Free Republic

In public school classrooms across the country, religious liberty is under assault. Last month in Florida, two Christian student leaders at Pace High School were barred from speaking at their graduation ceremony due to fears they might mention their faith in violation of a court order stemming from an anti-religious lawsuit filed by the ACLU. Across the country in California, UCLA administrators grudgingly allowed senior Christina Popa to thank Jesus in her graduation testimony after a widespread public backlash against their initial decision to sanitize any mention of Jesus from her statements (in Colorado, former high school valedictorian Erica...

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, told the State of New York in 1994 that it must allow prison inmates who practice Santeria to wear multi-colored beads. Santeria is a sect that combines African religious traditions with elements drawn from Roman Catholicism. In the case of Campos v. Coughlin , Sotomayor told state prison officials that their fear of a growing gang movement within the prison was less important than the right of Santeria faithful to wear religious beads. Then a Southern District of New York federal judge, Sotomayor claimed in Campos v. Coughlin that the...

British street preacher Andy Robertson says all he wants from his community in eastern England is the freedom to disagree. Police have threatened to arrest the U.K. preacher for allegedly making homophobic statements. Once a month Andy Robertson makes his way to this street corner in Gainsborough, England. He says he's been doing it for ten years as part of the Open Air Mission, a Christian organization that first began street preaching in England 146 years ago.

As more states—like Iowa—approve same-sex “marriage,” conservatives are claiming that freedom of religion is in peril. Same-sex “marriage” supporters accuse them of engaging in hysterical gay-bating. Who’s telling the truth? Let me share some stories with you from an excellent news broadcast produced by National Public Radio. Then you decide. Two women decided to hold their civil union ceremony at a New Jersey pavilion owned by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. This Methodist group told the women they could not “marry” in any building used for religious purposes. The Rev. Scott Hoffman said a theological principle—that marriage can only...

March 26, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Don’t Know NothingA frontal attack on the Catholic Church aims at religious liberty in general. By Father Thomas Berg & Michael Augros ‘Catholics and Catholicism are at the receiving end of a great deal of startling vituperation in contemporary America, although generally those responsible never think of themselves as bigots.� With these words, the historian Philip Jenkins opened his 2003 study entitled The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice. Mr. Jenkins might well consider it time to produce an updated edition. In it, he might ponder whether the recent renewal of anti-Catholic politicking is...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08120046.htm Monday, December 8, 2008 Maldives: reform in politics but not in religious liberty By Elizabeth Kendal World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC) Special to ASSIST News Service AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- On Saturday 29 November, Maldives' Ministry of Islamic Affairs announced that it would block a Dhivehi and English language website which it claimed was promoting Christianity amongst Maldivians. When Minivan News, an independent news source in Maldives, sought to question Islamic Affairs Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari over the censorship and the contents of the website, he refused to...

“Same Sex Marriage” and Its Threat to Religious Liberty November 29th, 2008 by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse Tactics used by gay marriage campaigners confirm believers’ worst fears. As wildfires blazed in California last week, anger at the outcome of the state’s referendum on marriage blazed across the country. After a hard-fought campaign over Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman, a clear majority of California voters endorsed it, and the gay marriage lobby was enraged. Now, as same sex marriage campaigners take the issue back to the courts, it is unclear what the...

A Rabbi asked the City of Golden if he could put up a menorah near the Christmas tree and the reaction of the city is to consider banning all religous symbols. The City of Golden claims that they do not want to have any religous symbols such as the menorah on city property. City of Golen spokesman Jonathan Ashford said that "the goal here is to set guidelines. The city has had a history of having a display downtown that didn't include any kind of specific religious message or theme. We've tried to keep it neutral, very open, very inclusive."...

The Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union fired off a letter to the mayor of Thibodaux, La., warning that the small town's promotion of a city festival featuring Christian bands may be a violation of the First Amendment. The Thibodeauxville Festival, which draws nearly 12,000 people to the town whose population barely exceeds 14,000, has featured fun, food, street dancing and bands from a variety of genres for the past 16 years. But when the ACLU spied the city's seal on a flier that also promoted the Christian bands performing at the festival, it took action. Marjorie Esman, executive director of...

Redefining marriage to include same–sex unions poses significant threats to the religious liberties of people who continue to believe that marriage is a rela­tionship between a man and a woman. These threats have loomed large for several years, but recent devel­opments, including the recent Connecticut and California judicial decisions redefining marriage to include same–sex unions, have refocused attention on the issue in a new, particularly urgent way.Our society has traditionally considered marriage to be an exclusive relationship between a man and a woman based on the understanding that marriage is a fundamental social institution ordered to the common good...

San Francisco, CA (AP) -- California's high court has ruled doctors cannot withhold care to gays or lesbians based on religious beliefs.

Christian leaders gathered in Denver Tuesday in opposition to an anti-Christian censorship law that could open the door to censoring the Bible. Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed the state bill, SB 200, which aims at silencing all publications that discriminate against homosexuality. "Section 8 of Senate Bill 200 is a wide open door for any judge to censor anything that condemns homosexuality, including Scripture," Colorado State Rep. Kevin Lundberg said. Many Christians fear that one day the Bible will be considered illegal in America. "I do believe that the Bible is banned, under the plain language of this new statute,"...

A federal appeals court has ruled the First Amendment rights of homosexuals at Philadelphia's taxpayer-funded "Outfest" celebration in 2004 trumped the First Amendment rights of Christians, and has dismissed the civil rights complaint the Philadelphia 11 had filed. "The city has an interest in ensuring that a permit-holder can use the permit for the purpose for which it was obtained," this week's opinion from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said. "This interest necessarily includes the right of police officers to prevent counter-protestors from disrupting or interfering with the message of the permit-holder." The decision upheld a lower court's...

(Collision might be due to growth in municipalities not accustomed to lifestyle) Among the 600,000-plus hunters heading out for last year’s gun-deer season were three Clark County brothers who were cited for not wearing blaze orange — clothing, they said, that was against their Amish religion. Members of the religious sect noted for their black felt hats, dark trousers, long dresses and bonnets are barred from wearing bright clothing. But a Clark County judge ruled last month that there’s nothing in the Amish religion that compels them to hunt deer. So each brother was fined $143.10.It was the latest in...

It is often thought that religious liberty means a strict separation of church and state, but that view is out of tune with the proper understanding of the role religion and morality play in the civic and public life of a self-governing people. A more compelling model is that of America's Founders, who advanced religious liberty in a way that would uphold religion and morality as indispensable supports of good habits, the firmest props of the duties of citizens, and the great pillars of human happiness.Origins of Religious LibertyThe story of religious liberty in America begins with religious persecution in...

Pope Addresses Group Promoting Principles of Christian Democracy in World Membership made up of political parties mostly from Europe and Latin America By Meg Jalsevac ROME, Italy, September 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This past Friday, Pope Benedict addressed the attendees of the annual meeting of the Executive Committee of the international political group, Centrist Democratic International.  In his address, the Holy Father encouraged the leaders to continue to strive to promote the "basic principles" of the Christian European tradition such as "the centrality of the human person, a respect for human rights, a commitment to peace and the promotion of...

THE “DECLARATION OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY” (VCII) The traditionalists have a difficult time with VCII’s teaching on religious liberty because they feel that non-Catholics do not have the right to promote their religion or creed publicly as was often the case in the past centuries under numerous Catholic monarchs. The traditionalists, as well as many past Popes, believe that only the truth (Catholic) has the right to be promoted publicly. It is interesting to note that an important American theologian, Father John Courtney Murry, was silenced by the Vatican (Cardinal Ottaviani) to write or speak publicly on this issue during the...

In December 1944, American soldiers were fighting desperately against the last great German offensive of World War II, the Battle of the Bulge. Men were dying in large numbers. The counterattack had bogged down in mud and rain. Planes could not fly because of low clouds. General George Patton, commander of the Third Army, called his chaplain into his headquarters and said.... An editor's footnote in Patton's memoirs tells what happened next: "The day after the prayer was issued, the weather cleared and remained perfect for about six days. Enough to allow the Allies to break the backbone of the...

Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and Richardson Church versus Eugene Shubert Do Seventh-day Adventist pastors ever abuse their authority and silence individual church members they don’t like? Do they ever disfellowship believers without even granting them a semblance of a church trial? (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 6:1-4). Would an Adventist Christian ever join a conspiracy to silence a true believer with threats of arrest for criminal trespassing just for showing up at church? I believe that most of the pastors of the Seventh-day Adventist church favor using threats and intimidation and a direct appeal to the state for immediate prosecution,...

Gay rights vs. religious beliefs http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/15345126.htm Posted on Thu, Aug. 24, 2006 Commentary By Roger T. Severino Live and let live. A simple concept, to be sure, but can we apply it to the growing conflict between gay rights and religious beliefs? The answer increasingly seems to be no. Recently, Philadelphia ordered the local Boy Scouts of America chapter (the nation's third-largest) to renounce the national organization's ban on openly gay members or begin paying rent on its city-subsidized headquarters of 78 years. Some thought this issue was settled by the Supreme Court in 2000, when the Boy Scouts won...

In a speech to the Notre Dame student body during the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign, New York governor Mario Cuomo addressed the issue of church-state relations and the growing activism of the so-called Religious Right. The governor said: “Are we asking government to make criminal what we believe to be sinful because we ourselves can’t stop committing the sin? The failure here is not Caesar’s. This failure is our failure—the failure of the entire people of God”1 As a conservative Christian pastor who seeks to uphold biblical morality before two congregations on a weekly basis, I find the above question...

The ACLU Is Not Evil http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/005/22.64.html And neither are many people with whom we disagree. by Stephen L. Carter | posted 05/11/2006 09:30 a.m. I would like to say a word in defense of the American Civil Liberties Union. Christians—including me, both in the pages of CT and elsewhere—often criticize the ACLU for advocating separation of church and state in ways that seem less grounded in the Constitution and in history than in an ideological desire for a religion-free public arena. On the other hand, I shudder when fellow Christians blithely dismiss the organization as fundamentally biased against them. Some...

Garland Simmons was excited when the Cowboy Church began meeting at his place on Horseshoe Bend Road in late March. It appears, however, that somebody did not share his enthusiasm. Simmons was notified by Bedford County officials that the Cowboy Church meetings violate county zoning regulations. "I got the notice certified through the mail, Monday morning," Simmons said. The notice consisted of two letters. One was from Gary McIver, the county's building official. McIver wrote that, by hosting the Cowboy Church on his property, Simmons is using it in a manner contrary to its agricultural (AR) zoning. He also wrote...

Challenge Number Two Defending God in the Public Square There is no attack on American culture more deadly and more historically dishonest than the secular Left’s unending war against God in America’s public life. The decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to rule unconstitutional the phrase “one nation under God” was the final straw. A court that would destroy a Pledge of Allegiance adopted by the Congress, signed by the president (Eisenhower), and supported by 91 percent of the American people1 is a court that is clearly out of step with an America that understands that our rights...

American adherents of a Brazilian religious sect have won their battle to use hallucinogenic tea in their worship services. In a unanimous ruling with major implications for minority religious groups in America, the US Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the right of religious organizations to claim exemption from certain laws that undercut their ability to practice their faith. At issue was a clash between US drug laws - which ban the hallucinogenic substance in the sect's sacred tea - and a 1993 religious freedom law that requires the government to grant religious exemptions when possible. Although the central issue in...

ATLANTA - An election-year flurry of religion-based proposals are cruising through Georgia's Legislature this season - even as critics say they may land the state in court for tinkering with the line between church and state. A push to teach the Bible in public schools, a renewed take on displaying the Ten Commandments at courthouses and even a measure ensuring government employees and students can say "Merry Christmas" without repercussions have won support from members of both parties. All three measures have passed at least one chamber of the Legislature by overwhelming votes. National civil rights groups, though, say they've...

Law Center Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Take Up Hostility to Religion Case Ann Arbor, MI—The Thomas More Law Center, a national, public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court, asking the court to review an Establishment Clause case involving a religious display that was hostile to Catholics. In addition to asking the high court to revisit its confusing and inconsistent Establishment Clause jurisprudence, the petition notes that this would be a case of first impression. The Supreme Court has yet to decide a “hostility to religion” case under the...

Not since Berlin, 1989, has a big wall taken such a big fall. This time, it was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit that blew the trumpet, effectively collapsing the false construct of the so-called “wall of separation between church and state” that for more than 50 years has been the cornerstone of the American Civil Liberties Union’s anti-religion agenda. This wasn’t one the ACLU saw coming. Their case—a suit to prevent Mercer County, Kentucky, officials from including a copy of the Ten Commandments in their display of historically significant documents—seemed tight enough, especially since the U.S....

Zoning ordinance does not prohibit worship, prayer at home ORLANDO, Fla. - A rabbi slapped with two code violations for holding prayer and worship in his home is no longer under threat from local authorities. A federal district court ruled Friday that Orange County's land use ordinance could not be applied against Rabbi Joseph Konikov to prohibit residential religious meetings. "Americans have the right to meet in their homes for prayer or to study religious materials without government interference," said ADF-allied attorney Rick Nelson, head of the American Liberties Institute. "We are pleased the court has recognized that the county's...

A pro-family legal group is warning elementary schools in New Jersey and Colorado that their censorship of Christmas may warrant federal lawsuits. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is considering whether to sue on behalf of a parent whose daughter attends Canfield Avenue School in Mine Hill Township (NJ). The parent claims his daughter was told the words "Merry Christmas" could not be written in the classroom, and that she could only speak those words in Spanish. ADF attorney Mike Johnson also notes that in the school's concert this year -- titled "The Xmas Files" -- the words to the carol...

The Separation of Church and State by David Barton In 1947, in the case Everson v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declared, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.” The “separation of church and state” phrase which they invoked, and which has today become so familiar, was taken from an exchange of letters between President Thomas Jefferson and the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, shortly after Jefferson became President. The election of Jefferson-America’s first Anti-Federalist President-elated many Baptists since that...

Kevin Seamus Hasson is busy this time of year. The founder and president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm dedicated to protecting religious liberty, Hasson is busy with numerous challenges to Nativity scenes on public property. Author of the new book The Right to Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America (Encounter, 2005), Hasson once worked under Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. He spoke to Register correspondent Joseph A. D’Agostino. Some will argue that if we continue to allow Christmas trees and menorahs, some day we will have Islamic crescents, Wiccan...

Brit Humes excellent piece is on now. I'm glad because I missed it the first time.Merry Christmas to all.

On New Year's Day, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson received a gift of mythic proportions. Amid great fanfare, a mammoth cheese was delivered to the White House by the itinerant Baptist preacher John Leland. It measured more than four feet in diameter, thirteen feet in circumference, and seventeen inches in height; once cured, it weighed 1,235 pounds.The colossal cheese was made by the staunchly Republican, Baptist citizens of Cheshire, a small farming community in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. The religious dissenters created the cheese to commemorate Jefferson's long-standing devotion to religious liberty and to celebrate his recent electoral victory...

Justices lean toward ceremonial use of hallucinogen Wednesday, November 02, 2005 By Michael McGough, Post-Gazette National Bureau WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday reacted with surprising sympathy to the claim by a small religious movement with roots in Brazil that it should be allowed to import a tea containing an illegal hallucinogenic drug for use in its rituals. Noting that federal law permits 250,000 members of the Native American Church to use the hallucinogen peyote as part of its worship, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked a lawyer for the Bush administration why it wants to prevent 130 U.S. adherents...

LAKELAND, Florida, Oct. 25 /Christian Wire Service/ -- Dr. Charles Nestor, director of The Truth Matters, is announcing a project called "Operation Nativity" with the goal of having Christians across the country set up nativity scenes on their own property. Nestor states, "It's that time of year again. We're not even out of October and already the forces are aligning to prohibit the public celebration of the birth of Jesus. "December 25 is the day in our culture that is set aside to acknowledge and to celebrate that Jesus of Nazareth was born. For Christians it is more than a...

A religious revolution in America 'Tom Brokaw Reports: In God They Trust' airs on Oct, 28, Friday, 8 p.m. FREE VIDEO • ‘In God They Trust’ In the upcoming “Tom Brokaw Reports: In God They Trust,” to be broadcast on Friday, Oct. 28 8 p.m., Brokaw explores why so many Americans are turning to this expression of faith, and asks whether or not some Evangelicals are going too far. Watch a preview. MSNBC

US report hits China on rights, religionTue Oct 11, 2005 8:50 PM ET By Paul Eckert, Asia CorrespondentWASHINGTON (Reuters) - China has tinkered with legal reform and engaged the international community on human rights, but failed to improve in either area over the past year, a U.S. panel said on Tuesday.The Congressional-Executive Commission on China criticized Beijing for repression of political and religious rights and freedom of expression, as well as for its treatment of Tibetans and other ethnic minorities who seek greater autonomy."Citizens who challenge state controls on religion, speech, or assembly continue to face severe government repression," the...

There is disagreement over whether the U.S. Supreme Court's recent eminent domain decision endangers the property rights of churches, synagogues and other religious institutions. Some argue that the First Amendment and existing laws may offer adequate protection, while others worry that the decision will open the door to a political assault on the property of people of faith. The Supreme Court's Kelo v. New London ruling, could mean that "religious institutions that are, by nature, non-commercial and, by law, tax exempt, would be the first to be targeted by the bulldozers because of their alleged lack of economic contribution to...

WASHINGTON D.C.— A constitutional amendment that would protect public expressions of faith and religion was introduced, after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling removed the Ten Commandments from a Kentucky courthouse, reported CNSNews.com. Buoyed by pro-family groups, more than 100 congressmen proposed the Religious Freedom Amendment."Intolerant people have been attacking the Ten Commandments, the Pledge of Allegiance, voluntary prayers at school, and other religious expression, but this amendment will halt those attacks," said Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) in a statement. The Supreme Court has sent the clear message to public officials that “they will face an onslaught of expensive litigation...

Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) is expected to introduce a constitutional amendment to protect religious expression in schools and on other public property soon after the Supreme Court decides two landmark cases about the displaying the Ten Commandments on public grounds. The court is expected to announce its decision by Monday. This is the first time the Supreme Court has ruled on a case regarding the Ten Commandments since 1980, when the court banned them from display in public-school buildings. Istook’s amendment, the “Pledge and Prayer Amendment,” could be the next chapter in an ongoing battle over the propriety of religious...

On April 22 I was presented with the 2005 Media Award by the New Jersey Family Policy Council at their annual banquet. While honored to receive such recognition, upon deeper reflection, I can’t help but ask myself the question: Was there no one else more qualified? Is there really such a dearth of professional, family-friendly journalists in newsrooms across our state that the Family Policy Council felt compelled to award a businessman moonlighting as a columnist? Apparently the answer is yes. A University of Connecticut Department of Public Policy study found that journalists who were surveyed picked Democrat John Kerry...

A lawsuit by a group of prison inmates in Ohio is raising the difficult question of when the government's accommodation of religious beliefs may go too far. At issue in the case set for oral argument at the US Supreme Court Monday is whether the granting of religious exemptions from certain laws or regulations when they clash with religious beliefs amounts to an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by government. The case is particularly significant for minority religions and their adherents who rely on such accommodations to practice their faith freely without government interference. Lawyers for the inmates warn that if...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BP)--When Mongan Nyman and her classmates exchanged Halloween candy in October 2000, Morgan's included messages like "Costumes are cool but heaven is awesome!" But Robert Davidovich, principal of Cushing Elementary School in Delafield, Wis., said the second-grader's holiday messages violated the separation of church and state. Then he made Morgan go to each classmate and take the candy back. That afternoon, she got off the school bus crying, her mother said. She cried all night, too, once becoming so upset she threw up. Three months later came Valentine's Day, and Mr. Davidovich refused to let Morgan pass out...

Febuary21, 2005(AgapePress) - A proposed change to the Constitution of Virginia takes aim at the proverbial wall of separation between church and state. The constitutional amendment would secure the rights of individuals to pray in public buildings, including schools.Delegate Charles Carrico says HJ-537, his proposed "Religious Liberty Amendment," was prompted by recent court rulings suppressing Christian expression, such as the recent decision by a federal appeals court, which ruled that Cadets at the Virginia Military Institute cannot pray audibly during lunch. HJ-537 has already passed the Virginia House by a decisive 69-27 margin, and a hearing on the proposed measure...

Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A Florida appeals court has again denied Terri Schiavo's parents an opportunity to argue before the court that starving their daughter to death would violate her religious liberties. Bob and Mary Schindler say that Terri is a Catholic and euthanizing her would run contrary her religious beliefs. The 2nd District Court of Appeal denied a handful of motions the Schindlers filed and did not issue a written opinion in the case. That means they are prevented from appealing the decision to the Florida Supreme Court. By concluding the religious liberties case, the decision also means that...

In a statement issued yesterday evening, Florida’s Indian River Community College (IRCC) overturned its prohibition on a student-organized screening of The Passion of the Christ. IRCC made the decision after the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) took the case of the Christian Student Fellowship (CSF), which wanted to show the film, to the national media. IRCC’s statement confirmed that the college had not enforced its policies on public expression consistently and according to constitutional guidelines. Late last week, CSF also reported that IRCC has rescinded its authoritarian requirement that a faculty advisor monitor all student organization meetings.

STOCKHOLM -- One Sunday in the summer of 2003, the Rev. Ake Green, a Pentecostal pastor, stepped into the pulpit of his small church in the southern Swedish village of Borgholm. There, the 63-year-old clergyman delivered a sermon denouncing homosexuality as "a deep cancerous tumor in the entire society" and condemning Sweden's plan to allow gays to form legally recognized partnerships. "Our country is facing a disaster of great proportions," he told the 75 parishioners at the service. "Sexually twisted people will rape animals," Green declared, and homosexuals "open the door to forbidden areas," such as pedophilia. With these words,...

Illinois churches are protesting a new state law that bars them from "discriminating" against homosexuals, contending it robs Christians of their First Amendment freedoms. Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the bill into law yesterday amid a demonstration led by the Illinois Family Institute, or IFI, a non-profit group affiliated with Focus on the Family, Family Research Council and Alliance Defense Fund. The measure adds "sexual orientation" to the state law that bars discrimination based on race, religion and similar traits in areas such as jobs and housing. The bill was signed to loud cheers and a standing ovation from about 150...

In Pennsylvania, a priest faithfully ministered to death-row inmates year after year—until a new warden ordered him to leave. In other prisons around the country, authorities restrict inmates’ access to Bibles and Bible commentaries. Inmates are forbidden to wear yarmulkes, or limited to one religious program a week, forcing them to choose between Bible study and worship services. Does this sound like religious freedom to you? Or more like government actively interfering with religious rights, in violation of the Constitution? Sadly, attempts to scour public life of anything remotely resembling religious activity are increasing—both inside and outside prison walls. When...