Louisiana College News

PINEVILLE, LA. …

IN IMPORTANT RELIGIOUS LIBERTIES DECISION,

COURT DISMISSES FORMER PROFESSERS’ LAWSUIT BASED ON PROHIBITED ENTANGLEMENT

Establishment Clause Of The First Amendment Of United States Constitution Prohibits Decision Where Court Would Have To Choose Baptist Theology

Court may not make ruling “respecting an establishment of Religion.”  U.S. Const. Amend. 1.

After almost seven years, the suit filed by four former faculty members of Louisiana College, has been decided by the court and in full favor of Louisiana College, its President, Dr. Joe Aguillard, and four other named Board of Trustees’ defendants, Dr. Leon Hyatt, Alan Shoemaker, Amy Russell, and H. Kent Aguillard, Esq.  Judge Doggett of the Ninth District Judicial Court signed her decision in ruling in favor of Louisiana College on March 28, 2012, and ordered that the lawsuit be dismissed.

The case is a landmark decision for Louisiana College, religious institutions everywhere who stand upon Biblical truth, and for Louisiana Baptists who have proudly supported their only Biblically based higher education institution.  The four former faculty members, Dr. Carlton Winbery, Dr. Connie Douglas, Dr. Fred Downing, and Dr. James Heath, who taught Religion and Values classes, lost their petition for academic, defamation and other claims against the College.

The court’s ruling derives from the establishment clause of the First Amendment that Congress is prohibited from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” The court’s decision would require the court to choose sides in a dispute over Baptist Theology which violates the establishment clause. The court has said that it does not have the power to choose which Baptist view is correct.

To “delve deeply into Baptist theology . . . is precisely what is prohibited.”  Slip. Op. at p. 8.  The four professors testified that they held an “. . . errant view of the Bible . . .” Slip. Op. at p. 10

The dispute centered around whether or not the Bible is the inerrant Word of God himself.  Louisiana College, a Southern Baptist institution, proudly operates in accordance with the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 which articulates the Bible’s truths and supports Biblical inerrancy.  The mission of Louisiana College is to provide liberal arts, professional, and graduate programs characterized by devotion to the preeminence of the Lord Jesus, allegiance to the authority of the Holy Scriptures, dedication to academic excellence for the glory of God, and commitment to change the world for Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

“This is an extraordinarily important religious liberties case.  It is historic,” said attorney Frederic Theodore (“Ted”) Le Clercq who represented the College during the years of litigation.

President Joe Aguillard, who served on the faculty for years with the four plaintiffs before they filed suit said, “God’s Word is true, and Louisiana College will never move from its position on Biblical inerrancy, regardless of attacks from any and all directions. The Victory is the Lord’s!” Aguillard said.

PINEVILLE, LA. … Louisiana College will open its doors to 2012 Republican Presidential candidates, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul on Wednesday and Friday of this week. Mitt Romney has yet to confirm his availability to attend.

Gingrich will speak at Louisiana College at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Santorum confirmed that he will be at Louisiana College on Friday, March 23, at 7 p.m., and Paul will also be at LC on Friday at 1 p.m. Gingrich and Santorum will be speaking in the Granberry Conference Room located in the Student Center. Paul has scheduled his appearance for Guinn Auditorium.

The public is invited to attend and show support for their favorite candidate to win the nomination and represent the Republican Party in the Presidential elections this November.

The Louisiana Primary will be Saturday, March 24 and is a closed party election.

JICS Go extends the reach of your JICS portal beyond the desktop or laptop browser and into the hands of the mobile user, providing your mobile device users with access to your JICS server. By using a mobile device such as cell phones and tablets, your end users can access the content on JICS from anywhere, at any time by going to https://my.lacollege.edu/go on their mobile device. Students will be able to access coursework information in the eRacer® learning management system with just a few taps on their mobile device.

JICS Go has a completely new user interface specifically designed to meet the needs of mobile device users. Special attention was paid to the usage patterns of the mobile user.

JICS Go supports many of the JICS base portlets and most of the e-Racer portlets for students. Supported devices include Apple® iOS devices (iPhone®, iPod Touch® and iPad®), Google Android™ devices, and Blackberry® v6.0 phones.

Supported devices include:

· Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) running iOS 3.2 - 5.0

· Android devices running Google Android OS 2.1 - 2.3

· Blackberry v6.0

Microsoft Windows Phone 7.x is under review.

Cellular Data or Wi-Fi Internet connection required for all devices.

JICS Go 1.2 will be released in late February 2012. In the meantime, JICS Go 1.1.1 can be used but the “My Courses” view is not supported in this configuration.

The mission of the Joseph Willis Institute is to educate the present and future generations of spiritual leaders on the historical and biblical principals of the great Christian revivals that have significantly impacted Western civilization, culture, and church growth around the world.  It will sponsor symposiums, host a repository of historical materials, and provide academic instruction.

Pictures and documents coming soon.

Federal lawsuit challenges Obama administration’s latest attack on religious freedom

ALEXANDRIA, La. — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Louisiana College Saturday against the Obama administration. The lawsuit challenges the administration’s unconstitutional mandate that religious employers provide abortifacients, sterilization, and contraception at no cost to employees regardless of religious or moral objections.

“People of faith shouldn’t be punished by the government for following their beliefs when making decisions for themselves or their organizations,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “The Obama administration invented a fake ‘right’ to get ‘free’ abortion pills and sterilization and elevated it above real freedoms protected by the First Amendment. This calculated and intentional attempt to eradicate constitutional protections should terrify every freedom-loving American.”

“The Obama administration has purposely transformed a non-existent problem–access to contraception–into a constitutional crisis,” said ADF-allied attorney and co-counsel Mike Johnson, dean of Louisiana College’s Pressler School of Law. “This mandate offers no choice; Americans either comply and abandon their convictions or resist and be punished.”

President Obama held a press conference on Feb. 10 to offer a “compromise” under which some religious non-profit organizations would not have to comply with the mandate. Instead, the employer’s insurer would be required to offer the employer’s employees the same coverage at no charge. The “compromise”; however, does not exist in the rules or guidance Obama issued on Feb. 10, and the administration is not required to formally propose it.

Theriot explained that even if the proposed change did exist and had coherent boundaries, it would still require the employer to facilitate coverage by providing and paying for an objectionable plan, the costs of which would be passed on to the employers and/or employees via premiums.

“The time for silence is over,” said Louisiana College President Dr. Joe W. Aguillard. “Louisiana College will not sit by and allow this or any government to usurp our God-given religious freedoms and our time-honored Baptist heritage.”

The new lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Louisiana College v. Sebelius, argues that the mandate violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as well as the First and Fifth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

• Pronunciation guide: Theriot (TAIR’-ee-oh)

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.