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When Thomas Dyer heads to Afghanistan in December, the former Marine and one-time Southern Baptist pastor won't take a rifle with him. He won't take a Bible, either.

From Kentucky, we have a story about a school trip that included not only a visit to a church, but baptism without parental consent. Michelle Ammons is angry that her sixteen-year-old son went on a trip led by his football coach at Breckinridge County High School. The coach took a group of players to his church, where nearly half of them were baptized. Ammons says her son, Robert Coffey, was "baptized without her knowledge and consent, and she is upset that a public school bus was used to take players to a church service — and that the school district's superintendent was there and did not object."

Coffey, a sophomore, said Coach Scott Mooney told players that the trip would "include only a motivational speaker and a free steak dinner." However, other parents say Mooney told them a revival was planned as well. Breckenridge County Schools superintendent Janet Meeks, attends Mooney's church and witnessed the baptisms. She said, "the trip was proper because attendance was not required, and another coach paid for the gas." She added that parents were not required to sign permission slips, and that they knew the event would include a church service.

Now, maybe it's just me, but where I live, any time a student gets on a school bus for a non-school event, a permission slip has to be on file. Also, I would hope no one would ever try to baptize my child without permission - whether it's my nine year old or my teenager. Finally, it would seem that this presents a bit of a conflict with that whole separation of church and state, if a public school is transpotring kids to a church to attend services and be baptized. I'm not entirely sure that it matters who paid for the gas, if it was a trip organized by the school football coach.

Michelle Ammons says that she feels like her son should wait until he is eighteen to make a decision about which spiritual path he will follow -- she is a Baptist married to a Catholic. Ammons said she has consulted a lawyer but has not made any decisions about what action to take.

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A couple of weeks ago, we discussed a Native American mound in Alabama that was once scheduled to be used as fill dirt underneath a new Sam's Club. Now the Anniston Star has an in-depth follow-up to the story, in which it's revealed that the law really doesn't offer much protection at all to Alabama's Native American sites.

In fact, officials the Alabama Historical Commission say that while it's a crime to destroy a grave less than a hundred years old, it's not really a big deal if you "destroy a far older American Indian burial site on your property." Note the words in bold - those are important.

According to the story, the law "says any person who desecrates graves and mutilates corpses is guilty of a Class C felony... [but] any person who maliciously desecrates an American Indian place of burial or funerary objects on property not owned by the person shall be guilty of a Class C felony and upon conviction the person shall be punished as provided by law."

In other words, if it's on land you own, you can pretty much do what you like with it, which is why the city of Oxford was legally allowed to dig up the mound for fill dirt if they wanted to. Although the mound was scheduled for demolition, now a private landowner says he is providing the fill dirt, and the Oxford mound is still in place.

A revision to the law has been suggested by Sen. Wendell Mitchell, which "would omit the language about the American Indian sites, and would also expand the law to cover mounds like the one in Oxford."

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Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto “In God We Trust” in the city’s Council Chambers Tuesday night.

When Thomas Dyer heads to Afghanistan in December, the former Marine and one-time Southern Baptist pastor won't take a rifle with him. He won't take a Bible, either. Instead, Dyer, a Tennessean National Guardsman from Memphis and the first Buddhist chaplain in the history of the U.S. Army, hopes to bring serenity and calm, honed by months of intensive meditation.

Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto “In God We Trust” in the city’s Council Chambers Tuesday night.

Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto “In God We Trust” in the city’s Council Chambers Tuesday night.

Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto “In God We Trust” in the city’s Council Chambers Tuesday night.

Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto “In God We Trust” in the city’s Council Chambers Tuesday night.

Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto “In God We Trust” in the city’s Council Chambers Tuesday night.