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rookie
Member



Joined: 2003/6/3
Posts: 4821
Savannah TN

 Penn State rejects Bible verse

Publication: Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA)
Author(s): JOHN BEAUGE For The Patriot-News
Date: December 14, 2007
Page: B05


PSU alumnus sues to put Bible verse on brick

James Pursley says he is a "proud alumnus of Penn State University" and a "devout Christian" who wants to memorialize pride in his alma mater by buying a brick on the Alumni Walk.

The Chicago resident who earned a football letter in 2000 wants his name, year of graduation and "Joshua 24: 15" (not the full verse) inscribed on the brick he has tried since April to buy for $250.

Pursley says the university rejected the inscription as offensive and offered a refund or the opportunity to change the message.

The 2001 graduate in management services and information systems rejected the offers and filed a civil rights suit Wednesday in U.S. Middle District Court, calling the university's action "a blatant case of content viewpoint discrimination against religious speech in a public forum."

Pursley, a life member of the alumni association, is suing the university and three association officials: Roger Williams, the executive director; Patrick Scholl, director of planning and business development; and Geoff Conrad, associate director of business relations.

University spokesman Bill Mahon said Thursday he was unaware of the suit.

Pursley said he felt there was nothing "offensive" or "inappropriate" about his desired message, and in his lawsuit quoted several inscriptions that have been allowed on the walk, including: * "May God Bless/Penn State" * "Merry Christmas" * "FTK, FTL, FTG/Mad Love 2004" * "She's a Brick/H-O-W-W-S-W" * "For The Glory/& The Girlies"

The alumni association tells those who want to buy bricks on the walk leading to the Hintz Alumni Center on the University Park campus that it has the right to deny any application. Purchasers are told inscriptions may not contain commercial messages or company names.

"Discriminatory or inappropriate" references to "age, ancestry, color, disability or handicap, national origin, race, religious creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or veteran status" are also barred.

Depending on size and material, bricks may cost $250, $1,000 or $5,000. Proceeds are used for endowments.

Pursley states in the lawsuit he was told in August or early September his inscription was rejected because policy prevented religious messages.

Pursley asks the court to declare the Alumni Walk policy unconstitutional because it violates rights to freedom of speech, due process and equal protection.

Pursley is asking damages of $25 plus legal costs.

INFOBOX:

THE VERSE

Joshua 24: 15 states:

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

-END-



_________________
Jeff Marshalek

 2007/12/21 12:26Profile
MSeaman
Member



Joined: 2005/4/19
Posts: 772
Michigan

 Re: Penn State rejects Bible verse

surprise, surprise. didn't you see the problem with this verse? it discriminates against atheists and agnostics....

*rolls eyes*


_________________
Melissa

 2007/12/21 13:10Profile
Compton
Member



Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 2732


 Re:

It's amazing that PennState is even less tolerant then the outspoken British athiest Richard Dawkins, who at least has the intellectual, moral, and democratic integrity to affirm that we shouldn't want to [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7136682.stm]stamp Christianity out[/url] out of historically Christian societies. Penn State acts like an agency for some communist government. Let's face it, left wing anti-religion intellectuals in America, with their censuring and legislation against all public expression of Christian thought, are taking on the nature and spirit of fascists.

MC


_________________
Mike Compton

 2007/12/21 14:22Profile









 Re:

If Christ were their Shepherd, they would hear His voice and follow Him. If He were not their Shepherd, they would follow after another, and it should not be surprising that they reject a biblical verse or two: for they have first hated and rejected God Himself, the Word made flesh. And if they have hated Him, how could they not hate His speech as they hate His Person? They may have "Abraham as their father" (or have come out of some Christian background with certain "reasonable" and "godly" principles), but this will not save them. Nothing can save them but the knowledge of the Living God.

One question I have though. Why should we be surprised at what the world thinks about the Word of truth? What else can the world do but CRUCIFY again and again the Lord of glory? The world, no matter what name it may bear, even a good religious or a "Christian" name, is still the world. They cannot know the Spirit of truth.

But the Lord knows His sheep by name, and they will NOT follow after another. They know His voice and hear His words.

John 8:47
"He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

John 5:43
"I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.

P.S. Or maybe we are not surprised at all? Maybe this is what we expected them to say and think. And here they did it; they rejected the Truth. How stupid they can be! But Christ said, "Repent or you will likewise perish."

We live in the last days and there is and will be persecution. The world will not only reject our message, but also hate our very persons. It will plot to kills us--this is what hatred is at its core. This is not about some "game of words"--for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against powers, principalities, the Apostle said, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. May the Lord give grace to test all spirits and not be misled.

 2007/12/21 15:26









 Re: Penn State rejects Bible verse

NotMe said

Quote:
We live in the last days and there is and will be persecution. The world will not only reject our message, but also hate our very persons. It will plot to kills us--this is what hatred is at its core. This is not about some "game of words"--for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against powers, principalities, the Apostle said, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

I wonder whether this is why some of us (perhaps many) have been tested in a personal way, again and again and again, that when the more overt persecution comes (I mean, as opposed to the gentle spectator sport to which some of us have been subjected in relatively private settings), we will be both willing and able to stand, [u]knowing[/u] that God is with us to support and strengthen us?

 2007/12/22 15:47





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