Last week at North, and this week at Spring Creek, I’m preaching on religious liberty, using an updated version of a sermon I preached two years ago at Houston International: “Show Me the Money!” Seventh-day Adventists have always been strong advocates of religious liberty for all, and strict separation of church and state (see Liberty…
Cardinal Pell at Oxford, March 6: “Varieties of Intolerance: Religious and Secular.” He begins by speaking of the hatred unleashed against Christians by Proposition 8 opponents since November: Little about this prolonged campaign of payback and bullying has been reported internationally, and I suspect that for some, or even many of you here tonight this…
Yes, says Marc D. Stern of the American Jewish Congress in the Los Angeles Times. See also Christian Science Monitor. See also GetReligion. Even more at Volokh Conspiracy, including these facts (culled from an NPR report): *Adoption services: Catholic Charities of Boston refused to place children with same-sex couples as required by Massachusetts law. The…
Check out ReligiousLiberty.tv.
Pete Vere reports on recent anti-Christian actions by Canadian “human rights commissions”–and the threat of more to come.
The Tomah, WI, school district has been reminded that the First Amendment applies to students. As I blogged March 31, an art student was penalized for referencing John 3:16 in an art project–he was given a zero and two detentions. He was also penalized for using religious expressions in a jewelry making class. Other students…
Mitt Romney has given another church/state address. Jeffrey Weiss at DMN thinks it “more sophisticated” than his last one. I’d say it looks like he has indeed done further reflection and learned and grown as a result. As you know, I gave a speech about religious liberty during the height of my campaign. This was…
Feddie at Southern Appeal makes some good points about Senator Grassley’s investigation of certain ministries. He quotes from a letter recently sent by some Christian leaders, Catholic (Deal Hudson) and Protestant, raising concerns about Grassley’s tactics. Via Mark Shea.
Rod Dreher is upset that the Daily Reveille, the student paper at Louisiana State University, has a Muslim columnist. He dubs this, Dhimmitude on the Bayou. (He clarifies in responding to a comment by me that he’s not against having a Muslim columnist, but he thinks she crossed a line and was proselytizing). I think…
NARLA blog on the FLDS matter.
I got an e-mail today from a religious liberty organization which, ironically, commented on the pope’s visit without saying anything about his remarks on religious liberty! Let’s take a look at what he said on this topic, shall we? Remarks at the White House: Historically, not only Catholics, but all believers have found here the…
Now that Pope Benedict XVI has concluded his first visit to the United States, we can begin to reflect on the themes he addressed. My reflections are rooted in my own perspective as a Seventh-day Adventist pastor who, nonetheless, spent many years as a member and a lay leader within the Catholic Church. As I…
Text of his address (he began in French–the English translation of this part is about halfway down the page). Discernment, then, shows that entrusting exclusively to individual States, with their laws and institutions, the final responsibility to meet the aspirations of persons, communities and entire peoples, can sometimes have consequences that exclude the possibility of…
A Wisconsin student was penalized for referencing John 3:16 in an art project–he was given a zero and two detentions. He was also penalized for using religious expressions in a jewelry making class. Other students who drew demonic representations were not punished. A faculty member with Buddhist and Hindu symbols in his classrooms was not…
The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles has announced it will reconsider its decision that would have made it illegal for anyone without a teaching credential to homeschool their children. It has asked for amicus briefs from a variety of educational organizations. San Francisco Chronicle. California Catholic Daily.
Jill Carroll on obsession with what people wear.
[As preached in March 2008] It’s that time again—we’re in the middle of another Presidential campaign. Religious issues have been in the forefront this year even more than usual. Mike Huckabee is a former Southern Baptist pastor; Mitt Romney was a Mormon bishop. Catholic candidates have faced increasing pressure from their bishops that they uphold…
Article about the struggles faced by religious groups in Turkey. Synopsis: Turkey has passed the long-promised new Foundations Law. However, it does not allow Muslim or non-Muslim religious communities to legally exist as themselves, Otmar Oehring of the German Catholic charity Missio notes in a commentary for Forum 18 News Service http://www.forum18.org. Bizarrely, religious communities…
Americans United was founded to promote religious liberty. It’s come a long way. In a brief filed with a Washington court, it has sided with those who would deny religious liberty. They argue that it is proper for Washington to require pharmacists to dispense abortifacients and birth control pills even if they have religious objections–they…
Did you know California teachers are required to sign a loyalty oath to the state and the US? And a Quaker math teacher was fired for adding a “nonviolent” clause in her own handwriting to it? Modifying the oath “is very clearly not permissible,” the university’s attorney, Eunice Chan, said, citing various laws. “It’s an…
The Sikhs are to be commended for standing firm and refusing to compromise the principles of their faith to satisfy the Secret Service to meet with the pope. As I’ve mentioned before, the Catholic Church isn’t complaining about the SS’s infringement of the Sikh’s religious freedom. Some people seem to be puzzled why the Sikhs…
Testimony before Congressional subcommittee on the Workplace Religious Freedom Act. More.
The ACLU, purportedly a “civil liberties” organization, has found a civil liberty it isn’t in favor of–religious liberty. It is opposing the Workplace Religious Freedom Act on the grounds that if you let some people have religious freedom, other people might be affected. The ACLU wants to restrict your freedom to what you wear and…
Track official’s decision in DC is an attack on freedom of religion–Muslim girl discriminated against for wishing to dress modestly at track meet.
Clifford Goldstein reviews Gregory Boyd, Myth of a Christian Nation.
In Fort Worth, a Seventh-day Adventist woman and her children were kicked off a public bus–because she was reading the Bible outloud to them on their way to church.
The ADL has denounced comments by a Catholic Archbishop. He called for separation of church and state, and treating of all religions equally. What was the problem with this? It was Patriarch Michel Sabbah speaking of Israel, and of the inequality of Christians and Muslims.
Ken McFarland posts about Sunday in colonial Jamestown, ca. 1610: Every man and woman shall repair in the morning to the divine service and sermons preached upon the Sabbath day, and in the afternoon to divine service, and catechising, upon pain for the first fault to lose their provision and the allowance for the whole…
CNS Story. From the Vatican Summary: Today there is “a growing confusion” about the Church’s missionary mandate. Some think “that any attempt to convince others on religious matters is a limitation of their freedom,” suggesting that it is enough to invite people “to act according to their consciences”, or to “become more human or more…
The Dallas City Council has settled out of court with a Seventh-day Adventist woman who had been fired for her Sabbath observance; she’s been reinstated with back pay.
Advent Hope 
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