http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/religiousfreedom/ en-us Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:51:26 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2978923/posts Hagel, Brennan, Kerry ... and now Denis McDonough. President Barack Obama plans to name Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough as his next chief of staff, a Democratic source briefed on the plans tells POLITICO. McDonough would replace Jack Lew, the communist Obama nominated to be his new Treasury secretary. Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Advisor and a former senior fellow at the uber far left Center for American Progress, is the man most responsible for orchestrating the Benghazi jihad cover-up. McDonough rewrote the CIA talking points on Benghazi, misrepresenting the video, when the true motive behind the terrorist attack... Atlas Shrugs http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2978923/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:51:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3019051/posts Can anyone point to the map and tell me where Muldrow, Oklahoma is? If you have not learned where this little town is by now, let me give you an education. It is near the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas and it has become the latest community to undergo a steady attack on Christianity. It is also the town where I grew up. I graduated from Muldrow High School in 1980 and I never dreamed it would be the center of so much attention. We were known for having a terrible football team, but great basketball players. We also produced... Political Realities http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3019051/posts#comment Tue, 14 May 2013 01:10:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3018069/posts In early April, Army Reserve soldiers in Pennsylvania were told in a redeployment briefing that evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics were "extremists," the same category as al Qaeda. Later that month, the Southern Baptist Convention's website was blocked on Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps bases due to what the military's software filter told Web users was "hostile content." And in early May, news reports said that an anti-Christian crusader had proposed new rules for the Pentagon so that military-service members could be court-martialed for sharing their faith. But the initial reports on these matters were exaggerated, taken out... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3018069/posts#comment Sat, 11 May 2013 01:25:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3015967/posts As Orthodox Christians held Easter masses Saturday in the Middle East, North Africa and around the world, President Obama greeted the faithful saying Jesus' sacrifice "so that we might have eternal life" is an apt reminder this year with the region facing violent persecution. "For millions of Orthodox Christians, this is a joyful time," Obama said in a statement issued by the White House on Saturday. "But it's also a reminder of the sacrifice Christ made so that we might have eternal life. His decision to choose love in the face of hate; hope in the face of despair is... Christian Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3015967/posts#comment Sun, 5 May 2013 15:48:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3015676/posts Diverse Group of Amicus Briefs Ask the High Court to Protect a Peaceful Hutterite ColonyFor Immediate Release: May 3, 2013Media Contact: Emily Hardman, ehardman@becketfund.org, 202.349.7224Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, the State of Michigan, twenty-one First Amendment scholars, and eighteen religious organizations representing tens of millions of religious believers filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the Court to hear a religious liberty appeal on behalf of a Hutterite colony in Montana. The question in the case is whether the Hutterites, who trace their history to the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s, can be forced to provide workersÂ’ compensation insurance... Becket Fund http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3015676/posts#comment Sat, 4 May 2013 13:25:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3013998/posts Despite significant improvements since the hard-line Taliban ruled Afghanistan, religious freedom remains poor, especially for minorities, and Afghans still can't debate religion or question prevailing Islamic orthodoxies without fear of being punished, a U.S. commission said in a new report on Tuesday. As the country braces for next year's presidential election and the planned withdrawal of most foreign combat troops by the end of 2014, the panel urges the U.S. government and its allies to work harder to promote religious rights in the war-torn nation. The environment for exercising religious freedom remains "exceedingly poor" for dissenting members of Afghanistan's Sunni... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3013998/posts#comment Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:48:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3007998/posts Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. – Psalm 73:6 “Gay pride” necessitates anti-Christian hate. It must. “Gay marriage” and other “sexual orientation”-based laws do violence to freedom and truth. They are the hammer with which the postmodern left intends to bludgeon bloody religious liberty and the Judeo-Christian sexual ethic. According to the unequivocal moral precepts of the Judeo-Christian tradition – explicit throughout both the Old and New Testaments – homosexual behavior is a sin. Sin is evil. Homosexual behavior is the central, defining characteristic of so-called “gay marriage.” Therefore, “gay marriage” is evil. Christians are obligated... Townhall http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3007998/posts#comment Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:29:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3007345/posts WASHINGTON, D.C., April 12, 2013 (Acton Institute) - “What right do they have to do this, to take away our freedoms?” Mary Anne Yep, co-founder and vice president of Triune Health Group in Chicago, recently asked of the Obama administration regarding the HHS Mandate. On Monday when the official comment period closed, thousands of individuals swamped the Department of Health and Human Services with concerns about the HHS Mandate and the effect it would have on religious liberty in the United States. The Heritage Foundation recently posted an updateabout HHS and the people against it: After more than a year... Life Site http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3007345/posts#comment Sat, 13 Apr 2013 02:17:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3004202/posts (Following is a brief summary of the article's contents) Raleigh, North Carolina - Two North Carolina legislators introduced a state resolution asserting the State of North Carolina can make its own laws regarding the establishment of religion. [See the article for further details.] CBS Charlotte http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3004202/posts#comment Thu, 4 Apr 2013 19:32:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3002947/posts Liberals who demand church-state separation would pitch a fit if a public school decided to perform a play that reverently told stories of the Old Testament, whether it was the story of creation, the story of Noah, or Moses or Joseph and his brothers. But somehow, if a public school decides to put on a play mocking God and the Old Testament, that is not a church-state violation. The separation police don't want religious (or atheist) minorities to face religious indoctrination in a public school. But anti-religious indoctrination mocking the Judeo-Christian majority is a glorious festival of free speech. Take,... GOP USA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3002947/posts#comment Mon, 1 Apr 2013 15:32:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3000978/posts America’s free-speech model is in desperate need of an update, says an American-Muslim human rights activist who recently spoke at an event linked to an Obama administration appointee. Dr. Qasim Rashid argued that cyber-bullying laws could be used to limit freedom of expression – such as the burning of Korans -- in war time: “When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in times of peace are a hindrance to this effort,” Rashid said on March 19 at Howard University. “And their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight and…no court can regard... Cybercast News Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3000978/posts#comment Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:30:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2999376/posts A Florida Atlantic University student said he was punished after he refused a professor’s directive to stomp on a piece of paper with the word “Jesus” written on it. The university, meanwhile, is defending the assignment as a lesson in debate. “I’m not going to be sitting in a class having my religious rights desecrated,” student Ryan Rotela told television station WPEC. “I truly see this as I’m being punished.” Rotela, who is a devout Mormon, said the instructor in his Intercultural Communications class told the students to write the name “Jesus” on a sheet of paper. Then, they were... http://radio.foxnews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2999376/posts#comment Thu, 21 Mar 2013 20:01:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2998535/posts I’d like to start off this column about apologetics with an apology. I apologize to all the people I’ve sat next to on airplanes, occasionally exchanging a few words about going to Atlanta but nary a mention about going to heaven. To be precise, I’m no master of evangelism. Any successes I’ve had in focusing the attention of others on what’s most important have been accidental (seems that way to me) and utterly foreordained (by God). So, you are getting the following from me as reporter, not the frequent practitioner I should be—and what I can report is that... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2998535/posts#comment Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:25:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2990439/posts Editor's Note: This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison. Secretary of State John Kerry chose an interesting place to deliver his first foreign policy address. The former Massachusetts senator spoke at the University of Virginia. He was introduced by the university’s president, Teresa Sullivan. Dr. Sullivan noted that the university’s founder, Thomas Jefferson, had served as the first Secretary of State. Unlike today’s foreign policy elites, Mr. Jefferson thought religious freedom was fundamental to our political liberties. He authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which he introduced into the state’s General Assembly in 1779. It was a world historical... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2990439/posts#comment Sat, 23 Feb 2013 13:59:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2989485/posts A federal judge has given a victory to free speech and religious expression, dismissing a six-year-old lawsuit filed by the ACLU against a Ten Commandments display in Dixie County, Florida. The 12,000-pound monument was erected at the Dixie County courthouse in 2006 by local resident Joe Anderson, who was given permission by the county and who maintained the display at his own expense. In addition to the Decalogue, the display included the simple admonition, “Love God and keep His Commandments.” In 2007 a visitor to the county was offended by the display and contacted the ACLU in an attempt to... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2989485/posts#comment Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:57:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2979798/posts A former British airlines worker was just told by a European human-rights court that she does, in fact, have the right to wear a crucifix on her neck. That such a thing would even have to go to court seems quite the sign of the times. It comes as Brits are faced with same-sex-marriage legislation that, if passed, would likely leave churches facing lawsuits when some clerics inevitably refuse to carry out such weddings. The decision came down on "Religious Freedom Day" here in America. "Foremost among the rights Americans hold sacred is the freedom to worship as we choose,"... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2979798/posts#comment Sat, 19 Jan 2013 14:40:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2976246/posts Welcome to Obamaland where our inalienable rights are being gradually degraded. Now that President Obama needs never to curry electoral favor again will government’s grasping overreach soon strangle a successful arts-and-crafts company? “We’re just going to have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” says attorney Kyle Duncan of the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty. Mr. Duncan represents Hobby Lobby, a family-owned retail chain risking severe penalties for putting principles before profits. Limited self-government descends into tyranny. Hobby Lobby faces looming fines of up to $1.3 million per day for refusing to abide a spurious provision of the... Forbes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2976246/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jan 2013 02:23:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2975280/posts WASHINGTON, D.C.,January 13, 2013, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Provisions that protect the conscience rights of military chaplains that were included in the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) are “unnecessary and ill-advised” said President Obama in a signing statement this week. Section 533 of the defense bill was crafted in response to fears that the repeal of the “DonÂ’t Ask, DonÂ’t Tell” policy under the Obama administration would lead to reprisals against chaplains who have moral objections to the homosexual lifestyle, or who refuse to perform same-sex “weddings.” That section says that no member of the armed forces may “require a... LIFE Site News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2975280/posts#comment Sat, 5 Jan 2013 22:49:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2974987/posts Alliance Defending Freedom recently settled a lawsuit brought on behalf of Julea Ward, a former graduate student at Eastern Michigan University who was expelled from her counseling program after refusing to violate her religious beliefs. Media reports have unfortunately suggested that Julea’s lawsuit involved her refusal to counsel a client because he identified as gay: this is untrue. Instead, her case involved her religious objection to being forced to provide counseling about sexual relationships outside of marriage, an objection which applies equally to homosexual and heterosexual clients. Her objection is to providing counseling on certain topics, not to counseling any... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2974987/posts#comment Fri, 4 Jan 2013 20:14:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2973307/posts In a legal argument formally presented in federal court in the case of Hobby Lobby v. Kathleen Sebelius, the Obama administration is claiming that the First Amendment—which expressly denies the government the authority to prohibit the “free exercise” of religion—nonetheless allows it to force Christians to directly violate their religious beliefs even on a matter that involves the life and death of innocent human beings. … The Obama administration is making a two-fold argument for why it can force Christians to act against their faith in complying with the regulation it has issued under the Obamacare law that requires virtually... Cybercast News Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2973307/posts#comment Sun, 30 Dec 2012 02:57:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2970308/posts Americans' affirmation of the "right to choose" is a feature of our national identity. No matter where you go or what you're doing, chances are you are confronted with a plethora of choices. Go to the supermarket and you are confronted with a dizzying array of options for each and every product you wish to buy. Seventeen brands of Greek style yogurt. Forty-five flavors of coffee creamer. Thirty-seven different kinds of peanut butter. The same may be said of cell phone carriers, automobiles, clothing brands... you name it. The freedom of "choice" also figures prominently in the political realm, and... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2970308/posts#comment Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:40:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2970306/posts In the weeks before Christmas, many Christians read about John the Baptist in the Gospel of Luke. They see that ordinary people came asking John if it was possible for them, too, to prepare the way for the Lord. Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers came as well, asking, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2970306/posts#comment Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:31:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2970276/posts The strategic situation after a year, and the terrain ahead As the Catholic Church and the Obama administration approach the first anniversary of what has become the most serious confrontation between the Church and the federal government in U.S. history — a confrontation caused by a regulatory mandate implementing Obamacare — a review of the strategic situation is in order, with an eye to the terrain ahead. But given the confusions about this struggle that were sown in many minds during the presidential campaign (not least by the vice president of the United States), it is important to begin by... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2970276/posts#comment Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:11:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2966950/posts Student religious groups should not have to appoint leaders who do not share their beliefs, a student judiciary at Tufts University announced on Wednesday (Dec. 5). It was a big victory for a Christian group on campus that had lost official recognition in October. Like several other private colleges, Tufts has an "all comers" policy that requires official student organizations to be open to all students for both membership and leadership, regardless of beliefs. But in reviewing a discrimination complaint filed against Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF), the largest evangelical group on the Medford, Mass., campus, the Tufts Committee on Student... Baptist Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2966950/posts#comment Sat, 8 Dec 2012 22:09:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2962437/posts Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò SOUTH BEND, Indiana, Nov. 23, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pope BenedictÂ’s emissary to the United States warned earlier this month that Catholic professors and public officials who rebel from Church teaching on key issues such as abortion and marriage represent a “grave” threat to religious liberty. “We have witnessed that some instructors who claim the moniker ‘CatholicÂ’ are often the sources of teachings that conflict with, rather than explain and defend, Catholic teachings in the important public policy issues of the day,” said Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. “This, my brothers and sisters, is a grave and major... Life Site News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2962437/posts#comment Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:24:38 GMT