The U.S. State Department has released the 2011 report on international religious freedom. While significant areas of concern are present, there are also some signs of hope. The website with the report is quite helpful and easy to navigate. Visit: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm
Month: July 2012
LDS, evangelicals share political aims and ‘restorationism’ | Deseret News Mobile
Excerpt: Referring to white evangelical Christians and Mormons as “the twin pillars of the GOP,” author and scholar Mark R. Silk told some 300 Sunstone Symposium attendees that although the two groups are often at odds theologically,their members both tend to embrace a political ideology he called “restorationism.” “The restorationist ideal is as old as…
LDS, evangelicals share political aims and ‘restorationism’ | Deseret News Mobile
Excerpt: Referring to white evangelical Christians and Mormons as “the twin pillars of the GOP,” author and scholar Mark R. Silk told some 300 Sunstone Symposium attendees that although the two groups are often at odds theologically,their members both tend to embrace a political ideology he called “restorationism.” “The restorationist ideal is as old as…
EXCERPT: Jan Paulsen on the Church and Military Combat
As the church expresses itself on this issue and offers counsel to both its own members and broader society, it must never allow itself to forget this one unchangeable fact: the God we serve is a healer and a Savior. Healing and saving are also the first business of the church. As individuals struggle with these questions—and perhaps make choices that, in hindsight, they wish they had not—the church must constantly reflect God’s infinite, healing love.
Two American Pastors Jailed in July
Last week two Christian pastors were jailed in the United States for violation of court orders involving two different types of property disputes.
Is it Really Persecution? Phoenix Enforcement of Safety and Zoning Ordinances
The core issue will be whether religious groups should be given variance from content-neutral local zoning and safety regulations simply because they are religious, and more specifically, the extent to which individuals can ignore neutral laws in the name of religious freedom.
Mitt Romney, the Iowa Caucus, and the Mormon Extermination Order of 1838 (Liberty Magazine)
If Mitt Romney were to become the first president of the United States from the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, it would indeed be a milestone given the history of Mormonism in America, especially when one considers that for a while Latter-day Saints were public enemy number one in many of the same Midwestern states that nominated Romney ahead of Santorum and former House speaker Newt Gingrich.
“You shouldn’t elect a president on the basis of
“Do We Not Bleed?” Religion In Shakespeare’s Merchant Of Venice (Liberty Magazine)
By Martin Surridge Liberty Magazine – July / August 2012 The climax of The Merchant of Venice, one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies, is a court scene in which Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, is cunningly prevented from carving a pound of flesh from the body of the Christian Antonio. The spirited Portia, disguised as a male…
A Faithful Nation (Liberty Magazine)
A Faithful Nation By Michael D. Peabody Liberty Magazine EXCERPT: Just because Christians believe something does not mean that the government needs to make a law to enforce that belief. To put it bluntly, in America it is legal to believe things that could compromise your own eternal salvation. The state will not stand…