the respect of  heroes and not scorned like second class citizens. (Here is a link to a news report with video showing exactly how violent this hate crime was.)

Now as police work to file hate crime charges here is my question: what should be done at the municipal level to ensure nothing like this happens again? Should the city promote LGBT acceptance? Should they make a more publicized denouncement of hate crimes? What should be done to protect ALL of our citizens regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, ability, social class, age, religion, political affiliation, gender identity, and especially sexual orientation?

Written by Ian Adams, Citizens Project Intern and UCCS undergraduate student

By David Trillo

If a psychic or a Tarot reader had told me in 1985 that, within the next seven years, I would become a gay rights activist, I would have laughed in his face – if he had caught me in a good mood.

I was more than just anti-gay.  I was vehemently anti-abortion.  The only reason why I didn’t join Operation Rescue or a similar group was youthful ignorance – I didn’t know where to contact them.

I was still an evangelical Christian when I joined as one of Citizens Project’s earliest supporters in 1992.  The idea of gay marriage was still hard for me to take, but as I listened to Christian radio and conservative talk beginning around 1990, I began noticing a pattern that disturbed me much more deeply than guys marrying guys.

I began noticing a very systematic, repetitive attack on the concept of church/state separation, and an orchestrated re-introduction of the antiquated idea of “legislating morality.”  Not only did that run counter to my core beliefs in Christian free will, but I knew that if I had doctrinal differences with the “Christian authorities” – and I did — it took no rocket science to see that these aspiring theocrats would impose their moral doctrines by legislation, with no regard for my Christian theological disagreement.

I became, on that fateful 1992 day, the most unlikely gay rights activist.  As distasteful as I found my admittedly distorted visions of the “gay lifestyle” to be at that time, I knew, deep down, that to protect my rights as a dissenter, I must likewise protect theirs.

It didn’t take long to see that, in the world of far right politics, words aren’t always what they seem.

To average people, “freedom” means that you can live your life much as you choose, as long as you aren’t hurting others.  The Constitution, we’d think, sets up a government with internal restraints, and protects important individual rights and freedoms so that no government can take them away.

But in the strange world of Hard Right vernacular, these familiar, appealing words can take on virtually opposite meanings.  “Freedom” isn’t what most people would think it is; it means instead either an unlimited “freedom to make laws”¹ as former judge Robert Bork puts it, or freedom is a “biblical concept” that “comes with limits set from the very beginning by our Creator,”² as explained by Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Religious freedom is also turned on its head.  To the Hard Right, it merely means the freedom to worship as you choose – “we won’t force you to go to church” — but you would be required to live your life by laws “rooted in Biblical law,” as the dubiously named Constitution Party says it³.  To be “free” to worship in your own religion, while being forced to live according to a different, government-imposed religion¹¹, is a hollow freedom.

And “Constitutional rights?”  Not as most people understand them.  To former Republican leader Tom DeLay, the Supreme Court should never have been given any power to overturn unconstitutional laws⁴.  To Robert Bork, very few rights would be off limits to being trampled by “representative assemblies¹.”  And to Religious Right attorney Thomas Jipping, “direct forms of democracy”⁵ such as ballot initiatives would probably be immune to Constitutional challenges, since he objects to the courts’ alleged “power to thwart the will of the people”⁵.

To theocratic “Constitutionalists,” the Constitution is considered subordinate to “God’s law”¹¹, despite its own statement to the contrary.  “Despotic government” is not tyranny in itself – it refers to any government that enacts laws contrary to “God’s law.” An expansion of personal liberty could be deemed “tyrannical” if “God” disapproves.   According to advocates such as noted creationist Henry Morris, this higher law that trumps the Constitution is “nothing more nor less than applied Biblical law.”¹²

Will voting for today’s Religious Right candidate “keep government out of our private lives,” as conservative and Republican advocates claim?  Don’t bet on it.

To Religious Right icon Sam Brownback, there exists no right to “sexual privacy”⁶.  To Tom DeLay⁴, and Vision America’s Rick Scarborough⁷, Americans have no protected right to privacy at all. Possible presidential contender Rick Santorum disparages the “right to privacy lifestyle”⁸, particularly as it pertains to sexual choice.

Conservative columnist Jason Adkins, to his credit, pointed out the importance of the courts’ role in enforcing the Constitution⁹.  Unfortunately, he was soon countered by comments that argued that the Bill of Rights doesn’t apply to states!

Indeed, partially or even completely repealing the power of the courts to enforce Constitutional protections is an increasingly popular idea among the far right^{10, 13}.  Imagine a future where your state or local government could randomly search your house for contraband books – and the Bill of Rights would afford no recourse.

America is just two or three “conservative” Supreme Court appointments away from possibly realizing such a frightening world.  That is what some extremists call “returning to Constitutional government.”

It is anything but.

Wow, what an awakening this was!  But the opening of my eyes paved the way for major changes in my soul.  I now support same-sex marriage with all of my heart.

I am still a moderate, libertarian Republican.  It worries me to see Democrats so eagerly support a wholesale expansion of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause scope to justify the upcoming federal health insurance mandate.  They would do well to contemplate such expanded federal power in the hands of the Religious Right.

But if you’re a Republican, Libertarian, new to the Tea Party, or are otherwise concerned about excessive government, don’t fall into the “any conservative is always better than any Democrat” thought habit.  Pay very close attention to candidates, and see whether each candidate uses the words “freedom” and “Constitutional liberty” in their normal, commonsense meanings, or whether there might be a bizarre reverse definition concealed inside a Trojan Horse.

If you’re looking for true Constitutional freedom, you might be disappointed, even stunned, that some of the people who most loudly promise “freedom” have in mind something very opposite — the unfettered legislative access to your most personal life.

I know I was stunned.  It knocked my eyes wide open.

———————————————————-

References:

1.  Robert Bork, “Tradition and Morality in Constitutional Law” p. 9

2.  Albert Mohler, “The Culture of Freedom and the Future of Marriage,” AlbertMohler.com, 9/14/2005, http://www.albertmohler.com/2005/09/14/the-culture-of-freedom-and-the-future-of-marriage-2/

3.  Constitution Party National Platform, as of 7/11/2011, http://www.constitutionparty.org/party_platform.php

4.  Tom Delay, Washington Times interview 4/13/2005, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2005/apr/13/20050413-111439-5048r

5.  Thomas Jipping, “Imperial Judiciary,” Christian American, Christian Coalition, January 1997.

6.  Sam Brownback, Obscenity Prosecution and the Constitution, Senate Hearing 109-1023, 3/16/2005, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-109shrg44825/html/CHRG-109shrg44825.htm

7.  Rick Scarborough, “It’s All About the Judges,” Scarborough Report, Vision America, 9/28/2007, http://www.visionamerica.us/article/its-all-about-the-judges/

8.  Rick Santorum, Associated Press interview, 4/23/2003, http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-04-23-santorum-excerpt_x.htm

9.  Jason Adkins, “Judicial Abdication, Not Activism, is the Real Problem in the Courts,” Townhall.com, 2/24/2011, http://townhall.com/columnists/jasonadkins/2011/02/24/judicial_abdication,_not_activism,_is_the_real_problem_in_the_courts/

10.  2004/2008 Candidate Questionnaire, Conservative Caucus, http://www.conservativeusa.org/candqest2008.htm

11.  Main page, Rare Jewel Magazine Website, as of 7/12/2011, http://rarejewelmag.com/about/index.shtml

12.  Henry Morris, “The Higher Law,” Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/20528/228

13.  Alex Newman, “Stopping Abortion Without the Supreme Court”, The New American, 7/8/2011, http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/congress/8136-stopping-abortion-without-the-supreme-court

The Human Relations Commission in Colorado Springs is back after an absence of almost 17 years.   In June of 2010 the Colorado Springs City Council passed Ordinance 10-48.  In early 2011, over 35 volunteer candidates were interviewed and on March 8th nine commissioners were selected for 2-4 year service terms along with three alternate Commissioners.  This Commission met for the first time in City Hall on April 28th. After a brief orientation, the 12 person Commission selected an Interim Chair, Tom Strand, Interim Vice Chair, Ernest House and Interim Secretary, Teressa Hill. The interim officers are designated to serve until September 2011 when a slate of permanent officers are elected. Since the initial April 28th meeting the Colorado Springs HRC has met on the third Wednesday of each month, as well as on May 21st for a general team building and organizational half -day session.

The mission statement and objectives of the HRC are still under development but are generally set out in the ordinance. The draft mission statement is:  ”To promote understanding and respect for all Colorado Springs residents by facilitating constructive communications through referrals, conflict resolution and proactive outreach.” The purpose of the HRC is to help guard against mal-treatment and discrimination in all parts of life for our residents, including housing, transportation, employment and day-to-day activities.

The HRC has created two sub-committees, Education and Structure, in order to accomplish the background work to properly launch the HRC later this fall. These committees have met 2 to 3 times to establish educational and training requirements (such as mediation skills) and to ensure the Commission is fully prepared to assist residents with a myriad of potential issues/problems. The Structure Subcommittee has drafted by-laws and other operating documents which are currently being reviewed and are pending Commission adoption.

The committees are working with members of City Council and other city offices, such as Legal and HR, to start up a program, a website, and public contact information for the HRC.

Stand by for the official announcement of the activation of your new HRC later this year!

Election Education

For the 19th consecutive year, Citizens Project published a comprehensive local Freedom Watch Voter Guide that was inserted in the Colorado Springs Independent and reached more than 100,000 voters in the Pikes Peak region with unbiased information about candidates and ballot measure descriptions. Citizens Project also took a position against Colorado Ballot Measures 60, 61, 62 and 101, all of which were soundly defeated.

Together with the Colorado Springs Independent and many community co-sponsors, Citizens Project hosted a primary El Paso County Sheriff debate and produced two Election Education Forums in October for the general 2010 election.

Recently, we worked with a broad coalition to challenge the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s decision to hold 72% of physical polling locations in churches. We found that neighboring counties held 38% or less of polling places in churches and disseminated research that demonstrates a correlation between voting habits and polling place. Citizens Project also coordinated a mailing to over 400 local faith communities with educational materials about electioneering and how churches can comply with IRS guidelines to protect their tax-exempt status.

Separation of Church and State

Next week, Citizens Project will send all local schools The December Dilemma, a practical guide for educators to ensure inclusive holiday celebrations. We also began planning our second annual Citizens’ Religious Freedom Institute to educate teachers, administrators, students, parents and community members about upholding religious freedom in our classrooms. If you’re interested in helping with this important event, please let us know.

Citizens Project also collaborated with faith and business leaders to develop a proposal for a more inclusive municipal policy regarding banners on public property, which City Council will vote on in early 2011.

Diversity and Equality

Citizens Project played a key role in the re-establishment of a Colorado Springs Human Relations Commission, which will educate and protect all members of our community on the importance of diversity and mediate disputes on behalf of the city. Stay tuned for updates!

In early 2010, Citizens Project launched an awareness campaign designed to stimulate conversation and heighten awareness of our issues. More than 100 people signed up on our website, and many of our friends in the community reported having positive conversations as a result of the campaign.

Time, Talent & Money

Citizens Project has always been a grassroots organization that relies heavily on the support of dozens of volunteers and hundreds of supporters! Our accomplishments this year are a testament to the incredible power of our allies in the community.

We held our first-ever Volunteer Open House in July, and we’re planning a Holiday Open House for volunteers on December 13, 2010 at 5pm right here at the CP office. Please let us know  if you can join us to see our office space and hear about the incredible impact volunteers and donors have on our programs. We also developed a quarterly Volunteer Connection newsletter. If you’re interested in learning about our amazing volunteers or upcoming opportunities to make a difference, please feel free to contact us.

Again this year, Citizens Project has been invited to participate in the Colorado Springs Give! Initiative, a coordinated effort to elevate awareness of nonprofits in our community and increase philanthropy in the region. If you’re interested in donating time or money, and earning great rewards, please learn more by visiting IndyGive.com.  

All this work is possible because of you: thank you for all you do to create community! Please call on us any time with ideas, feedback, problems or questions. You are the citizens of Citizens Project.

You can read the Gazette article about it here, and KKTV has a video that you can view here.