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1. Coaches can "take a knee" during student-led, student-initiated prayer, federal judge rules
East Brunswick High School football coach Marcus Borden quit, then rescinded his resignation and sued instead, after the school district issued a rule that "representatives of the school district cannot participate in student-initiated prayer." Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Dennis Cavanaugh supported each of Borden's arguments: that the rule was too vague, too broad, and violated constitutional protections of free speech, free association, and privacy. The school says it won't appeal the ruling. The Home News Tribune rightly notes that the case has "national implications." Weblog has searched in vain for the actual decision, but the newspaper summary suggests that the broad principle is that a coach's joining in student-led, student-initiated prayer is a constitutionally protected sign of respect, not a constitutionally banned sign of endorsement.

2. Jury finds Baptist Foundation of Arizona leaders guilty of fraud, but not theft
Christianity Today has been following the Baptist Foundation of Arizona case ever since the Phoenix New Times raised questions in 1998. The story is coming to a close, but the book isn't shut yet. That's because only part of the book was thrown at former foundation president William Crotts and former legal counsel Thomas Grabinski yesterday. The two men, explains The Arizona Republic, "were accused of shifting bad assets to 'off the books' companies out of sight of the auditors to hide the foundation's considerable losses, while publishing favorable financial statements to keep the investors' money pouring in."

When it was over, more than 11,000 investors were out $570 million. Monday, a jury convicted the two men of three counts of defrauding investors and one count of knowingly operating an illegal operation. That's enough for a maximum penalty of 86 years in prison—but the jury acquitted them of 23 counts of theft. "They got caught up in something they couldn't get out of," one juror told the Republic. Explained another: "We didn't feel it was intentional."

3. What's next for Ralph Reed?
Interesting analysis on why Ralph Reed lost from Time, the magazine that put him on its cover in 1995 as "The Right Hand of God":

Reed used to blame liberals and secularized politicians for treating religious conservatives as uneducated, gullible and easy to lead. He proved that religious voters were a potent force that shouldn't be ignored or condescended to. "People of faith," he once wrote, had become the new "Amos and Andy," and he was determined to push to the center of American politics their "cluster of pro-family issues" so they could attract "a majority of voters." But Reed forgot his own lessons. In the face of incredibly damning evidence, he insisted that he hadn't done anything wrong and that he didn't know he was consorting with a friend nicknamed Casino Jack or taking money from gambling interests. He thought he could convince his base that they shouldn't believe their eyes and ears, that they should trust him instead. In the end, not enough did.

But few are eager to write Reed's political obituary, or anything that suggests that his defeat means anything. Columnists like Cynthia Tucker and Marianne Means are still screaming about "theocracy" and suggesting that Reed really won—his "extremist" views live on in the White House. Whatever. The New York Times echoes Time's analysis that Reed makes a better behind-the-scenes schemer than an actual candidate. "We forget that there is nobody who is able to craft a message for religious conservatives better than Ralph Reed, and the ability to craft a message does not depend on Ralph Reed and how high his bona fides are," Deal Hudson tells the paper. Deal Hudson? What a fascinating person to quote on this story.

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July (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50