It seems the folks at the Freedom From Religion Foundation are at it again. This time they’re attacking Bailey’s Pizza in Searcy, Arkansas, and claiming that a discount given to customers who bring in a church bulletin on Sunday is illegal. Patrons of Bailey’s Pizza can receive a ten percent discount on Sundays if they present a church bulletin when ordering.
The owner of Bailey’s Pizza, Steven Rose, opened the restaurant in July and says he just loves Jesus and pepperoni pizza.
The Blaze – Steven Rose, owner of Bailey’s Pizza in Searcy, Arkansas, told TheBlaze Wednesday that he posted a 10 percent discount on his restaurant’s Facebook page on July 19 for anyone who brought in a church bulletin. Not long after, he received a comment from a user named “Bong Hits for Jesus” that read, “Good luck on your discrimination lawsuit.”
“I didn’t give much credence to it,” he said of the comment, but the story doesn’t end there.
What followed was a letter postmarked July 30 from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an organization located in Madison, Wisconsin, that called Rose’s discount an act of discrimination and a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. An unnamed local resident who found the discount offensive reportedly alerted the group.
“The law requires places of public accommodation to offer their services to customers without regard to race, color, religion or national origin,” Elizabeth Cavell, an attorney who works for the atheist legal firm, told KTHV-TV.
But Rose, a Christian who recently opened Bailey’s Pizza July 1, said he firmly disagrees with this assessment, claiming that the discount was merely a “marketing tool” that enabled him to reach out to people of faith whom he associates with.
“I didn’t want to exclude anyone,” he said. “It was just like giving a discount to the Boy Scouts or the military and they made it an ugly thing.”
While the Freedom From Religion Foundation apparently wants Rose to discontinue the discount, he said he has no plans to comply and that a lawyer he consulted with said that the atheist group doesn’t “have a leg to stand on.”
“From their argument, if I’m giving a discount to the elderly, it’s agism. If I give one to police offers, I’m prejudiced against people who aren’t police officers,” Rose said.
The discount will remain in place unless a judge tells him he is violating the law. In that case, he said he would comply, but that he doesn’t believe he has violated any statutes.
“Short of [a judge’s ruling] there’s nothing that they’re going to say to me that makes me waver on what I believe,” Rose said.
Rose also made the point that church attendance is not required in order to get the discount. “I didn’t say you had to go to church. I said come in with a church bulletin,” Rose said. He pointed out that some churches publish their bulletins to their websites. “[Atheists] can download it and bring it in,” he said.
So here we are again with the FFRF doing all it can to remove religion from our society. They are doing all they can to earn a reputation as a hate group by going after historical markers, veterans memorials, courthouse displays and now restaurant discounts. Their lowest endeavor ever has to be their attack on a Holocaust memorial in Ohio because the design chosen for the memorial contained a Star of David, which is the symbol of the Jewish people. Yes, you read that correctly, the FFRF did indeed object to the Jewish Star of David being used at a Holocaust memorial.
The FFRF received more than $3.5 million in dues and donations last year and I suspect a large part of their funding comes from George Soros. I found one website that made that claim, but it listed no source and I have been unable to verify it. It would not be surprising, though, since the atheist Soros donates millions to anti-religion organizations.
The FFRF’s 2013 Year In Review proudly lists some of their achievements:
- Halting graduation prayers from Louisiana State University A&M.
- Removing 10 Commandments postings from 4 school districts: Randolph, NC; Breathitt County Schools, KY; Blytheville Public Schools, AR; and Dunham Public Schools, NC.
- Preventing a group from distributing 10 Commandment plaques to graduating students, Fostoria City Schools, OH.
- Halting use of church for public school graduation, North Canton, OH; stopping 8th grade graduation at Salvation Army; Louisville.
- Removing multiple Latin crosses from government property, including: framed cross in elementary school in Brock, TX; cross on water tower in Alsip, IL; Latin cross Christmas decoration atop a police department in San Angelo, TX; crosses on the façade of a city building in Stratton, OH; cross posted in Dawson County Schools, GA; cross posed on the website of Wood County Court, TX.
- Ensuring bibles won’t be forced on school children riding bus in Medford, WI, in Cascade School District, WA, and at Johnston County Schools, NC; and at an Erie Community College in Orchard Park, Ny.
- Halting Lord’s Prayer before Board of Supervisors in Newberry Township, PA, and helping persuade City Council of Onalaska, WI not to start praying.
- Stopping city sponsorship of mayor prayer breakfasts in Springfield, IL and Columbus, OH.
- Removing Jesus fish display from Municipal Court Office, Rolla City Hall, MO.
- Forcing Ball State University, IN, to investigate astronomy professor injecting “intelligent design” as fact into courses on Intro to Astronomy and Boundaries of Science.
- Securing right of probationers and parolees in Tennessee to be free from religious substance abuse programming.
- Removing bible verses from waiting room wall of V.A. medical center in Lake City, FL.
- Getting struck the US Office of Customs and Immigration Services’ unconstitutional requirement for religious documentation that would have barred atheist Margaret Doughty from becoming a citizen.
- Removing nativity scenes from the Quincy Veteran’s Home, IL.
- Getting “so help me God” removed from oath in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin for attorney admission.
- Removing religious posters from public school classroom in McPherson, KS, and elementary school in Moreno Valley, CA.
- Stopping creationist instruction at Mead School District, WA.
- Halting Brunswick City Schools, OH, from allowing priests onto campuses to put ashes on students on Ash Wednesday.
The FFRF and the left (redundant, I know) will not stop until all vestiges of religion are removed from the public eye. Until atheists can go out in public and be free from seeing or hearing any mention of God, Jesus, church, religion or prayer, the FFRF and other groups like them will consider their work to be incomplete. With the help of leftist judges they are having success at excising religion from public life, which was certainly not the intent of the First Amendment. The First Amendment was meant to protect religious speech, not silence it.
When Christianity and other religions are finally removed from the public eye, all that will remain is the left’s religion – secular humanism or the worship of self. I wouldn’t count on any restaurants offering a discount for that.
This crowd of atheists must believe they are doing really important work. God forbid a restaurant gives someone a discount for bringing in a church bulletin. That is a dangerous practice that needs to be nipped in the bud.
If society ever collapses it will probably be traced back to Bailey’s discount for church bulletins. But seriously, this is just more attempts by the heathens to remove anything and everything from public that would even hint at anything religious. They just don’t want to be reminded what their eternal destination will be.
It can all be traced back to the perversion of the language of the first Amendment. An intended perversion I might add. The language is clear, and says the Federal Government may not, through law, make any religion the ‘State Religion’. All of this is perverting that, and FFRF knows it, as do the p.o.s. leftists and judges who are doing the perverting. As long as people kowtow to these mean, hateful, petty little tyrants, they will continue to do this.
You’re exactly correct, but what is the remedy when so many leftist & atheist judges rubber-stamp the efforts of the FFRF and other anti-religion groups? Even if something goes all the way to the Supreme Court, right now it’s barely sitting at 5-4 in favor of religious freedom. One more Justice dies or retires before Obama can be replaced and we can kiss religious freedom goodbye.
Short of a massive act of civil disobedience, by millions in many States, I don’t know. Personally, I’ll go to jail before I’ll compromise my faith, FFRF and judges be damned.
The trouble is that people and groups like the FFRF are just whittling away at religious freedom and it’s being removed a little at a time. How far would it have to go before the line is crossed that would set off the massive civil disobedience? I hate to say it but I think most people have their heads in the sand and, while they may not like what is happening, they won’t do anything about it because it doesn’t directly affect them. Oh, that wedding place in New York? But I don’t live there. The cake maker in Colorado? That’s not my state. We’ve already lost prayer in school, religious monuments, etc and we’re still headed down the anti-religion road, so short of pastors being arrested in their pulpits I really can’t see anyone saying enough is enough.