Has Obama Waged a War on Religion? (NPR)

NPR’s Barbara Bradley Hagerty addresses this question.  Here is an excerpt followed by a link to the article:

Americans’ religious liberties are under attack — or at least that’s what some conservatives say.

Newt Gingrich warns the U.S. is becoming a secular country, which would be a “nightmare.” Rick Santorum says there’s a clash between “man’s laws and God’s laws.” And in a campaign ad, Rick Perry decried what he called “Obama’s war on religion,” saying there is “something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly … pray in school.”

Of course, children can pray in school, but Perry is echoing a larger argument: that religious freedom is at risk. The story is much more complicated than either side makes out.

Read more and listen to the radio broadcast at http://www.npr.org/2012/01/08/144835720/has-obama-waged-a-war-on-religion

Vatican again urges radical reform of global marketplace – The Irish Times

Excerpt:  TRADE ISSUES: FOR THE second time in the last month, the Holy See has argued that international trade markets need to be radically reformed.

The point was made by secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone who, at a Vatican meeting of European Bishops’ Conferences on the New Evangelisation yesterday said: “The [global] crisis illustrates clearly the untenability of a market that has become totally self-referential . . .

“This present difficult situation prompts a whole series of new questions about the responsibilities and the ethics of the marketplace; it urgently asks a fundamental question about the destiny, dignity and spiritual vocation of man . . . ”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/1123/1224307999115.html

John F. Kennedy’s Speech Affirming Separation of Church and State

In the months leading up to the election, on September 12, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy spoke to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on the issue of his religion. In the weeks leading up to the speech, many Protestants had questioned whether Kennedy’s religious beliefs would preclude him from being objective in the White House. Kennedy’s response that he believed in separation of church and state was an eloquent response to the questions.   Fifty years later, they remain relevant. Here is a transcript of what he said:

Rev. Meza, Rev. Reck, I’m grateful for your generous invitation to speak my views.

While the so-called religious issue is necessarily and properly the chief topic here tonight, I want to emphasize from the outset that we have far more critical issues to face in the 1960 election: the spread of Communist influence, until it now festers 90 miles off the coast of Florida; the humiliating treatment of our president and vice president by those who no longer respect our power; the hungry children I saw in West Virginia; the old people who cannot pay their doctor bills; the families forced to give up their farms; an America with too many slums, with too few schools, and too late to the moon and outer space.

These are the real issues which should decide this campaign. And they are not religious issues — for war and hunger and ignorance and despair know no religious barriers.

But because I am a Catholic, and no Catholic has ever been elected president, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured — perhaps deliberately, in some quarters less responsible than this. So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again not what kind of church I believe in — for that should be important only to me — but what kind of America I believe in.

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew— or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist. It was Virginia’s harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson’s statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you — until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.

Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end; where all men and all churches are treated as equal; where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice; where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind; and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.

That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of presidency in which I believe — a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group, nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a president whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation, or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.

I would not look with favor upon a president working to subvert the First Amendment’s guarantees of religious liberty. Nor would our system of checks and balances permit him to do so. And neither do I look with favor upon those who would work to subvert Article VI of the Constitution by requiring a religious test — even by indirection — for it. If they disagree with that safeguard, they should be out openly working to repeal it.

I want a chief executive whose public acts are responsible to all groups and obligated to none; who can attend any ceremony, service or dinner his office may appropriately require of him; and whose fulfillment of his presidential oath is not limited or conditioned by any religious oath, ritual or obligation.

This is the kind of America I believe in, and this is the kind I fought for in the South Pacific, and the kind my brother died for in Europe. No one suggested then that we may have a “divided loyalty,” that we did “not believe in liberty,” or that we belonged to a disloyal group that threatened the “freedoms for which our forefathers died.”

And in fact ,this is the kind of America for which our forefathers died, when they fled here to escape religious test oaths that denied office to members of less favored churches; when they fought for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom; and when they fought at the shrine I visited today, the Alamo. For side by side with Bowie and Crockett died McCafferty and Bailey and Carey. But no one knows whether they were Catholic or not, for there was no religious test at the Alamo.

I ask you tonight to follow in that tradition, to judge me on the basis of my record of 14 years in Congress, on my declared stands against an ambassador to the Vatican, against unconstitutional aid to parochial schools, and against any boycott of the public schools (which I have attended myself)— instead of judging me on the basis of these pamphlets and publications we all have seen that carefully select quotations out of context from the statements of Catholic church leaders, usually in other countries, frequently in other centuries, and always omitting, of course, the statement of the American Bishops in 1948, which strongly endorsed church-state separation, and which more nearly reflects the views of almost every American Catholic.

I do not consider these other quotations binding upon my public acts. Why should you? But let me say, with respect to other countries, that I am wholly opposed to the state being used by any religious group, Catholic or Protestant, to compel, prohibit, or persecute the free exercise of any other religion. And I hope that you and I condemn with equal fervor those nations which deny their presidency to Protestants, and those which deny it to Catholics. And rather than cite the misdeeds of those who differ, I would cite the record of the Catholic Church in such nations as Ireland and France, and the independence of such statesmen as Adenauer and De Gaulle.

But let me stress again that these are my views. For contrary to common newspaper usage, I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me.

Whatever issue may come before me as president — on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject — I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise.

But if the time should ever come — and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible — when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same.

But I do not intend to apologize for these views to my critics of either Catholic or Protestant faith, nor do I intend to disavow either my views or my church in order to win this election.

If I should lose on the real issues, I shall return to my seat in the Senate, satisfied that I had tried my best and was fairly judged. But if this election is decided on the basis that 40 million Americans lost their chance of being president on the day they were baptized, then it is the whole nation that will be the loser — in the eyes of Catholics and non-Catholics around the world, in the eyes of history, and in the eyes of our own people.

But if, on the other hand, I should win the election, then I shall devote every effort of mind and spirit to fulfilling the oath of the presidency — practically identical, I might add, to the oath I have taken for 14 years in the Congress. For without reservation, I can “solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, so help me God.

ANALYSIS: Bishops Claim Religious Liberty Under Assault

This week, at its annual conference in Baltimore, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops asserted that “religious liberty” is under assault.

The conference pulled together issues from the federal level and various states. For instance, in Illinois, after 40 years of cooperation, government officials stopped working with Catholic Charities on adoptions and foster-care placements because the agency refused to recognize a new civil union law. Bishops are suing the state, claiming that denying funds because of the religious beliefs of the church is impermissible. In New York, the Catholic church has complained that the religious exemption to gay-marriage laws is too weak.

On health care, the Catholic Church has argued that there should be a broader exemption to the federal mandate that private insurers pay for contraception. The church is also fighting the Health and Human Services Department’s recent denial of renewal of financial aid for their anti-human trafficking work. The ACLU had filed suit opposing government funds to anti-human trafficking groups that “impose religiously based restrictions on reproductive health services,” claiming that many of the women who are victims of rape and forced prostitution are in need of reproductive health services.

This is coming on the heels of recent attempts by the church to pressure Catholic politicians to vote in line with church teachings.
Each year, Catholic charities across the nation receive hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding, which have increased over the years, and the battle for “religious liberty” is about who gets to control the way that the tax dollars are spent.

In the past, Catholic public policy discussion covered a broad range of issues ranging from immigration and workers’ rights to nuclear proliferation. Today, the focus has narrowed to the issues of abortion and gay rights.

The conference has formed a new “religious liberty” committee, the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty and is hiring another attorney and lobbyist to address “religious liberty and marriage issues” on Capitol Hill. The Committee is also planning to lobby against a Congressional repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and the military’s repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Sadly, as part of this change in focus, the term “religious liberty” is being redefined away from protecting the rights to speak, believe, and practice religion. Instead, “religious liberty” is apparently the right to receive government money without restrictions.

And we cannot ignore the fact that other Americans have sincere religious disagreement with the positions being promoted by the bishops. Are the rights of conscience of those who take a different stance on the disputed issues to be dismissed as illegitimate?

To be sure, these are not easy questions to answer. Certainly institutions should not be compelled to act against their religious mission. Yet, the state does not have an implicit obligation to fund them. The Church can assert its right speak in the the public square, but it should not assume power it does not have in order to force the rest of society to follow its lead.

In 1773, a Baptist minister in New England observed that where “church and state are separate, the effects are happy, and they do not at all interfere with each other: but where they have been confounded together, no tongue nor pen can fully describe the mischiefs that have ensued.”

That separation should not be torn down in the name of religious liberty. I hope that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops will keep this in mind as it begins its new chapter of advocacy in Congress, and recognize that they are not the arbiters of morality in the nation, but rather are one of many organizations representing the broad spectrum of belief and non-belief in the United States.

(Click here to read Archbishop William T. Lori’s speech at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.)

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Film Review: “One Nation Under God” (2011): Misinterpreted facts and frightening conclusions

By Jason Hines, Esq. -

Yesterday was a premiere event for the Religious Right movement. In churches, homes, and other venues around the country, conservative Christians watched the premiere of “One Nation Under God,” a DVD created by the group United in Purpose, headed by Bill Dallas. (You can find out more general information about the DVD at the One Nation Under God website.) We attended a showing that was being held at the Old West Cowboy Church in Robinson, TX. Yes it was exactly as it sounds. One man showed up in spurs and chaps on a horse. The pastor of the church, who is also a charter member of the Waco Tea Party, welcomed us and talked about how it was important for Christians to “repossess America.” He told us that about 2,500 different venues would be premiering the DVD and they hoped to have 50,000 showings before the 2012 election.

There were several speakers on the DVD, and each of them had two responsibilities. First, to make sure that they established the idea that America is a Christian nation that that Judeo-Christian principles are to be inculcated into government. Second, the goal was to convince Christians that they should be politically involved, vote their values and encourage other Christians that they should do the same. Several popular conservatives are recruited to help make these points. Despite the multiplicity of voices, there are some problematic themes that run throughout the presentations. Each of the presenters engages in some element of either misrepresentation or misinterpretation of facts, specious logic, or just plain bad theology.

The misinterpretation of facts was somewhat expected. Most of it was conservative evangelical talking points. Both David Barton and Newt Gingrich made mention of the fact that the Supreme Court has taken prayer out of schools. Of course this is not true. Engel v. Vitale (1963) did not take prayer out of schools. Instead it ruled that teacher led school prayer is unconstitutional. The Court has since ruled that sectarian prayers at school events are unconstitutional. But the right of the individual to pray or lead other like-minded individuals in prayer is still allowed. To obfuscate this point is to pull the wool over people’s eyes. Barton also misinterprets the US Constitution. He says at one point that Art. VII of the Constitution incorporates the Declaration of Independence. Art. VII actually says, “The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.” I am sure Mr. Barton has a reason for saying that a one sentence article of the Constitution that makes no mention of the Declaration of Independence somehow incorporates that document, but he gave no further explanation.

Gingrich misinterpreted the historical understanding of Thomas Jefferson. Gingrich said that historians say that Jefferson didn’t believe in God, except that no reputable historian would say that. The truth is that Jefferson was a Deist who believed in the concept of God, but not in the supernatural elements of Christianity. People like Barton, Gingrich, Bill Dallas, and others have a historical problem. The US Constitution makes no mention of God or Christianity, and has some explicit anti-religious statements (i.e., the Establishment Clause and the prohibition on religious tests for holding office). Therefore, in order to make their argument, they have to connect the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution, and that’s a hard sell unless you’re willing to stretch the facts.

The speakers on the One Nation Under God DVD also engage in some interesting and fallacious logic. Most of it is found in the assumptions that they make. Barton for example, makes two very dangerous assumptions. First, he assumes that nothing has changed in the 235 years since the Declaration of Independence. So the vastly different context of today has no effect on how he views what our nation should do and what the Constitution should allow. The great strength of the Constitution in my opinion is that the Founders were smart enough to build in flexibility so that the document could adjust to fit the times. Barton, Gingrich, Dobson, Rodriguez, and the other speakers on this DVD seek to bring America back to an era where it was more homogenous. Gingrich in fact quoted a statistic that 80% of Americans believe in “classical America.” I do not know what that means, but that description is scary to me. Dr. Timothy Johnson, the head of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, an African-American conservative group, also used specious logic in order to attack liberal Christians. Dr. Johnson said that he did not understand how people could say they are pro-life themselves and then vote for pro-choice candidates. Dr. Johnson seems not to be able to understand that there are some people who believe in their personal morality, and yet do not want to impose that morality on others.

Mr. Barton makes the same illogical leap in his discussion of Christians in the voting booth. He assumes that all Christians feel the same way he does, and that if those Christians vote pro-choice or pro- gay marriage, then they are not voting their values. This type of rhetoric is disingenuous and does not help to win people to their cause.

Finally, there are just some shocking cases of bad theology. David Barton cites several texts that he claims stand for certain propositions. We checked each of the ones we could manage to write down, and all of them were misinterpreted. For example, Barton cites Is. 33:22 as support for the separation of powers. While that verse does mention the 3 branches of government (king, lawgiver, and judge) the verse says that the Lord is all those things. Therefore, a government that followed Isaiah’s words there would vest all those powers in one position, because that is what the Bible says in that verse. Reverend Samuel Rodriguez states that there is a biblical and moral imperative for Christians to vote a certain way, but cites no biblical support. Dr. James Dobson makes 2 egregious theological errors. When asked about whether Christians should be involved in politics, Dr. Dobson quotes Abraham Lincoln not the Bible. Dr. Dobson goes on to say that when a country forgets who they are, then they are destroyed. He implies that if America forgets their Christian heritage and begins to allow abortion and gay marriage then they will be destroyed. This statement is not just bad theology, but it is also offensive to every group of people who have been oppressed in the history of America. So God’s destruction will not fall because America enslaved Africans, destroyed their families, raped and killed them, but it will fall because of the unborn and gay people? America did not forget who they were when they were oppressing women or Asians or Catholics or any other group, but now is the time America is moving away from its Judeo-Christian principles. As with Gingrich’s statement about longing for a “classical America,” this statement bothered me. Dr. Dobson is using his theology to whitewash history, and to ignore the fact that America has never been the Christian nation that these people envision it to have been.

Dr. Dobson is using his theology to whitewash history, and to ignore the fact that America has never been the Christian nation that these people envision it to have been.

As I think about the events of the day and the content of the DVD, two final points jump out to me. One, Newt Gingrich said what the goal of this DVD really is. At one point he states that it is time for people of faith to take back power from the minority elite. That is the real issue. It is not truly about having this nation be Christian. It is not truly about feeling persecuted for their majority faith. Rather, this is about wanting to be in control of others. To compel people to follow their will (not even the will of God).

Two, my wife and I noticed something interesting as we sat amongst the members of the Old West Cowboy Church. The pastor provided note paper for us and encouraged us to take notes for our own edification. As we looked around room, we realized that we were the only people attempting to take detailed notes. Most people did not write anything down at all. Some only wrote down a sentence here or there. My wife and I were the only people who attempted to record all the major points being made by all the speakers. This lack of critical thought was the most appalling thing to me. These people were being sold on all kinds of historical, logical, and biblical inaccuracies, and they were more than willing to accept it without inspection.

—–

Jason Hines is Associate Editor for ReligiousLiberty.TV an independent religious liberty website. A Harvard Law graduate, Jason practiced commercial litigation in Philadelphia for five years and conducted seminars on religious liberty in his spare time. This gave him the opportunity to discuss issues of religious freedom with Adventists in churches all over the United States. In 2008, Jason decided to devote his life to work in religious liberty. To that end, he enrolled at the Seminary at Andrews University, where he is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Religion. He is also a PhD candidate in the Religion, Politics, and Society at the J.M. Dawson Institute for Church-State Studies at Baylor University. Jason blogs about religious liberty and other religious issues at thehinesight.blogspot.com

Fifth Circuit approves prisoner’s religious right to receive publication

Today the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, affirmed the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana’s ruling that the newspaper “The Final Call” cannot be censored or denied to a prisoner who has requested it as part of his religious practices

For more: http://www.katc.com/mobile/news/court-affirms-prisoner-religious-right

Eric Foner on the separation of church and state at America’s founding

History professor and author Eric Foner answers the question: Getting to the American Revolution, what was the impact of the Revolution on religious freedom and the separation of church and state? Click on the video for links to more parts of the Norton interview.

Vatican Radio – Full Text: Note on financial reform from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace

The full text of the document released earlier today.

http://www.radiovaticana.org/EN1/Articolo.asp?c=531752

CNS STORY: Vatican document calls for global authority to regulate markets

Excerpt:

While the Vatican document focused on financial issues, it envisioned a much wider potential role for the global political authority. The agenda also includes peace and security, disarmament and arms control, protection of human rights, and management of migration flows and food security, it said.

Establishing such an authority will be a delicate project and will no doubt come at a cost of “anguish and suffering” as countries give up particular powers, the document said. The authority should be set up gradually, on the basis of wide consultation and international agreements, and never imposed by force or coercion, it said.

The authority should operate on the principle of subsidiarity, intervening “only when individual, social or financial actors are intrinsically deficient in capacity, or cannot manage by themselves to do what is required of them,” it said. Countries’ specific identities would be fully respected, it said.

The authority should transcend special interests, and its decisions “should not be the result of the more developed countries’ excessive power over the weaker countries” or the result of lobbying by nations or groups, it said.

“A long road still needs to be traveled before arriving at the creation of a public authority with universal jurisdiction. It would seem logical for the reform process to proceed with the United Nations as its reference,” it said.

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1104173.htm

Vatican calls for global authority on economy – Reuters

Excerpt:

VATICAN CITY,Oct 24 (Reuters) – - The Vatican called on Monday for the establishment of a “global public authority” and a “central world bank” to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises.

http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKL5E7LO1LS20111024?irpc=932

From the Vatican document:

“Of course, this transformation will be made at the cost of a gradual, balanced transfer of a part of each nation’s powers to a world authority and to regional authorities, but this is necessary at a time when the dynamism of human society and the economy and the progress of technology are transcending borders, which are in fact already very eroded in a globalizes world.”

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