In Flanders Fields by John McCrae
On Memorial Day Weekend, members of Veterans groups distribute red poppies which have come to symbolize sacrifice in battle.
The tradition goes back to World War I and the Battle of Flanders in Belgium where despite, death of 87,000 Allied soldiers, and destruction, the red poppies still bloomed. Canasdian Amry surgeon Colonel John McCrae who was on hand during the battle, wrote the poem. He didn’t survive the war, however. He died of pneumonia in 1918.
On September 27, 1920, the first chapter of The American Legion made the poppy its official flower to memorialize those who fought and died. A few years later, the Veterans of Foreign Wars began national distribution programs around the country to support the cause, and in 1924, the American Legion did as well.
We, at Camp Constitution in keeping with our motto “Honoring the Past…Teaching the Present…Preparing the Future” recite the poem during our evening campfires at our annual family camp.
“In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Mother’s Day: American Minute with Bill Federer
After the Civil War, abolitionist Julia Ward Howe, writer of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic, led a Mother’s Day for Peace in New York on June 2, 1872, to promote peace, national healing and reconciliation.
She composed a proclamation to “appeal to womanhood throughout the world.”
Julia Ward Howe personally sponsored a Mothers’ Day celebration in Boston for the next ten years till interest faded.
In the following decades, churches and schools observed special days.
Protestant churches had a Decision Day for committing to Christ, a Roll Call Day for church membership, a Missionary Day to raise support, a Children’s Day, and a Temperance Sunday to encourage abstinence from alcohol.
Numerous efforts arose for observing a Mother’s Day.
Taking the day from a suggestion to a reality was Anna Jarvis.
She is the person most responsible for making Mother’s Day a nationally observed event.
Anna was from Grafton, West Virginia, the granddaughter of a Baptist minister.
She was a member of Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, where she taught Sunday school.
In 1876, after one of her Bible lessons, Anna Jarvis closed with a prayer:
“I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mothers day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it.”
Similar to Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, Anna Jarvis’ mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, worked during the Civil War to organize Mothers’ Day Work Clubs to care for wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate.
Anna’s mother raised money for medicine, inspected bottled milk, and improved sanitation.
She arranged in 1868 a “Mother’s Friendship Day” — “to reunite families that had been divided during the Civil War.”
She hired women to care for families where mothers suffered from tuberculosis.
Anna Jarvis’ mother died on May 9, 1905.
Inspired by her mother’s self-sacrifice and generosity, Anna Jarvis wanted to honor her and all mothers.
On May 12, 1907, Anna persuaded her church, Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, to have a small Mother’s Day service.
The church then agreed to set aside every year the 2nd Sunday in May, the anniversary of her mother’s death, as a day to show appreciation to all mothers — the makers of the home.
The next year, May 10, 1908, Anna organized a Mother’s Day event in two places:
- Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, where she sent a telegram; and
- in Philadelphia, where she gave a moving speech in the auditorium of the 12-story Wanamaker Department Store.
John Wanamaker was a retail pioneer and founder of one the first department stores.
Wanamaker, who had paintings of Christ throughout his store, stated:
“There is a power in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep uppermost the profound conviction that it is the Gospel that is to win the heart and convert the world.
The things that were sweet dreams in our childhood are now being worked out. The procession is being made longer and longer; the letters of Christ’s name are becoming larger and larger.”
With the financial backing of John Wanamaker and H.J. Heinz, maker of “57 varieties” of ketchup, Anna Jarvis began a letter-writing campaign to ministers and politicians to establish a “national” Mothers’ Day.
In support of honoring motherhood was University of Notre Dame’s first athletic director, Frank Hering.
In 1904, Hering observed a Notre Dame professor passing out penny postcards to students, with the instructions to write:
“Anything. Anything at all as long as it’s to their mothers. We do this every month in this class. One day a month is mother’s day.”
Hering proposed “setting aside one day in the year as a nationwide memorial to the memories of mothers and motherhood,” stating:
“Throughout history the great men of the world have given their credit for their achievements to their mothers. The Holy Church recognizes this, as does Notre Dame.”
Due to the overwhelming support of pastors and churches, by 1909, forty-five states observed Mother’s Day.
People wore white and red Carnations on Sunday to pay tribute to their mothers.
On May 8, 1914, Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first National Mothers’ Day as a:
“public expression of … love and reverence for the mothers of our country.”
President Reagan said in his Mother’s Day Proclamation, 1986:
“A Jewish saying sums it up: ‘God could not be everywhere – so He created mothers.'”
English Poet Robert Browning wrote:
“Motherhood: All love begins and ends there.”
Mothers have the role of imparting values into children, as American poet William Ross Wallace wrote:
“The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”
Dr. James Dobson addressed the National Religious Broadcasters, Feb. 16, 2002:
“If they can get control of children … they can change the whole culture in one generation.”
This was echoed by historians Will and Ariel Durant in The Lessons of History, 1968:
“Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew;
if the transmission should be interrupted … civilization would die, and we should be savages again.”
Reagan stated:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream.
It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:5):
“I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”
Abraham Lincoln’s mother, Nancy, died with he was nine years old.
The Life of Abraham Lincoln, by J. G. Holland (Springfield, IL, Gurdon Bill, 1866) recorded:
“(Lincoln’s father Thomas) … married Nancy Hanks in 1806 …
He took her to the humble cabin he had prepared for her … and within the first few years of her married life, she bore him three children.
The first was a daughter named Sarah, who … died … the third was a son (Thomas) who died in infancy.
The second was Abraham, who, born into the humblest abode, under the humblest circumstances … under the blessing of a Providence which he always recognized …
Mrs. Lincoln, the mother, was evidently a woman out of place among those primitive surroundings.
She was five feet, five inches high, a slender, pale, sad and sensitive woman, with much in her nature that was truly heroic.”
Holland’s The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1866) continued:
“Those who knew the tender and reverent spirit of Abraham Lincoln later in life, will not doubt that he returned to his cabin-home deeply impressed by all that he had heard. It was the rounding up for him of the influences of a Christian mother’s life and teachings.
It recalled her sweet and patient example, her assiduous efforts to inspire him with pure and noble motives, her simple instructions in divine truth, her devoted love for him, and the motherly offices she had rendered him during all his tender years.
His character was planted … by this Christian mother’s love.”
The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1866) recounted:
“Providence began at his mother’s knee, and ran like a thread of gold through all the inner experiences of his life ….
A great man never drew his infant life from a purer or more womanly bosom than her own; and Mr. Lincoln always looked back to her with an unspeakable affection.
Long after her sensitive heart and weary hands had crumbled into dust … he said to a friend, with tears in his eyes: ‘All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother!'”
Lincoln wrote:
“I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”
On February 3, 1983, at the annual National Prayer Breakfast, President Ronald Reagan stated:
“I have a very special old Bible.
And alongside a verse in the Second Book of Chronicles there are some words, handwritten, very faded by now.
And believe me, the person who wrote these words was an authority. Her name was Nelle Wilson Reagan. She was my mother.”
Quotes by unknown authors are:
“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.”
“A mom’s hug lasts long after she lets go.”
On Mother’s Day, May 8, 2020, President Donald J. Trump proclaimed:
“We celebrate the exceptional mothers in our lives …
Whether they became mothers through birth, adoption, foster care, or other means, these women are deserving of our unending gratitude and praise this day and every day.
The intuition and wisdom passed from mother to child strengthens the fabric of our Nation and preserves generations of wisdom and familial values.
In our earliest days, our mothers provide us with love and nurturing care.
They often know our talents before we do, and they selflessly encourage us to use these God-given gifts to pursue our biggest dreams …
I encourage all Americans to express their love and respect for their mothers … whether with us in person or in spirit, and to reflect on the importance of motherhood to the prosperity of our families, communities, and Nation.”
—
American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate.
Barbary Pirates, Slave Markets, and Ransomers – American Minute with Bill Federer
For centuries, tens of millions of Africans were sold at Islamic slave markets from Timbuktu on the Niger River, where the canoe meets the caravan, to Khartoum, to the Zanzibar coast on the Indian Ocean.
In addition, over a million Europeans were captured and sold at Muslim slave markets in Morocco, Algiers, Tunisia and Libya.
Catholic Orders, such as the “Trinitarians” or “Mathurins,” would collect alms and ransom slaves.
Notable ransomed were in 1607, St. Vincent DePaul, and in 1580, Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote de La Mancha, 1605, who wrote:
“They put a chain on me … I passed my life in that bano with several other(s) … marked out as held to ransom … We suffered from hunger and scanty clothing …
Nothing distressed us so much as … seeing … unheard of cruelties my master inflicted upon the Christians …
Every day he hanged a man … all with so little provocation … Turks acknowledged he did it merely for the sake of doing it.”
Modern-day charities ransoming Christians from slavery in Africa and South Asia include Exodus 51 and Christian Solidarity International, supported by Eric Metaxas.
In 1588, English and Dutch privateers defeated the invincible Spanish Armada.
Privateers captured Spanish ships of gold and brought their treasures back to Queen Elizabeth’s England.
In 1604, King James I made a peace treaty with Spain banning English piracy, issuing a “Proclamation to Repress All Piracies and Depredations upon the Sea.”
This essentially left privateers unemployed. Some became lawless pirates, finding ports for their stolen goods along the Barbary coast.
A few even became accursed “renegado,” or Christians turned Turk, sharing their superior sailing skills with Muslim maritime marauders and directing ships, called corsairs, to attack North Atlantic trade.
In 1617, 800 corsairs took 1,200 captives from Madeira, Portugal.
In 1625, corsairs sailed up the Thames River and raided England.
Giles Milton wrote White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa’s One Million European Slaves, 2004, describing how Pellow was captured at age 11 and escaped 23 years later.
The coast of Cornwall was raided with 60 villagers captured at Mount’s Bay and 80 at Looe.
They attacked Lundy Island in Bristol Channel and raised the standard of Islam.
By the end of 1625, over 1,000 English subjects were taken to the slave markets of Morocco.
That same year, Pilgrims in Massachusetts sent beaver skins and dried fish back to England for trade, but their ship was captured by Turkish pirates.
Governor William Bradford wrote in History of the Plymouth Settlement, 1650:
“They … were well within the English channel, almost in sight of Plymouth. But … there she was unhapply taken by a Turkish man-of-war and carried off to Saller, Morocco, where the captain and crew were made slaves …
Now by the ship taken by the Turks … all trade was dead.”
In 1627, Ottoman Algerian pirate Murat Reis the Younger raided Iceland and carried away 800.
One captured girl was made a concubine in Algeria but was ransomed by Denmark’s King Christian IV.
In 1631, Algerian pirates herded “The Stolen Village” of Baltimore, Ireland, onto ships. Only two ever returned.
Thomas Osborne Davis wrote in “The Sack of Baltimore,” 1895:
“The yell of ‘Allah!’ breaks above the shriek and roar; O’ blessed God! the Algerine is lord of Baltimore.”
Des Ekin wrote in The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates (2008):
“Here was not a single Christian who was not weeping and who was not full of sadness at the sight of so many honest maidens and so many good women abandoned to the brutality of these barbarians.”
The History of Barbary and its Corsairs, 1637, recorded that in 1634, Trinitarian priest Pierre Dan went to Algeria and witnessed “piteous” Irish families split apart at slave markets, never to see one-another again.
Joseph Wheelan wrote in Jefferson’s War: America’s First War on Terror, 2004:
“As soon as Europeans fell into the raiders’ hands, the captives were stripped of their clothes, given rags to wear, and either were put in irons or made to work the ship …
Handsomest male slaves were usually chosen as palace pages, and the prettiest women were sent to Constantinople as gifts to the sultan.
The rest were auctioned in the slave mart … Buyers examined the prisoners … as they would any domestic animal.”
Kidnapped Englishman Francis Knight wrote in A Relation of Seven Years of Slavery under Turks of Algiers, 1640:
“I arrived in Algiers, that city fatal to all Christians and the butchery of mankind.”
The Sultan of Morocco was Moulay Ismail.
He had a harem of 500, mostly captured European women, who bore him a record 1,042 children.
He had 25,000 white slaves build him a palace at Meknes.
Moulay Ismail was described by John Windus in A Journey to Mequinez, 1825:
“His trembling court assemble, which consists of … blacks, whites, tawnies and his favorite Jews, all barefooted … He is … known by … the color of the habit that he wears, yellow being observed to be his killing color; from all of which they calculate whether they may hope to live twenty-four hours longer …
He (rides) out of town … attended by fifteen or twenty thousand blacks … with whom he … diverts himself — by throwing — the lance … knotted cords for whipping.”
Abolitionist Republican Senator Charles Sumner wrote White Slavery in the Barbary States, 1853:
“The Saracens, with the Koran and the sword, potent ministers of conversion, next broke from Arabia, as the messengers of a new religion, and pouring along these shores …
Algiers, for a long time the most obnoxious place in the Barbary States of Africa, the chief seat of Christian slavery … the wall of the barbarian world.”
In November 12, 1644, the Massachusetts General Court, as recorded in The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630-1730, stated:
“Turkish pirates … meaning the Algerines … were a constant danger to shipping trading with Spain.”
In 1669, Captain William Foster sailed the Dolphin out of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and was captured by Barbary pirates.
John Hull, first mint-master of Massachusetts Bay, recorded:
“October 21, 1671. We received intelligence that William Foster, master of a small ship, was taken by the Turks as he was going to Bilboa, Spain, with fish.”
Cotton Mather wrote in Magnalia Christi Americana, 1702:
“There was a Godly gentleman of Charlestown, one Mr. Foster, who with his son, was taken captive by Turkish enemies.”
Rev. John Eliot of Roxbury, “the Apostle to the Indians,” led his congregation in prayer that Moroccan Prince Moulay Rashid would release Foster.
Mather wrote:
“Much prayer was employed, both privately and publicly, by the good people here, for the redemption of that gentleman …
But we were at last informed, that the bloody Prince, in whose dominions he was now a slave, was resolved that in his lifetime no prisoner should be released …
The distressed friends of this prisoner now concluded, our hope is lost! … Upon this, Rev. Eliot, in some of his next prayers, before a very solemn congregation … begged …
“Heavenly Father, work for the redemption of thy poor servant Foster … and if the Prince which detains him will not … dismiss him as long himself lives, Lord, we pray thee to kill that cruel Prince … and glorify thy self upon him.”
Shortly after, April 9, 1672, Prince Moulay Rashid fell from his horse and died in Marrakesh at the age of 42.
Cotton Mather added:
“The poor captive gentleman – Foster — quickly returns to us that had been mourning for him as a lost man, and brings us news, that the Prince which had hitherto held him, was come to an untimely death, by which means he was now set at liberty.”
—
American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate.
American Minute is teaming up with
Seth Gruber and The White Rose Resistance
to defend the unborn and the value of human life.
(Reposted with permission from American Minute.)
Today Marks the 4th Anniversary of Our 9-0 U.S. Supreme Court Victory “Shurtleff v Boston”
Today, May 2, 2026 marks the 4th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 9-0 “Shurtleff v Boston” decision which was a victory for religious liberty and free speech. Since the decision, dozens if not hundreds of towns and cities were forced to change or adopt a flag policy. Many towns and cities decided to end flying anything but the U.S. and state flags while others allowed flying the Christian flag. But more importantly, it helped repeal the 1971 “Lemon v. Kurtzman” decision.
The U.S. Supreme Court Rules 9-0 in Camp Constitution’s Christian Flag Lawsuit
I received a call today at 10:30 AM from Roger Gannam, one of the attorneys at Liberty Counsel who has been involved with our lawsuit from the very beginning. He informed me that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in our favor 9-0. Since then, I have conducted a batch of media interviews. First, I want to give God the Glory. His Hand was in this case from the beginning. I want to thank the folks at Liberty Counsel that did an incredible job, and all of the people who support and make Camp Constitution possible. The main mission of Camp Constitution is to teach people the U.S. Constitution. I think that this issue has given the nation a good lesson on the 1st Amendment. Below is the news release from Liberty Counsel announcing the decision.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the City of Boston violated the Constitution by censoring a private flag in a public forum open to “all applicants” merely because the application referred to it as a “Christian flag.” The High Court stated that it is not government speech, and because the government admitted it censored the flag because it was referred to as a Christian flag on the application, the censorship was viewpoint discrimination, and there is no Establishment Clause defense.
Justice Breyer wrote the opinion in which Chief Justice Roberts, Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Barrett joined. Justice Kavanaugh filed a concurring opinion. Justice Alito filed a concurring opinion in the judgment, in which Thomas and Gorsuch joined. Justice Gorsuch filed a concurring opinion in the judgment, in which Thomas joined.
In Shurtleff v. City of Boston, Liberty Counsel represents Boston resident Hal Shurtleff and his Christian civic organization, Camp Constitution. Shurtleff and Camp Constitution first asked the city in 2017 for a permit to raise the Christian flag on Boston City Hall flagpoles to commemorate Constitution Day and Citizenship Day (September 17) and the civic and cultural contributions of the Christian community to the City of Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, religious tolerance, the Rule of Law and the U.S. Constitution.
“We do not settle this dispute by counting noses—or, rather, counting flags. That is so for several reasons. For one thing, Boston told the public that it sought ‘to accommodate all applicants’ who wished to hold events at Boston’s ‘public forums,’ including on City Hall Plaza. App. to Pet. for Cert. 137a. The application form asked only for contact information and a brief description of the event, with proposed dates and times. The city employee who handled applications testified by deposition that he had previously ‘never requested to review a flag or requested changes to a flag in connection with approval’; nor did he even see flags before the events. Id., at 150a. The city’s practice was to approve flag raisings, without exception. It has no record of denying a request until Shurtleff’s. Boston acknowledges it ‘hadn’t spent a lot of time really thinking about’ its flag-raising practices until this case. App. in No. 20–1158 (CA1), at 140 (Rooney deposition). True to its word, the city had nothing—no written policies or clear in[1]ternal guidance—about what flags groups could fly and what those flags would communicate,’” the Court wrote.
In addition, the Court wrote, “Here, Boston concedes that it denied Shurtleff ’s request solely because the Christian flag he asked to raise “promot[ed] a specific religion.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 155a (quoting Rooney deposition). Under our precedents, and in view of our government-speech holding here, that refusal discriminated based on religious viewpoint and violated the Free Speech Clause” (emphasis added).
There are three flagpoles outside City Hall that fly the U.S., Massachusetts and Boston flags, plus a fourth flag on Congress Street, which runs parallel to City Hall. For 12 years from 2005-2017, Boston approved 284 flag-raisings by private organizations with no denials on the flagpoles that it designated as a “public forum.” Had the flag been referred to as anything but Christian, the city would have approved it. The flag itself was not the problem; it was the word “Christian” describing it in the application that was the issue. The year before Camp Constitution’s application (2016-2017), Boston approved 39 private flag-raising events, which averaged three per month. In 2018, Boston approved 50 private flag raising events, averaging nearly one per week. One included a flag of a private credit union.
The Justices commented on the longstanding test known as the “Lemon Test” which has been used to determine if a law violates the First Amendment. Its name comes from Lemon v. Kurtzman, in which the Court ruled that a Rhode Island law that paid some of the salary of some parochial school teachers was unconstitutional. This test has proven to be unworkable and has led to inconsistent and contradictory decisions on the constitutionality of 10 Commandment monuments and cross monuments like the “Peace Cross.”
Justice Gorsuch, joined in a concurrence with Justice Thomas, stated, “It’s time to let Lemon lie in its grave.”
Justice Gorsuch continued, “How did the city get it so wrong? To be fair, at least some of the blame belongs here and traces back to Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U. S. 602 (1971). Issued during a “‘bygone era’” when this Court took a more freewheeling approach to interpreting legal texts, Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, 588 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., at 8), Lemon sought to devise a one-size-fits-all test for resolving Establishment Clause disputes. That project bypassed any inquiry into the Clause’s original meaning. It ignored longstanding precedents. And instead of bringing clarity to the area, Lemon produced only chaos. In time, this Court came to recognize these problems, abandoned Lemon, and returned to a more humble jurisprudence centered on the Constitution’s original meaning. Yet in this case, the city chose to follow Lemon anyway. It proved a costly decision, and Boston’s travails supply a cautionary tale for other localities and lower courts. The only sure thing Lemon yielded was new business for lawyers and judges.”
“Ultimately, Lemon devolved into a kind of children’s game. Start with a Christmas scene, a menorah, or a flag. Then pick your own “reasonable observer” avatar. In this game, the avatar’s default settings are lazy, uninformed about history, and not particularly inclined to legal research. His default mood is irritable. To play, expose your avatar to the display and ask for his reaction. How does he feel about it? Mind you: Don’t ask him whether the proposed display actually amounts to an establishment of religion. Just ask him if he feels it “endorses” religion. If so, game over,” wrote Gorsuch.
In his concurrence, Justice Kavanaugh wrote, “A government violates the Constitution when (as here) it excludes religious persons, organizations, or speech because of religion from public programs, benefits, facilities, and the like.”
In his concurrence, Justice Alito wrote, “I agree with the Court’s conclusion that Boston (hereafter City) violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech when it rejected Camp Constitution’s application to fly what it characterized as a “Christian flag.” But I cannot go along with the Court’s decision to analyze this case in terms of the triad of factors—history, the public’s perception of who is speaking, and the extent to which the government has exercised control over speech—that our decision in Walker v. Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., 576 U. S. 200 (2015), derived from Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, 555 U. S. 460 (2009). See ante, at 6–12. As the Court now recognizes, those cases did not set forth a test that always and everywhere applies when the government claims that its actions are immune to First Amendment challenge under the government-speech doctrine. And treating those factors as a test obscures the real question in government-speech cases: whether the government is speaking instead of regulating private expression.”
Justice Alito continued, “But courts must be very careful when a government claims that speech by one or more private speakers is actually government speech. When that occurs, it can be difficult to tell whether the government is using the doctrine “as a subterfuge for favoring certain private speakers over others based on viewpoint,” id., at 473, and the government-speech doctrine becomes “susceptible to dangerous misuse….To prevent the government-speech doctrine from being used as a cover for censorship, courts must focus on the identity of the speaker. The ultimate question is whether the government is actually expressing its own views or the real speaker is a private party and the government is surreptitiously engaged in the “regulation of private speech.” Summum, 555 U. S., at 467…. Consider first “the extent to which the government has actively shaped or controlled the expression.” Ante, at 6. Government control over speech is relevant to speaker identity in that speech by a private individual or group cannot constitute government speech if the government does not attempt to control the message. But control is also an essential element of censorship.”
Liberty Counsel’s Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “This 9-0 decision from the Supreme Court strikes a victory for private speech in a public forum. This case is so much more significant than a flag. Boston openly discriminated against viewpoints it disfavored when it opened the flagpoles to all applicants and then excluded Christian viewpoints. Government cannot censor religious viewpoints under the guise of government speech.”
TIMELINE
- SEPT 2017 Liberty Counsel sends Boston demand letter following flag application denial.
- JULY 2018 Original suit filed in district court.
- AUG 2018 Court denies preliminary injunction.
- JUNE 2019 First Circuit affirms the denial.
- JULY 2019 LC files motion for summary judgment in district court.
- FEB 2020 District court denies LC summary judgment and grants city’s summary judgment.
- JAN 2021 First Circuit affirms summary judgment for city.
- JUNE 2021 LC files writ of certiorari at SCOTUS.
- SEPT 2021 SCOTUS takes the case.
- JAN 18, 2022 Oral argument set at SCOTUS.
BRIEFS OF LIBERTY COUNSEL AND CITY OF BOSTON
Reply Brief For The Petitioners
Petition for Certiorari
Opposition to Petition for Certiorari
Reply Brief in Support of Petition for Certiorari
Brief for Petitioners Camp Constitution
Brief for Respondent City of Boston
Reply Brief of Petitioners Camp Constitution
AMICUS BRIEFS:
In Support of Liberty Counsel
Brief-Amicus-(ACLU and ACLU of Massachusetts).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Advancing-American-Freedom-et al).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(American-Cornerstone-Institute).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(American-Legion).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Becket Fund for Religious Liberty).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Bronx-Household-of-Faith).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Catholicvote-org).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(CPCF, et al.).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Foundation-for-Moral-Law).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Multi-States).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(National Legal Foundation, et al.).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Notre Dame L. Sch. Rel. Lib. Initiative).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Pacific Legal Foundation).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Protect-the-First-Foundation).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Rutherford-Institute).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Thomas-More).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(United States).pdf
In Support of City of Boston
Brief-Amicus-(Anti-Defamation League).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(FFRF).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Jewish Alliance for Law, et al).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Local Governments).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Multi States).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(National Council of Churches, et al.).pdf
READ MORE:
SCOTUS Rules 9-0 in Favor of Christian Flag Case
U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Religious Viewpoint Discrimination
Supreme Court Heard Religious Viewpoint Case Today
Religious Viewpoint Case Goes to SCOTUS Tomorrow
Events Surrounding Shurtleff v. City of Boston SCOTUS Oral Argument
Religious Viewpoint Case Will Affect Everyone
LC Files Reply Brief at SCOTUS in Religious Viewpoint Case
Religious Viewpoint Case at SCOTUS Will Set National Precedent
USA and 12 States Support LC in Free Speech Case
Boston’s Christian Flag Debate Heading to US Supreme Court
Liberty Counsel Files Opening Brief at SCOTUS in Religious Viewpoint Case
U.S. Supreme Court Takes Christian Flag Case
Next Step for Christian Flag: U.S. Supreme Court
Christian Flag in Boston Before Court of Appeals
Boston Censorship Continues
Christian Flag Goes Back to Court
Boston Should Fly Christian Flag
Boston Discriminates Against Christian Flag
Stop Censorship of Christian Flag
Boston Sued for Censoring Christian Flag
Group sues Boston for banning Christian flag, approving 284 others
Boston Sued For Booting Christian Flag, While Allowing Islamic Symbols
Boston Sued for Banning Christian Flag, Allowing 284 Others
284 flags including China’s OK in Boston, but not Christian banner
Boston Sued for Banning Christian Flag, Allowing 284 Others
Banned in Boston — the Christian Flag
Stop Censorship of Christian Flag
Fly the ‘Christian’ flag? Sorry, no can do
The Point: Boston Bars the Christian Flag
Boston’s Censorship of the Christian Flag – Mat Staver – Episode 31
Explore the truth behind the blatant government censorship of the Christian faith, and learn what you can do to protect your religious freedom! – Originally premiered Feb 27, 2022 on GoodLife45 – visit https://www.tv45.org
Standing Up for Judeo-Christian Values – Hal Shurtleff – Episode 29
As Liberty Counsel prepares to defend a religious viewpoint censorship case before the U.S. Supreme Court, it all started with the Christian flag. Hal Shurtleff of Camp Constitution joins Mat Staver to explain more on this episode of Freedom Alive.™ – Originally premiered Dec 12, 2021 on GoodLife45 – visit https://www.tv45.org
The Weekly Sam: From Rhodes Scholars to Alinsky Disciples By Samuel L. Blumenfeld
In the past it seemed that the best way to become President was through several
well-established routes: by climbing the power ladder in either of the two political
parties, by having gone to Harvard or Yale, by having had a Rhodes Scholarship to
Oxford, or by belonging to the secret Skull & Bones Society at Yale.
Nixon clawed his way up the ladder of the Republican Party. Born in California in
1913, he got his law degree from Duke University School of Law in 1937. In 1946 he
was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican. He gained fame among
Republicans by putting Soviet agent Alger Hiss in jail. After many ups and downs he
finally became the 37th President in 1968.
Jimmy Carter, our 39th President, was born in Plains, Georgia in 1924. He graduated from
Plains High School and then attended Georgia Southwestern College. He served as a
Georgia State Senator and then Governor. As a liberal statist he created two new
departments when he became President, the Department of Education and the Department
of Energy. He seems to have been chosen by the powers that be in the Democrat Party
to run for President. In 1976 he won the race against Gerald Ford. His Presidency is
considered a disaster by conservatives. Yet, he remains something of a fluke in the
annals of American presidential politics.
John F. Kennedy was born in Massachusetts in 1917, attended private prep schools,
studied at the Fabian Society’s London School of Economics in 1935, then entered
Harvard in 1936. He graduated cum laude in 1940. After the war, he got into politics and
was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1946. In 1952 he became a
Senator. His father had always wanted one of his sons to become President. The eldest
was killed in the war, but John, No. 2, was available. With the help of the family
fortune, Jack finally became the 35th President in 1960 in a very close race against
Richard Nixon. After Kennedy, came Lyndon Johnson, who also clawed his way up the
political ladder of the Democrat Party, and became President after JFK’s assassination.
George H. W. Bush, born in Massachusetts in 1924, came from a family of Wall Street
investment bankers. His father was not only a Yale Bonesman, but also became a U.S.
Senator. George followed his father’s footsteps to Yale and the Skull and Bones Society.
After graduation he got into the oil business in Texas. There, as a “moderate” Republican
he was urged to run against a candidate in the primary who also happened to be a
member of the “extremist” John Birch Society. He won the primary, but lost the election
to a Democrat.
In 1966 he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Although generally
considered a Rockefeller Republican, he tended to vote conservative. In an effort to
become a Senator, he ran against a conservative in the primary. He won that battle but
in 1970 lost the election to a Democrat. When Gerald Ford became President after
Nixon’s resignation, he appointed Bush to be Liaison Officer with Communist China
where he spent 14 months. In 1976, Ford appointed Bush head of the CIA.
In 1979, Bush decided to run for the Presidency. He vied with Ronald Reagan for the
nomination but lost. Reagan then asked Bush to become his running mate. In 1989, after
serving two terms as Vice President, Bush finally made it to the White House. He was
expected to continue Reagan’s conservative policies, especially on taxes. But when he
reneged on his pledge not to raise taxes, he went down to defeat in1992 against Bill
Clinton.
Ronald Reagan, our 40th President, was born in Illinois in 1911. He graduated from
Eureka College in 1932. He became a famous movie star and then a spokesman for the
free enterprise system. He entered elective politics in the 1960s, becoming Governor of
California in 1967. A conservative Republican, he turned out to be one of the most
popular Presidents in our history. He combined charisma and a vision of America that
thrilled the hearts of most conservatives. To Reagan, America was “the city on the hill.“
His strong anti-communism also endeared him to conservatives.
Clinton, born in 1946 of lower middle class folk in Arkansas, decided as a teenager to get
into elective politics. He graduated from Hot Springs High School. Then, with the aid of
scholarships, was able to attend the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University
in Washington. His professor, Carroll Quigley, who had access to the private papers of
the Council on Foreign Relations and the Rhodes Round Table, helped him get a Rhodes
Scholarship at Oxford. After Oxford, he entered Yale Law School, got his degree in
1973, met Hillary, a fellow student and Saul Alinsky disciple, whom he later married.
From there Clinton returned to Arkansas where he worked his way up the Democratic
Party, became Governor in 1978, and finally made it to the White House in 1992. As a
Rhodie, he met many other ambitious politicos at Oxford, who later became members of
his team during his Presidency.
George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States, was born in Connecticut in1946. He
followed his father and grandfather’s footsteps to Yale, where he became a member of
the Skull and Bones Society. After graduation in 1968, he attended Harvard Business
School and got his MBA degree in 1975. He then worked in the Texas oil business, and
finally entered elective politics in 1977. He ran for the House of Representatives, but lost.
In 1994 he became Governor of Texas. He was elected President in 2000 after a hotly
contested race against Al Gore.
So far we have seen how individuals can rise to the Presidency via traditional channels of
Republican and Democratic political activity. But now we have a new source of potential
candidates for the White House: Saul Alinsky’s Chicago school for Marxist
Revolutionaries. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are Alinsky disciples, and
they have tried to impose Marxism over the American people. Hillary first tried to do it
when her husband was elected President, giving her the opportunity to organize an effort
to impose socialized medicine on the nation. Thanks to Republican opposition, that
effort failed.
But it was Barack Obama, on being elected President, who went to work immediately to
impose socialism on the American people. Of course, he had the help of Nancy Pelosi,
the most leftist Speaker of the House to hold that position, and Senator Harry Reid of
Nevada, whose leftism seems to have been adopted as a means of gaining support of the
leftist unions.
Pelosi is a San Francisco liberal who really doesn’t know the difference between
socialism and capitalism. She is not a thinker. She came from an Italian Catholic
family that was very active in Baltimore Democrat politics. She attended Catholic
schools and probably absorbed enough Liberation Theology to solidify her liberal beliefs,
which became the basis of her left-wing politics. She is the least philosophical woman
ever to be elected to Congress. When she was asked if the National Healthcare Bill was
constitutional, her answer was: “Are you serious?” Which means that she has no
conception of what a Constitutional Republic is and probably doesn’t want to know.
Harry Reid was born to a very poor family in Searchlight, Nevada. After graduating
high school he attended Southern Utah University and graduated from Utah State
University. From there he went to George Washington University Law School.
He returned to Nevada with a law degree and first served as Henderson city attorney. He
was then elected to the Nevada Assembly in 1968. He then ran for Lieutenant Governor
of Nevada, but lost. He also lost a bid to become mayor of Las Vegas. But due to his
very strong political connections he was able to become chairman of the Nevada Gaming
Commission in 1977. When a gambling entrepreneur tried to bribe Reid, he turned the
individual in to the FBI. That helped improve his political qualifications. The result is
that he was elected to Congress in 1982. In 1986 he ran for the Senate and won.
In reviewing Reid’s political career, which consisted of party loyalty above all else, one
can see why he was able to beat his opponent in the last election. His connections in
Nevada guaranteed his reelection. He is clearly not a Marxist. He’s a Democrat, and
the Democratic Party has become the chosen vehicle for the Marxists’ to gain political
power in Washington. He is a party loyalist above all else. For him the political game
has nothing to do with the Constitution or the principles of the Founding Fathers. So he
can loyally serve a Marxist President without any qualms.
And so neither Nancy Pelosi nor Harry Reid are conscious Marxists. They probably
know very little if anything about Saul Alinsky. And since many of the precepts of Karl
Marx’s Communist Manifesto have already been adopted by the United States under the
guise of liberalism, how can anyone call it socialism?
One good thing the Tea Party movement has done is bring to the new Congress men and
women who actually believe in the Constitution and the principles of the Founding
Fathers. They are not Marxists. They are not socialists. They are Constitutionalists or
Americanists. And they know that Marxists and Socialists move about Washington under
the label of liberalism. So the Tea Partiers are more aware of the semantic trickery of
the left and will not be fooled by it any longer. They are also the harbingers of the
conservative counter-revolution that is so badly needed in Washington. That is why
2011 will prove to be one of the most decisive years in American history.
(This article is from the Sam Blumenfeld Archives:
http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/main.htm
The Blumenfeld Archives
Happy Birthday Illuminati Founded May 1, 1776 Bavaria, Germany
There have been several books published in the early days of the Illuminati’s existence including Proofs of a Conspiracy, Memoirs of Jacobinism and Proof of the Illuminati. Rev. G.W. Snyder sent a copy of Proofs of a Conspiracy to George Washington who replied:
“It was not my intention to doubt that the Doctrines of the Illuminati, and principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more fully satisfied of this fact than I am.”
Several years ago, while our annual family camp was in session, we took a field trip to the Rindge, NH Historical Society where I found copies of Proof of the Illuminati for sale. When I asked Karla MacLeod, the museum’s president, why this book was at the museum, she informed me that the author Rev. Seth Payson was the pastor of the Congregational Church. He wrote the book in 1802, and it was the basis for his successful campaign for state senate. Camp Constitution Press reprinted the book. A free PDF version is available here: https://campconstitution.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Proof-of-the-Illuminati-by-Rev-Seth-Payson.pdf
A paperback version is available from our on-line shop: https://campconstitution.net/shop/
Meeting the Needs of the Self-Loathing Community
In a free market, needs and wants (demands) are met by those willing to take a risk. In some cases, risk takers create needs or wants. There are numerous examples of creating a want and then supplying it. Two come to mind. Back in 1975, Gary Dahl invented the Pet Rock. The fad lasted long to make Mr. Dahl a millionaire. In the 1970s, Martha Nelson Thomas hand made what she called “Baby Dolls” complete with birth certificates and adoption papers. Xavier Roberts acquitted the rights, and in 1982, rebranded them “Cabbage Patch Kids” and for a few years, people would stand in long lines at stores awaiting the opportunity to purchase these ugly dolls with hard heads and soft bodies in toy stores around the country. In some cases, fights broke out over these hideous things.
Well, after learning of Billie Eilish’s statement at the recent Grammy Awards where she said that there are no illegals on stolen land and constantly being reminded by Black History Month celebrants that enslaved blacks built our nation, I see a need and will meet a need. I will start a clearing house for self-loathing whites who have an urgent need to transfer their real estate and possessions to “Indigenous” people and Black Americans. I have a few names in mind for this unique business model: White Assuagement Transfers -WAT-and Self-Loathing Acquisition Redistribution- SLAR. For my services, the company will charge a meager ten percent of the value of the things given away by my self-loathing white clients. This would include payroll and overhead.
My new business will lead to the creation of several cottage industries including selling prefabricated cardboard mini homes, and virtual signaling yard signs that read: “Hate Has No Home Here And Neither Do I.”
I have to find worthy recipients of the real estate and other items, but I couldn’t distribute these things to organizations that do not share my worldview. So, here is a list of organizations and individuals that would be the beneficiaries of the ill-gotten gains from my self-loathing clients.
Native American Guardians Association (NAGA) https://www.nagaeducation.org/
This worthy non-profit would receive all of the “stolen land” from my self-loathing clients. NAGA works to educate people about the history of American Indians and strongly oppose changing the names of sports teams that are named in honor of Indians. From their Website:
NAGA utilizes various media channels, especially social media, to educate the public about the positive ways educational institutions and sports teams can and are using their platforms to educate about Native Americans. Many Americans do not even realize that American Indians are still around. NAGA is committed to keeping Native identity at the forefront of mainstream America. Educational institutions and sports teams play an important role in the preservation and promotion of American Indian legacy.
And to the descendants of slaves:
National Black Home Educators https://www.nbhe.net/
Government schools have miserably failed our nations’ children, especially those in the Black community. National Black Home Educators offers Black parents viable alternatives to those failing schools.
From their website:
The goal of this organization is ultimately to see strong families with healthy parent relationships. We believe that every child deserves a world class education. This organization believes that these goals can be achieved through parent directed education. We are bringing the rich heritage of the Black experience to the homeschooling community worldwide.
Historia Revelata https://www.patreon.com/cw/chadojackson
This organization was founded by Chad O. Jackson, a native Texan, master plumber with a successful business, and homeschooler. From their website:
As an independent documentarian, founder of Historia Revelata and Executive Director of the Historia Revelata Foundation, Chad O. Jackson is a subject matter expert when it comes to showing his audiences how America’s social constructs sausage is made… and he’s not afraid of slaughtering a few sacred cows in the process. His film work isn’t just about looking back at history and stating the obvious. It’s about exposing the little-known connective tissue between yesterday’s ill-gotten lessons and today’s sobering realities, chronicling how the past’s echoes either sound the alarms to course correct or beckon a harkening back to this country’s long forgotten (or never discovered) buried treasure.
A Chad O. Jackson film is a critical thought call-to-action for his audiences to question absolutely everything – especially what is universally accepted – and to consider that, for any question to be answered truthfully, it must be filtered through the inerrant truth: The Bible.
(Rev. Steve Craft and Vince Ellison)
Vince Ellison https://www.vincespeakstruth.com/
Vince is the author of several books including 25 Lies: Exposing Democrat’s Most Dangerous, Seductive, Damnable, Destructive Lies and How to Refute Them and The Iron Triangle: Inside the Liberal Democrat Plan to Use Race to Divide Christians and America in their Quest for Power and How We Can Defeat Them. He is the producer of the documentary Will You Go to Hell for Me and hosts “The Vince Ellison Show” on YouTube.
I reject the Marxist narrative that we live on stolen land and, while Black Americans made contributions to the building of our nation, they didn’t do it alone. So, prior to accepting the real estate and possessions from my self-loathing clients, I would encourage them to view the documentaries The Real History of the American Indians and The Real History of Slavery by Matt Walsh Maybe, these two documentaries can undo years of government and private prep school indoctrination that has been churning out people who both hate themselves and the greatest nation in the world and my business will be as short lived as the Pet Rock and Cabbage Patch Kids.
Final Reminder for Camp Constitution’s “Early Bird” Registration Which Ends This Friday May 1
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Van Fund Raising Update
So far, we have raised $22,185 Many thanks to those who have already donated. We purchased a 2026 Sienna Hybrid Mini Van that cost us $41,000. It csn hold seven passenges and gets about 550 miles on a full tank of gas.
We still hope to raise more funds towards the cost of the van. Those who are able to help may donation via our PayPal accounted accessed from our website’s homepage: https://campconstitution.net/ or via check payable to Camp Constitution and mail to us at 146 Powder Mill Rd. Alton, NH 03809. Those who own a business or manage non-profits can become official Camp Constitution sponsors and be listed as a Camp Sponsor for donations of $100. or more: Camp Sponsors | campconstitution.net
Two of our new sponsors:
Like our old van, we plan to have it stenciled
Blessings,
Hal Shurtleff, Director
Camp Constitution
Alton, NH
(A picture of our van in 2019 after having Brice Socha did the signage. And our new van.)
Christian Persecution Presentations and Banner Displays in Aroostook County, Maine
Last week from Wednesday April 8th to Saturday April 11, Camp Constitution was hosted by five churches where we conducted presentations on the topic of Christian Persecution Around the World and in the U.S. We started at the Union Baptist Church in Littleton on Wednesday evening then Thursday morning at the Living Waters Apostolic Church. We then had two presentations at the Caribou United Baptist Church-an afternoon presentation to a prayer group and an evening presentation to the church’s youth group where we had to make the presentation age appropriate. During the question-and-answer session, a girl age 11-12 asked us why some people go to different churches. While it was not a question that was germane to the topic, we think we answered it to her satisfaction. Our Friday Noon event, in Madawaska was set up with less than 12 hours’ notice. Our Saturday morning presentation was hosted at the Global Methodist Church in Presque Isle. A link to a video of that presentation is below.
After our Saturday morning event, we had the opportunity to speak at the Aroostook County Republican Committee about the dangers of an Article V Convention. There were a number of state reps and state senators on hand-none of whom had any objections to our position. We thank all who helped to make this trip a success. A special thanks to Bob Roy, Pastor Chris Cain, Pastor Ron Doughty, Pastor Sid Kear, Jill McCarthy Kalata, Pastor Choi, and Chris Lydon. We also want to thank William Brown who donated the banners from Save The Persecuted Christians used in the presentations.