ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union may be the most important non-profit organization in the nation!
by Charlie Leck

At this very moment, here in Minnesota and as I write this, the Minnesota office of the American Civil Liberties Union is working hard to assure that the Constitution of the U.S. is working. The organization, of which I am a proud member, is suing a K-8 Charter School in Rosemount. There have been reports for months now that school is promoting and endorsing a particular religion (Islam) in its school.

Why our God, your God, their God or any God must not be worshipped in our public schools!The Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) has fought with all its might to stop the ACLU from investigating what’s going on within the school. [See Katherine Kersten column in the StarTribune]The ACLU is a watch dog over the Constitution and the individual’s rights of Americans under the Constitution. It has been particularly concerned about religion in public schools whether that religious inclination happened to be Christian or some other leaning. A women recently responded to an ACLU Blog with these strong words, which show how the work the of the ACLU is so misunderstood:

“…you are right on one thing, In America we are able to have freedom of religion that is one of the great things about American you can chose to serve OR not serve whatever God you chose. But what right should you have in trying to force those of us that Love the Lord Jesus Christ to worship him in confined areas? He has already been taken out of schools, look how that is working out for you are children are more violent then [sic] ever before killing raping and babies born without two parents to love and care for them. you think you are doing good by making everyone conform to your ideas of how this country should be run but they are your ideas which you are entitled to. but I to am entitled to mine. this country was founded on the belief in God and you can chose to not believe and have your own opinion on the matter but our constitution was designed with God in it.”

The ACLU has over 500,000 members in the nation (and it’s my feeling it should have many, many more). It maintains approximately 200 staff attorneys and utilizes thousands of volunteer attorneys to handle many civil liberties cases every year. There are staffed offices in all 50 states in the nation. Visit the ACLU web site to learn more about this important organization.

*Katherine Kersten’s column in the Sunday StarTribune about the TiZA battle with the ACLU is extremely important [click here to read it].

It is vital that the ACLU attempt to investigate the TiZA operation is successful. This is not just an important matter in Minnesota. It is something to be watched all around the nation. We can not allow public funds to be used to support and sponsor Christian or Islamic or Jewish education. The Constitution prohibits it.

I’ll be watching these developments and reporting them here for you – especially for you national readers.

In the meantime, go to the ACLU web site and become a member.