Group Files Lawsuit Against School District
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A member of the Christian Examiner newspaper group Vol. 33, No. 5 May 2011 www.mcchronicle.com Brad Brandon Community Re vie ws Do we really need a Church uses soccer to Rob Bell: Does ‘love’ FREE marriage amendment reach its community win in the end? in M innesota? page 6 page 12 page 19 The Minnesota Christian Chronicle next Comingmonth will be re-branded as ANew Name for an Old Friend Group fi les lawsuit against school district Radio Bendición broadcasts for 57 hours each week o n Spirit FM 107.5. Claims it denied pro-life ‘Birthed in the very heart of God’ organization ‘offi cial’ status Radio Bendición is only Christian Spanish By Scott Noble students, and by denying the ALIV Club offi cial status on campus they family-oriented radio station in Twin Cites SAINT MICHAEL-ALBERT- are doing exactly that.” VILLE — The Alliance Defense According to the ADF, the stu- By Scott Noble $200 an hour. Then we went to to listen to what he has to say. four-hour long programming, Fifteen minutes later, while I was Fund (ADF) fi led a lawsuit last dent-led club addresses a variety of LAKEVILLE — Eleazar Perez and by then we were paying about praying, this person comes up to month against St. Michael-Albert- issues related to students, includ- felt a burden on his heart, a bur- $1,400 for the four hours. We just me and I followed him as God had ville Public Schools for denying of- ing faith and religion, abstinence, den for a Christian Spanish-lan- kept praying to the Lord, and one instructed me. So we went into fi cial status to a student-led pro-life abortion, leadership, community guage radio station in the Twin day we just ran out of money.” this apartment” not knowing that club. The group claims the school service and several others. Cities. More than 210,000 Latinos When the money ran out, Perez there was a FM radio station in the district has recognized more than In the lawsuit, fi led in the U.S. currently live in the metro area, began to ask God, “Where are apartment building. a dozen other similar student-led District Court for the District of Min- making it a viable ministry oppor- your promises?” After talking with the gentle- groups but denied “offi cial status” nesota, the ADF claims the actions by tunity for those who wish to reach After wrestling with the situa- man, Perez found out that it was to the All Life Is Valuable (ALIV) the school are in violation of the Equal Latinos for Christ and to provide tion, Perez felt God telling him his too expensive to purchase pro- club because, according to the Access Act, the Free Speech Clause, them with Christian program- faith was not strong enough. And gramming on this man’s FM sta- ADF, the club “does not support the Equal Protection Clause, the Due ming. sure enough, shortly after that, tion. However, Perez left him the student body as a whole.” Process Clause and the Free Exercise So Perez began to pray in April God provided another means for his business card and went back “Pro-life students should not be of Religion Clause. 2000 about whether God wanted the radio ministry to take off. home. discriminated against for express- The lawsuit also alleges that the him to start a radio station. By Oc- “God told me I was about to Later that night, the gentleman ing their beliefs,” said ADF Senior school deems other clubs, includ- tober of that year, Perez felt God be visited by a gentleman in that called Perez and told him he couldn’t Counsel David Cortman via a news ing the Diversity club, the Environ- had given him the answer. very same parking lot where I was sleep and asked if they could meet the release. “As the Supreme Court has mental club and the Anime club as “We had our fi rst program, and crying out to the Lord at that par- following day. The next day, after talk- noted, students do not shed their “support[ing] the student body as it was just for one hour down in ticular moment,” Perez recalled. ing, they worked out an agreement constitutional rights at the school- a whole.” Owatonna,” Perez said. “It was “And when this gentleman ap- house gate. School offi cials do not have the authority to trump the For more information on this case, pretty steep in cost. It was like proaches me, God tells me I need See RADIO, page 2 constitutionally protected rights of visit www.adfmedia.org. INDEX Local nonprofi t extends global reach Editorial .......................... 6-7 in war on poverty, disease and hunger Music & Entertainment...... 18 By Carra Carr away: a small, delicately curved fessionals—and without whose hearing aid, the symbol of a fu- help the six-day stop in Uganda Calendar .......................... 14 MINNETONKA — Lines ture with hope. might not have happened. stretched out and away from the In all, more than 22,000 state- Founded more than 10 years white tents, winding through of-the-art hearing aids were given ago, Hope for the City has been Community Briefs......... 15-16 dusty streets and bleached land- to hearing-impaired children and fi ghting poverty, disease and hun- scapes that offered no protection adults across Africa in just 24 days. ger in Minnesota, the United from the Ugandan sun. From The tour, initiated and led by the States and the world through Professional Service miles around the people came, Starkey Hearing Foundation, an distributing corporate surplus. Directory .......................... 16 some walking for hours, antici- Eden Prairie-based company de- What started as a conviction to pation and excitement lighting voted to improving the quality of utilize the resources God had their eyes as they waited for their life for the hearing-impaired, was given them grew into something Classifieds .......................17 turn—for their chance at a new studded with celebrity volunteers no one ever imagined. future. like Adrian Peterson and Bryant “My wife and I felt we were Underneath the white cano- McKinnie from the Minnesota giving generously,” said Den- PHOTO COURTESY OF STARKEY HEARING FOUNDATION Reviews ...........................19 pies, workers bustled to and fro Vikings. nis Doyle, executive chair Ho pe fo r the City he lpe d the Starke y He aring from sun up until past sundown, But there was another Twin and founder of Hope for the Foundation bring the gift of hearing to their hands carrying what they Cities organization serving along- thousands of hearing-impaired children and traveled half a world over to give side the athletic and hearing pro- See UGANDA, page 8 adults across Uganda. 2 • MINNESOTA CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE • May 2011 www.mcchronicle.com Group claims taxpayers paid for more abortions SAINT PAUL — Minnesota Citi- of an abortion increased to $403. on two pieces of legislation that zens Concerned for Life (MCCL), “There appears to be no limit to would ban taxpayers from funding citing a report from the Minnesota the abortion industry’s marketing abortions. Department of Human Services, of abortion to poor women,” said “Polls continue to show that most said 32 percent of all abortions in Scott Fischbach, executive director Minnesotans and most Americans Minnesota in 2009 were paid by of MCCL via a press release. “It is are opposed to taxpayer-funded taxpayers at a cost of nearly $1.6 time to end abortionists’ money abortions, yet they continue to be million. grab at the expense of vulner- forced to pay for them,” Fischbach MCCL also said abortion claims able women and their unborn said. were up 4.8 percent over the previ- children.” ous year, payments rose more than The new pro-life majority in For more information on M CCL, fi ve percent and the average cost the state legislature is working visit www.mccl.org. M CCL supports movement of pro-life bills in legislature MCC Staff Report protecting life object to these mea- are paid for with taxpayer dollars,” sures, but they represent only a said MCCL Legislative Associate SAINT PAUL — Minnesota Citi- small minority of citizens.” Jordan Marie Bauer via a news re- Eleazar Perez believes Radio Bendición was ‘birthed in the very heart of God.’ zens Concerned for Life (MCCL) According to MCCL, the Pain lease, who testifi ed in support of recently praised the advancement Capable Unborn Child Protection the bill. “Minnesota taxpayers, a saved, broken families are coming of two bills in the state legislature. Act (S.F. 649 and H.F. 936) would strong majority of whom don’t want RADIO… together again, people that have The fi rst bill would prohibit abor- prohibit abortions after the point government funds being used for Continued from page 1 been cured of cancer and different tions of unborn babies who can where an unborn baby can experi- abortion, have essentially helped diseases,” Perez said. feel pain and the second would ban ence pain. Some estimates put this to end the lives of nearly 55,000 for Perez to purchase programming He believes that what they do is a taxpayer-funded abortions. at 20 weeks after conception. unborn children—a number that on the FM station. mandate from the Lord. “Lawmakers are carrying out the The ban on taxpayer-funded abor- grows every day.” Radio Bendición (Radio Bless- “We just feel that people, number will of Minnesotans by hearing and tions (S.F. 103 and H.F. 201) would Both bills are currently advanc- ing) now broadcasts for 57 hours one, need the Lord,” he said.