by Vincent R. Caravan

People who follow the “them versus us” court cases no doubt are familiar with the 9th U.S. District Circuit Court of Appeals.

That’s the court that is famous for its rulings against traditional practices in America, most notoriously for the ban on the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools because it contains the phrase “under God.”

Believe it or not, that court’s latest ruling recently has paved the way for “religious liberty,” writes Karla Dial in the June/July issue of Nation, the publication of Dr. James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family.”

When the congregation of Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church, located in East Helena, Montana, signed petitions at the request of their pastor, B. G. Stumberg, in favor of a marriage protection amendment on the state ballot, they had no idea they would be the focus of an investigation into their “political action.”

They did not even realize they were so deeply involved in political action. All they cared about was “responding to a call from national pro-family groups to take part in a simulcast on the need for a federal marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

The pro-gay coalition members who were in town for spying on the church reported the church’s pro-life activities to the Montana Political Action Commission, accusing the church of engaging in political activity without registering with the state.

Now Pastor B. G. Stumberg and his small Baptist church were in the national news, but also in potential trouble, like losing its non-profit status and becoming a political action committee.

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) enters the fray at this point. Its objective was to uphold the principle that churches have a right to speak to moral-political subjects from the pulpit…”

It was the most unlikely of the three judges who offered the opinion that gave victory to the church. Judge John T. Noonan seemed to be the least bit interested in the church’s testimony, but he wrote, “Pastors speaking from the pulpit have righted some of the great wrongs of our society. That’s what Martin Luther King did, and that’s what Pastor B. G. Stumberg did.”

Things are looking up for churches that dare fight publicly for sacred causes, like anti-abortion and same-sex marriage.