Religious intolerance now driving persecution of minorities across the world (Minority Rights Group)
The following Press Release is from MinorityRights.org.
Religious intolerance has now joined racism in many parts of the world as the leading cause of the persecution of minorities, a new global report from Minority Rights Group International reveals.
State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2010reports that the rise of religious nationalism, the economic marginalization of religious minorities and the abuse of counter-terrorism laws have all led to a growing pattern of persecution against religious minorities globally.
On every continent, religious minorities are facing attack, detention, torture and the repression of their fundamental freedoms.
“Religious intolerance is the new racism,” says Mark Lattimer, Director of Minority Rights Group International. “Many communities that have faced racial discrimination for decades are now being targeted because of their religion.”
According to the report the targeting of minorities on religious grounds is now increasingly becoming a trend in most of Western Europe and in North America while in parts of Asia and Africa religion is fast overtaking race or ethnicity as the key factor driving discrimination and violent attacks against communities. In many states, from the United Kingdom to Ethiopia to Bangladesh, poverty is increasingly correlated with religion.
Minorities, particularly Muslims, across the USA and Europe, have been targets of increased state controls as well as nationalist campaigns by right-wing groups. In Switzerland, following a campaign by the ultra-conservative Swiss People’s Party, a majority of participating voters backed a referendum, which proposed a ban on the building of new minarets in mosques.
The report also finds that nearly a decade after 9/11, religious minorities across the world face increased attacks, persecution and a clampdown on their freedoms due to stringent counter-terrorism measures.
In Iraq and Pakistan, both countries at the forefront of the ‘war on terror’, attacks against religious minorities have escalated in recent years.
In Iraq, religious groups such as the Christians, Mandaeans, Baha’i and Yezidis, have become targets of violence, including murder, abduction, rape and looting of properties, since the 2003 US-led invasion. In Pakistan, partly as a backlash and response to the US and Pakistani military operations, the Taliban have targeted Christians for attack, through killings, torture, forcible conversions and burning of churches and Bibles, the report says.
In the last decade there has also been an increase in religious profiling as part of counter-terrorism measures introduced by governments. In most cases the targets have been men believed to be Muslim or originating from a Muslim state.
In the aftermath of the Christmas Day 2009 attempted bombing of an airliner over Detroit, by a Nigerian Muslim, the US authorities targeted citizens of 14 countries – 13 of them predominantly Muslim – for special scrutiny at airports. In January 2009, thousands of people protested in Uttar Pradesh, India, accusing police of arresting young Muslim boys on terrorism charges with minimal evidence.
Many religious communities also face difficulties such as lack of citizenship or being unable to adhere to their customs and practices and build places of worship due to national religious registration laws. In Egypt, the government requires all identification papers to list religious affiliation, but restricts the choice to the three officially-recognized religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. The Baha’i are thus unable to obtain identification papers because they refuse to lie about their religious affiliation and are deprived of access to employment, education, medical and financial services.
Since 2001, a number of countries, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, have either introduced or amended their religious registration laws.
‘Although these laws are sometimes presented as responses to security threats or as a means of maintaining public order, they are increasingly being used by states to monitor and control religious communities,’ says Mark Lattimer.
Notes to Editors
- Interview opportunities: London – Mark Lattimer, Executive Director, MRG International – Included with this press release is a short list of cases related to religious minorities discussed in the report. For interviews with representatives of communities cited in the cases please see their contact details listed below each of the case studies
- Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is a non-governmental organisation working to secure the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide
- For a copy of the report or to arrange interviews please contact:
Emma Eastwood or Farah Mihlar
T: +44 207 4224205
M: +44 7989 699 984 or +44 7870 596863
E: emma.eastwood@mrgmail.org or farah.mihlar@mrgmail.org
The following is a list of some specific cases of issues affecting religious minorities regionally and nationally. Interviewees and their contact details are listed below each case:
Rise of far right in Europe fuels spread of intolerance towards religious minorities
A rise in right-wing radicalism is fuelling the spread of xenophobia and extremist attitudes towards religious minorities in Europe. The report details a sharp rise in Islamophobia in Europe in 2009.
In May, ultra right-wing groups held an ‘anti-Islam’ rally to oppose the building of a large new mosque in Cologne, Germany. When the authorities in Denmark’s capital city Copenhagen approved the country’s first purpose-built mosque, the extreme-right Danish People’s Party launched an anti-mosque campaign in September. Following a campaign by the ultra-conservative Swiss People’s Party, most of Switzerland’s cantons and a majority of participating voters backed a referendum in November, which proposed a ban on the building of new minarets in mosques.
The report also notes an increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents against the Jewish community in Europe. The chapter also points to the global financial crisis contribution to the rise.
Contact
Katalin Halász,
Author of the Europe chapter,
T: +36 30936 9745
E: halasz@gmail.com
Kenya: Nubians – poverty, deprivation and statelessness
The Nubian community has been present in Kenya for about 100 years. Many live in harsh conditions
of poverty and deprivation in the Kibera slum in Nairobi. Before 2009, when Nubians were finally
recognized in the national population census process, to be a Nubian and a Muslim in Kenya amounted to membership of a non-Kenyan identity. Despite this recognition, however, they continue to suffer from citizenship-based discrimination. The bulk of Nubians experience obstacles to their application for citizenship in Kenya immediately upon disclosing their names, most of which are Arab and identify them as Muslim. Such designation instantly results in more documentary evidence being required to sustain an individual’s citizenship claim.
Contact:
Adam Hussein Adam,
Open Society Kenya,
Kenya
E: ahussein@osiea.org or adamhusse@gmail.com
T: +254 722649024 or +254 715767908
Nigeria: violent clashes between Muslims and Christians
Nigeria’s 140 million people are nearly evenly divided between Christians, who predominate in the south, and Muslims, primarily in the north. In July 2009, four days of rioting was ignited by Boko Haram, an Islamic sect opposed to Western education, medicine and values in northern Nigeria; 800 people (mainly Boko Haram supporters and three Christian pastors) were confirmed killed. The rioting, which initially targeted police and government bases, also led to extensive property losses, including the destruction of government installations. Twenty churches, police stations and prisons were burned before police captured Boko Haram’s leader. He was later killed in detention. The attacks had been in alleged retaliation for the burning of two mosques by Christian groups. The disproportionate use of force by the Nigerian military police against Boko Haram has been criticized, however. This conflict came on the heels of another religious conflict in Jos ignited by political differences. In November 2008, more than 700 people were killed in Jos, the capital of Plateau State, when a political feud over a local election degenerated into bloody confrontation between Christians and Muslims. Violence erupted again in early 2010.
Contact:
Aba Ahola Ejembi,
Civil Liberties Organisation,
Nigeria.
T: +234-803 327 9014 or +234 – 9- 6709044
E: abejembi@yahoo.com
Hindus increasingly attacked and persecuted in Bangladesh
In 2009, a total of 541 incidents affecting religious minorities were reported in Bangadesh by MRG’s partner organisation Odhikar. These include assaults, land seizures and one killing.
There were also 27 attacks on places of worship during the year, most of them instigated by local gangs or political leaders who acted in a climate of impunity, with police taking no action over the incidents.
One of the groups specifically targeted in the attacks is the country’s Hindu minority. According to Odhikar, in February 2009, 300 Hindus were injured and one woman raped in Maheshkhali, Chittagong, when gangs attacked a religious event. In March and April 2009, mainly Hindus were affected when gangs forced some 400 people from their homes in the Sutrapur district of Dhaka. In both places, Hindu temples were destroyed.
Supporters or members of the ruling Awami League have been accused of being involved in almost all of the attacks against Hindus. In September 2009, Awami League members fired gunshots and evicted Hindus from their homes, again in Sutrapur. In that incident and others during the month of September, a total of 14 temples were reportedly attacked.
Targeted gender violence is an integral part of the attacks against religious minorities. One of the two reported rape cases targeted against religious minority women, in 2009 involved a Hindu woman in the incident in Chittagong in February.
Contact
Adilur Rahman Khan,
Secretary of Odhikar,
Bangladesh.
Mobile: +88-01711-405-188
Email: odhikar.bd@gmail.com or odhikar@sparkbd.net
Counter-terrorism measures target Muslims in India
The situation for Muslims in some parts of India remains tense. Particularly since the Mumbai attacks in 2008, the Indian government has used counterterrorism measures to arrest and detain large numbers of Muslims arbitrarily. In 2009, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged India to counter suspicion against Muslims in the country and warned that anti-terrorism laws threatened human rights.
In January 2009, thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the imprisonment and killing of two Muslims accused of being terrorists. The protesters were demanding a judicial investigation into the killings. Many of the protesters said that several Muslim youths had been arrested on minimal evidence in Uttar Pradesh on suspicion of terrorist links. After the Mumbai attacks, the government rushed through new laws, allowing police to hold suspects for up to 180 days without charge.
In April 2009, the Indian Supreme Court rejected a plea by a Muslim student who had been expelled from a Christian missionary school in Madhya Pradesh for refusing to shave off his beard. The presiding judge ruled that it was against India’s secularism and associated sporting a beard with terrorism and extremist values.
Contact
Irfan Engineer,
Director,
Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS).
India
T: +919869462833; +919867027267
E: irfansan@hotmail.com; irfanengi@gmail.com
Americas: religious intolerance towards indigenous American earth-based belief systems
Throughout the approximately 500-year history of state formation in the Americas, religious thinking has been a key factor in the region’s evolution. European colonial expansion into the Americas was a religious project, sanctioned and directed by the Church hierarchy and highly intolerant to traditional indigenous and African belief systems. Religious communities such as Puritan Protestants were also among the first settlers in the continental United States and the eastern Caribbean. In 2009, indigenous activists in Bolivia and the United States have continued to argue that it is the workings of these doctrines and belief systems in the contemporary secular context that still constrain indigenous peoples and African descendants’ efforts to control their natural resources, and to preserve traditional cultures, lands and lives. At the December 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions, indigenous peoples’ representatives claimed that it is such contemporary practices that demonstrate a direct historical connection to the doctrines of conquest, prompting them to call collectively on religious leaders, such as Pope Benedict XVI, to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery.
Contact:
Maurice Bryan, author of the Americas chapter, State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2010
T: +503 77667881 / +504 5663199
E: maurice.bryan@mrgmail.org
Canada: balancing women’s rights with freedom of religion
Sometimes the perceived importance of ensuring religious freedom is so strong it can overshadow the need to preserve other rights. For many women from religious minorities around the world, this is a common experience. Using women’s rights as a baseline indicator helps us judge whether countries are able to provide for the needs of religious minorities at a sophisticated enough level that women from religious minorities benefit equally – as both belonging to religious minorities and as women. In the last few years, Canada grappled with the question of whether and how Sharia courts can be incorporated into the laws of the land. Whilst some Muslim women may have wanted to use non-mainstream legal options such as Sharia courts to resolve their concerns, others, such as the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, organized against the introduction of Sharia law.
Contact:
Alia Hogben,
Executive Director,
Canadian Council of Muslim Women.
T: +613-3822847
E: aliahogben@gmail.com
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March 30th, 2010
Dr. Michael Schluter, founder of Keep Sunday Special, debates business entrepreneurs and representatives of other faith groups on the issue of whether Europe should adopt Sunday as a uniform day of rest. Part I Part II Related stories: ANALYSIS: European Sunday Weekly Rest Day Legislation Remains Unlawful “This matter deserves a full debate engaging all [...]
- Arrests Made in Christian Militia Police-Killing Plot (CBN)
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March 29th, 2010
EXCERPT: Members of a paramilitary group have been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and wage war against the United States — and they use God as their reasoning. The group is active in three Midwest states. The FBI believes some of its members were about to launch a massacre. Read [...]
- NJ county’s Sunday buying ban may be checking out (AP)
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March 29th, 2010
Thanks to RLTV reader Doug Beasley for finding this story. EXCERPT: The Sunday shopping ban in New Jersey’s largest county — among the nation’s last remaining blue laws — may be lifted to satisfy the state’s hunger for more sales tax revenue. The budget proposed last week by new Republican Gov. Chris Christie assumes $65 million in new [...]
- Stephen Colbert Tests Columbia Prof On Textbooks (Comedy Central)
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March 25th, 2010
The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c I’s on Edjukashun – Texas School Board www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform The Texas State Board of Education has voted to radically alter textbook lessons for future generations, removing from curricula separation of church and state and references to Thomas Jefferson. [...]
- 9th Circuit Upholds the Term ‘God’ in Pledge and on Currency
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March 21st, 2010
Although this was a lawsuit brought by an atheist, had he won, the result might have actually been more protective of the honor of God. After these rulings stripping the name of God of any religious meaning, those who have so long clamored for God’s name to be mentioned as a statement of this nation’s religious faith might want to re-think their position.
- 9th Circuit Holds ‘Ministerial Exception’ Bars Seminarian Employment Case
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March 21st, 2010
EXCERPT: This “ministerial exception” helps to preserve the wall between church and state from even the mundane government intrusion presented here. In this case, plaintiff Cesar Rosas seeks pay for the overtime hours he worked as a seminarian in a Catholic church in Washington. The district court correctly determined that the ministerial exception bars Rosas’s claim and dismissed the case on the pleadings.
- Washington State Bill to Unionize Child Care Centers Dies in Committee
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March 18th, 2010
Washington State Bill to Unionize Child Care Centers Dies in Committee We have good news from the State of Washington. You may have read our last newsletter about the bill that labor unions were trying to pass that would unionize private child care centers, and including faith-based preschools, and categorize their workers as government employees [...]
- Oregon Legislature Votes Down 1923 Ban on Teachers Wearing Religious Dress
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March 17th, 2010
Oregon Legislature Votes Down 1923 Ban on Teachers Wearing Religious Dress By Michael Peabody – This month we have a couple of big stories coming out of the great Pacific Northwest. In Oregon, the legislature has passed a bill championed by the Northwest Religious Liberty Association that overturns a 87-year-old law that prohibited teachers from [...]
- Texas education board rejects in-depth study of First Amendment (DallasNews.com)
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March 12th, 2010
EXCERPT: AUSTIN – Republicans on the State Board of Education soundly rejected a Democratic-backed proposal Thursday that would have required Texas students to be taught the reasons behind the prohibition of a state religion in the Bill of Rights. The contentious decision in curriculum standards for U.S. government classes appeared to signal the unhappiness of several board [...]
- RLTV Podcast: Martin Surridge on Swiss Minarets and the French Burqa Ban
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March 9th, 2010
Martin Surridge, the new associate editor of ReligiousLiberty.TV and Michael Peabody discuss recent developments in Europe.
- Religious Tension Leads to Clashes in Jerusalem (From Al Jazeera English)
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March 8th, 2010
- Conference to Relaunch ‘Sunday Protection’ at European Level to be Held (COMECE)
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March 5th, 2010
At RLTV we have been watching developments of this issue for over a year. A coalition of churches and labor unions is again working toward the goal of a European Sunday rest law. Editor EXCERPT: A Conference to relaunch the debate on Sunday protection at European level will be held on 24 March in the European [...]
- Tension over Religious Sites Leaves Dozens Hurt in Jerusalem Clashes
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March 5th, 2010
EXCERPT from BBC News (link below): Palestinians and Israeli police have clashed near the Jerusalem compound housing the al-Aqsa mosque, leaving dozens of people injured. A large group of Palestinians left Friday prayers and began marching to the mosque, carrying banners and waving green flags, witnesses and police said. Police tried to disperse the crowd [...]
- Faith Healing Couple Guilty of Murder
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March 3rd, 2010
EXCERPT from ABC News (link below): An Oregon husband and wife who relied on faith rather than medicine to treat their dying child were convicted today of criminally negligent homicide. Jeffrey and Marci Beagley of Oregon City said they thought their 16-year-old son, Neil, merely had the flu when they prayed and laid hands on [...]
- The Winter Olympics and Inequality in Global Athletics
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March 3rd, 2010
In high school, the only sports I played to any significant extent were soccer and basketball. A lot of my friends went snowboarding or skiing, but it was a long drive to the mountains and I could not really afford all the equipment, which cost hundreds of dollars. So I never spent much time on [...]
- RLTV PODCAST: Jason Hines on The Church, Same-Sex Marriage, and Public Policy
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February 26th, 2010
Michael Peabody interviews Jason Hines, attorney and Andrews University seminary student, about the topic of same-sex marriage and why religious groups need to be careful to protect liberty of conscience in their advocacy on this issue.
- UN condemns Gaddafi jihad call
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February 26th, 2010
EXCERPT from Al Jazeera English (link below): The United Nations and European Union have condemned a call from Libya’s leader for Muslims to carry out jihad against Switzerland over a recent vote to ban the construction of minarets in the European country. Gaddafi said: “Any Muslim around the world who has dealings with Switzerland is an [...]
- Oregon Legislature Ends Ban on Teachers Wearing Religious Dress – Goes to Governor for Signature
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February 25th, 2010
EXCERPT from OregonLive.com (link below): Oregon’s longstanding ban on teachers wearing head scarves or other religious dress is near its demise after the Senate and House gave final approval Tuesday to lift the ban. Champions in the Senate called ending the ban a historic step toward religious freedom and non-discrimination in a state that has [...]
- Washington House of Representatives Attempts to Facilitate Union Take-Over of Religious Child Care Centers
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February 24th, 2010
By Michael D. Peabody – So what’s the biggest threat to religious liberty? According to J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the answer is found in the strings attached to government funding of religious activity. Earlier this month, during a speech for the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, Walker said, “What the government funds, it always regulates. Government-sponsored religion is always bad for religion. How can we raise a prophetic fist with one hand and take government money with the other?”
The truth of Walker’s statement was underscored just last week when the Washington State House of Representatives passed HB 1329, now working its way through the state Senate, that cleared the way for unionization of private and most non-profit child care centers if they take government subsidies for as little as one child, and even declares the centers’ employees “government employees” for the purposes of unionization.
- HISTORY: Nine Children Face an Angry Town (Adventist Review)
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February 23rd, 2010
EXCERPT: I’M DRIVING HOME ONE DAY LAST SEPTEMBER with a major assignment on my mind—a formal presentation at an October conference in observance of the fiftieth anniversary of what some have called the most controversial book in Adventism: Questions on Doctrine. My radio is tuned to CSPAN, and on comes a live report of the [...]
- Obama speaks up for Tibetans, but in a hushed voice (India Times)
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February 19th, 2010
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Obama-speaks-up-for-Tibetans-but-in-a-hushed-voice/articleshow/5594740.cms EXCERPT: WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama met with the Dalai Lama to express his “strong support” for human rights and religious freedom for the people of Tibet while encouraging a direct dialogue with China. Mr Obama “commended the Dalai Lama’s ‘Middle Way’ approach, his commitment to non-violence and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinesegovernment during [...]
- God’s Counterterrorism in a ’24′ World
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February 13th, 2010
God’s Counterterrorism in a ’24′ World from Ryan Bell on Vimeo. Ryan Bell, the pastor Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church, gave this presentation at La Sierra University on January 28, 2010.
- RLTV PODCAST: Monte Sahlin on How to Help Haiti
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February 10th, 2010
Monte Sahlin is the director of Research and Development of the Ohio Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and is an expert international humanitarian aid. In this podcast he discusses the Haiti Earthquake and the response of a church group from Idaho that tried to help but got in trouble. He discussed Haiti and other current issues [...]
- Oregon House Votes to Repeal Ban on Teachers Wearing Religious Dress
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February 10th, 2010
By an overwhelming majority, the Oregon House of Representatives has voted 51-8 to repeal a Klan-era ban on teachers wearing religious dress in the classroom. The law, originally an anti-Catholic measure, was implemented with the support of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. It bans Muslim public school teachers from wearing headscarves, Sikh men [...]
- The European Attack on Religious Liberty
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February 8th, 2010
While they have been easy to miss, the news has been peppered recently with stories of serious threats to religious liberty not in the developing world, war-torn regions in the Middle East, or third-world countries struck by natural disasters, but in Europe, our own geopolitical backyard.
- Haiti Quake Report (ADRA)
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February 7th, 2010
First hand reports of Adventist Development and Relief Agency’s assistance to the earthquake victims of Haiti. Visit ADRA.org for more information.
- Russia plan to “kick out cults” could also affect religious freedom (RT)
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February 6th, 2010
- The damage of the anti-vaccine movement (Los Angeles Times)
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February 6th, 2010
Childhood diseases once mostly eradicated are making a comeback. And children are dying.
- RLTV PODCAST: Martin Surridge on the Decline of Islamic Terrorism
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February 1st, 2010
Martin Surridge and Michael Peabody discuss Surridge’s recent article, “Is the Era of Large-Scale Islamic Terrorism Coming to an End?” in which he theorizes that Islamic terrorism in the West is on the decline.
- Some Thoughts on the Implications of the Same-Sex Marriage Trial for Religious Minorities
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January 31st, 2010
Putting the emotional issues aside, this is the cold reality: If the U.S. Supreme Court takes this case and decides to uphold Proposition 8, this outcome could strip away fundamental principles that also protect religious minorities.
- RLTV PODCAST: Attorney Karen Scott on the Current Problem of Human Trafficking in the United States
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January 29th, 2010
Michael Peabody interviews Karen Scott about the problem of modern day slavery and human trafficking in the United States.
Bumper Music: “What’s the Matter with the World” by C Sharp. Music obtained through MusicAlley.com.
- Is the Era of Large-Scale Islamic Terrorism Coming to an End?
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January 25th, 2010
While the world cautiously watches the war in Afghanistan and the nuclear aspirations of Iran, a surprising geopolitical trend may be emerging which could have quite profound consequences for international security and the safety of millions throughout southwest Asia and indeed the rest of the world. Despite the global carnage that Islamic terrorist groups continue [...]
- RLTV PODCAST: Scott Ritsema on the Gun Sight Controversy
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January 25th, 2010
Michael Peabody interviews Scott Ritsema about the recent controversy involving a gun sight manufacturer that inscribed Bible references on tactical equipment used by military forces around the world. Scott Ritsema is the author of The Way the Truth and the Sword and maintains a blog at http://civicsnews.blogspot.com.
BUMPER MUSIC: ”Guns or Butter” performed by [...]
- Muzzle Flash Evangelism: Outrage over Biblical References on Military Gun Sights (From ABC News)
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January 21st, 2010
- Walla Walla – Shelter for Freedom Screens Documentary Film “Cargo: Innocence Lost”
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January 21st, 2010
By Martin Surridge A multitude of Walla Walla University students joined local community members and concerned citizens at Shelter for Freedom’s headlining event on Saturday night, January 16, 2010, filling Whitman College’s Cordiner Hall for the screening of the documentary film “Cargo: Innocence Lost.” The screening, which was followed by a panel discussion, was just one of [...]
- Spiritually transformed killing machines of Christ (Civics News)
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January 20th, 2010
Scott Ritsema CIVICS NEWS January 19, 2010 As if there weren’t enough instances where the American Empire is associated with the faith of Jesus (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here for starters) another sad story has leaked into the media (see ABC story here), this time about Bible [...]
- VIDEO – Pat Robertson Gives Religion A Bad Name With His Disaster Comments – CNN
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January 16th, 2010
Arianna Huffington joined The Nation’s Ari Melber and former evangelist Frank Schaeffer on The Joy Behar Show Thursday. The panel weighed in on evangelist Pat Robertson’s claims that the earthquake in Haiti is the result of that country’s “pact with the devil.” Arianna Huffington thinks Robertson is giving religion a bad name. “For anybody of faith, [...]
- Pat Robertson, the Earthquake in Haiti, and the Righteousness of God
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January 15th, 2010
In 1999, comedian George Carlin wrote, “Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time! But He loves you.”
I thought about Carlin’s statement as I watched a clip of Pat Robertson blaming this week’s earthquake in Haiti on a mythical pact that the people of Haiti supposedly made with the Devil in order to become independent of France over two centuries ago. ““[E]ver since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor,” Robertson said.
- Blue Laws and Sunday Legislation-why do they exist? CNN Video
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January 13th, 2010
A video describing some of the religious and secular rationale behind American Sunday blue laws.
- ‘Aye, those be slighting words against the Lord:’ Ireland’s blasphemy law (National Post)
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January 10th, 2010
EXCERPT: On the first day of 2010 (note: not 1310), Ireland’s new blasphemy law came into effect, making statements about the folly of religion punishable by a 25,000 euro fine. Specifically, the law forbids “publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters sacred by any religion.” Ireland, yet again, [...]
- Pope Benedict: “the Great Consolidator” (American Spectator)
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January 10th, 2010
EXCERPT from the Article by Jeremy Lott: That makes him a conservative but a radical one. The easiest way to change a church is to drastically change her membership, and that is exactly what the pope is calling for with his impatient prodding to bring whole communions into the flock. Yesterday the traditionalists, today the [...]
- Report says 225,000 Haiti children work as slaves (AP)
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December 23rd, 2009
From http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/latinamerica/6783415.html EXCERPT: PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Poverty has forced at least 225,000 children in Haiti’s cities into slavery as unpaid household servants, far more than previously thought, a report said Tuesday. The Pan American Development Foundation’s report also said some of those children — mostly young girls — suffer sexual, psychological and physical abuse while [...]
- Dr. Adrian Westney Passes Away
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December 18th, 2009
Dr. Adrian Theophilus Westney passed away at the age of 82 on December 14, 2009 after having served the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the cause of religious freedom for over 60 years. Before coming to the United States in 1960, Westney planted churches and pastored in his homeland of Jamaica, as well as [...]
- Event “Slavery: The Fight We Thought Was Over” – Walla Walla – January 14-18, 2010
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December 15th, 2009
SHELTER FOR FREEDOM “Slavery: The Fight We Thought Was Over” FILM: “Cargo: Innocence Lost” Walla Walla University & Whitman College January 14-18, 2010 Walla Walla, WA All the following events are free except for Film Screening and Reception. EVENTS TO BENEFITS WALLA WALLA HELPLINE WOMEN’S SHELTER Thursday, January 14, [...]
- Cargo: Innocence Lost Movie
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December 15th, 2009
Cargo: Innocence Lost – Film screening – Saturday, January 16, 5:00 pm, Cordiner Hall, Whitman College – Documentary by Michael Cory Davis on human trafficking in the United States – Anne Archer will introduce the film and Michael Cory Davis – Panel discussion to follow featuring Anne Archer, Michael Cory Davis and law enforcement, slavery [...]
- Jan Paulsen on Freedon
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December 12th, 2009
Pastor Jan Paulsen, world president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church discusses freedom as a foundational value for human dignity.
- Faith, Freedom, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor (Liberty Magazine)
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December 10th, 2009
By David A. Pendleton – Ever since President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court, the chattering classes have speculated endlessly regarding the impact she might have on the future of American jurisprudence. She would bring wide-ranging experiences to the Court: prosecutor, civil litigator, federal trial judge, federal appellate judge, law [...]
- Michigan Church Has the Right to Help Poor People, ACLU Tells Court (ACLU Release)
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December 10th, 2009
“Congress enacted the Religious Land Use Act to protect the fundamental right of freedom of religion,” said Dan Korobkin, an ACLU of Michigan staff attorney who is representing the church. “Churches and other religious institutions have the right to use their property to exercise their religious beliefs — which in this case entails providing charitable services to the poor and underprivileged.”
- China and a Canadian Newspaper call for worldwide one-child policy
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December 10th, 2009
This comes from the left end of the political spectrum and presents what may simply be rhetorical posturing, or a harbinger of the next big issue. Aside from a one-child policy we can expect it to trickle into areas having to do with euthanasia, health care, etc. China has recently been calling for an international [...]
- Pastor Boissoin’s Lawyer: Case Will Positively Impact Religious Freedom in Canada (LifeSiteNews)
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December 7th, 2009
From http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09120706.html EXCERPT: CALGARY, December 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Gerald Chipeur, the lawyer who represented Pastor Stephen Boissoin, has said that the recent ruling in favor of Mr. Boissoin “will have a significant long term positive impact on religious freedom in Canada.” Pastor Boissoin was exonerated by a Court of Queen’s Bench judge last week [...]
- The Manhattan Declaration: Approach with Caution
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December 7th, 2009
We have no reason to doubt that those who drafted and are signing the Declaration are sincere and trying to do what they believe is best for America. There are many good reasons why it may seem a good idea, but we should raise a voice of caution regarding the unintended consequences of this approach. Christians tempted to set aside theological differences, which include differences in how grace and salvation are viewed so significant that they led to the battles of the Reformation and Inquisition, and unite on points held in common in order to change society should recall the unholy results of such unions. From a Christian perspective, government and even church edicts cannot change hearts, only God can.
- Huckabee and Colson on the Manhattan Declaration
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December 3rd, 2009
Mike Huckabee talks to Chuck Colson about the significance of the Manhattan Declaration, which Huckabee claims could be the equivalent of the 49 Theses posted by Martin Luther, which is an official document composed by a group of Evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox leaders who are uniting against causes such as abortion, same-sex marriage and their definition [...]
- Germany: Rigid Sunday law used against Scientology which is considered “business” by gov’t. (Der Spiegel)
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December 3rd, 2009
GERMANY – Scientologists have had a particularly difficult time in Europe where many view them as a nuisance for their recruiting activities. When they opened a new 43,000 square foot facility near Berlin, the locals complained. However, the city found a loophole based on a 1995 Federal Labor Court ruling that found that Scientology is “neither a religion nor an [...]
- Interview with Jeff Sharlet: The Secret Political Reach Of ‘The Family’ (National Public Radio)
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November 24th, 2009
The Secret Political Reach Of ‘The Family’ This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. The fundamentalist group The Family has operated secretively with the help of influential congressmen and senators who are members of the group to promote their anti-gay, anti-abortion, pro-free-market ideas in America and other parts of the world, but two sex scandals [...]
- The Dangerous Idea of Protecting Religions from “Defamation” (USCIRF)
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November 22nd, 2009
A Threat to Universal Human Rights Standards November 11, 2009 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – In advance of the upcoming vote on this issue in the UN General Assembly, USCIRF today issued the following Policy Focus explaining the problems with the idea that religions should be protected from “defamation.” Executive Summary Over the past decade, [...]
- INTERVIEW: John Marcotte, Author of the 2010 California Protection of Marriage Act
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November 17th, 2009
Rob Cockerham is the genius behind the website Cockeyed.com, which answers all kinds of questions. I first became a fan of the site back in 2004 when I was trying to visualize the size of an acre. Since then, I’ve been amazed at Rob’s “High Profile Sculpture Replacement” experiments, and American Idol Judges costume and groundbreaking [...]
- Calif. Initiative Round-up – Outlawing Divorce, Legalizing Pot, and Christmas Music
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November 17th, 2009
In California, voters are allowed to promote ballot initiatives on almost any subject, including those that can fundamentally change the state constitution. Here are some initatives that are currently in circulation as of November 18, 2009. Only a few will make it to the ballot, but it is interesting to see what changes some want to [...]
- US court rules against “I Believe” car license plates (APD)
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November 17th, 2009
A US federal judge has ordered South Carolina not to issue cross-adorned ”I believe” car number plates, ruling it violates the constitutional separation of church and state. US District Court judge, Cameron Currie, ruled that the state legislature – which voted unanimously last year to approve the number plates that include a cross in front of a stained glass window – had clearly given favoured government treatment to a single faith, and ordered to halt its issue.
- UK – Health and safety snoops to enter family homes (TimesOnline)
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November 16th, 2009
EXCERPT from TimesOnline Health and safety inspectors are to be given unprecedented access to family homes to ensure that parents are protecting their children from household accidents. New guidance drawn up at the request of the Department of Health urges councils and other public sector bodies to “collect data” on properties where children are thought [...]
- Washington DC – New Turn in Debate Over Law on Marriage (The New York Times)
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November 16th, 2009
EXCERPT from New York Times: New Turn in Debate Over Law on Marriage By IAN URBINA Published: November 12, 2009 WASHINGTON — The fight over a proposed same-sex marriage law here heated up this week as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said that if the law passed, the church would cut its social service [...]
- House Healthcare Vote – A Huge Triumph for the Catholic Church (America Magazine)
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November 16th, 2009
EXCERPTS from America Magazine Blog – 11/8/09 The House Vote: A Huge Triumph for the Church Posted at: 2009-11-08 08:02:54.0 Author: Michael Sean Winters It is difficult to over-estimate the degree to which last night’s vote in the House, passing a comprehensive health care reform bill, was a huge victory for the Catholic Church. Yes, [...]
- A Church Scorned: Church, State, Marriage, and the Quest for Power
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November 11th, 2009
The State and the Church “And so, by the power vested in me by the State of ___ and Almighty God, I now pronounce you husband and wife. What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” This pronouncement is the point in a religious wedding ceremony where the power of the state and the [...]
- Scholarship contest asks high school students to revisit JFK speech on separation of church and state
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November 9th, 2009
The Religious Liberty Council of the Baptist Joint Committee on its website announced the 5th annual Religious Liberty Essay Scholarship Contest, which is open to all high school students in the graduating classes of 2010 and 2011. According to the BJC, “this year’s contest will commemorate the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s landmark speech about [...]
- Religious freedom requires Baptists to hold in tension certain principles (The Baptist Standard)
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November 9th, 2009
EXCERPT: DALLAS—Baptists must hold in tension three sets of paradoxical ideas if they are to remain faithful to their heritage and champion freedom, Brent Walker told participants at the T.B. Maston Christian Ethics Award Dinner Oct. 30 in Dallas. … • The two religion clauses in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. • Religious [...]
- PBS Series “Liberty’s Kids” Now on YouTube
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November 3rd, 2009
An excellent educational cartoon series for kids (and adults) starring Walter Cronkite as Ben Franklin is now on YouTube. In this episode, Ben Franklin, Moses, and James discover disguised colonists raiding the tea-laden ship that Sarah is aboard. To watch the entire series, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/LibertysKidsTV The official website, which includes activities and information for parents and teachers is located at http://www.libertyskids.com/
- HISTORY: Sousa’s Band Under Ban of Sunday Blue Law
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November 1st, 2009
Binghamton, N. Y., November 13, 1922—Harold F. Albert, recreational director of the Endicott Johnson Corporation, was arrested yesterday afternoon on complaint of the Binghamton Ministerial Association for staging a concert by John Philip Sousa’s Band at which an admission was charged.
- Sec. Clinton condemns “Religious Defamation” laws and addresses international issues in annual Religious Freedom Report
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October 27th, 2009
On October 25, 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented the annual International Religious Freedom Report, on behalf of the U.S. State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. In the first IRFR from the Obama administration, Clinton stated her opposition to international laws that would propose to protect religious liberty by preventing [...]
- OPINION: When Did “Conservative” Become Anarchist?
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October 27th, 2009
What planet am I living on? I have grown up with the idea that conservatives were those who value tradition and defendthe status quo ante; who support the institutions of our society. But now it seems that “conservatives” believe that it is wrong for the president of the United States to talk to the nation’s school children despite the fact that Ronald Reagan did so; that it is OK to carry an automatic weapon to a public meeting with elected officials; that un-fact-checked statementscirculated by unknown bloggers and radio entertainers are to be believed over independent newspapers with long histories of factual reporting.
- Texas execution looms after jury consult Bible (Amnesty International)
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October 21st, 2009
EXCERPT: A Texas man who faces execution after jurors at his trial consulted the Bible when deliberating his fate should have his death sentence commuted, Amnesty International said on Friday. Khristian Oliver, 32, is set to be killed on 5 November after jurors used Biblical passages supporting the death penalty to help them decide whether [...]
- What’s Wrong with Conspiracy Theories?
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October 19th, 2009
The other day someone sent me a link to an “Antichrist Decoder” that has been posted online by an otherwise reputable Christian ministry. You can type in anybody’s name and the program will calculate the value of the name in Roman numerals.
After checking my name to make sure that I was not the Antichrist I looked at the other names that people had plugged into the decoder and learned that Barack Obama is not the Antichrist, neither is Barack Hussein Obama. Ronald Wilson Reagan’s name doesn’t add up to 666 even if you type in two “v”s to make the W.
People were having fun with the decoder and for the uninitiated it would be at home in a carnival next to the “Love Meter” or “Magic 8 Ball.” Perhaps an “antichrist decoder” made the rounds on the county fair circuit in years gone by, or a 666 Decoder Ring was the cheap plastic treat in the box of Cracker Jacks.
- Northwest Religious Liberty Association Honors Oregon Speaker Dave Hunt
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October 16th, 2009
Representative Dave Hunt, speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, was awarded by the Northwest Religious Liberty Association (NRLA) at the Oregon Conference Campmeeting in Gladstone on July 17, 2009 for his legislative sponsorship of the Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act, Senate Bill 786 (SB 786) which was signed into law by Governor Ted Kulongoski. There were [...]
- Colbert on Religious Symbol on Government Land
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October 15th, 2009
On his October 13, 2009 episode, Stephen Colbert addressed the recent Supreme Court arguments in the case involving the WWI Veterans’ Memorial in the Mojave Desert (Salazar v. Buono). He makes a strong argument that those who are arguing for the cross as a mere symbol in order to preserve it are arguing against its religious significance.
- Why America should not be declared a “Christian Nation”
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September 24th, 2009
History tells us that it would not be a debate between Christians and atheists. If Christianity won predominance over every other religious system in the nation, it would be a debate between Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics, Seventh-day Adventists, Pentacostals, and any other denomination you could name. Then it would be between the liberals and conservatives, and ultimately between conservatives or between liberals, the powerful – not the faithful – would control.
- Faith in Context: President Obama & Faith-based Initiatives
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September 12th, 2009
As he said he would during the campaign last year, President Obama has retained the “faith-based initiatives” emphasis at the White House, but restructured the organization that he inherited from President Bush. The new unit consists of two parts, where Bush’s White House had only one: An Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and a President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The council is make its final recommendations in February next year (2010), so it appears that further changes may yet surface. At the same time it is clear that Obama is committed to some kind of working relationship with the nonprofit sector, including the large part of it that is related to religious constituencies.
- Chris Seiple: Religious Freedom: The Ultimate Counterterrorism Weapon?
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September 4th, 2009
While the U.S. can summon hard power with relative ease, employing soft power is more difficult. Indeed, smart power suggests that hard and soft power are two sides of the same coin, that our interests are protected when our values are promoted. If Americans want to engage the world with efficient and enduring effect, we must better understand the essence of American power and the foundation of the global public square: religious freedom.
- Pope Benedict XVI on Religious Freedom (CNA)
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September 3rd, 2009
A short Catholic News Agency overview of international religious persecution and the importance of preserving religious freedom.
- Jehovah’s Witnesses Undergo Persecution in the former Soviet Union
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September 3rd, 2009
Since their formation in the late 19th century, Jehovah’s Witnesses have suffered relentless persecution worldwide for their controversial religious beliefs. Archibald Cox, Jr., famous for his role as the Watergate prosecutor that helped force the resignation of former U.S. President Richard Nixon, once noted that Jehovah’s Witnesses were “the principal victims of religious persecution … in the twentieth century.” Persecution against Witnesses was especially strong during WWII when their political neutrality, conscientious objection to war, and refusal to salute any nation’s flag made them the target of governments and citizen mob groups alike. Except for the Jews, they were proportionally the most persecuted group in Nazi Germany; they were banned during the war in countries like Russia and Spain, and sometimes beaten and jailed in places like Britain, Canada, Cuba, and the United States. The ACLU reported that by 1940 in the United States alone, “more than 1,500 Witnesses . . . had been victimized in 335 separate attacks.”
- 3 states still ban religious clothing for teachers (Associated Press)
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September 2nd, 2009
EXCERPT: PORTLAND, Ore. — A law backed by the Ku Klux Klan nearly a century ago to keep Catholics out of public schools is still on the books in Oregon, one of the last states in the nation to prohibit teachers from wearing religious clothing in classrooms. Both Pennsylvania and Nebraska have similar laws, which [...]
- Civil Rights Pioneer E.E. Cleveland talks about meeting Martin Luther King, Jr.
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September 1st, 2009
On August 30, 2009, renowned evangelist Edward Earl Cleveland died at Huntsville Hospital in Huntsville, Alabama. He was 88. Cleveland worked for more than 60 years as a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, evangelist, church leader, teacher, and civil rights leader. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. attended one of Cleveland’s tent meetings in 1954 in Montgomery and [...]
- Religion in Public Schools: Academic, Not Devotional (J. Brent Walker – Washington Post)
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September 1st, 2009
EXCERPT: The Texas Board of Education, the nation’s second largest purchaser of public school textbooks, is revising its K-12 social studies curriculum and deciding how to characterize religion’s influence on American history. Three consultants have recommended emphasizing the roles of the Bible, Christianity and civic virtue of religion. As America’s children go back to school, [...]
- Adventist Golfer put his faith ahead of on-course success (Tulsa World)
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August 28th, 2009
EXCERPT: A FIELD OF 312 golfers will tee off Monday in the U.S. Amateur at Southern Hills and Cedar Ridge. One of them — 24-year-old Louie Bishop of Murrieta, Calif. — knows he has zero chance of advancing to Sunday’s finals and, yes, he’s at peace with that. Bishop is a Seventh-day Adventist. He doesn’t [...]
- Religious-freedom groups mourn Kennedy, cite church-state views (ABP)
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August 28th, 2009
EXCERPT: . . . The late senator “was a great champion of church-state separation,” said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in a preparedstatement. “It’s not just that he consistently voted to support that principle — he really got it. He deeply understood that only a high and [...]
- Bill would give president emergency control of Internet (CNET)
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August 28th, 2009
EXCERPT: Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. They’re not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. [...]
- ‘We have so many uncanonised martyrs’ – Christians in Pakistan are living in daily fear of violence from extremists (Catholic Herald)
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August 21st, 2009
Sister Janet Fearns, communications coordinator of Missio writes about the extent of religious persecution in Pakistan. A link to the full article follows this excerpt: ‘I am sorry I could not speak to you then because we were just about to begin the funeral service for Irfan, an 11-year-old boy who was shot in the head [...]
- Charles Colson on media indifference to international religious freedom
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August 21st, 2009
Charles Colson recently wrote an interesting editorial on the media’s non-response to religious freedom issues in India. Here is an excerpt followed by a link to the full article: In 1998, Congress created the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Its mandate was to “monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion [...]
- Open Forum: What does religious freedom mean to you?
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August 16th, 2009
Here is how some members of our Facebook community responded to the question, “What does religious freedom mean to you?” William Brooks: I once heard a pastor speak on religious liberty and its meaning, and since then, I have claim this meaning for myself.”Religious liberty means, I am free worship as I please, or to go fishing.” To [...]
- Tennesee governor signs Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law
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August 16th, 2009
On July 1, 2009, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law. Introduced in February, House Bill 1598 requires Tennessee courts to apply the “compelling state interest” test to cases in which a law substantially burdens one’s right of free exercise of religion. The state now has the burden of [...]
- Arthur Caplan – The Bioethics of Engineering Children
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August 9th, 2009
- First religious liberty festival in Jerusalem draws hundreds (ANN)
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August 9th, 2009
Source: Adventist News Network Hundreds of religious liberty proponents from Israel and the Palestinian Territories gathered in Jerusalem Sunday for the symbolic city’s first festival of religious freedom. The event generated a “climate of good understanding” among attendees that organizers hope will spur increased tolerance in the region, said John Graz, secretary-general for the [...]
- Baptists Mark 400th Anniversary, Celebrate Religious Freedom (BeliefNet)
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August 9th, 2009
EXCERPT: UTRECHT, Netherlands — (RNS/ENI) Four hundred years after the first Baptist congregation was established, followers have been challenged to continue championing religious liberty. “We as Baptists must continue to defend religious freedom for all peoples and all religions,” said Denton Lotz, the former general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, at a special service [...]
- When work and religion collide
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July 21st, 2009
Because religious beliefs are protected and there is a more diverse workforce, religious accommodation issues have increased. This article was written by originally published in the July 19, 2009 Zanesville TimesRecorder and is reprinted here with the permission of the author. By Jim Evans This is not your father’s workplace. A snapshot of today’s workforce looks dramatically [...]
- Governor signs Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act
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July 21st, 2009
Northwest Religious Liberty Association Press Release – July 21, 2009 The Stage Was Set On a sweltering Friday summer evening, and just two minutes prior to going on stage before approximately 2,000 Seventh-day Adventist Christians at the Gladstone, Oregon Campmeeting, the Honorable Representative Dave Hunt (D), Speaker of the House of Representatives for the Oregon Legislature, [...]
- Justice Department Files Religious Discrimination Lawsuit Against Essex County, New Jersey (DOJ Release)
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July 19th, 2009
The Department filed a lawsuit today against Essex County, N.J., alleging that it discriminated against a Muslim corrections officer on the basis of her religion in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The suit alleges that the county refused to permit Yvette Beshier to wear a religiously mandated headscarf while working as a corrections officer.
- SB 786: Workplace Religious Freedom Act
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July 17th, 2009
Speaker Dave Hunt delivers a floor speech on the Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act.
- Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signs the Workplace Religious Freedom Act
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July 17th, 2009
Breaking News: We have received word that Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has signed the Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act (SB 786). SB 786 requires employers to make credible attempts to accommodate religious holy day observance and religious dress. Prior to SB 786, employers in Oregon could make only the bare minimum effort to meet accommodation [...]
- Oregon law is too strict on teachers’ religious garb (Oregonian)
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July 17th, 2009
EXCERPT: In nearly every state in the union, local school districts have the discretion to say whether teachers can wear religious garb such as yarmulkes, turbans and head scarves while on the job. Not around these parts. Oregon is one of only two states with laws that expressly forbid public school teachers from wearing religious [...]
- Law Professor Alan Brownstein on California marriage debate (Liberty Magazine)
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July 15th, 2009
Religious liberty and equality is predicated on the right to be different. Its underlying principle is that we do not have to accept the truth or value of someone else’s religious beliefs in order to agree that those beliefs and practices deserve protection against discriminatory treatment.
- Shabbat in Commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King
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July 10th, 2009
Sixth & I Historic Synagogue and Turner Memorial A.M.E. Church present the fifth annual Shabbat in commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, celebrating their legacy of social justice and equality.
- July 2009 News and Opinion – The Economy, Marriage, and More
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July 3rd, 2009
July 2009 News and Opinion – The Economy, Marriage, and More Posted using ShareThis
- Bronwyn Winter: Uncovering the French Headscarf Debate
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July 3rd, 2009
The hijab is arguably the most discussed and controversial item of women’s clothing today. It has become the primary global symbol of female Muslim identity for Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and is the focus of much debate in the confrontation between Islam and the West. Nowhere has this debate been more acute or complex than [...]
- Rodney Baker: Demonisation and Witch Hunts in Religion and Politics
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July 3rd, 2009
Rodney Barker discusses the origins, character and life of political and religious witch hunts, as well as the relation between what people say, what they believe and what they do. Professor Rodney Barkers’ research interests lie in the areas of political thinking in modern Britain and the legitimation of governments, subjects and rebels. He also [...]
- Jerusalem: The Pope in Search of Christians (LinkTV)
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June 28th, 2009
(Mosaic Intelligence Report: May 15, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI prays for peace in the Holy Land but his trip is mired with controversy. Why are Muslims and Jews upset with the Holy See? And what does the future hold for Palestinian Christians living in Jerusalem? Additional discussion at the Huffington Post.
- Religion, Politics, and the 2008 Election
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June 25th, 2009
The Wolfson Center for National Affairs at The New School presents a conversation with Wilfred McClay, senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center at the University of Tennessee and co-author of Religion Returns to the Public Square, and Jacques Berlinerblau, with the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and author ofThe Secular Bible: [...]
- Mormonism & American Politics: Noah Feldman
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June 10th, 2009
Keynote address by Noah Feldman at the Mormonism & American Politics conference entitled Persecution and the Art of Secrecy: An Interpretation of the Mormon Encounter with American Politics.
- Economics: Lawrence W. Reed on the Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy
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June 9th, 2009
Lawrence W. Reed is president emeritus of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Midland-based research and educational institute on September 1, 2008. The Center’s mission is to equip Michigan citizens and other decision-makers to better evaluate Michigan public policy options and to do so from a “free market” perspective. For a PDF version [...]
- Russian President may push ‘new world currency’…
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June 9th, 2009
EXCERPT FROM BLOOMBERG.COM Russian President Dmitry Medvedev may discuss his proposal to create a new world currency when he meets counterparts from Brazil, India and China this month, Natalya Timakova, a spokeswoman for the president, told reporters by phone today. Russia’s proposals for the Group of 20 meeting in London in April included studying a [...]
- Reza Aslan: The Future of Religious Nationalism
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June 3rd, 2009
At a time when religion and politics are increasingly sharing the same vocabulary and functioning in the same sphere, Aslan writes that we must strip this ideological conflict of its religious connotations and address the actual grievances that fuel the Jihadist movement.
- 1967 U.S. Supreme Court Decision sheds light on California marriage debate
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June 1st, 2009
There is presently much debate about gay marriage in California, and the roots for the argument come from several directions. In 1967 the United States Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether marriage was a fundamental right. Granted it had to do with people of the opposite sex, but the arguments for the State of Virginia which forbade interracial marriage were primarily religious in nature.
When you think about it, 1967 was not very long ago. If you are older than 42, if your parents were from sixteen states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware, South Carolina, Georgia, or Florida, and were from different races their marriages would have been illegal. In California, interracial marriage was illegal until 1948.
- Doug Kmiec on a Court Packed with Catholics (Wall Street Journal)
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June 1st, 2009
If Judge Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed by the United States Senate, she will be the 6th Catholic among the 9 United States Supreme Court justices. Doug Kmiec, my constitutional law professor in the area of the Bill of Rights at Pepperdine University, discusses what this will mean in a recent interview with Suzanne Sataline of [...]
- Oregon House of Representatives passes Workplace Religious Freedom Act
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June 1st, 2009
SB 786 has passed both houses of the legislature and is now on the Governor’s Desk.
- The dangers of relinquishing liberty for a quiet and “safe” life
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May 29th, 2009
In recent months, it has become increasingly clear that religious freedom, or any individual liberties for that matter, are best respected in lands where private property and financial resources are respected by the state. Mark Steyn explores the themes of private property and financial responsibility in this speech describing the dangers other nations are facing when [...]
- Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor’s rulings on religious issues
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May 26th, 2009
University of Toledo law professor Howard M. Friedman has compiled a list of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s rulings on religion clause issues at his blog, Religion Clause. Sotomayor has served on the Second Circuit since 1998. She served as a federal district court judge in the Southern District of New York from 1992 to 1998.
- On the Table
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May 20th, 2009
A collection of the latest news and opinions. VIRGINIA: Laid-off religious workers denied jobless benefits Under Virginia law, as in many states, tax exemptions for religious organizations include freedom from paying unemployment taxes, though the IRS requires they pay Social Security and withholding taxes. For workers who are left jobless, unemployment benefits are a [...]
- China and Brazil Plan to Dump Dollar (FT)
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May 19th, 2009
This news will have significant repercussions for the United States economy. Editor Brazil and China will work towards using their own currencies in trade transactions rather than the US dollar, according to Brazil’s central bank and aides to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president. The move follows recent Chinese challenges to the status of the [...]
- US Commission on International Religious Freedom Issues 2009 Report – 13 Nations of concern
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May 12th, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Friday, May 1, announced its 2009 recommendations to Congress, the White House and the State Department that 13 nations–Burma, China, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam–be named “countries of particular concern,” or CPCs. USCIRF is a [...]
- TURKMENISTAN: Old “offences” still used to punish current religious activity (Forum 18)
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May 12th, 2009
EXCERPT: By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service Former prisoner of conscience Shageldy Atakov, is the latest victim of Turkmenistan’s use of old “offences” to punish current activity, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Officials under orders from the central authorities are now threatening to confiscate Atakov’s property, if he does not pay an enormous [...]
- Around the globe, religious freedom under assault (Read it News)
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May 12th, 2009
EXCERPT: At a time when religious persecution is at the heart of the world’s most violent conflicts, religious freedom matters. That’s why the 2009 report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom should be required reading for policymakers in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. Released on May 1, the report documents in chilling detail the [...]
- Pope urges religious reconciliation (Al Jazeera)
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May 12th, 2009
Excerpt: Pope Benedict XVI has called on followers of the three major monotheistic religions to put their differences behind them and work towards reconciliation. … “Jews, Muslims and Christians alike call this city their spiritual home… Thereshould be no place within these walls for narrowness, discrimination, violence and injustice,” Benedict said. “Believers in a God [...]
- North Korea Freedom Week – CBN.com
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May 8th, 2009
North Korea has long been recognized as one of the world’s worst abusers of religious freedom. This week in Washington, D.C., North Korean defectors and human rights activists came together to bring attention to the situation… From The Christian Broadcasting Network CBN
- Oregon Senate Passes Workplace Religious Freedom Act
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May 7th, 2009
WORKPLACE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM PASSES OREGON STATE SENATE! Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at the Oregon Legislature, with the leadership of Senator David Nelson (R-Pendleton District) and the bipartisan support of Republicans and Democrats, we finally realized the fruits of our labor in the Senate passage of our Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act, SB 786-A (see attached). The [...]
- Preliminary Analysis: Congress Passes Hate Crime Legislation
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May 1st, 2009
With the news this week that the United States House of Representatives has passed, H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, there is some concern about what this will mean for individuals or churches that express their religious beliefs regarding sexual orientation. I discussed the 2007 version of this bill in [...]
- ANALYSIS: European Sunday Weekly Rest Day Legislation Remains Unlawful
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April 29th, 2009
The main purpose for writing this article is to respond to the relentless attempts in recent times to legislate in the European Union, Sunday as an official weekly rest day. The lobbyists championing this cause have been among other associations, the Roman Catholic Bishops (COMECE), some Protestants church representatives and certain Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).[1] I will now provide a synopsis of the background on this issue and show how it has developed to the present day.
- Interview: Scott Ritsema talks about his new book “The Way, the Truth and the Sword”
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April 24th, 2009
Scott Ritsema tackles the current controversy surrounding issues of faith and political power in his new book, The Way, the Truth and the Sword: A New Christian Civics in an Age of Coercive Power. I recently caught up with him to discuss the book, which is available online at http://www.lulu.com/content/3160866 RLTV: Your book has a fascinating [...]
- Richard Land and Jim Wallis: Faith and Politics
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April 13th, 2009
Moderated by Krista Tippett, host of American Public Media’s Speaking of Faith, this panel of conservative evangelical Dr. Richard Land and liberal evangelical Jim Wallis separates faith from any one party and defines a broad faith-oriented agenda – University of Minnesota
- Oregon Senate Judiciary Committee hears testimony on the Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act
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April 13th, 2009
SALEM, OREGON - On April 9, 2009, the Oregon Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony on the Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act (SB 786). House Speaker Dave Hunt, Bureau of Labor and Industry director Brad Avakian, and Senator David Nelson led the testimony in favor of the bill followed by Northwest Religious Liberty Association president Gregory [...]
- Canada: Fundraisers planned for Alberta pastor punished for expressing beliefs
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April 7th, 2009
You may recall that Pastor Stephen Boissoin got himself in hot water with the Alberta Human Rights Commission when he wrote a letter to the editor of the Red Deer Advocate that was critical of the “homosexual agenda.” The community newspaper published the letter and the pastor was promptly sued. Limits on free speech can [...]
- Alan Greenspan: Gold and Economic Freedom (1966)
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April 5th, 2009
[Given the recent state of the economy, it is important to explore whether there is a strong correlation between religious freedom and economic freedom, or individual property rights and the interest of the state. The following was published in Ayn Rand's "Objectivist" newsletter in 1966, and reprinted in her book, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, in 1967. Regardless [...]
- London Telegraph Describes G20 Plan For Bank Of The World, Global Currency
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April 3rd, 2009
EXCERPT: A single clause in Point 19 of the communiqué issued by the G20 leaders amounts to revolution in the global financial order. “We have agreed to support a general SDR allocation which will inject $250bn (£170bn) into the world economy and increase global liquidity,” it said. SDRs are Special Drawing Rights, a synthetic paper [...]
- UN Human Rights Council approves proposal for limits on religious speech
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March 29th, 2009
Last week 23 of the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council approved a resolution urging member states to provide ”protection against acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred in general.” The act, primarily promoted by Muslim nations, is designed to shield religion, primarily Islam, from criticism in the [...]
- EXCERPTS: Douglas Laycock on dangers of protecting liberty ‘only for ourselves’ (Baptist Joint Committee)
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March 26th, 2009
From: http://bjconline.org/news/news/0209laycock.htm Douglas Laycock is the Yale Kamisar Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on religious liberty law. He made these remarks on January 15 in accepting the National First Freedom Award from the Richmond, Va.,-based First Freedom Center. EXCERPTS: If I [...]
- Documentary: The End of America by Naomi Wolf
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March 24th, 2009
In a stunning indictment of sweeping policy changes during the Bush years, best-selling author Naomi Wolf (The Beauty Myth) makes a chilling case that American democracy is under threat. Investigating parallels between our current situation and the rise of dictators and fascism in once-free societies, Wolf uncovers a number of deeply unsettling similarities-from the use [...]
- Obama puts believers and non-believers on the same footing in speeches (WSJ)
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March 23rd, 2009
The Wall Street Journal has published an interesting take on Barack Obama by Laura Meckler. Obama has managed to be even more religious than George W. Bush in his speech, but also reaches out equally to non-believers. Meckler’s article discusses whether Obama can reach out to one end of the spectrum without alienating the [...]
- Benedict XVI to release encyclical outlining moral and social issues behind economic crisis
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March 23rd, 2009
In a BBC News article dated March 12, 2009, the author indicates that Pope Benedict XVI is slated to release a new encyclical that discusses the moral and social issues behind the global economic crisis. Apparently it is proving quite a challenge to write. Benedict XVI “says it is proving more difficult to write than [...]
- World Trends in Religious Freedom – Hudson Institute
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March 22nd, 2009
- Dayton Tennessee Christian School Sued by U.S. Department of Labor (ASINet)
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March 17th, 2009
Last year an injunction was brought against the Laurelbrook School by the US Department of Labor. It alleged that Laurelbrook’s vocational program was in violation of juvenile labor laws. The trial, currently in recess, is scheduled to resume on March 30.
- Raw Majority Power: Why Checks and Balances Matter
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March 17th, 2009
An epic battle played out on two levels at the California Supreme Court on March 5. On a surface level, attorneys fought over a technical issue of whether the Proposition 8 prohibition on gay marriage represented a revision or an amendment. On the deeper level, the question asked was whether there are any limits on the majority to impact the rights of the minority.
- CLASSIC: The Proper Relation of Church and State
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March 10th, 2009
Originally published in Liberty in 1921 – “Why should we Christians desire that the non-Christian be required by law to observe our religious institutions? Why should we ask that the state punish offenders against our church institutions, when God has withheld such authority from the church?”
- PRECEDENT – A century ago religious groups tried to change the California Constitution to enact a religious law
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March 7th, 2009
J.O. Corliss – Liberty Magazine – 1908 – “California is the only State in the American Union without a Sunday law. From 1858 to 1883 a Sunday-rest statute in that State was made so annoying to many of its citizens that it became an object of political contention. The supposed dominant party, through church affiliations, inserted a plank in its platform, pledging itself to maintain the Sunday law for the betterment of the laboring class. The other party went to the polls, on a pledge to repeal the existing statute requiring Sunday rest, on the ground of its hostility to religious rights.”
The result was a political upheaval in favor of repealing all Sunday laws in the State of California. About the same time the State supreme court handed down a decision in the case of ex parte Newman, declaring a Sunday law unconstitutional. Since then three attempts have been made by the churches to have the legislature re-enact a Sunday-law statute. These advances have been coldly met, on the ground that any such statute could have no force in the face of the constitutional limitation.
- AUDIO: Karen Scott – “Rethinking the Premise of Religious Liberty”
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March 7th, 2009
Each year, the Walla Walla University Church in College Place, Washington celebrates religious liberty. On February 28, 2009, Karen Scott delivered an address entitled, “Rethinking the Premise of Religious Liberty.”
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- Obama makes plans to remove ‘conscience clause’ for health-care workers
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March 6th, 2009
The Catholic Culture blog has posted a link to a set of articles about Obama’s plans to rescind the “conscience clause” that protects health-care personnel from pressure to participate in procedures they regard as immoral, such as abortion.
- VIDEO: California Supreme Court Oral Arguments on Prop 8
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March 5th, 2009
Watch the March 5, 2009 proceedings and read the briefs on both sides of this contentious issue.
- Senator – Conservative and Christian broadcasters could still be threatened by proposed broadcast regulations (KIITV)
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March 5th, 2009
In a floor speech, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe noted that while the Senate voted last week against reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, it approved another amendment saying federal regulators should promote diversity in media ownership and ensure that broadcasters operate in the public interest.
- Religious Persecution on the Horn of Africa (American Spectator)
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March 4th, 2009
Somalia continues to implode, as Islamists gain increasing control over what remains of the impoverished, conflict-ridden nation. But it is not the only human tragedy in the region. Eritrea, which won its independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after decades of war, has earned a reputation as one of the world’s youngest tyrannies. It also is one of the world’s worst religious persecutors.
- Emotion, misunderstanding mark religion-in-school cases (The Tennessean)
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March 4th, 2009
Most people have a mistaken understanding of what the First Amendment means, says Charles Haynes, a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center.
“People tend to carry around two failed models in their head,” Haynes said. “Either we keep religion entirely out of public schools or we keep on doing what we used to do in the good old days and promote religion in school.”
Because of those failed models, schools end up making poor decisions when it comes to religion.
- In wake of Supreme Court decision, ‘clear defense needed of church-state wall’ (Des Moines Register)
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February 27th, 2009
Considering the U.S. Supreme Court’s contentious struggles over free speech and religion, it was a surprise to say the least to see Wednesday’s ruling unanimously endorsing a government installation of the Ten Commandments in a city park.
While this ruling will likely have limited impact, it raises troubling questions about how dedicated this court – particularly the younger justices, who will be shaping it for decades to come – will be to maintaining the proverbial wall separating church and state.
- Soros sees no bottom for world financial “collapse” (Reuters)
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February 22nd, 2009
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis. Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.
- Reflection: The Trouble with the Future
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February 22nd, 2009
In the context of the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, one journalist took the time to look back and see what the pundits said would happen next. No one, but no one, got it right. No one foresaw the rapid collapse of European communism and the demise of the Soviet Union. By 1991 The U.S.S.R. was no more, and no one saw this future with any degree of precision. Instead they got it wrong. The end of communism will be a long time coming. Wrong. If the Warsaw pact goes, so does NATO. Wrong. Germany will not be allowed to re-unite. Wrong. A united Germany will become a nuclear power before the end of the millennium. Wrong. Gorbachev will long continue. Wrong.
