Apparently, the Johnson Space Center doesn’t like Jesus being mentioned, according to a complaint filed on behalf of Christians who work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The Johnson Space Center Praise and Worship Club was told by NASA attorneys to not use the name of Jesus in announcement that they put into the Space Center newsletter.

The group had been gathering during their lunch hour to sing and pray together since 2001. However, when they attempted to place an announcement in the newsletter that titled the theme of their meeting, which is “Jesus is our life,” that’s where there was an issue.

The post that appeared in the May 28, 2015 JSC Today was as follows:

Join with the praise and worship band “Allied with the Lord” for a refreshing set of spring praise and worship songs on Thursday, June 4, from 11:15 a.m. to noon in Building 57, Room 106. (The theme for this session will be “Jesus is our life!”) Prayer partners will be available for anyone who has need. All JSC civil servants and contractors are welcome.

“It was shocking to all of us and very frustrating,” NASA engineer Sophia Smith told FOX News’ Todd Starnes. “NASA has a long history of respecting religious speech. Why wouldn’t they allow us to put the name Jesus in the announcement about our club?”    

Todd Starnes reports:

Liberty Institute, one of the nation’s largest religious liberty law firms, threatened to file a federal lawsuit unless NASA apologizes and stops censoring the name ‘Jesus’.

…

“Soon after that, the legal department called the organizers and told them they could not use the name Jesus in their announcements,” Dys told me. “They said, no Jesus.”

The club’s leadership was told that “NASA would be censoring all future club announcements that featured the name, ‘Jesus’,” Liberty Institute alleged in its complaint letter.

NASA’s legal department explained that including the name ‘Jesus’ within the club’s announcement made that announcement “sectarian” or “denominational.”

They also alleged such announcements would cause NASA to violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

This is utterly a ridiculous statement. Is NASA Congress? No. Then the First Amendment does not apply to them in anyway.

NASA issued a statement late Monday – that did not refute Liberty Institute’s charge.

“NASA does not prohibit the use of any specific religious names in employee newsletters or other internal communications. The agency allows a host of employee-led civic, professional, religious and other organizations to meet on NASA property on employee’s own time. Consistent with federal law, NASA attempts to balance employee’s rights to freely exercise religious beliefs with its obligation to ensure there is no government endorsement of religion. We believe in and encourage open and diverse dialogue among our employees and across the agency.”

Indeed NASA has had a long history of the Bible being in the midst of their programs, including the famous Christmas Eve reading of the Creation account from Geneis in 1968.

However, under Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro Sobarkah, the space agency has not only promoted a communist agenda, but been ordered to reach out to Muslims. Perhaps this is partly where some of this comes from.

In either case, NASA is not violating the First Amendment by publishing the name Jesus in its newsletter and it should know better. Thankfully, there are those that do and are holding these NASA attorneys accountable and calling them out.