Advanced Search

Pastor-Turned-Atheist Forces Police Chaplains to Remove Crosses

By
Sze Leng Chan
Christian Post Correspondent
Sat, Dec. 08 2007 01:54 PM ET
[-]Text[+]
E-mail Print RSS More on Topic AddThis Button

Chaplains working in the city police department in Spokane, Wash., will have to remove all crosses from their badges to settle a lawsuit filed by a Christian pastor turned atheist.

Ray Ideus, a former Lutheran pastor of 30 years, claimed in his suit that the Christian-Latin cross included on the badges worn by chaplains in the Spokane Police Department is an “impermissible incorporation of a particular religious symbol in a government insignia.”

“It's very important that they'll have to take that cross off. It's not a Christian police department,” said Ideus, 75, according to the Associated Press.

“The chaplains have to minister to all faiths and non-faiths."

Ideus was countersued by the city attorney who asserted the lawsuit was “false, unfounded, malicious, and without probable cause.“ The countersuit is being dismissed, however, as part of the settlement, which Police Chief Anne E. Kirkpatrick announced to the City Council Monday night.

To those chaplains who wish to show their personal religious preferences, Kirkpatrick said they may still wear lapel pins with crosses or other insignia.

BACK TO TOP Print E-mail More on Topic AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Comments

Most recent comments
IronPillar
  • Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:35 pm
  • : 0
  • : 0
  • Flag
Claiming to be an atheist is a farce - http://www.heaven.net.nz/writings/atheist.htm
HE is LORD
  • Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:08 pm
  • : 0
  • : 0
  • Flag
To: He who thinks - I love it when the uninformed open themselves up for correction. Please tell me where in our Constitution does it say anything about separation of Church and state. The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof... Now my question for you is this. Is there a law that prohibits this mans free speech? If so, who made this law? Was it Congress? If so, wouldnt that be a direct contradiction of the US Constitution? I guess He who thinks would have thought about this before they typed.
ender
  • Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:04 pm
  • : 0
  • : 0
  • Flag
If someone sought out the chaplain for spiritual counseling, how are they likey to be offended by the cross? Is an atheist going to seek out a chaplain for spiritual counseling? If I were going to a chaplain, I would want to know what faith they were trained in. If someone of a non-Christian faith goes to a chaplain and is unaware of their teachings, they may allege that the Christian chaplain was attempting to convert them. After all, they could claim they were unaware that the chaplain was a priest, minister, or otherwise affilliated with Christianity.
He Who Thinks
  • Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:29 am
  • : 0
  • : 2
  • Flag
I applaud the pastor. He finally got it. Separation of Church and State. 1 evangelical down, 99,999,999 to go.
retrop
  • Fri Dec 21, 2007 1:40 pm
  • : 0
  • : 0
  • Flag
I am disappointed that someone in the police department did not contact THE ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND or the RUTHEFORD INSTITUTE and ask them to come in and defend the city of Spokane. Anyone directly connected with this case can do this. These organizations have been set up to do exactly this. It might not not be to late even now.
anniefourjesus
  • Sat Dec 15, 2007 10:44 am
  • : 1
  • : 0
  • Flag
Scripture says, "they went out from amongst us, because they were not from us." In the End times, many will be exposed for the false teachers they are by the LIGHT of The LORD! We live in times of ever-increasing wickedness, and as The DAY of the LORD draws closer, the evil deeds are exposed by The LIGHT!!

amen TheWatch! I praise the Lord for the light of His Word! The more I see in this World, the more I draw closer to The LORD not from Him!! I mean look at this world, where would I go; HE is the TRUTH in a very dark and evil place. I praise the LORD that man is NOT the final voice; and praise be to God that JESUS has made a way for HIS children out of this place!

Let the GLORY OF THE LORD fill the earth and may the deeds of man be exposed for what they truly are! JESUS IS LORD! Let's fix our eyes on the LORD and not on any man! HE is the perfector of our Faith! I just finised a great book by Max Lucado 3:16 I highly recommend this book, what a blessing! What JESUS did for mankind, even now as I sit here, amazed at our God, that HE, the Holy One would come down out of Heaven and be born in my world, experience my world, and took my sin, the evil that I had done, upon Himself, and paid a debt that I could never pay. Jesus died for even this man and others like him, who will deny the Sovereign Lord.
Thank you, dear Lord for your unfailing love and grace, and for making a way out of this place, Thank you dear Jesus that in the twinkling of an eye, forever to live in Your embrace!! Hallelu YAH!
moderate
  • Sat Dec 15, 2007 4:53 am
  • : 0
  • : 1
  • Flag
Atheism has no arguement. This man was nevere a pastor. You can't belive in God and then not. He never had faith in the first place. Also, atheists are whiny. They complain about everything religious because they fell dead inside.
canesfan
  • Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:47 pm
  • : 0
  • : 0
  • Flag
Left off my final sentence. The only ones who can blaspheme the Holy Spirit are the unsaved, the unregenerated.
canesfan
  • Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:33 pm
  • : 0
  • : 0
  • Flag
Just wanted to say what a pleasure it was to find this forum a few days ago. I have been other places on the net, including you tube, where it seems like a believer is always going upstream in the discussions. I will still go there, there are a few voices in the wilderness there. But it is a pleasure to find a place like this where I feel like I am by and large going downstream with the flow. It's good to read the posts of The Watch, holito 8, et. al. One more thing, there was a discussion here a few ago concerning blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Doesn't blaspheming the Holy Spirit have to do with committing the unpardonable sin? That that is the only way to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. In my circles the only way to committ the unpardonable sin is to deny the Holy Spirit's attempt to convict you that the only way to spend eternity with God is to be regenerated through Jesus Christ.
polemos
  • Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:27 pm
  • : 0
  • : 0
  • Flag
Do Atheists Exist?
http://polemos.net/Do%20Atheists%20Exist.html
Please help us to monitor our message boards by flagging Abusive, Spam, Offensive, Illegal, Racist or Libellous Posts.

Comment on this story

ID Password
Submit Don't have a Christian Post ID?Signing up is easy. Click Here