I have just returned from a mission trip to the Israel and the area the media refers to as the "West Bank." Accompanying me to the Israel was my 17-year-old daughter, Katie Murray who played an important role during the mission. For an upcoming documentary she interviewed Israeli teenagers at the settlement of Ariel as well as Christian and Muslim Palestinians teenagers. The new documentary will contain very enlightening information on what these teens all call their home.

The complete report on this recent mission trip sponsored by the Religious Freedom Coalition can be found in the online edition of the March issue of the William J. Murray Report. Click here to see the full report.

On the last day of February the ultra liberal 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals continued on its binge to eradicate God from public view. The 24-judge bench refused to stay or postpone the ruling by one of its two judicial panels that found the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because the words "under God" appear in it. There was, however, a major change in the actual decision written by the three judge panel.

Two of the three judges on the panel which originally found the entire Pledge unconstitutional rewrote their verdicts in an attempt to have their decision upheld in the Supreme Court. Under the new opinion, the Pledge is no longer "unconstitutional" for everyone, just for school students and teachers. Completely changing the ruling shows just how deceitful and mean spirited social liberals such as those on the 9th Circuit can be. They will go to any extreme to force their will on the majority of the people of this nation.

Attorney General John Ashcroft, himself an ordained minister, said that he would "...defend the ability of Americans to defend their patriotism through the time-honored tradition of voluntarily reciting the Pledge." Please note that he said "voluntarily." No law requires that the Pledge be recited and the Supreme Court has stated that no one has to recite the Pledge, which makes the 9th Circuit decision even more weird. No child in any school is required to say the Pledge; they are merely given the opportunity to say it.

The man behind the lawsuit to take away the right of Americans to say the Pledge in public is atheist Michael Newdow. He has become the star of the atheist movement in the last few years, having filed numerous lawsuits to force his will upon others. He even filed a lawsuit to stop President George W. Bush from saying "God bless America" at the end of his State of the Union address. He will once again be featured at the American Atheist convention this year when it is held in Chicago. The Religious Freedom Coalition will run large newspaper advertisements in Chicago newspapers during that convention to expose the atheists for what they really are-- godless unrepentant sinners.

An old friend of the Religious Freedom Coalition, Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK) informed me that he will once again attempt to pass a Constitutional Amendment to allow school prayer. This time the Amendment will also protect the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag as well as other Federal and state symbols which refer to our Christian heritage. Watch for further details! Also Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) also plans to introduce legislation in defense of the Pledge. What Akin proposes in not a constitutional amendment but rather a "jurisdiction" Act. The bill would ban any court other than the Supreme Court from rendering decisions on the legality of the Pledge. The Congress has the full constitutional authority to ban any federal court from having jurisdiction on any legislation. Some believe that the Congress can even limit the Supreme Court, however, this has not been done in nearly a century.

William J. Murray, Chairman

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