T-Shirt Sparks Controversy at Penn State

A controversy is brewing at Penn State University over a T-shirt that won a student-design competition to promote school spirit.

The shirt features a design with a blue stripe similar to the Nittany Lions' distinctive football helmet.

Penn State is printed through the stripe, but some people say that it looks too much like a cross.

Six complaints have been filed with the university, including one from the Anti-Defamation League's Philadelphia branch.

Creators of the design, seniors Stephanie Bennis and Emily Sabolsky, defended their work saying it had no religious overtones.

Bennis said the blue stripe was intended to reflect the school's football program.

"That was the entire idea," she said. "And all we thought was normally wording goes right across the chest. That's truly the reason why we did it."

Bennis also said she was shocked by the controversy. "Are we going to ban lowercase t's in the alphabet?" she asked. "Where do you draw the line?"

Bill Mahon, vice president for university relations, told Foxnews.com that "six complaints is not a controversy."

"Students submit shirt designs to the student paper each year," Mahon said. "Students then vote for their favorite design and they are sold in the campus bookstore."

Mahon also said the university has no plan to remove the shirts.

"The shirts have sold out and no changes are planned," he said.

Much ado about nothing, I say. The ACLU and others are way too eager to eliminate any crosses they see. I say they should give it up because those pesky Christians never give up their faith and when push comes to shove the Lord is on their side. The Cross and all it stands for will live on forever.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
1 Corinthians 12:27

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Galatians 5:1

Christians on high alert over hate crimes passage

A hate crimes bill sent to President Obama for his signature raises a red flag for Christians.

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed a hate crimes bill that Christian leaders have warned for years could greatly infringe on the rights of those who speak to loudly about their religious views. Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel agrees with most observers that President Obama will sign the measure -- adding that the president desires to "throw a bone to homosexual activists because they have been breathing down his neck...and this is a way to hold them off."

Barber views the legislation as something akin to a muzzle. "Unfortunately, it places Christians -- people of faith, people who have traditional values relative to sexual immorality...in an untenable position," says the attorney.

He notes that several years ago, a similar law in Pennsylvania resulted in the arrest of 11 Christians who were presenting the gospel at a Philadelphia homosexual rally. Barber goes on to say that the federal bill "will chill religious liberty and free speech -- and that is its intended purpose, not to protect anybody from hate crimes."

And as for pastors? "There is a very weak exemption in [the bill] which is totally illusory, and a religious exemption is not going to protect pastors," responds Barber. "Renegade prosecutors and politically correct leftists in positions of authority can subjectively determine what is or is not a hate crime." And then move on to prosecution, he adds.

Barber explains that Liberty Counsel intends to challenge the constitutionality of the hate crimes legislation.

?The Hate Crime bill goes way beyond just saying anything about gays. It’s an unnecessary bill because in these times everyone is so eager for lawsuits that the simplest quarrel can clog up the courts. Besides, assault and murder are still serious crimes and apply to everyone anyway. This bill only serves to chip away at our freedom of speech. Once that is gone, so is our freedom of religion. Only time will tell the full story and it doesn’t appear to have a happy ending.

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination.
Leviticus 18:22

Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Romans 1:32