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Giving An Account: William Wilberforce and the Abolition of the Slave Trade

By David C. Read – [dc]W[/dc]illiam Wilberforce (1759-1833) was the grandson of a British merchant who had made his fortune trading with the Baltic nations. William’s father died when William was nine, and his temporarily overwhelmed mother sent him to live with an aunt and uncle who were Methodists. At the age of 17, William […]

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Civil Rights Current Events Discrimination Politics Privacy Religion Terrorism

Sikh Group Develops App to Report Airport Profiling (CNN)

EXCERPT: Airline travelers who feel they’ve been harassed at airport check-ins by screeners now have a speedier outlet on which to complain right at their fingertips. The Sikh Coalition, a civil rights advocacy group, on Monday released a mobile application on iPhones and Android phones giving passengers who feel they’ve been racially or religiously profiled […]

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Church and State Civil Rights Current Events Discrimination In the News Politics Supreme Court

Timeline: Obama Administration Actions Affecting U.S. Religious Freedom | Christianity Today

Excerpt: “The past year has marked a shift in religious liberty debates, one that previously centered on hiring rights but became focused on health care requirements. When President Obama first took office, faith-based groups were especially concerned that organizations that discriminate in hiring based on religious beliefs would become ineligible for federal funding. In 2011, […]

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Civil Rights Current Events Film and Television Human Rights

Film Review: The Harm of “The Help”

In the end, I find this movie to be a whitewash of a very compelling story in a difficult time in American history. Racism and segregation are not portrayed as the evil, insidious institutions that they are, but are depicted instead as the result of catty White women attempting to maintain their place within their own social hierarchy. Furthermore, Toure, in his belated review of “The Help,” discussed the idea of the magical Negro, so I won’t get into too much of it here. But I will say that I highly doubt that a White toddler needed her Black maid to remind her, “You is kind, you is smart, you is important.” It would’ve made better sense if the child said it to the maid.

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Civil Rights Current Events Discrimination Employment Law Legal Issues Supreme Court

Ruling on Ministers: What the Supreme Court said & didn’t say | Oregon Faith Report

Excerpt:   The U.S. Supreme Court in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, held that the “ministerial exception” bars a school teacher from bringing employment discrimination claims against her religious employer. The Court’s ruling clearly grants religious institutions the freedom to employ (and terminate) employees who act as ministers of their faith. Yet the […]

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Civil Rights Current Events Discrimination Politics Religion

10th Circuit Rules Oklahoma Amendment Barring Islamic Law was Unnecessary and Discriminatory

OKLAHOMA -The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s ruling that blocked the implementation of the “Save Our State” amendment. The amendment, approved by 70 percent of Oklahoma voters in 2010, barred “Islamic law” in the state, even though there was no movement to impose sharia law in Oklahoma. Judge Scott […]

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Civil Rights Current Events International Peacemaking

Adventist church leaders meet with Hungarian ambassador on looming deregistration of churches

Religious liberty leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church this week met the Hungarian ambassador to the United States in an effort to help officials from that country better understand the potential effects of a looming deregistration of churches.

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Civil Rights Current Events Discrimination Human Rights In the News Legal Issues

New York Attorney General Launches Religious Rights Initiative to Enforce Anti-discrimination Laws

(Media-Newswire.com) – NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the launch of the Religious Rights Initiative, a project of the office’s Civil Rights Bureau that will address religious rights issues and enforce anti-discrimination laws. The Religious Rights Initiative will target faith-based discrimination and violations of religious rights through public education, outreach and […]

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Church and State Civil Rights Current Events In the News Legal Issues Religion

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

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