TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – An atheist soldier suing over prayers at military formations claims a larger pattern of religious discrimination exists in the military, citing attempts to convert Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and an evangelical bias in a suicide prevention manual.
Archives for December 2008
Top Ten RLTV Articles of 2008
The Top Ten articles posted on ReligiousLiberty.TV in 2008.
ECONOMICS: Depression Hits Detroit: Average home price $18,513 – Unemployment rate 21% (Tribble Ad Agency)
The Great Depression has reached Detroit. The average price of a home is now $18,513 and unemployment has reached 21%, and it’s expected to get worse. Detroit is facing a crisis of epic proportions that officially puts Detroit statistically (and real term) on par with the great depression.
US Army ready if the downturn gets out of hand (NY Post)
In a report published Nov. 4 – just in time for the holiday season – the War College’s Strategic Studies Institute posited a number of shocks that the country should be prepared for, including unrest caused by the economy’s failure.
LITERATURE – “The War Prayer” by Mark Twain
The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety’s sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.
Choice of Warren for inaugural magnifies role of U.S. ‘civic religion’ (DC Examiner)
“. . . the selection of Warren is the selection of a man in a faith tradition more in the face of what scholars call American “civic religion,” or a generic approach to a deity found in phrases such as ‘God bless America.'”
Benjamin Franklin on Conscience
“A good conscience is a continual Christmas.” – Benjamin Franklin “How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! ’tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.” – Benjamin Franklin
Catholic leader sought Mormon help on Prop 8 (Salt Lake Tribune)
It’s the first time the archbishop has commented on how churches organized to help push through the initiative, which overturned the California Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex nuptials. Mormon leaders had given a similar account of how its members, who represent about 2 percent of the California residents with a religious affiliation, came to play such a prominent role in promoting Proposition 8.
How secular newsrooms handle stories with a religious component (Wall Street Journal)
In “Blind Spot: When Journalists Don’t Get Religion” — a collection of essays that he edited with Lela Gilbert and Roberta Green Ahmanson — he notes that similar assertions have been common in the coverage of Islamic terrorism. The book’s contributors explore all sorts of news stories with a religious component — Islamic and otherwise — showing where reporters have veered off course and discussing the reasons why.
A World Enslaved – There are now more slaves on the planet than at any time in human history (Foreign Policy)
Most people imagine that slavery died in the 19th century. Since 1817, more than a dozen international conventions have been signed banning the slave trade. Yet, today there are more slaves than at any time in human history.