Despite Temporary Stay, Judge Orders Bible Removed
by Allie Martin
January 13, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Bible has been removed from a display on the grounds of a Texas courthouse after an appeals court lifted an order that had kept the Bible in place. The head of a Christian group in the Lone Star State the action should outrage followers of Christ across the nation.The Bible, a King James Version, was removed from the 48-year-old, four-foot-tall monument in front of the Harris County Civil Courts building in Houston earlier this week. Following a suit filed by a real estate broker -- who claimed the display offended non-Christians -- a judge ruled last summer that displaying the Bible on county property represented an unconstitutional promotion of Christianity by the county. However, an appeals court issued a temporary stay of the judge's order.
Rick Scarborough, president of Vision America, says he was surprised at an order earlier this week lifting the order that had kept the Bible in place.
"Now while we're hearing an appeal, the judge has taken the very unusual ruling of having the Bible removed even while the appeal is on file," he observes. "It's nothing but an overt attack on Christianity -- the kind of attack that will continue until Christians stand up and say enough is enough."
And as for those who are behind the move, Scarborough says it would be naïve to think this particular action will be enough.
"These [people] who are perpetrating these kinds of assaults on our faith will not be content to remove the Bible from in front of a courthouse in Harris County. Eventually they'll go after the crosses in Arlington Cemetery," he suggests. "You take this assault to its logical conclusion and you finally have a completely secularized society -- that is exactly the agenda."
"At some point in time," he says, "Christians have to draw a line in the sand and say 'We're not going to be pushed any further.'"
The monument was erected by the Star of Hope Mission to honor one of its benefactors. The Bible will be stored at the Houston homeless shelter.
