The struggle between faith-healing and public health services may not be a mainstream topic, yet it continues to rage throughout our nation. Oregon has recently had a string of adolescent deaths tied to extreme Christian conservatism. The Christian Science Church has pushed law makers to allow parents to exempt their children from all medical treatment, replacing science with the prayers […]
By Martin Surridge – In the cold, northern reaches of Western Europe there is a small country that doesn't often make international headlines, but might actually be a useful barometer for understanding the continent's spiritual diversity and religious future. No, not France, Germany, or even England, but rather the western edge of Celtic Britain, Wales. Welcome back to Article18-RLTV's first […]
EXCERPT: A federal judge has upheld the Georgia law banning weapons in churches, mosques and synagogues, saying gun rights advocates had not shown that carrying a firearm is necessary to practicing any religion. U.S. District Judge Ashley Royal late Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the gun rights organization GeorgiaCarry.org and the minister at the Baptist Tabernacle of Thomaston. Royal […]
By Martin Surridge – Usually it would be rare for massive crowds to gather and protest against a possible increase in religious liberty. But in Pakistan? Perhaps not that surprising. Welcome back to Article18-RLTV's first weekly blog specifically dedicated to religious liberty issues in other countries around the world. Each week, we will be focusing on a different nation, and […]
EXCERPT: Sex and civic education in schools in Europe is an "attack" on religious freedom, Pope Benedict XVI said on Monday, following a Vatican row with Spain over a new course promoting liberal values. "I cannot remain silent about another attack on the religious freedom of families in certain European countries which mandate obligatory participation in courses of sexual or […]
EXCERPT: President Obama yesterday carried out what has become an annual tradition of declaring January 16 "Religious Freedom Day." Citing Virginia's 1786 "Statute for Religious Freedom," in which Tomas Jefferson wrote that "all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion," the president said that although the country "has sometimes fallen short […]
By Martin Surridge – Quietly making news this week, nestled between the East Coast snow storms and the Arizona shooting, is an event which, if all unfolds as expected, will make history in a corner of the world that has so often been tragically forgotten. Welcome back to Article18–RLTV's first weekly blog specifically dedicated to religious liberty issues in other […]
Read the Latest Article18 Blog Posts Here. This is the first entry for Article18 –RLTV's first weekly blog specifically dedicated to religious liberty issues in other countries around the world. Each week, we will be focusing on a different nation, and the struggles facing its different religious communities, be they Muslim, Christian, Hindu, or Jewish. Of course, those aren't the […]
EXCERPT: Angry protests by Egypt's Christian Copts have become a familiar scene. Hundreds clashed with police last November over plans for a new church building in Giza, leaving two protesters dead. And in January of that year, Copts protested in the southern town of Nag Hamadi after six members were killed in an attack on a local church on the […]